new teachers, new work

3 files changed, 164 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/stanzione/Makefile b/stanzione/Makefile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4a3f928
--- /dev/null
+++ b/stanzione/Makefile
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+.POSIX:
+.SUFFIXES: .tex .pdf
+
+PDFS = mm1.pdf
+
+PDFLATEX = pdflatex
+BIBER = biber
+
+all: $(PDFS)
+
+$(PDFS): sources.bib
+
+clean:
+	rm -f *.bbl *.blg *.log *.aux *.pdf *.run.xml *.bcf *.out
+
+.tex.pdf:
+	$(PDFLATEX) $<
+	$(BIBER) $*
+	$(PDFLATEX) $<
+	$(PDFLATEX) $<
+
+mm1.pdf: yang.jpg
+
+yang.jpg:
+	curl -o yang.jpg "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7f/Yang-single_%28restoration%29.jpg"
diff --git a/stanzione/mm1.tex b/stanzione/mm1.tex
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a03d49d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/stanzione/mm1.tex
@@ -0,0 +1,96 @@
+% Mastery Mailing 1
+\documentclass[12pt]{apa7}
+\usepackage[style=apa,backend=biber]{biblatex}
+\usepackage{graphicx}
+\setlength{\headheight}{15pt}
+
+% According to several sources, the following commands should be active
+% for an APA paper, but I just hate them.
+% \raggedright
+% \language255 % no hyphenation
+\parindent=.5in
+\linespread{1.85}
+
+\shorttitle{Mastery Mailing 1}
+
+\addbibresource{sources.bib}
+
+\leftheader{Rohrer}
+
+\begin{document}
+Hi Nana!
+\medskip
+
+I'm learning about meditation in psychology class, and I think you'd be
+interested in the subjective effects of ``open monitoring'' meditation.
+While some types of meditation focus on creating a ``trance'' state,
+many meditators report an increased sense of awareness of their own
+thoughts and surroundings \autocite[146]{textbook}.
+This really surprised me because I thought the medical effects of
+meditation---lowering heart rate, blood pressure, and stress
+levels---meant the conscious state of meditation was close to sleep.
+However, this may actually be true of some types of meditation.
+According to some psychologists, the term ``mindfulness'' has become
+conflated with so many different subjective experiences, news articles
+and new studies can't reliably mean 20-minute open-monitoring sessions
+or a global change in perception/awareness \autocite{doubt}.
+
+My textbook says that ``meditation involves using a mental or physical
+technique to induce a state of focused attention and heightened
+awereness'' \autocite[145]{textbook}.
+You're probably already familiar with some techniques of meditation,
+either from a religious (probably Buddhist) perspective or a secular
+perspective, but I'll examine a couple of techniques to see what
+psychologists are studying.
+There are two big categories: focused attention and open monitoring.
+Focused attention empties the mind of intrusive thoughts by thinking
+only about an object or your breathing or even movement (like in Tai
+Chi).
+Open monitoring is often transitioned to after focusing on breathing,
+but experts eventually can reach this state through ``effortless
+concentration'' \autocite{lutz}
+Open monitoring is acting as a passive observer of your own thoughts and
+external sensations.
+
+\begin{figure}[ht]
+    \begin{center}
+    \includegraphics[height=2.5in]{yang}
+    \par\emph{A Practioner of Tai Chi. Unknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons}
+    \end{center}
+\end{figure}
+
+This leads into the qualitative study that I found about meditation and
+depersonalization.
+Depersonalization is usually treated as a disease where the subject
+reports feeling disconnected from their own actions, as if they were
+watching someone else live their life.
+If this is brought on unexpectedly, it can be very distressing, and in
+certain cases, people have experienced it from meditation and
+immediately sought medical help \autocite{castillo}.
+This study also includes interviews with long-term meditation
+practitioners (not monks, just typical Western workers and
+businesspeople) who all experienced depersonalization.
+They report feeling mildly content and entirely lack strong emotions,
+and many are totally accustomed to work happening outside of their
+``self.''
+However, as one Mr. A said, ``I don't want to leave the thing sounding
+better than it is, because it's not bad, but it's not wonderful.''
+They describe what Yoga psychology calls enlightenment, especially the
+less persistent experience of derealization.
+Some meditators said they saw every object as being conscious, having
+auras, and vibrating to some degree.
+
+I thought of you when I learned about this because I know you are
+interested in enlightenment and mystic symbols, so people achieving
+these states after only a year or a few days of consistent meditation is
+interesting.
+I was really intrigued that these practitioners weren't just
+recommending the experience to everyone.
+Even though meditators who experience this accept their experience, I'm
+afraid of the loss of strong emotions because I like emotional highs
+even if it means I have to experience some disappointment and
+depression.
+
+\vfil\eject
+\printbibliography
+\end{document}
diff --git a/stanzione/sources.bib b/stanzione/sources.bib
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fda2232
--- /dev/null
+++ b/stanzione/sources.bib
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+@book{textbook,
+    title = "Discovering Psychology",
+    author = "Sandra Hockenbury and Susan Nolan",
+    edition = 8,
+    publisher = "Macmillan Learning",
+    year = 2018,
+}
+
+@article{doubt,
+    author = {Nicholas T. Van Dam and Marieke K. van Vugt and David R. Vago and Laura Schmalzl and Clifford D. Saron and Andrew Olendzki and Ted Meissner and Sara W. Lazar and Catherine E. Kerr and Jolie Gorchov and Kieran C. R. Fox and Brent A. Field and Willoughby B. Britton and Julie A. Brefczynski-Lewis and David E. Meyer},
+    title = {Mind the Hype: A Critical Evaluation and Prescriptive Agenda for Research on Mindfulness and Meditation},
+    journal = {Perspectives on Psychological Science},
+    volume = {13},
+    number = {1},
+    pages = {36-61},
+    year = {2018},
+    doi = {10.1177/1745691617709589},
+    note ={PMID: 29016274},
+    URL = {https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691617709589},
+}
+
+@article{lutz,
+    title = {Attention regulation and monitoring in meditation},
+    journal = {Trends in Cognitive Sciences},
+    volume = {12},
+    number = {4},
+    pages = {163-169},
+    year = {2008},
+    issn = {1364-6613},
+    doi = {10.1016/j.tics.2008.01.005},
+    url = {https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364661308000521},
+    author = {Antoine Lutz and Heleen A. Slagter and John D. Dunne and Richard J. Davidson},
+}
+
+@article{castillo,
+    title = "Depersonalization and Meditation",
+    author = "Richard J. Castillo",
+    pages = {158-168},
+    journal = "Psychiatry",
+    volume = 53,
+    year = {1990},
+    month = {May}
+}