On the cover of author Pamela Sackett's perfectly square book "Saving the World Solo" is a photograph of her at age 3. The photo has been modified so that she is stepping out of its confinement into a star-filled background and landing on top of the Earth.
"We want the book to be approachable, secure, stable and fun - all of the things that it addresses and attempts to teach," said Sackett's husband, Daniel.
In a way Sackett has stepped out of her square comfort zone in publishing her 2004 memoir and allowing readers to wander in a nonlinear way through her life. As a writer, actor, teacher and founder of a nonprofit organization that uses art as an educational tool, she hopes to bring public awareness to the power that emotions can carry.
Utilizing stream of consciousness-style writing, the memoir begins with the author feeling lost in the structure of society and not knowing where or how she should begin her plight to save the world.
The plot spirals, moving from the drug-infested songwriting business to saving the world with a book, a letter, even by screaming the Earth off its broken axis.
In the end, her frustration permeates beyond the pages and she leaves the reader taking small steps with her - to begin to save the world.
"In this book I am trying to discover something as a writer, drawing from something deeply internal," Sackett said. "As it turned out my experiences really held up a mirror for people; they attached a value to them."
A new way of emoting
Sackett's book is the newest art form produced by Emotion Literacy Advocates, the nonprofit group she founded in 2001.
Emotional Literacy produces art and encourages people to be artistic as a way of exploring underlying feelings they might otherwise ignore.
Sackett explains that emotion is what drives people to action and having a better understanding of why a certain feeling exists can help in all areas of life. From experience, she knows that people don't often realize they are suppressing feelings because society doesn't teach people to explore them.
"Through writing and acting I have been active in breaking my own amenities," Sackett said. "I realized that some part of me has kept other parts secret."
Sackett's friend Dana Gold, who edited and wrote the introduction to the memoir, heard Sackett perform a monologue from her book in 1997. The sections within the book were originally written for verbal performance.
"When I first heard her speak I had such gratitude toward her for communicating such internal things in a vulnerable, humorous way," Gold said.
While Emotional Literacy has been perceived as therapeutic, Sackett is quick to clarify its purpose as a learning tool for people to articulate their emotions.
"It's why the book is in a wandering form. I don't want my art form to be like a bunch of people in black suits listening on a couch, because that won't help," Sackett explained.
Instead, she hopes to utilize it as an educational tool for child rearing and homelessness. Sackett wants people to address situations like child disobedience and the chronically homeless in a different way.
"I believe that feelings are homeless. I think people look at food and shelter sometimes, instead of looking at the feelings that might be tucked away or banished," Sackett said.
Spreading the word
The nonprofit group is spread-ing the Emotion Literacy philosophies in a variety of artistic modes.
Sackett has taught workshops with the Seattle Repertory Theater and at a juvenile detention facility.
With the help of many board and community members, she has produced a CD and study guide for the Seattle School District's social/ emotional learning unit.
However, just as she would like to see this program in other schools, there are barriers that must be overcome before becoming widely recognized.
"It would be easier if people knew about us, instead of [us] knocking on doors," Sackett said. "We want to see these ideas circulate in the broadest way possible."
While this educational tool has not been embraced like a scientific finding would, it has been accepted into the local literary community. This is partly because it is a different approach.
"Science is about arguing the truth of certain statistics and experiments. Individual people don't live their lives like that; things happen from the inside out," Daniel Sackett said.
'A piece of a quilt'
In the same photo that graces the book's cover is the back of a cat. On the back of the book the same cat's eyes stare out.
Just as the cat's front isn't revealed until the back cover, readers are just beginning to question feelings they have and explore the topic of Emotion Literacy upon reading the closing line. "It's like a quilt, each part is a piece of the quilt," Sackett said.[[In-content Ad]]
