...The subject of the May SMP Conference Tour was on "Psychoanalytic Training and our Objectives for the Future", while the surprise of the tour was the future of two analysts in training from BGSP whose wedding took place when the ship, the MS Zaandam visited Georgetown, Grand Cayman, our second port of call.

...Our Conference proceedings had begun two days earlier when Dr.Ted Laquercia elaborated on the topic he had introduced at the SMP Annual Conference a few weeks before, reviewing important events in the history of training analysts, noting particularly that early training took place through personal analysis and supervision before anything more formalized was introduced.

...After this first meeting, a reception party hosted by the cruise ship gave us all the chance to meet all of our group musicians and performers and the casino.

A Wedding at Sea

...Our first sightseeing stop had been in Cozumel. The next day, we all hurried back from our various side-trips (sightseeing, snorkeling, swimming, shopping -- these four 's's would be repeated) for the marriage of Roxanna Albut and Adrian Sahlean. A minister came from shore (we were as surprised as they had been that the captain could not perform this task) to hear the groom sing to his bride, "Yours Is My Heart Alone", introducing the formal rites. Toasts were followed by an unmatchable flow of songs and love. We were blessed with voices of incredible entertainers: sweet and steamy Carole Laquercia, rich, full Jan Kalin, the jazzy crooner Brett Laquercia, the powerful and dramatic baritone, Richard Moskowitz, the younger singers: Zachary Reed invoking dinosaurs and the operatic Justin Kalin, a great rendition of "Buenos Dias". The topper of all: Adrian again lavishing his sumptuous tenor in arias to his new wife. We wept, clapped and called for encores.

...We did settle down eventually for another challenging discussion of training. Dr. Laquercia speared the discussion with the work of Freud, Reik, Spotnitz and Meadow and how they led to the current educational models in Modern Psychoanalysis. Estelle Borowitz (CMPS 1977) and Muriel Sackler (CMPS 1978) contributed with more historical details about the evolution of training from the vantage point of the first years of classes at the new Center. By then we had reviewed articles: "An Interview with Freud" by G.S. Viereck and addressed some questions raised by Otto Kernberg in his IJP article, "A Concerned Critique of Psychoanalytic Education." We struggled with how exclusivity and secrecy had affected many of the European programs -- and again occurred here, in the US. We looked at how our program designs (New York, Boston and Vermont programs were represented) met Kernberg's challenges, with Ted Laquercia's review of how our training modalities -- supervisions, experiential classroom experiences, for example, deal with some of the problems Kernberg posited. Comments by Phyllis Meadow enriched our perspective on Modern Psychoanalysis, and June Bernstein talked about the beginnings of the journal, Modern Psychoanalysis and its growth over the years. Our BGSP graduate and faculty member, Vincent Panetta, talked abou the relationships and synergy between the Boston and New York settings. We did come to a decision: that Dr. Laquercia should write a history of Modern Psychoanalysis!

...The last evening of the cruise, after stops in Ocho Rios, Jamaica and Half Moon Cay (owned by the Holland America Line), we feasted and toasted together in the Italian Restaurant on the ship, knowing that we would see each other* again!

*Participants who were not mentioned above were: Lisa Borowitz, Sherry Ceridan, Carol MacMillan, Patricia Panella, Amanda and Rebecca Reed, and Oscar Schacter, Shannon and Sam Selby, Linda Sklar and the writer.