In recent months some of the old time Icarus Project organizers became aware of this book called Firewalkers: Radically Rethinking Mental Illness put out by a group in Virginia called VOCAL. Firewalkers tells the story of a bunch of people who’ve all struggled with serious mental health issues and, in different ways, learned to see their struggles as sacred quests of transformation. - from sascha

Crooked Beauty is a documentary film on the experiences of Icarus co-founder Ashley McNamara set to powerful visual images. The documentary is premiering at San Francisco's Cinematheque on April 17, at 9pm! For more info, and to see the trailer online, go to www.crookedbeauty.com. Facebook event page: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=116462821701469

 Spring is here and with it a bunch of announcements. A fundraising update, call for essays, member survey, recent local group events, and most importantly USSF organizing. Check out the full post and let us know what you think.

The second annual Reelabilities film festival was held this past weekend in the NY metropolitan area. The festival’s mission statement cites “dedication to promoting awareness and appreciation of the lives, stories and artistic expressions of people with different disabilities.” In addition to award-winning films the weekend’s events included discussions and other special programs intended to “bring together the community to explore, discuss and celebrate the diversity of our shared human experience.”

Icarus-NYC local and Icarus intergalactic organized a showcase of creativity in Brooklyn to benefit Icarus efforts - more than 150 people showed up for a fun evening of poetry art and music. Check out the photos, video, and audio from this memorable occasion...

Michael Gennarelli spins >>

Angel Adeyoha writes: I was happy to attend the annual NASCO (North American Students of Cooperation) Institute as a representative of TIP. I presented a workshop on "Radical Mental Health on Campus and in the Community through an Anti-Oppression Lens" I have been considering so much lately how my work organizing in explicit anti-oppression circles around topics of race, gender and class converge with my work as a coordinator for TIP. This weekend and this workshop really merged those parallel lines for me.

Icaristas Sam Kendakur, Will Hall, and Bonfire Madigan Shive presented at the Rethinking Psychiatric Crisis: Alternative Responses to First Breaks conference in New York City. They joined more than 200 researchers, people with psychiatric diagnoses, policymakers, clinicians, advocates, and family members from several countries including Finland and the UK to discuss effective hospital, labeling, and force alternatives. Check out the slideshow here, and more info at the International Network Towards Alternatives for Recovery website.

A new trailer is up now for the forthcoming indie documentary film Crooked Beauty following the powerful words, insights and narrative of TIP co-founder Ashley McNamara with the music of TIP founding collective member Bonfire Madigan (bmad)! 

Icarus co-coordinator Annie Robinson just had an essay published in the activist youth web magazine WireTap: Landing With Icarus: Navigating Madness On Campus:

I remember vividly the day I met my first psychiatrist.... She was going to help me find a way to deal with the raging voices that had been telling me to seek control of my life by abusing my body, to quell the debilitating sadness and lethargy that kept me sunken in my bed nearly every day. The fact that my best friend was dying of bone cancer came up, but had little to do with her treatment plan. Eventually she came up the answer: Seroquel. Over the following eight years I was subjected to an onslaught of chemical cocktails corresponding to a long list of diagnoses cast upon me...

In June and July, Leah Harris and Daniel Hazen of the U.S. Network of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry organized a "Human Rights for ALL" tour,  co-sponsored by many organizations include The Icarus Project, MindFreedom, CAFETY, and the Freedom Center. The tour was designed to raise awareness about human rights and particularly the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). Read Leah's report here...

Mental Health Clients and Psychiatric Survivors to Lead Protest of
American Psychiatric Association Annual Meeting

Protesters Say, “Our Creative Support Will Overcome Psychiatric Corruption!”

This Sunday: Festival of Resistance at APA Convention in SF MindFreedom International & California Network of Mental Health Clients 17 May 2009, 1 PM. Moscone Center, San Francisco