Dear Drama Observers, A few years ago in Manhattan, I was conducting a seminar on manipulators. That particular trip coincided with my wedding anniversary, so my wife flew up to meet me, and we spent a couple of days doing the NYC tourist thing. As a very nice gesture, our kids bought us tickets to […]
Dear Drama Observers, Many of us have family traditions and we certainly have ours. Every Thanksgiving night, we watch Home Alone, I suppose as a way to officially usher in the Christmas season. Every Christmas Day, we watch It’s a Wonderful Life because, well, that’s just what you do on Christmas. And every Fourth of […]
Dear Drama Observers, I had actually planned to skip this week’s Drama Review as my wife and I are at the beach for a few days of relaxation. But on the way here, we had a drama encounter I’d like to tell you about. We stopped in Montgomery, Alabama to visit the Legacy Museum, a […]
Dear Drama Observers, A theme upon which I plan to expound in my upcoming book has to do with the collective participation in dramas. We’ve all gotten sucked into the dramas of individual Drama People, but there’s also such a thing as group participation. Recently deceased theologian, Eugene Peterson, once observed: Classically, there are three […]
Dear Drama Observers, Every now and then, a theme emerges to the stories being told in my office. This past week, the leitmotif of my client drama tales would be revealed in the following sequence: Act 1: Drama Person says or does something offensive. Act 2: Drama Victim expresses displeasure. Act 3: Drama Person utters […]
Dear Drama Observers, Drama People are called many things. Most of these terms aren’t nice and some you’d be careful not to say in the presence of children. Although it’s not a cover-your-child’s-ears term, one such descriptor is “shifty.” Let me explain… As I often say, Drama People lack what’s needed to make relationships function […]
Dear Drama Observers, So, what exactly is a narcissist, anyway? One of the best television examples of narcissism (in my humble opinion) is Michael Scott from The Office, who once explained: “Do I need to be liked? Absolutely not. I like to be liked. I enjoy being liked. I have to be liked. But it’s […]
Dear Drama Observers, Last week, I posted a letter written a couple of years ago about the exploitative methods of Drama People. Specifically, people who haven’t learned to think for themselves can be particularly vulnerable. I closed the letter this statement: When people can’t think for themselves, they’re easy prey for drama predators. That’s why […]
Dear Drama Observers, With some alterations, here’s something I wrote two years ago that relates very much to the concept of my new book: **** When I was half way through graduate school, I had to pick a research topic for my dissertation. I remember this sage-like graduate student putting his hands on my shoulders, […]
Dear Drama Observers, Do you ever have a hard time putting down a book? That’s happening to me right now. Actually, by the time you read this I will have finished it, but I will definitely be re-reading it—maybe several times. It’s entitled The Color of Compromise: The Truth About the American Church’s Complicity in […]