My kids just fell asleep and I’m lying exhausted on the couch. I’ve been up since early in the morning and working all day as a therapist/mental health coach. There’s not a lot of time for daydreaming these days, but I’m a big believer in the power of dreams, so I want to share one dream with you that seems like it’s going to turn into a reality with just a little bit of work and resources. I swear I’m not crazy, not right now.
This is what the old Icarus Project website looked like in 2011:
It was a really sweet website. The Icarus Project started in 2002 as a dream cooked up between me and Jacks McNamara and within a few years there were a whole crew of people working on it and thousands of people touched by it, connected with each other, practicing new forms of culture and language, attempting to transform our understanding of “mental health” and “mental illness.” In 2015, amidst an organizational transition, the old website, which was a sprawling, wild—but genuinely beautiful mess—fell into disrepair and disappeared off the public internet. That was 8 years ago and the world has moved on from The Icarus Project.
But the body of the old website still exists in multiple incarnations. One was recently found on an old hard drive. One was preserved on our old server. Both of them are pretty messy with lots of dead links, but they’re also filled with really powerful writing and art, documenting an online and in-person community that touched many, many lives. There is a group of volunteers that are working to get an archive website up and running.
In our plans for the archive website there’s also a page full of links to academic articles, theses, and dissertations about and inspired by The Icarus Project.
There is also a link to the old discussion forums.
We are planning to make a page with a map of all the old chapters.
We are planning to have a page with links to all the projects that grew out of icarus: IDHA, fireweed, T-MAPs, So Many Wings, Madness Radio, etc.
I, personally, want to reach out to a bunch of the old Icarista Alumni and solicit testimonials and links for current projects. (If that’s you, get in touch! xo)
We want to have a Publications Page we links to all the PDFs of the Icarus writings: Navigating the Space, Friends Make the Best Medicine, Harm Redux Guide to Psych Drugs
A page of Press - online and print articles about TIP
And we want it to be beautiful with image galleries of posters, local group art and images
We are planning to put it all in one place as a resource for people to build on.
If you’ve read this far and you want to get a sense of what the old website looks like, here’s a link to one of the versions of the old Drupal site. Check it out. See what’s there and see what’s missing. We’re not quite ready for volunteers but if you’re interested in patching holes with links let me know and I’ll be in touch when the time is right. Once it’s up and running we want to spread the news about it far and wide so it can be useful to a new generation of people.
If this is project that is exciting to you and you have some extra money to pay the volunteers, this project will probably go a lot faster! Get in touch with me directly about donating or spreading the word to others who might be interested in donating.
In the meantime I’m sending mad love from 2023 in Los Angeles to when and wherever you are. You never know where your wild dreams are going to end up. Sascha