Progress Report

I definitely originally took on more than I could do. Luckily, I've edited the plan.

I originally planned a 15 page paper covering the definition, history, and examples of clairvoyance. What it is, and what it isn't. It was a very research driven outline, and I thought that it would be a good idea, as I was sure that the product - my mini movie - wouldn't take long. But now that I have my interviews, I'm definitely thinking differently. I still want to do a paper on the history of clairvoyance, but really, what is there to discuss? Not much.

So I'm paring it down a bit. I think I will change to a full product based keystone, rather than a hybrid of product and research. I'm not sure.

Section one: Definition of Clairvoyance

Section two: What does a Clairvoyant do?

It was suggested that I profile my mother, but I'm not sure how appropriate that would be. I think I would want to profile a few people - clairvoyant who have a daily job, like Tanya, and one who does it for a living, like David. I could easily find some people, but I don't want to go back to Tanya and David, as they are my sources for the video and I would like something more varied.

Progress Report

Hooray! I've got my second big interview today with someone from the Berkeley Psychic Institute. I'm pretty nervous because unlike my previous interview, I don't know the woman I'm interviewing. Apparently the people who work at Berkeley Psychic Institute are also more...intense. I'm really glad I hooked this up though. I'm also VERY glad I put my interview questions up before: here they are again.

1) How would you define Clairvoyance?

2) What do fully-trained clairvoyants have the ability to do?

3)How would you compare what "clairvoyance" means to what "psychic abilities or powers" means?

4) How does clairvoyance work?

5) What concepts do you teach when holding a class on clairvoyance?

6) What is the relationship between intuition and clairvoyance?

7) What is a reading?

8) What would a reading look like, to both a casual observer and to you? In other words, what would someone on the outside see, but what do you see yourself doing?

9) There are those who define clairvoyance as "the ability to predict the future". To what level are they correct?

10) The Institute of Noetic Sciences says that they "identify three principal areas of interest: extended human capacities, integral health and haling, and emerging world views". Does this connect to clairvoyance at all?

11) Could you comment on the controversies surrounding clairvoyance, such as the claims that say all clairvoyants and psychics have tricks?

12) Would you say that clairvoyance is a "sixth sense"?

13) How could one connect clairvoyance to faith healing?

14) Would you say that one could connect "clairvoyance" to something that we would other wise define as "magic"?

15) Psychics and clairvoyants have been around for a long time. Can you think of other names that they are known by? In other words, perhaps a few centuries ago they would not have been known as psychics, but perhaps as fortune tellers, witches, or mediums?


I'm having major problems with my essay though - I don't know how I'm going to do it. I have complete writer's block though - everything I try to write makes absolutely no sense at all. I suppose I should start from the middle, but it still isn't connecting when I write it down.

Progress Report

I don't have much new: I'm working on taking notes on the definition of Clairvoyance from various books, but it is very time consuming and will take a while. Many of them seem to take a lot of space to say something simple.

I have gotten a few more interviews for the video. What I really want to do is interview strangers in the street, but how will I get them to do that? I have a lot of material, but it's all from schoolmates and people in Buffalo.

I have contacted the Berkeley Psychic Institute requesting an interview, and I also plan to visit the Psychic fair this month. I'm not sure what it is, but hopefully I'll be able to get interviews.