#64 - Notes on Therapy, Failure and Book Covers
Education Coffee is a 2xWeekly Newsletter about People, Ideas and Culture.
In each edition of this newsletter, I will share five inspiring web resources that I have curated after hours of research to ensure that you have the best education coffee in your inbox. In upcoming editions, I will focus on sharing insights, notes and realizations that I gather from people, ideas, books, films and podcasts.
1. Learning from People
In this episode of the Learning Stories podcast we interview, Vikramjeet Sinha an Art Therapist and Art Educator based out of India.
In this interview he spoke about his work and experience as an art therapist and educator in the social development sector where he mainly used the arts to create psycho-social change. He has directed over 25 plays in schools, colleges and in Festivals. Vikram holds an undergraduate degree in English Literature, a graduate degree in Social Anthropology. He is an ABT Practitioner from the World Center for Creative Learning. Vikramjeet has many other professional qualifications, which include his training in Clinical Hypnotherapy from Californian School of Hypnosis and training in Trauma healing. He also holds a five-year diploma on watercolor therapy from the art loft in the Margeret Haushcka school of art therapy, based on the principles of Rudolph Steiner. He is a founder of Building on Art Therapy or B.O.A.T (https://www.buildingonart.com/) which offers arts-based therapy training programs for schools and organizations. In this video he talks about how the arts can be used a vehicle to facilitate psycho-social change.
2. Learning from Ideas and Questions
School of Life shows us that people have failed throughout history but the way the failure has been interpreted has changed throughout the ages in fascinating ways as seen in this History of Ideas video from their channel.
3. Learning from Books, Websites and Blogs
Rocking Book Covers is a website that provides book cover design services. I have always been intrigued by the process behind the design of these covers that affect book sales and reader perception in a lot of ways. They published an article titled, 75 Stunning Designs for Fiction Book Cover Design Inspiration that has a list of their favourite book cover designs that you can read and view at this link.
4. Learning from Films, Videos and Shows
Barzakh is a 2024 Pakistani fantasy drama television series directed and written by Asim Abbasi. The storyline is that it is about a reclusive resort owner who summons his estranged sons for his third and final wedding — with a ghost. The six-part series has been shot in the Hunza Valley, in Northern Pakistan and the valley becomes another character in the series. Here is a still from the series.
We discover the reasons for the marriage and understand the lives and relationships of the main characters through the series. The show delves into themes like grief, greed, land ownership, trauma, societal expectations and love. I love how the show was shot and its slow melancholy vibe. The casting also got me excited, because Fawad Khan and Sanam Saaed were actors in another Pakistani series I really enjoyed called, Zindagi Gulzar Hai. You can watch all six episodes of the series on Youtube on the Zee Zindagi Channel (Episode Links 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6).
5. Learning from Podcasts and Music
The song Suniyan Suniyan by Juss and Mix Singh, portrays feelings of love and yearning. It is the top song on my playlist from the last month. It has a melodious catchy tune and poetic lyrics that capture the innocence of young love.
Thank you for reading this edition of #EducationCoffee. I look forward to writing weekly editions of this newsletter this year. I hope to continue to share resources that will add value to your life. You can also review the archive of Education Coffee for free at this link (63 past newsletters). You can subscribe to this newsletter for more such recommendations on people, ideas and culture.
Please do send me your thoughts and resources on any edition of this newsletter through email at abhishekashokshetty@gmail.com, Linkedin or on twitter @AbhishekShetty_. You can find my work online at https://abhishekshetty.carrd.co/. If you would like to read pieces in the future please do consider subscribing to this newsletter by clicking the button below. I love taking these discussions forward on those platforms and look forward to hearing your feedback.
Abhishek Shetty