Video of the Week: July 4

I wanted my first video to be Baz Luhrmann perfoming, “Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen)”.  Although it’s been over a decade since this song was popular, my reason for choosing it is two-fold: 1. The whole article/song is about dispensing advice, life lessons, and wisdom to be shared (whether or not the readers/listeners opt to take that advice, or not), and 2. It’s July and everyone needs a reminder to wear sunscreen.  With regards to the former reason, I want people to know that I’m not starting this blog to “crack an egg of knowledge” on anyone’s head; rather, I wanted a forum in which ideas could be shared openly.  I have no “advice”…only thoughts and experiences…

I had forgotten about this song long ago, along with many of my other memories from that oh-so-awkward year of 1999 (think: big bangs, bad hygiene, and a severe, undiagnosed anxiety disorder).   However, my husband was randomly playing it in the den about a month ago and this sudden pang of nostalgia hit me.  Immediately, I wondered how I could use this song in a session at the psychiatric unit.

Here’s what I came up with:

After listening to the song, the patients each wrote a list of advice to share: wisdom they learned from their past, their experience of presently being in a mental hospital, and guidelines they would share with themselves or others for the future. Fortunately, my supervisor owned the no-longer-made-and-highly-coveted DJxii and as each patient shared their words of wisdom, they got to choose their own beat to perform to, mimicking the format of “Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen)”.  It was inspiring to hear what they came up with.  Some were funny, some were heartbreaking, and many showed signs of hope for the future.

And now, for the video of the week: