I am pleased that The Philadelphia Inquirer printed the following recently submitted letter.  With warm wishes in this tragic, dangerous time of deepest possible suffering for all concerned, SaraKay

To the editor:

When I was young, my mother became ill, and I went to live with my grandfather. Though I could not understand his references to the pogroms or concentration camps, I did learn from him that the world hated Jews: “We are not family, and never will be.” I remember my joy in 1945 when Bess Myerson became the first Jewish Miss America. Waving her photo in the Baltimore Sun, I spoke with much excitement: “Look, Pop. You’re wrong. Look, we are not hated. We are family.” My grandfather shook his head. “This only happened because of the guilt about the camps, when no one stopped the Nazis till it was too late,” he said.

A few years ago, my husband and I attended a Seder where survivors of concentration camps spoke of changes in America, ones reminiscent of their experience in Germany as Hitler was gaining power. They referenced extreme right and extreme left movements “fanning the flames” of hatred. At that time, neither my husband nor I had ever experienced antisemitism personally. That has changed.

Raised in a modern Orthodox setting, I never parted with a knit suit with a matching beret bought many years ago for going to synagogue with my parents. Recently, invited to an Orthodox bar mitzvah, I took the outfit to an excellent dressmaker I’ve known for years. As she was pinning the suit to alter it, she asked where I was going to wear it. A week or so after the event, I took some of my husband’s shirts to her shop to be laundered. She greeted me with a look I had never seen, and a tone I had never heard. “Did you have a good time at the bar mitzvah with your rich Jewish friends?” she asked with contempt.

Now, following the barbaric assault on Israeli civilians — where atrocities too horrific to wrap one’s head around took place — the world is protesting Israel’s response to that brutality. “What,” asked a thoughtful and intelligent friend, “do you think that Israel did to provoke the massacre?” As she concluded her sentence, I was no longer at a cocktail party. I was instead at my grandfather’s kitchen table.

I often dream of Pop. In past dreams, I look for him everywhere, but cannot find him. Amid today’s horror, my dream changed. I do find him; he grabs my hand and I tell him he was right: Jews will never be family.

SaraKay Smullens

Philadelphia

To The Philadelphia Inquirer, October 25, 2023

I am pleased that the following letter was published in the Philadelphia Inquirer on October 4th, 2023

To the editor:

Ed Rendell took office as Philly’s mayor in 1992. For the next four years, former Inquirer reporter Buzz Bissinger was given unparalleled access to the hellish obstacles Philadelphia (and all urban cities) faced as we struggled to survive. The result was Bissinger’s 1997 book A Prayer for the City, which depicted our mayor on his knees doing everything possible to save us. Although Rendell has not been mayor since 2000, as the ravages and deaths due to addiction increase yearly, his recent letter to the editor finds him still on his knees for his beloved city. Rendell supports overdose prevention centers, where people using drugs can do so under the supervision of trained staff, out of the view of children and families.

Two centers in New York City confirm what data collected worldwide have shown: When sites are offered, overdose fatalities are decreased, and the areas where they exist show no increase in crime. In his letter, Rendell asked that City Council not do away with the possibility of having these centers in Philadelphia, but instead follow Councilmember Jamie Gauthier’s wise guidance and trust the decision to individual communities. The next day, a misguided Council, lacking awareness or compassion, effectively killed a long and dedicated effort to finally bring overdose prevention centers to Philadelphia. In doing so, it ignored yet another prayer for our tormented city.   

SaraKay Smullens

Philadelphia

To The Philadelphia Inquirer, October 4, 2023

Dear colleagues and friends,
This letter was submitted but not printed.  I’m posting it because I cannot forget how Charles and Camilla selected Diana, planning for their relationship to continue, and how she was used, manipulated, discarded.   When Charles proposed, he and Camilla were 33 years old, Diana 19.  Diana died when she was 36.  There is no doubt how dearly she loved her sons, and all she contributed to the endurance of the monarchy. Yes, divorce was necessary, but as the mother of a future king, respect and police protection were surely her due.

To the editor:

I write to strongly differ with coverage of King Charles’s “surprising” popularity (September 9-10).  The king's popularity is not one iota surprising.  Charles commands an enormously powerful PR machine, in concert with press, which has successfully reframed the torment that he and (now Queen) Camilla devised for a newly 20 year old, poorly educated innocent, Diana:  She would provide the future of the monarchy, as their relationship continued.  Further, Brits are loyal to their monarchs, wanting to see the best of them. They now offer their king the warmth denied him by his distant mother and emotionally abusive father, and are moved that, unlike Elizabeth who disdained being touched by the public, Charles relishes returning sincere affection. This said, it is important to remember that the cruelty and destruction the monarchy is capable of — which necessitated our separation from them — remains alive and well. They continue to do all possible to destroy the lives and remembrances of those who threaten their power, but in less obvious ways.   

SaraKay Smullens

Philadelphia

To The Wall Street Journal, September 9, 2023

Dear friends and colleagues, I was pleased that The Philadelphia Inquirer printed my letter about the plea bargain for the killer of 20-year-old Sahmya Garcia, whom he murdered after she had the courage to end their relationship. An appalling miscarriage of justice!

Not Enough

To the editor:

The family of 20-year-old Sahmya Garcia — who was tormented and beaten by Marcus Burney and murdered after she ended their relationship — has every right to be “disappointed” by her killer’s plea deal, which spared him from life imprisonment. The family has every right to be enraged. I surely am. Garcia’s murder occurred just moments after the police were unsuccessful in delivering Burney a protection from abuse order. However, even if they had been successful, history shows that this order is not a deterrent for someone determined to kill. These murders are carried out by those who lose control of their rage once they lose their power to dominate their partner. In Burney’s case, fury and lawlessness were palpable, but some who murder for these reasons appear to be model citizens. A response to the following question is long overdue: Why is the abuse and murder of women less important than the protection of their killers?

SaraKay Smullens

Philadelphia

The Philadelphia Inquirer, September 3, 2023

I am very pleased that The Philadelphia Inquirer printed this letter, recalling special memories.

Remembering Icons

To the editor:

In my mind, Philadelphia’s 1928 art deco jewel, the Drake Towers, whose magical exterior was captured in Chris Hytha’s drone footage of vintage skyscrapers, is woven with memories of singer Tony Bennett, whose extraordinary life and talent. The Inquirer celebrated after his recent passing. My husband and I lived at the Drake from 2007 to 2013, where we showered two tired, shabby floors with love and care, and my husband created a wonderland of flowers and trees on 1,700 feet of terrace. Still, we never felt this space was ours; we saw it instead as a treasure on loan, to be enjoyed by others, including any nonprofit who asked to use it for fundraising. To thank us for its use, leadership at the Mann Center invited us to attend Bennett’s Aug. 28, 2010, performance, and to meet him afterward. At 84, Bennett enchanted a full house with two hours of timeless classics. Backstage, though noticeably tired, he greeted each of us with his wondrous smile and a private word.

SaraKay Smullens

Philadelphia

The Philadelphia Inquirer, July 26, 2023

by SaraKay Smullens, MSW, LCSW, DCSW, CGP, CFLE, BCD

    It’s a given: Social workers face horrific days with our clients when we know better than to respond to the well-intended question, “How was your day?”  For if we try, we may well be asked, “How can you spend your days like this? Why do you do this?”   

     My advice for these days: Go home; respond to only what is necessary; take a long, hot bath (whenever possible, pick a home with a tub, a highly undervalued retreat); and then visit Tom Hanks and company in his 2022 dramedy, A Man Called Otto.

     Hanks has openly shared that his wife Rita Wilson and her family taught him to love—a primary theme of Otto—and the Hanks family is heavily invested in an uplifting and heartening escape from familial and societal cruelty. Hanks and Wilson are two of the film’s producers. The soundtrack album features the single “Til You're Home,” written by Wilson and David Hodges and performed by Wilson and Sebastián Yatra. Hanks’ son Truman plays Otto as a young man, dearly and convincingly.   

Read more Here

Much work to do, not only in Philly...

Detailed electoral study

To the editor:

The Inquirer’s eye-opening, detailed study of the six electoral coalitions leading to the overwhelming victory of Cherelle Parker (May 17), where she would not have needed one single vote from the three voting blocs made up mostly of white Philadelphians, speaks volumes: Parker supporters are desperate for safety and appropriate resources in their neighborhoods — especially for their children. Our city has paid lip service to those resources, but not provided them. Parker supporters are sick and tired of leaders who ignore their basic needs and treat their neighborhoods as invisible. They trust that finally, they have found a political leader who sees them, knows them, and will work tirelessly to deliver necessary care and protection. Further, the study shows how deeply out of touch white neighborhoods are with the fears and suffering our fellow Black Philadelphians face minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day.

SaraKay Smullens

Philadelphia

The Philadelphia Inquirer, May 28, 2023

I am pleased that The Inquirer printed the following letter at this urgent time

Suspend Search

To the editor:

I have never met JoAnne A. Epps, Temple University’s acting president, but have closely followed her extraordinary accomplishments, demonstrated loyalty, and evidenced maturity. Notably, when now-former president Jason Wingard “removed” her — a highly regarded and trusted provost — from her position, she did not react by resigning. Instead, she remained on staff as a so-called presidential adviser, who I strongly suspect was never consulted. Presidential search committees are, of course, de rigueur. However, to survive as a university, the challenges Temple faces are a microcosm of what Philadelphia must also confront, and desperate times such as these call for flexibility and unique measures. Temple trustees should immediately disband plans for their presidential search and appoint Epps as president. Temple desperately needs her evidenced strong, knowing, sensitive leadership, both now and in the foreseeable future. As does Philadelphia.

SaraKay Smullens

Philadelphia

The Philadelphia Inquirer, April 18, 2023

Based on a true story, Sarah Polley brings to life the prolonged traumas of women and their daughters in an isolated setting.

by SaraKay Smullens, MSW, LCSW, DCSW, CGP, CFLE, BCD

 Content warning: Rape/Violence

     If you tuned in to the 95th Academy Awards ceremony on March 12, 2023, amidst many compelling changes, updates, and recognitions, you may know of one “smack in the face” category exclusion. Although Sarah Polley’s Women Talking, which she both wrote and directed, was nominated for Best Picture, Polley (and all women!) were excluded this year from consideration in the highly coveted director category. In a recent interview with Variety, this striking omission led Patty Jenkins, who directed Wonder Woman and Monster, to offer a sarcastic sentence, not meant to be taken literally: “I give up!”

     Polley did, however, receive an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay. In accepting her Oscar, she attacked the sexism that social workers validate hourly as again and again we see women (including ourselves) condescended to, demeaned as lacking intelligence, viewed as “less than,” and sexually objectified. “First of all, I just want to thank the Academy for not being mortally offended by the words ‘women’ and ‘talking’ put so close together like that.” 

Read the full review here

Fighting Rock

To the editor:

I was flooded with many memories, both sweet and horrible, after reading Elizabeth Wellington’s review of Chris Rock’s Netflix special Selective Outrage at Baltimore’s Hippodrome Theatre. Baltimore is my hometown, and I know the Hippodrome well. Throughout my childhood, there were periods when I lived with my grandmother, and each year before school started, as a special gift, she bought us tickets in the Hippodrome balcony “scholarship section.” In the Baltimore of my youth, where odious Jim Crow laws thrived, the Chris Rocks of that time would have taken their lives in their hands if they tried to walk into the Hippodrome, or even open its doors. In Wellington’s review, she criticized Rock for prioritizing the reactions of white people over his own pain, using his explanation for not striking Will Smith at the 2022 Academy Awards ceremony to make her point: “And you know what my parents taught me: Don’t fight in front of white people.” Wellington’s point taken! However, as I experience his words, the magnificently brilliant Rock used this example, veiled in humor, to lay bare the universal terror all Black parents share about their children’s safety. And more — to demonstrate a conscience they planted deeply within him, as well as the hope and determination for something better than hate.

SaraKay Smullens

Philadelphia

The Philadelphia Inquirer, March 10, 2023

Dear friends and colleagues,
March is Social Worker’s month. Few realize all the historic profession of social work has contributed to the mental health field. I hope you find my tribute meaningful.

by SaraKay Smullens, MSW, LCSW, DCSW, CGP, CFLE, BCD

Social work is the first profession to identify the practitioner’s relationship with our clients and its essential components as the key vehicle that leads to hope, awareness, change—and in many noted cases, transformation. The relationship is devoid of superiority and condescension. Clients are not viewed as sick or “less than,” “in treatment with” a healthy paragon of knowledge and virtue. Social workers deeply believe that each client is capable of finding meaning, fulfillment, and integration of the importance of self and mutual respect…

Read the full article Here

Though it is tedious, taking the time to see this prescient film questioning the so called “best and brightest"  will be worth your while.

by SaraKay Smullens, MSW, LCSW, DCSW, CGP, CFLE, BCD

    The 2022 film White Noise, written and directed by Noah Baumbach, is billed as a comedy-drama. But make no mistake: Baumbach’s achievement is a timely, deadly serious, and I believe brilliant depiction of life—one where Baumbach digs out closely guarded intimate fears and denied external realities. Like life itself, the film moves so quickly at certain points that the viewer feels breathless. At other times, it seems to drag interminably. 

     Yes, there are some scenes that produce smiles (not primarily because they are funny, but because they hit home). There are giggle-chuckles that are due to “absurdities’—steroid manifestations—of life truths. They are the blown up, exaggerated mirror images of struggles we know well about our family and friends, our clients, our world, ourselves. This film illuminates a social worker’s challenge: Until we face ourselves and what complex societal challenges ask of us, we cannot understand our clients. We will be unable to hear what they are trying to tell us. 

Read more Here

I was pleased that the Philadelphia Inquirer printed the following letter.
With warm wishes, and with hope,
SaraKay

Enduring evil

To the editor:

Racism, built into the fabric of American culture, is protected by those who live and further it. Some knowingly, some not. The majority of those involved in the killing of Tyre Nichols, and countless others, long to fit in and be accepted by the powerful who endorse this malignant expression of hate, the deadliest of emotional cancers. Owning and confronting this truth, the myriad ways (both covert and overt) racism continues to be expressed, and the necessity of coming together to right a horrific wrong — for which we continue to pay a deadly price — is crucial to America’s endurance.

SaraKay Smullens

Philadelphia

by SaraKay Smullens, MSW, LCSW, DCSW, CGP, CFLE, BCD

     I found Spare, the controversial memoir by Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, released to the public on January 10, 2023, to hold many important life insights and opportunities for reflection (for social workers and our clients). I also found it to be misunderstood, condescended to, and judged harshly by many reviewers, critics, and readers, including several who hold a powerful media presence.   

     In its most brutal truths, Spare is a memoir about a lonely, isolated, abused, purposeless boy who becomes determined to face his realities in order to mature—in the messy, disorganized, and even conflicting process that occurs when traumas and abuse are faced. Harry exposes his family truths as he sees them to the fullest extent he can, while only hinting at some too painful to fully expose and discuss. From a social work perspective, I see his work as brave, heartfelt, and honest. Harry could well be our client. Or ourselves.

Read more Here

I am pleased that the Gazette printed the following.  Warm new year wishes, SaraKay

Putting together your full introduction to Liz Magill [“Liz Magill Is Listening (in a Good Way),” Sep|Oct 2022], and the emphasis offered in Proudly Penn [a supplement mailed with some copies of the issue], I see our new president as a much-needed gift for the present, a leader with long awaited qualities. As a graduate of our School of Social Work (now the School of Social Policy and Practice) and a former board member, it is clear to me that a university that protects a School of Social Work echoes its conscience and commitments.

Liz Magill both highlights and lives this commitment, one that can only serve our proud, historic university and all we touch and inspire very well. In your description of a woman who is available, listens deeply, and treats all with respect, yet is tough and decisive when this is called for, Liz Magill qualifies for the highest compliment I can offer. She, like the present dean of my grad school, Sally Bachman, is a “natural social worker.”

SaraKay Smullens SW’65, Philadelphia

Family Life Education is an extremely valuable and often overlooked road to understanding and coping.

This column was inspired by the book Wisdom for Parents. Key Ideas From Parent Educators, edited by the late Robert E. Keim, Ph.D., CFLE, and Arminta Jacobson, Ph.D., CFLE. This book, which helps to fund the CFLE Scholarship, includes the shared knowledge and experience of many Family Life Educators, most of them CFLEs. Wisdom for Family Life Educators provides an opportunity for CFLEs to share the wisdom they have acquired after many years in the practice of Family Life Education.

The author of this issue’s Wisdom for Family Life Educators column, CFLE SaraKay Smullens, MSW,LCSW,BCD,CGP, made two contributions to the Wisdom for Parents book, addressing the concepts of courage and loyalty in the family. In this article she shares her insight and perspective on the relevance of Family Life Education within the practices of social work and therapy and its value in addressing, rather than pathologizing human experiences.

Read the full article here

Dear friends and colleagues,

I hope you find the review of the series "League of the Own" (and its differences from the 1992 film) meaningful. Issues raised are relevant in light of today's raging prejudices and hatred, including antisemitism.

Found on The New Social Worker.

Penn State leadership is courting danger and undermining democracy by not seeing the threat of legitimizing the Proud Boys in the aftermath of January 6. I was pleased that The Philadelphia Inquirer published my letter on October 17th.

In our troubled and divided country, with democracy under siege, the most important mission a college can honor is to inspire its students to be ethical human beings and, to the best of its ability, protect them from danger. Especially danger from within the institution. Sadly, Penn State’s leadership is courting danger from within by protecting their campus conservative club’s Oct. 24 speaking invitation to Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes, who consistently inspires violence with his expressions of prejudice in hate-laced rhetoric. Students pushing back on this invite warn that McInnes’ presence, one that may bring large numbers of his followers to campus, poses an enormous threat.

According to Penn State leadership, however, the organization issuing the invite, Uncensored America, a recognized student organization, has an “undeniable constitutional right” to carry on with its planned evening. Why doesn’t leadership value the “undeniable constitutional right” of students to protect themselves and their academic home from the highly disturbed vitriol of the likes of Gavin McInnes and his followers?

SaraKay Smullens, Philadelphia
The Philadelphia Inquirer, October 17, 2022

Found on The Philadelphia Inquirer

Found on The New Social Worker.

Found on Medium.