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| Excerpt from: Studies in American Humor, 3, No. 14, 2006, 105 - 132 |
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| Humor an Me |
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| William F. Fry |
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In 1993 began my Central European adventure. A German psychologist, Michael Titze, had been recommended to Waleed Salameh and me by Viktor Frankl, as his disciple and a person who would be interested in contributing a chapter to our first volume on humor and psychotherapy (1987). Michael presented an excellent chapter and initiated an enduring friendship. It gave me an exciting opportunity to establish a new group association when Michael invited me to lecture (1993) in Zurich and Stuttgart on the humor/psychotherapy perspective that was newly developing in the European German language countries.
Those lecture experiences were personally gratifying, and even more so in being the first of a series of lectures and conference participations for me during the following decade in Germany and Switzerland. Michael became the Founding President of the German HumorCare organization, and designated me as Honorary President in 2003. It has been inspiring for me to observe the development of vision and enthusiasm for complementary health measures in this cultural group - especially for humor and mirth. These involvements and my contributions to them have become significant parts of my life.
Inspiration has come from another direction during the immediately past decade - and continues, in counterpart with my associations in the German language group. At the ISHS Annual Conference in Paris in 1992, 1 was fortunate to meet a younger Spanish language professional, just finishing his Ph.D. program at the University of Madrid. A dialogue was created with him, Luis Muniz, and our relationship has been extended with rich satisfaction into many areas of consideration. 1 have visited Spain many times during the past 1 V2 decades, been much favored by Luis's - and his Wife, Pilar's - hospitality and deep friendship. After achieving his doctorate, Luis was appointed Chairman of the Psychology Dept. of a new university (Universidad Sek) in the ancient city of Segovia (Spain); he has honored me by presenting me to his students for several lectures, and by sharing with me prestigious events involving other Spanish institutions. In these ways, he contributed to my being initiated into the Spanish Academy of Humor in 1997.
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