“Do You Believe In Magic?”
–Lovin’ Spoonful

A little magic never hurt anyone. I don’t mean the delusional “spiritual therapy” practiced by Lynn, one of the first women I met after moving to L.A. 25 years ago. She claimed to have removed a client’s malignant tumor during a phone session in which she got to the “embedded physical roots” of her client’s “issues.” (Lynn was far from the wackiest New Age crazy I ran into in those days; At least her work didn’t involve time travel or breast enlargement through hypnosis.)

Veteran progressive activist/author Barbara Ehrenreich shows the consequences of such Pollyanna-ish thinking in her new book, Bright-Sided (How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America). A breast cancer survivor, Ehrenreich calls on her experience among pink teddy bears and healing prayers to skewer the notion that traumas are blessings to be embraced rather than tragedies spawning legitimate rage and grief. She’s appropriately outraged that many women don’t get the medical care they need because they believe magical thinking– a term psychologists use to describe irrational thought-patterns — will defy the laws of physics and pull them through.

When Ehrenreich observes, “It’s a mistake to try to turn your anger and resentment and sadness or grief into something else,” I’m with her all the way. But her next sentence — the glib, “It’s very bad to try to just plaster on a smiley face” — throws the spiritual baby out with the delusional bathwater.

I recently spent some time talking with a woman in her 70s who, several years ago, suffered permanent nerve damage from a terrible car crash. Traditional and alternative medical treatments produced little relief; she sank into despair, fearing that constant, near-intolerable pain in her hands and neck would plague her every minute for the rest of her life.

Never a religious or spiritual person, she turned, as a last resort, to Vipassana (mindfulness) meditation, which asks practitioners to sit still and observe their moment-to-moment bare sensations, trying not to attach judgments or add distracting story-lines about the past or future. With regular practice she soon began to notice tiny nuances of impermanence in her pain: Burning turned to itching turned to sharp stabs turned to rare moments of relief. The result: she’s now able to see herself as separate from her still-awful physical pain and lead a full life. Further, she’s found so many side benefits to this practice — greater alertness, better sleep — that, while she would never put on a smiley face about the accident, she no longer sees herself as a victim. (As opposed to the perhaps apocryphal 95-year-old woman my mom told me about who, when she learned she had cancer, asked, “Why me?”)

I asked Ehrenreich about this and her playful response — “I have nothing against meditation! Don’t do it myself but I zone out a lot, if that counts” — is also instructive. Zoning out — read escapism — is the opposite of mindfulness, which might be described as “zoning in” to dwell in the present moment, however pleasurable or painful it may feel.

Magical thinking can provide real benefits. My erstwhile piano teacher, the late Sheldon “Teddy” Steinberg, was a pedagogical as well as a musical genius. He’d inspire his students to tackle wondrous compositions that were often far above our technical pay grades. When we played for him — and for each other — he told us we were brilliant when we were competent, terrific when we hadn’t practiced much and good when we were pathetic. There’s no doubt that this manifestation of “positive thinking” made us better pianists than we otherwise would have been.

Teddy’s magic didn’t stop there. My dream had always been to own a Steinway, and, after depositing a nice check from a fortunate business deal 15 years ago, I was ready to head to the piano store and bring one home. I called Teddy for a recommendation, but he stopped me in my tracks with a typically oracular pronouncement: “Do nothing. You don’t find a Steinway; A Steinway finds you.”

I sat tight, and not too many weeks later, Teddy directed me to the home of a friend who’d just inherited three Steinways. He told me exactly how much to pay for “the one in the kitchen,” and, as always in matters pianistic, I followed his lead.

Playing my beautiful Steinway now, I’m often horrified by my inconsistent tempi, over-pedaling and frequent clinkers. Think Beethoven’s Hammerklavier Sonata played with actual hammers. Then I imagine Teddy’s voice booming from the next room, “That’s recordable,” and I not only feel better, I play better.

In the media/entertainment business these days, so many qualified applicants are chasing so few good jobs it’s enough to drive you into selling real estate. Oh, wait, there aren’t any jobs there, either. This week the New York Times laid off more than a hundred editorial staffers, Conde Nast — in the wake of closing four titles last week — announced cuts at Architectural Digest and Bon Apetit and the LA Times lurched through its umpteenth round of firings.

But there are always opportunities out there. In order to prevail you’ll need the focus of Tiger Woods, the patience of the Dalai Lama and the pushiness of Sammy Glick. Herewith, a few do’s and don’ts from someone who’s interviewed thousands and hired hundreds.

THE SEARCH

Read every want ad. Call everyone you know and get them to call everyone they know. Think big but not too big. Apply for jobs you might actually qualify for — don’t waste time shooting for a top marketing position if your marketing experience extends only as far as Ralph’s Pretty Good Grocery.

YOUR RESUME

Don’t undersell yourself.
I once got a resume from an applicant for a senior management post — we’ll call him Jack Smith — who’d spent his career as “Vice President/Jack Smith Enterprises.” If he didn’t have what it took to appoint himself president of his one-man band, I wasn’t interested.

Don’t oversell yourself.
No checkable lies or contradictory claims. Don’t say you’re a PhD but still working on your BA, or give dates of prior employment that, when added up, indicate you started working when you were a toddler. For every David Geffen who benefited from the big lie, there are ten John Bebers who lost out. Who’s John Beber? Exactly!

PRE-INTERVIEW

Do not drink multiple cups of coffee or take a bite out of your kid’s Adderol in advance of your interview. Speed combined with anxiety can result in lengthy disquisitions on the meaning of being. If you must medicate, consider a beta blocker.

Sit mindfully while you wait in the lobby. A job interview is a kind of blind date, where that first moment — even if it’s the boss walking by the waiting area to use the facilities — can be a deal-breaker. Sit comfortably with your spine in an upright position and pretend to read something related to the job you’re seeking.

THE INTERVIEW

At the outset, do shake hands with the interviewer, but then make sure to let go. A death-grip will not earn points. Once the handshake is completed, no close talking, arm-touching or shoulder-clapping.

Project confidence but not arrogance. Explain what you can do for the company, not how much you need the job. Do not tell your prospective boss you want her job. If she says she’s looking for someone who wants her job, don’t take the bait. Avoid desperate sentences like, “I would do anything to get this job.”

If asked to name your greatest strength, do not say “I’m a people person.” For a weakness, do not under any circumstances say “I care too much,” “I work too hard” or “I’m a perfectionist.”

When the exec asks you if you have questions, ask two pre-rehearsed ones — no more, no less. Pay attention to the answers. (After I had explained a job opportunity in detail to one candidate, he asked me to describe the job opportunity.)

If you’re hoping to get hired by Daily Variety, LA Weekly or Huffpost, don’t ask about the frequency of publication.

THE CLOSE

Don’t count on glowing references to put you over the top. Everyone likes everyone, or at least they say they do.

Follow up the interview with an enthusiastic thank you note or email, even if doing so makes you cringe. If it’s an email: no emoticons, ee cummings-like lower casing, lol’s or fwiw’s. Don’t say “u” when you mean “you.” No exclamation points unless you’re applying for a sales position, in which case put one at the end of each sentence. No jokes, no irony, no rambling displays of your erudition.

When you reach the finals, do what it takes to close the deal. I once had a promising applicant for controller ask to reschedule her follow-up interview because she couldn’t find a parking space. That wasn’t the kind of controlling I had in mind.

When asked why you left your previous job, don’t lie but don’t supply grisly details. Resist the temptation to discuss your history of suing employers for wrongful termination.

Finally, if you’re offered the job, take it on the spot — in this environment an offer can disappear faster than a puny severance package. And if your boss turns out to be a monster, there’s always this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPrSVkTRb24&feature=player_embedded

A close friend of Los Angeles-based clinical psychologist Jennifer Kromberg — let’s call her Jane — recently fell into a depression after losing her job as an academic researcher at a major university. Jane, also going through a painful divorce, couldn’t afford even the bargain-basement rates her psychotherapist was charging, and her treatment was terminated. Without therapy, Jane’s depression deepened, making it all the more difficult for her to find another job.

While politicians argue about bank regulation and health care reform, tens of millions of Americans like Jane who’ve lost jobs, homes and assets are suffering severe anxiety, depression or other debilitating symptoms brought on or exacerbated by financial distress.

Unless properly treated, these conditions — and the accompanying loss of productivity — may become chronic. A recent study published by the American Psychological Association (APA) found that even after a person finds employment, the effects of a vicious cycle of depression, loss of personal control, decreased emotional functioning and poorer physical health can last for years.

We must lobby government to do more, but in the meantime community groups, foundations and non-profits — themselves struggling to raise enough funds to stay afloat — need to find ways to go the extra mile.

To that end, and inspired by Jane’s heartbreaking circumstances, Dr. Kromberg has taken on the directorship of the just-launched Economic Crisis Program (ECP), under the auspices of Wright Institute Los Angeles (WILA) — a non-profit psychoanalytic institute which provides struggling Angelenos with low-cost, long-term psychotherapy. (Disclosure: I’m WILA’s board chair.) Funded by a grant from the Robert Ellis Simon Foundation, the ECP features a 15-week program delivered by skilled, compassionate mental health professionals offering a range of options, including individual psychotherapy, group therapy and educational workshops.

Fees are determined by participants’ ability to pay, according to WILA founder and executive director Allen Yasser, who tapped Dr. Kromberg for the position.

“The individual and group therapy sessions will help participants cope with day-to-day difficulties, connect and receive support from others in similar circumstances, and better manage anxiety and depression,” Dr. Kromberg says. “The workshops will teach methods of improving mental and physical health, taking active and measurable steps toward regaining financial control, and accessing available community resources.”

The vast majority of the newly unemployed and the uninsured can’t afford the treatment they need. And for many who have jobs and insurance (even the gold-plated plans rarely cover more than few therapy sessions) the faltering economy can also cause severe symptoms and make help less affordable.

Mental health services at all levels of government are being decimated, but the ECP and similar efforts are especially crucial in California, where the latest statistics are beyond grim: unemployment exceeds 12 percent and there are now 92,000-plus homes in foreclosure, the most in the nation. The bone-cutting reductions in California’s budget go hand in hand with skyrocketing demand directly linked to these unprecedented job losses and foreclosures.
http://www.accessinst.org/news.html

Even those who’ve kept their financial heads above water may need psychotherapy to deal with the economic anxiety that pervades all corners of American society. A recent AP-Yahoo News poll found that one-third of those surveyed are concerned about losing their jobs, half worry they’ll fall behind on mortgage and credit card payments, and seven in 10 are anxious that their stocks and retirement investments are losing value. An American Psychological Association poll backed up those findings, concluding that 80 percent of those surveyed report economic-related stress, up from 66 percent in April 2008.

Mental health and financial health are, as lawyers like to put it, inextricably intertwined. If you have been prescribed risperdal, check out the risperdal lawsuit payout per person. Now’s the time to get more active. Get involved in grass roots efforts to pressure government to restore essential services; contribute to and participate in community and non-profit groups, or start new ones; and push in every way possible for universal health care which includes reimbursement for long-term psychotherapy.

If you want to know more about WILA or ECP — or are aware of other opportunities for low-cost psychotherapy for those most in need — please comment here, call ECP at 310.277.2609 or visit www.wila.org.

Politics has gotten so expensive. It takes a lot of money just to get beat!
–Will Rogers

When Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton implausibly claimed during his 1992 presidential quest that he’d tried marijuana but never inhaled, Johnny Carson quipped that Jerry Brown, Clinton’s quirky rival, appeared never to have exhaled. Clinton, of course, went on to win the presidency that year thanks in no small part to the largesse of corporations like Tyson Foods, Archer Daniels Midland and investment banks like Goldman Sachs.

Today Brown — still without significant personal wealth or corporate backing — seeks the Democratic nomination for the California governorship. If he gets the nod, his Republican rival may well be billionaire and former eBay chief Meg Whitman, who’s already out there mining the trope that skill in helming a business qualifies you run a government. So what if she’s never contested an elected office before and didn’t even vote until she was 46? Before eBay, she worked at Hasbro, where she played a key role in the success of Mr. Potato Head, and perhaps voters will feel this gives her an edge in understanding California’s child-like state legislature.

It might take someone who’s inhaled and exhaled a few too many times to truly believe that running an online auction company qualifies one to manage a state with the world’s sixth-largest economy and a plethora of crises that go way beyond business and finance. But Whitman has pursued her party’s nomination by acting just like a CEO, vowing to fire 40,000 Californians and pledging to spend as much of her own money as necessary toward a $150 million campaign war chest.

Then there’s Carly Fiorina. She wants to represent the Republicans in their sexennial bid to replace U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer. Fiorina’s campaign slogan: “Carlyfornia Dreamin’!!!” One hopes John Phillips’ estate will have the same reaction as Bruce Springsteen and James Taylor did when they refused to let Ronald Reagan and John McCain co-opt their songs in previous elections. (If Carly needs to regroup, she could always petition Showtime to let her use “Carlyfornication.”)

Fiorina — who also has rarely voted; what is it with these people? — previously ran Silicon Valley giant Hewlett Packard. When an unhappy board of directors forced her out in 2005, she collected in excess of $20 million. John McCain tapped her as his chief economic spokesperson in last year’s presidential race until she told the inconvenient truth that neither McCain nor his running mate Sarah Palin was qualified to run a major American corporation. But she, who presided — with questionable skill — over a tech company is fit to be a United States Senator? That, as they say in Silicon Valley, does not compute.

Corporations are dictatorships, with everyone ultimately reporting to the CEO. Governments are vast cooperative bodies with legislatures, courts and other institutions without which chief executives can’t get much done. Corporations exist primarily, if not solely, to enrich shareholders. Even most conservatives don’t argue that government’s primary purpose is to make money.

The conceit that “business” equals “sensible,” “rigorous,” and “lean” does not, to put it kindly, comport with the evidence. Do we really want our government run by the financial wizards and corporate honchos who brought us the current economic meltdown, laughing all the way to their own banks while taking obscene risks with their shareholders’ money and their workers’ future?

Of course, big money dominates both Democrats and Republicans, while making it next to impossible for third party candidates to gain traction. And this won’t change until elections are, at least to some degree, publicly funded.

We can trace the need for reform back to 1886, when the Supreme Court granted corporations the same rights as living persons under the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution. Now the Roberts Court is poised to expand on the incredible idea of “personhood” for corporations, giving them more “rights” than ever to influence campaigns. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/09/05/MN7K19INC8.DTL

National campaign finance reform isn’t even on the radar these days. But Californians next year will have the opportunity to vote for CFEA (California Fair Elections Act), which provides a test of a public financing option to even the playing field for candidates without the resources of a Whitman or a Fiorina.

This bill won’t pass unless activists can raise enough money to wage an effective grass roots campaign. To learn more and get involved, check out this link. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/wendy-block/fixed_b_270123.html

Let’s get corporations to stop acting like governments or persons and go back to being just corporations. Then maybe we can all exhale.