The Candidates' Spring Bash, co-hosted by the Baltimore-Washington Psychoanalytic Institute and the Washington Psychoanalytic Institute, was a smashing success. The event took place May 14 during the Annual Meeting of the American in Washington.
We as individuals and as a committee sought to create an evening of support and playfulness with and for one another. These fundamental attributes contributed to comments heard throughout the night by the candidates —“This is the best psychoanalytic party I've ever been to!” This focus, I think, is a foreshadowing of how we can be increasingly mindful of working together in this difficult and often isolating work.
The evening had something for everyone: jazz music by the Rick Whitehead Trio, food and wines provided by the local candidates, cappuccinos prepared outside by Starbucks. More than a hundred candidates gathered in a room filled with black and gold balloons and flickering candles. The brightly painted home/office was generously provided by one of our candidates, Margarita Cereijido. The planning committee consisting of Eloise Agger, Martha Dupecher, Paula Hamm, Michael Houston, Cornelia Lischewski, Edwig Plotnick, and Diane Rainy from Washington. Christy Platt, Jessica Brown, and Lynn Bulger from Baltimore organized the event. Contributions for flyers, mailing, and food came from all the classes of both institutes.
We are a new generation of psychoanalytic candidates moving up into the American. The single task and goal we all share is to provide the highest possible service to the public. A true spirit of collegiality was present from the party's earliest planning stages between the two institutes. The meetings were characterized by co-operation and mutual respect. Issues of power, authority, competition, and envy, which often creep in to tear down institutes and organizations was absent from this collaborative effort.