Politics | Susan Bodnar PhD

And the violence, it goes round and round . . .

June 11, 2014 by Susan Bodnar

Let me make one thing clear. As of May 2014 there have been at least 70 mass shootings or shooting sprees with legally purchased guns, according to Rolling Stone. As Ezra Klein reported in 2012, while violence in general declines, more episodes of a lone individual, or team, involved in killing sprees or mass murders […]

Filed Under: mental illness, politics, young adults Tagged With: gun control and school shootings, gun violence, mass murders, mental health and school shootings, Oregon school shooting, preventing school shootings, psychology of lone gunman, Sandy hook shooking, Santa Barbara shooting, school shootings, shooting sprees

Thanksgiving=Diversity Squared

November 25, 2013 by Susan Bodnar

On Thanksgiving do we recognize collaboration between diverse peoples or do we inadvertently celebrate the return of Pilgrims from a successful massacre of over 700 Native Americans? Without a unifying narrative to give shape to our national values, most people will shop instead. Diversity has become an exponential issue generating more anxiety than solutions – […]

Filed Under: diversity studies, politics, race Tagged With: bias in America, black white relations, class anxiety, class identity, class in America, cultural identity, discrimination, diversity, gender, race, race relations, racism, social class in white america, Thanksgiving prayer

Thoughts about Trayvon Martin

May 24, 2012 by Susan Bodnar

I wrote about Trayvon Martin for CNN’s InAmerica blog.

Filed Under: politics, race Tagged With: Florida, George Zimmerman arrest, new evidence Trayvon Martin, race, racial profiling, racism, Sanford, Trayvon Martin

Summer 2010: Paralyzed

August 19, 2010 by Susan Bodnar

This blog has gone dark since the end of June. Why? Every morning the heat rose trapping me in a vapor of thick intoxication. When the sun burned high in the sky the humidity coated my skin in a waxy sweat. The news was no lighter. The every hour on the hour triviality emerging from […]

Filed Under: climate change, ecopsychcology, environmental disaster, global warming, politics Tagged With: 14th amendment repeal, 2012, Captain "Sully" Sullenberger, climate change, climate change happening now, climate change intensifies, David Plouffe, Fox political contribution, global warming effects now, ground zero mosque, Josh Marshall, psychological reaction to climate change now, Robert Reich, Sarah Palin, slow economic recovery, summer 2010 heat wave, terror babies

Gulf Coast Oil Spill #4: Teens

May 25, 2010 by Susan Bodnar

If you are wondering just how bad things really are in the Gulf see this ABC news report. Philippe Cousteau (Jacque’s grandson) calls it a “nightmare.” Transocean is holding a memorial today for those who died in the Deepwater Horizon in Jackson, Miss. . People have died. The US government is now calling it the […]

Filed Under: adolescence, environmental disaster, human interaction, personal environmentalism, politics Tagged With: Gulf Coast oil spill, gulf oil crisis, no offshore drilling petition to President Obama, NRDC bakesale, psychological response to Gulf Coast oil spill, response to gulf oil crisis, teens respond to gulf coast oil spill

Gulf Oil Spill #2

May 4, 2010 by Susan Bodnar

Read this. Krugman echoes comments by Glenn Albrecht. The surprising issue is that given the severity of this disaster, so few people seem as upset as I might expect, at least here in NYC. I venture to say, however, that unless you live along the Gulf coast or work in it waters, the implications of […]

Filed Under: ecopsychcology, environmental disaster, human interaction, personal environmentalism, politics, Uncategorized Tagged With: apathy Gulf Coast oil spill, Gulf Coast oil spill, pschological aspects of climate change, psychological response to Gulf Coast oil spill

A Yearning for the Past

April 29, 2010 by Susan Bodnar

The dark hair of a twenty-year-old female college student gleamed against her long-sleeved white shirt. Her rounded collar denied even the possibility of cleavage. Her denim skirt fell well below the knees and she wore stockings with her sneakers. She complained that her matchmaker thought she was too picky. If I had met this woman […]

Filed Under: human interaction, mental illness, politics, relationships, Uncategorized Tagged With: conservativism, explanation of tea partiers, longing for the past, old fashioned values, orthodoxy, return to the past, social contribution to mental health, social convention, too much excess, traditional lifestyle

Facing Unemployment: Going Local

February 16, 2010 by Susan Bodnar

The United States economic outlook is bleak, and predictions for the cultural fabric rather ominous. Don Peck writes in this month’s Atlantic that joblessness “is likely to warp our politics, our culture and the character of society for years to come.” While I tend to agree, I’m also working hard with folks on what to […]

Filed Under: human interaction, politics, unemployment Tagged With: economic outlook, going local, how to survive unemployment, local economy, small-scale economy, unemployment. facing unemployment

Support Our President

January 20, 2010 by Susan Bodnar

Keep in mind that the year hasn’t gotten of to a good start. A devastating earthquake hit Haiti. Try to imagine how it feels when one person you are close to dies. Now start multiplying. Sarah Palin has decided to join Fox News, meaning that the most popular media is now fully controlled by a […]

Filed Under: human interaction, politics Tagged With: Brown victory, health care reform, support Barack Obama, support Obama, support the president

The Pope says Green Begins at Home

January 5, 2010 by Susan Bodnar

In his New Year’s address, the pope called on Catholics (and I assume the rest of us can participate) to consider protecting the environment a personal responsibility as well as a political event. The Pope said, “An objective shared by all, an indispensable condition for peace, is that of overseeing the earth’s natural resources with […]

Filed Under: climate change, ethics, personal environmentalism, politics, Uncategorized Tagged With: Copenhagen, environment, ground up environmental change, personal environmentalism, Pope's new year address, relationship to nature