Hi all – what a fun opportunity to re-connect with old friends from LSU after almost
35 years… The picture above on the left was taken circa 1977, my first academic year
in the Ph.D. program, after classmates Cathy Seiler and Debbie Webb had introduced
me to Charlotte Frey, their roommate and next-door-neighbor, respectively. Our first
date was the Baton Rouge Performing Arts Festival, which I, at that time the quintessential
arrogant New Yorker, labeled as “Baton Rouge’s feeble attempt at culture”. We had
a blast, and our relationship was off to the races, one that is now in the 34th year
of marriage and has resulted in 3 kids and 2 grandkids, all of whom live within a
blessedly short driving distance. The guy above on the right – the one with the pot
belly – is me now, sitting at home, trying to put off writing a psych evaluation for
my private practice.
By way of history, I came to LSU in 1976 to study social psych with the only social psychologist on the faculty, Perry Prestholdt. I loved it, got great teaching and research experience, but found the path towards an academic career somewhat challenging. Meanwhile, Joe Dawson and I had hit it off really well, and he at one point suggested that I transition to a clinical major – that is, until I made the fatal mistake of announcing in his Psychotherapy seminar that from my assigned literature review, I had concluded that there was little empirical evidence supporting psychoanalysis. POW – the end of a beautiful relationship. I took all of the required clinical coursework with Felicia Pryor, Ralph Dreger, Joe, et al but was not allowed to take clinical comps or practica, so that was that. I graduated in 1980 with my social psych degree (I had often wondered if I should have followed Courtland Chaney and Robert Anderson into the Organizational track), and promptly took a job at East LA State Hospital – Jackson, for short. In applying for licensure after a year, I had no problem with the written exam, but Darlyne Nemeth and her licensing board wisely refused to pass me on my oral because I did not have appropriate clinical training. I remember Darlyne telling me “Go get retrained, then come back”. So I did – Charlotte, my girls, ages 2 and a couple of months, and I headed up the road to Hattiesburg, where the Psych Dept there allowed me to enroll as a “retread” in their APA-approved program. After a year of more coursework and practica, it was on to internship in the Army. In 1986, I got on a plane from Kansas where I was stationed at the time, and landed in Alexandria, LA where Darlyne, et al were waiting on my second try at the license. This time, all was well, and I remember her saying, “Even though you don’t live here now, remember that any time you cross the state line into Louisiana, you are a licensed psychologist.”
I was an Army captain/clinical psychologist for eight years (between wars, I’m relieved to say), and then the family decided to stay put once we got to the Washington, DC area in 1987, and here we still are. After I left the Army, I joined the U.S. Public Health Service, and spent most of the next 17 years working as a mental health policy analyst in the Pentagon. I started a private practice - on Saturdays, yet (it helped get the kids through college) which I now am finally trying to pull away from at my tender age (any therapists out there to help me with that?). Even though I’m retired from the Public Health Service, I now work for the Dept of the Army, as a BEHAVIORAL health policy analyst (anybody know the difference? I don’t).
As I approach final retirement, Charlotte and I, predictably, are increasingly traveling – we just recently spent a week in Israel, where I hadn’t visited in 40 years and she had never been. We’ve also cruised up to Glacier Bay in Alaska (where I won $400 at Bingo on the ship – I think I’m gonna LOVE getting’ old!). My daughter works as a case worker for county adult protective services, and my son, at the tender age of 27, is now thinking of going to grad school in – of all things – clinical psych.
Well, I think that’s about it…now I don’t have to write my memoir…as I said, I am very excited about getting together next summer! Hope to see y’all then!
Mark
By way of history, I came to LSU in 1976 to study social psych with the only social psychologist on the faculty, Perry Prestholdt. I loved it, got great teaching and research experience, but found the path towards an academic career somewhat challenging. Meanwhile, Joe Dawson and I had hit it off really well, and he at one point suggested that I transition to a clinical major – that is, until I made the fatal mistake of announcing in his Psychotherapy seminar that from my assigned literature review, I had concluded that there was little empirical evidence supporting psychoanalysis. POW – the end of a beautiful relationship. I took all of the required clinical coursework with Felicia Pryor, Ralph Dreger, Joe, et al but was not allowed to take clinical comps or practica, so that was that. I graduated in 1980 with my social psych degree (I had often wondered if I should have followed Courtland Chaney and Robert Anderson into the Organizational track), and promptly took a job at East LA State Hospital – Jackson, for short. In applying for licensure after a year, I had no problem with the written exam, but Darlyne Nemeth and her licensing board wisely refused to pass me on my oral because I did not have appropriate clinical training. I remember Darlyne telling me “Go get retrained, then come back”. So I did – Charlotte, my girls, ages 2 and a couple of months, and I headed up the road to Hattiesburg, where the Psych Dept there allowed me to enroll as a “retread” in their APA-approved program. After a year of more coursework and practica, it was on to internship in the Army. In 1986, I got on a plane from Kansas where I was stationed at the time, and landed in Alexandria, LA where Darlyne, et al were waiting on my second try at the license. This time, all was well, and I remember her saying, “Even though you don’t live here now, remember that any time you cross the state line into Louisiana, you are a licensed psychologist.”
I was an Army captain/clinical psychologist for eight years (between wars, I’m relieved to say), and then the family decided to stay put once we got to the Washington, DC area in 1987, and here we still are. After I left the Army, I joined the U.S. Public Health Service, and spent most of the next 17 years working as a mental health policy analyst in the Pentagon. I started a private practice - on Saturdays, yet (it helped get the kids through college) which I now am finally trying to pull away from at my tender age (any therapists out there to help me with that?). Even though I’m retired from the Public Health Service, I now work for the Dept of the Army, as a BEHAVIORAL health policy analyst (anybody know the difference? I don’t).
As I approach final retirement, Charlotte and I, predictably, are increasingly traveling – we just recently spent a week in Israel, where I hadn’t visited in 40 years and she had never been. We’ve also cruised up to Glacier Bay in Alaska (where I won $400 at Bingo on the ship – I think I’m gonna LOVE getting’ old!). My daughter works as a case worker for county adult protective services, and my son, at the tender age of 27, is now thinking of going to grad school in – of all things – clinical psych.
Well, I think that’s about it…now I don’t have to write my memoir…as I said, I am very excited about getting together next summer! Hope to see y’all then!
Mark