Ashley writing here:

I wish you could see this scene: I am kneeling on a blue meditation cushion on my friend's floor in her apartment in Manhattan, checking my e-mail for the last time, typing away on my little laptop. Suddenly I notice something nudging my knee. I look up, expecting a cat; a TURTLE is crawling into my lap. A big sociable turtle who has been let out of his tank. He proceeds to climb onto my ridiulous green and gold striped skirt while I start giggling uncontrollably. Meanwhile, my friends are out in the living room brainstorming about what collective membership will look like in the new Center For Sustainable Culture that they are starting. My huge suitcase, which is stuffed with Icarus Project readers, support manuals, posters, and postcards, is waiting behind me to get hauled down 6 flights of stairs to get on the J train. My shoulders are a little sore from hauling books, and my legs are a little sore from a very intense yoga class I took this morning. Trying to connect with my body one last time before spending the night on a transatlantic airplane...

In the last couple days, I've gotten requests from folks in the UK to a) accompany us on the train to Bradford to talk about psychosis and spirituality on the way up to our evening talk there b) film interviews with us for a film about alternatives to psychiatry c) meet over coffee to discuss the representation of bipolar romances in british cinema and  d) post Ireland's first radical mental health discussion on the Icarus Project's events calendar. (I am not making any of this up.) (and the turtle has just reentered the room. He is bumping into my suitcase.)

Life is just incredible sometimes.

Wish us luck!