{ Volume XXIV, Number 3 } May & June 2009
A Publication of the Women’s Community Center of San Luis Obispo County
Ashley Wertheimer “Looking Up”
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Mother’s Day
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Voices Around The Table
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Unsung Heroine: Priscilla Mikesell
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Thank You Lunafest Sponsors!
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Eve-o-lution
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Motherhood
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Women’sPress
Courtney’s Quill
As spring lopes by and the weather toggles from cool to extremely warm, I can’t help but look forward to summer. While I have made it my goal to be present in the moment and to appreciate each day in its singularity, I long for lingering summer days and warm evenings. Perhaps it’s because I’m a teacher: the late nights I spend grading papers, the low pay, and the persistent term “budget cuts” looming around the halls gets erased the minute I submit my grades and bask in the knowledge that for two and a half months all I have to do is play with my kids, read for pleasure, and tend to my garden. So while I am trying to be present, I am also lost in my day dreams of a near future. But before summer comes my most cherished personal holiday, Mother’s Day. Maya Angelou once said, “A mother’s love liberates.” To me this sums up my ultimate goal as a mother. I want to liberate my children from hate, from unhealthy ego, from narcissistic desires, from…well, from all the worst the world can offer. And while this lofty goal is not completely possible, I do believe that it is somewhat attainable by trying to be a mother that is aware, lives with intent, and teaches forgiveness and humility. And as you can see from the amazing articles women submitted about mothers, my sentiment is shared by many. Women’s Press also would like to announce our official entrance into the world of online technology. Yes, Women’s Press has an updated and hip website. Please visit us at www.womenspress-slo.org. Furthermore, we are also twittering. Follow us at twitter.com/womens_ press. And finally, we have a Facebook page. Find us under our email and add us as your friend. Whew… are you still with me? I know this is a lot to take in, but I also know that by staying connected and in touch, we are much stronger and more vocal. How did we get so technologically savvy, you may be wondering? Well, it is not me. I must give overwhelming praise to our amazing intern, Cassandra Carlson. Cassie has been working with us for six months and has diligently put together our website and twitter account. Cassie, a journalist major at Cal Poly and feminist advocate, also helped build this issue, showing us a few things about content and design. I anticipate that Cassie will have a long and successful future ahead of her, and I can only hope to always be her friend. Finally, our next issue will have a special section focusing on creative women in celebration of Day of Creative Women (August 8, 2009 in Mission Plaza). Please send us your thoughts, articles, and ideas. Until the next time, thank you again for your continued support.
Courtney
Women’s Press | May & June 2009 | womenspress.slo@gmail.com
Becoming part of the circle
Drum Circle Magic Part Six: ASHE
By Kathleen Deragon
By Francesca Bolognini Welcome back to the circle. Our adventures in rhythm have covered the universal to the personal, modes of instruction and experience, the heart and the vocabulary of drumming. We shall next explore how drumming affects our shared consciousness and by extension, our culture. The term “Ashe” is an African word, translating as “so be it”. Almost indefinable in our culture, it refers a state to being, completely in the moment, balanced mentally, physically, spiritually, and sexually, in touch with Divine energy which is seen as genderless, channeling both love and sensuality in a conscious, connected way. In this state, timing becomes perfect, the flow becomes intuitive, and the groove irresistible, healing, and transformational. Such connection requires surrender to the moment, without the crutches of analysis and critique as comfort zone. Focus must range to the center, embodying group consciousness. This is a pivotal time on our planet. We are in a unique position to affect the future of all life. To successfully heal serious environmental and social imbalances, it is imperative that women become empowered to bring the divine feminine principles back to a prominent position in collective consciousness. Values of nurturance, love, and sensuality are essential to both men and women. Men must have safe and enjoyable ways to express this energy as well. We, as women, however, have the advantage, in that this energy is natural to us. For those
who have been stifled, discouraged, traumatized, or prohibited, it is still just below the surface, and for the good of all, must be reconnected to our Souls. In her must read book on the history of drumming, When the Drummers Were Women, Priestess of the Drum and accomplished author Layne Redmond lays out an enlightening timeline. She illustrates in concise, inspiring prose and fabulous pictorial documentation, the progression of the ascent to the loss of our feminine focus in “civilized” culture through the gain of rhythmic sophistication and subsequent suppression in the service of war. This book is a real eye opener, explaining the importance of our rhythmic heritage and empowerment to the expression of feminine influence and creation of balance within societies and their interactions with others. To play in circle in a state of Ashe is to reach beyond the self. Often, when I feel exhausted with a certain rhythm, about to stop, one of the players or listeners will step up to dance. Once they begin, I feel I cannot stop because she just started, and so I play a bit longer. Subtly, because of surrender to the movement before me, I am swept up by a wave of renewal, entranced and carried far beyond my previous energy level and into the realm of the Sacred. That’s what I’m talking about. Going beyond the bounds of ego, where dancer, rhythm, and dance become one. So envision a balanced, peaceful world, and allow your sensual, rhythmic self to manifest. Until next time, keep the beat!
My mother is a party girl, and I figured she was also interested in what her “kookybird” daughter was doing when I told her I was going “drumming.” So recently when Mom flew up from LA for my brother’s 50th birthday celebration, I invited her to come to drumming with me. Initially, she refused, but curiosity and her desire for a good time won out and she came to Oak Haven Gardens and joined ten of us (ages 50-75) for an incredible session. Mom, 82, initially sat outside our circle, but she was invited to join in using some percussion instruments that are always available, such as tambourines and rattles. The beats of our 40-minute improv session soon were inescapable and Mom eventually was shaking and drumming along with the rest of us. She became part of our circle. If any of you readers are hesitant to join in because you have never drummed, heed this story. You, too, will find yourself part of our circle, keeping the beat, and having a grand time learning like the rest of us what it feels like to discover and express the rhythms we all possess. Join us for drumming! We have 100 names on our notification list and would like to see yours there, too. We drum every 2nd and 4th Sunday of each month. Contact us with your name, e-mail, and area of the county in which you live: womenspress.slo@gmail.com.
Cover Artist Ashley Wertheimer Our cover artist Ashley Wertheimer, is a art and design senior at Cal Poly, her piece ”Looking Up” was recently shown to the the public in the Cultivated Power senior work art show. Her painting takes a inferior view on nature as the viewer looks up the tree trunks almost looking to see the future. “Surrender” Her use of warm colors are used successfully as the picture exudes a perfect summer day for our May/June issue. In her free time Wertherimer enjoys full moon worshiping and loves to travel.
WOMEN’S COMMUNITY CENTER BOARD Angie King, President Sonia Paz Baron-Vine Robin Rinzler 6000 free copies distributed in SLO County. Subscriptions available.
MAILING ADDRESS: WOMEN’S PRESS Women’s Community Center 880 Industrial Way San Luis Obispo, CA 93401 805.544.9313 Managing Editor: Courtney Brogno womenspress.slo@gmail.com Layout & Design: Benjamin Lawless ben@penciledin.com Cassandra Carlson, Intern Photographer: Lynda Roeller Advertising Team: Beverly Cohen, Renee Sante, Kathleen Deragon & Benjamin Lawless
Submissions Welcomed!
Articles, essays, opinion pieces, letters, artwork, poetry wanted & appreciated. The Women’s Press reserves the right to edit all submissions for content, clarity & length. Contact womenspress.slo@gmail.com or call 805-544-9313. The opinions expressed in the WOMEN’S PRESS are those of the authors & do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Women’s Community Center. The Women’s Community Center does not necessarily endorse products or services advertised in the WOMEN’S PRESS.
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Beverly Engel Jeanie Greensfelder Judythe Guarnera Ali Hatcher Hilda Heifetz Charlene Huggins Laura Grace Judythe Guarena
Evelyn Adams Barbara Atkinson Cassandra Carlson MaryAine Cherry Suzanne Delinger Kathleen Deragon Bailey Drechsler Anne Dunbar Cynthia Fatzinger Ani Garrick Angela Henderson Margaret Hennessy Jane Hill Susan Howe
Angie King Dianne Legro Heather Mendel Berta Parrish Adele Sommers Jill Turnbow Jacqueline Turner Andrea Zeller
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LocalPerspectives: Mother’s Day
May & June 2009 | www.womenspress-slo.org | Women’s Press
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More Than Just Hands
Mother’s Day
By Natalie Mendoza
Photo by Scott M. Liddell
Editor’s note: Happy Mother’s Day!
Though this holiday is often viewed as “hallmark-y,” many of our readers went beyond the obvious and sent us wonderful snippets of love and beauty. I think of mothers as not just women who have born children, but of women who have taught, helped, lead, and supported, and really have been the foundation for which all has been built upon. I also view the power of motherhood in nature, as exemplified by the name “Mother Nature.”
The Lady I Called Mom
While eating dinner at a prestigious restaurant, I noticed my mother fidgeting with her hands under the table. Discerning my curious facial expression, she quickly responded in a self-conscious tone, “I completely forgot to put lotion on. I don’t even want to show my hands.” My mother’s history of cleaning houses is visibly exposed through her ashy and wrinkled hands. With sympathy toward her concerns I responded, “Don’t be embarrassed. Your hands are the hands of a woman who has worked hard her entire life.” At that moment my mother’s hands stood out as a representation of someone who has physically struggled and fought to survive, a representation of someone who has suffered through backbreaking labor. My mom’s withered but sturdy hands represent who she is and the challenges she has gone through. Looking down at my own hands, with not a scratch to complain about, I felt I should be the one embarrassed. The toilsome work of my mother only made my placid lifestyle more obvious. Just like my mom’s hands, my hands have a story to tell about whom I am and what I do. My hands reflect my personality. My hands reveal the person I dedicate myself to being. I believe that hands are a direct and basic representation of individuality. Unlike my mother, I do not have a single scar on either of my hands. They are as smooth and well preserved as can be. This is due to my weakness in athleticism and my fear of taking part in risky activities. My preference lies in the leisure of placid diversion. The rush and challenge that athletes feel when playing sports is what I feel when I draw. The ability to be precise and to have
stabilized control over my hands is what I have accomplished in order to establish this passion of mine. Although my hands do not have the ability to catch a victory pass in football, my hands are capable enough to create such a vivid image on paper. My hands are objects of my creative mind. I adorn and personalize all of my belongings, my hands being one of them. I add excitement to my life by painting my nails with crazy colors and unpredictable designs. Every new pattern satisfies my need for change; a new combination of bright colors expresses the liveliness of my emotions. I do not like to blend in and fit into what everybody else does. Decorating my hands so that they do not look like anybody else’s demonstrates my belief in individuality. Most importantly, my hands are the multi-functioning hands of a student. They have not been damaged by chemicals like my mother’s. My hands have not been exposed to dangerous conditions, causing them to age with unnatural rapidity. With the joined force of my signaling brain, my hands have adapted to typing and writing papers. I am able to work a calculator with the rapid movement of a couple of fingers. This ability is easily taken for granted by many, but in my perspective, is significantly valued through my belief. By means of careful observation, I have concluded that my hands are the simplest version of my personality at its entirety. They may not reveal such qualities that make my mother the wonderful person she is, but they reveal the qualities that make me unique as an individual. A simple belief in the meaning of hands carries valuable and revealing messages.
By MaryAine Cherry I noticed when I would call home that Dad answered the phone now, and I didn’t hear Mom wanting to know who it was like she used to. I always talked to Mom and not so much to Dad. I thought the change was because Mom had a hard time hearing with the phone, but she was really just slipping away: when visiting conversations became misunderstood and lost any flow that took place when each person clearly heard the words. I moved back to SLO to be closer to my elderly parents, family, and grandson. I didn’t know what a short time I would have with my beloved Mother. She didn’t talk much, and when she did, it was often as if she was having a separate conversation. She seemed to be enjoying her own thoughts and company. I listened to her reflections on her past and was content to simply sit with her, holding her hand. She often told us we were miracles and special angels sent from God to bless her life. What a mom! I didn’t notice how thin she became because she often wore oversized clothes. When she became very ill, I realized how thin she was as I helped her dress one day. I believe her body was shutting down slowly; her organs were giving up life. As she sat on the couch, her mind drifted to happier times as she told me stories about my brothers and sisters. She said she was going home to her mother and father. They were waiting. I now understand when she started calmly talking that way that she was preparing to die. I miss having Mom cheer me on and tell me how life will work out. When I told her I was getting a divorce several years ago, she simply said, “you haven’t met the right person yet and someday you will.” I never imagined my mother would say something like that to me, not with the strict religious upbringing I had. Perhaps in her elder 89
years, she realized there was so much more to loving and listening. I felt so understood by her that day. After her death, Dad and I went through boxes stored in the garage and found saved school work, rewards, holiday cards, and drawings from our childhood. Five generations and 69 years of pictures were in albums. My mom was a housewife that obviously cherished her nine children and loved her family unconditionally. She saved bundles of letters that were written in the 40’s while Dad was in the Navy and kept mementos from all the places they lived during those early years. In her later years, Mom started painting watercolor nature scenes (all throughout her seventies), giving all of us original works by her. It’s never too late to learn something new. Love, respect, and willingness to try are the qualities Mom gave us, and she was an inspiring, well-loved, real lady. My spirit, like hers, is the strongest part of me and she showed me that I can do anything I put my mind to. I have to believe in myself like she believed in me. MaryAine Cherry is the founder of Return To JOY! Release, Inspire, Believe. Her website is www.return2joy.com
Photo by Preston
My Mother By Lynne Levine My Mother, Rae Klion, was so ahead of her time in spirit and mind! Her unconditional love for me taught me how to love and her constant reminder that, as a young woman (I was only 24 when she died at 48)
I could be whatever I want to be, has been the guiding light in my life. Love, independence, and compassion were her legacy to me and my children (whom she did not live to know), and has spanned two generations of Mothers -- me and my daughters. Her teachings, by example, have indeed been the foundation of our lives as Mothers.
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LocalPerspectives: Mother’s Day
Women’s Press | May & June 2009 | womenspress.slo@gmail.com
Reciprocity With Mother Nature
Photos by Jeannie Greensfelder
By Jeannie Greensfelder On a hot-fudge sundae day, cold air with blazing sunshine, I left the San Simeon pier and walked half way down the beach to the semi-secret trail that led to the point. Seeking nourishment, I inhaled the good medicine of pine and eucalyptus trees.
A few monarchs flitted by and two juncos trilled and jumped in a paired flurry followed by a spring-time chase. When I reached the point, my vista included distant mountains and nearby arched rocks. Beds of kelp danced below with each wave and the blue sea merged with the sky.
The Bridesmaid and the Plumber’s Friend Mom to the Rescue By Judythe Guarnera “You’ve got one shot at it, Judy,” Dad warned me when I was ready to take my driving test. “I’m getting a new car, and I am not about to trust a novice driver with my first new car,” he warned. I passed the test, all the while convinced that Dad would change his mind. My pleas fell on deaf ears, my excitement melting like a popsicle on a hot summer day. I continued to take the bus to work as I had expected. A few months later, I had the final fitting for my wedding dress. When I asked Dad to drive me, he hesitated only a moment and tossed me the keys to his new car. I suspected that the comfort of his chair and a roaring fire were sufficiently motivating to overcome his fear of my driving. I gleefully dashed out of the house to pick up Connie, my maid of honor. When the fitting was over, I was reluctant to change into my jeans and sweater. I was imagining how my future husband would smile when he saw me. I was giddy with excitement when I got behind the wheel. The euphoria disappeared when I cut a corner too sharply and heard a crunch, as the right fender went metal to wood with a telephone pole. After pulling over, we approached the damaged fender with pounding hearts to witness one serious dent. Undaunted, Connie said, “I can fix that.” She smiled conspiratorially. When we got to her apartment, she dashed inside, emerging with a triumphant smile and a plumber’s friend. My startled look was met with a smug, “I’ve seen them do this on TV. It literally pulls out the dent. “
Connie went to work. (I’ll bet she was good with toilets, too!) When she finished, we proclaimed the car “as good as new.” I suspect that working in almost total darkness might have influenced our optimistic assessment. I hugged her and headed for home, anxious to get to the safely of my room. The next day, as I left for work, I realized that my step mom was already gone. She hadn’t said anything about the fender. Whew! I guess we did get that dent out. That sure brightened my day. That evening Mom came rushing into the house. “Joe, come here and see what happened.” I held my breath. They were talking excitedly when they came back. Mom told us the strange thing that had happened that afternoon. She was visiting a friend in the hospital when she heard a crash. She rushed to look out the fifth floor window to see a car hastily backing away from her crumpled right fender. Later, as I considered this turn of events, I had two competing thoughts. One was that mom might have had her own fender bender and made up the preposterous story, so Dad wouldn’t be upset. The second thought, and probably more likely, was that mom noticed the dent when she left the house in the morning. As moms often do, she probably spent the day trying to come up with a plausible story that would get me off the hook. After dad died, and for the rest of her life, I toyed with the idea of confessing to her. Instead, I just held in my heart another reason why I loved her so much.
Before people arrived, Mother Nature’s wonders existed unheeded. Human beings were the first to reflect on beauty and to feel awe. Did our consciousness evolve because nature wanted to be seen and appreciated? We know people thrive when recognized and valued. I received so much on this day and everyday and hoped my noticing
gave something back. Believing something mutual happened between my seeing and nature being seen invited a deeper awareness and heartfelt connection. On my walk back, I observed the textures and touched the bark of trees, feeling a new bond with the natural world that more than ever needs attention.
Mystique of Feminine By Laura Grace Women are inherently mystical. We have a natural tendency to experience a direct connection with the Divine. This occurs not only during prayer, meditation, or worship but at any time. Women frequently describe a deep sense of connection to God as part of motherhood. We see God in others, and we see God in our children and grandchildren. Experiencing God by adhering to specific paths and procedures, guidelines and rules, is not a necessary component of the woman’s spiritual journey. We accept that God is infinitely too big to fit into one religion or one path. For women, our spiritual journey and our lives are one and the same. Rabbi Nachman, the grandson of the founder of mystical Judaism, Baal Shem Tov, once stated that if one desires to find the Shekkina, the Divine or Mystical Feminine, then one should go to the place where women tell “stories.” Women’s spirituality entails relying on and sharing our personal experiences. In my own life, when teaching or presenting a spiritual message, I find that I experience the greatest fulfillment from relaying a significant experience that I have faced and evolved through. Doing so allows me to connect with the heart and soul of other women who either have, or perhaps someday will, face a similar situation. I also find that I learn the most from women who share their personal experiences with me. Sharing our stories with our daughters is one of the most powerful gifts we can offer them. It is food for their soul. Our daughters may not remember some of the things that we have strived to teach them, but they will remember our experiences. Our personal stories reveal how the journey is similar from one generation to another and how deeply connected we are. The mystical feminine aspect within us recognizes that we help each other grow through our life stories. As I write this, my daughter, Alexis, is three months pregnant. A few days ago,
while reflecting on some of the changes I am witnessing in her, I came across a quote by an unknown author: “Mothers and daughters are closest, when daughters become mothers.” In some of our recent conversations, she has wanted to discuss some of the stories that I have shared with her over the years. Her desire for closeness is stronger than before, and I am seeing how profound the mother-daughter bond truly is. Transitioning through the different phases of our lives: menarche, infertility, childbirth, the loss of a child, the decision not to bear children, menopause—are part of a woman’s rite of passage that are closely connected to our spiritual lives. They are an intimate part of our evolution in which we seek reason to rejoice and find strength. As we experience “Mother’s Day,” may we share our stories of overcoming obstacles, handling grief, and celebrating life. May we honor the divine and mystical feminine within our daughters, nieces, sisters, mothers, grandmothers, friends, and, ourselves. Laura Grace is the spiritual leader for the an interfaith spiritual community Circle of Spiritual Enlightenment in San Luis Obispo, a teacher and spiritual director and a member of Spiritual Directors International. She is a syndicated columnist for more than twenty publications and is the author of the books Gifts of the Soul and The Intimate Soul.
Body&Soul
May & June 2009 | www.womenspress-slo.org | Women’s Press
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White Queen Days, a little inspiration by Anne R. Allen I call these crazed times “White Queen Days,” after Lewis Carroll’s White Queen, who ruled a kingdom where “It takes all the running you can do to keep in the same place.” The White Queen offered Alice this advice for surviving her “Looking Glass” realm: “Speak in French when you can’t remember the English for a thing; turn out your toes as you walk, and remember who you are!” Pretty good advice for the surreal world of 2009. Well, the French and the toe thing—not so much—but “remember who you are” is true wisdom. When I’m feeling beaten down by the horrors of present reality, watching my income dwindle and expenses explode and when I’m cut off by the drones of “customer service” after three hours on hold—or treated like a soulless bug by the medical-industrial complex, I
remember I AM STILL ME. I think of those small successes and moments of joy that make up who I am, and remember that I once published a couple of novels to good reviews; that I’ve been rewarded for honest work; that I have loved and been loved; and I have sung and danced and reveled in the wonders of creation. Maybe we can keep running like Alice, clinging to the White Queen, or maybe we can’t. Maybe we’ll end up living in a tent city, scrounging recyclables, or enslaved to a sociopathic husband or boss, terrified of losing insurance benefits. Maybe we’ll watch our children slip into poverty from lack of education. But it’s all part of a mad game perpetrated by players we cannot understand or control. What we can control is our dignity, our memories, our hope, and a rock-solid sense of self.
Anne R. Allen is a freelance writer based in Los Osos.
Sanctuary Disconnect By Anne Schroeder The idea of “home as sanctuary”— what’s not to love? A place of meditation, contemplation, seclusion that leaves me strong, ready to fight my spiritual foe: at least, that’s what I keep telling myself. But this is the confession of a sanctuary potato. Eighteen years ago, when my husband and I were looking for a new house, a sanctuary was at the top of the list. We found a winding road in rural Atascadero, an ancient path for Salinan Indians making their way inland from their sacred place at Morro Rock. A place where mountains block the sun morning and afternoon, where wild gobblers preen in the middle of the road and where, for many years, we were limited to a single television station. But we were blessed to be living among nature. We have bear, fox, mountain lion, deer, coyote, possum, rattlesnakes, skunk, buzzards that circle above, strutting Tom turkeys, and (one day) a yard filled with teen-age, second-string Toms commiserating unrequited love. The downside of living in a sanctuary is that friends rarely drive six miles down a dead-end road to “drop in.” It’s a long trip into town for random acts like gym workouts.
The narrow lane is a death trap for teens; a girl’s memorial cross marks the side of the road. The lesson my husband and I have learned is to be careful what we ask for. Our sanctuary is sometimes too much of a good thing when it’s only the two of us, and the evenings are long, and we miss the social stimulation that town dwellers take for granted. Our home a sanctuary? It’s a quiet place, a place of prayer and reading. My writing shack is being constructed in our spare time with salvaged lumber and antique store finds. But all of this begs the question, what came first: house as sanctuary or sanctuary as house? At my door I have two hangings, a framed collection of Chinese hand-painted miniature greetings and a Christian blessing. At the mantle I have a bundle of sage for burning. In my prayer center, I have a font of holy water near my crucifix. My daughter has fung shei-ed us for financial and personal success. Seems like I’m covered. But, in truth, my thoughts are my sanctuary—the house is merely a reflection of who I try to be.
Inglis Carre’-Dellard So many of us begin our artistic quest with the goal of making “beautiful” things. We think the well-made object that is harmonious, balanced, and gratifying to the senses is our ultimate goal. Perhaps the most “original” or novel technique, subject, or color palette will grab the viewers’ attention and satisfy their need for “beauty”. I see a couple of major problems with an artist making beauty their singular goal. The first one is that the perfection of beauty is rare and only achieved by a minority of works, while the rest fail in varying degrees to meet the standard. The authors of these works feel inadequate. It is no wonder that, with such a small chance of a “successful” outcome, artists tackling a new project experience a degree of fear and timidity that stifles free expression. This situation makes finding one’s artistic voice almost impossible. The second problem is that beauty, by itself, has only a short lived effect. Consuming it is like eating a sugary confection. The effects of the sugar will wear off in an hour or two. What is needed is the complex carbohydrate of art called “meaning”. Meaning is the quality that fills us up and continues to engage us by stimulating us
to ask questions and to ponder various answers as they relate to ourselves and our worlds. In addition to feeding our visual hunger, an art work that has meaning feeds our spirits and intellects. It calls into being a correspondence between the viewer and the artist. The way we put meaning into our work is to strive to express our own explorations of our inner and outer worlds. Copying another artist’s technique will make this job harder because that artist’s technique evolved as a response to his or her explorations, not ours. Expressing our unique and innermost selves is a risky business, and often downright uncomfortable. It also requires a certain boldness. The upside is that we don’t have to have all the answers. The questions are more interesting anyway. We don’t have to squeeze ourselves out all over the canvas like paint from a tube in order to reveal some of ourselves. All we have to do is to allow the viewer of our art more than a view of the visual recording of what we see—to allow the viewer a glimpse of our core, a glimpse of our thoughts, feelings, and questions about what we are painting. With this new, expanded goal before us, we may sometimes create expressions that go beyond illustration and put the heart back into art!
Anne Schroeder’s writing can be found at www. readanneschroeder.com
Owning our power through meditation and non-resistance Ruth Cherry I get crazy when folks in my meditation group ask me “why” questions, or repeat what the current guru has said on television, or talk in abstractions off the top of their heads. I am committed to making the Saturday morning meditation group a healing experience, but healing never happens intellectually. The Controller, or the side of us that wishes to take control, tells us to get into our heads. The Controller is trying to protect our vulnerability, to prevent too much feeling, and to live superficially. The Controller is never the figure we call on when we want to live with passion and depth, the essence of meditation. The Controller helps us keep our lives going by attending to necessary details: keep food in the fridge, cut the grass, balance the bank statement (or at least know pretty much where you stand), pay bills on time, change the sheets regularly, buy clothes on sale, and generally use good judgment in practical matters. That’s great and we absolutely need the Controller’s input. I hope you have a strong Controller. But as with everything else, there is a time and place for the Controller. If we indulge the Controller with too much of our energy, we’ll have trouble sleeping, lose our spontaneity, forget how to have fun, and turn our lives into a series of projects to be completed. The Controller is a subpersonality we develop from our experience growing up. In school we meet certain expectations; we arrive on time, keep our desks neat, hand in homework, and sit quietly when the teacher speaks.We restrain our here-to-fore unrestrained natural enthusiasm in deference to the demands of the world around us.We all need to learn that lesson and to give it priority in many parts of our lives–our work, our responsibilities as citizens and neighbors, our conduct with strangers, and our planning for the future. We don’t want to live without a Controller. However, the Controller is not how we heal. Healing requires vulnerability and an open-ended commitment to be present and to see what happens. We don’t want to use that presence and vulnerability with the tax collector. We give the state its due. But just as we have responsibilities to the outside world, we also have responsibilities to the inner world. “Why,” you ask,“is it not enough to obey the law, live a decent life, and contribute in our own particular way?” Certainly no one will criticize you and you will build a comfortable life for yourself. If you are satisfied with ceasing your questing at that point, OK. Some of us, however, feel pulled to look more deeply. The death of a child thrusts us into an agony we don’t think we can survive. An unexpected turn of events leaves us without the future we had counted on. Or simply living every day pulls us away from the world and into spaces inside which scare us. For whatever reason, we want more.The surface verities don’t satisfy and our heads can’t answer soulful questions. Our churches can offer comfort and support, but delving into the depths of ourselves is so personal that we must set out alone. It would be easier if we could take the latest best seller with us and we could read about our lives, but at some point we must confront and experience our own lives. Just experienc-
ing. Not understanding, not controlling, not directing. Simply experiencing. Saying Yes to the moment and experiencing what is at any given second. At first this exercise may serve to get us through a strained time, but eventually, and with time, it becomes a way of life. And then we don’t identify with the Controller, but with the one caught in the current. We don’t know where we are being carried and we don’t need to. We simply say Yes and go with the flow of our lives. On an inner level we practice non-resistance to everything–I won’t fight any feeling which comes up, then acceptance of everything–thank you for this feeling which I don’t like, then trust–I say Yes to this second. Owning our power includes each of these steps. Non-resistance challenges those of us who like to act, who judge, and who want to correct. But as we accept that life is not a problem to be solved and that our minds (our Controllers) don’t know best, we acknowledge the beauty and wisdom in the patterns of our lives, which lead us to heal. Life is for healing through experience. If our Controllers cut off our experience, we can’t heal. Healing is messy and sometimes painful and always vulnerable, and we’re never in control. Life knows what experiences we need to heal. We can go with them or resist and stay in our heads. Owning our power may manifest in our gratitude for every little thing:“Thank you for my breath today.”“Thank you for that driver cutting me off and taking my parking place.” “Thank you for the latest disappointment.” How many times have I heard, “That’s crazy to be thankful for what you don’t like and didn’t choose and don’t want!” It is. But what’s the alternative? To be angry or hurt and vengeful? To take it personally and hate others? I’ve lived that way and it doesn’t feel good, it doesn’t empower me, and I don’t heal. My life works better when I say,“Yes, thank you, and what’s next?” I can get very angry and very self righteous and very intellectual when I’m hurt. I can demolish another with my analysis and words. But where does it get me? I’m still in the world and so are they, and I’ve just contributed a whole lot of pain that didn’t need to be there. All because I was insulted, which is to say, not in control. Control is useful only in circumscribed situations. With God, the soul, eternity, feelings, or relationships, control is a dirty word. Meditation is practice for life. We practice letting go of our minds, accepting what comes, releasing what we no longer need to hold onto, breathing, trusting, and waiting to be shown the next step. If we can do that for twenty minutes we can do it throughout the day. We practice the relationship we want to have with Life in meditation and then we live it all day. And that’s owning our power.
Ruth Cherry, Ph.D, is a clinical psychologist specializing midlife when psychological and spiritual dynamics merge. The power of the unconscious at midlife to heal and to transform is tapped in meditation. Besides writing about meditation, Ruth leads guided meditation groups weekly both for the public and for inmates in a state penitentiary. Visit her Web site is midlifepsychology.com.
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ThankYou
Women’s Press | May & June 2009 | womenspress.slo@gmail.com
Women’s Press and Cal Poly Women’s Programs & Services want to say
Thank you
to the generous sponsors who made LUNAFEST possible
The Conscious Colors Energy Center, sharing the colors of higher consciousness: color, sound, aromatherapy and chakra yoga. Energy balancing classes & courses with internationally-recognized instructor & healer Constance Hart. (805) 305-0046 www.consciouscolors.com
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We are an interfaith community dedicated to celebrating diversity and honoring the spirit that connects all things. We respect the truth in the world’s religions and the path of each individual. The Circle affirms that the Spirit of Love is the Source of life, and that we are meant to cocreate as loving participants in the world in which we live. Our teachings demonstrate the way for individuals to heal and awaken through the power of prayer, meditation, and self-less service. We subscribe to the ancient wisdom of the world’s sages in ways that supports contemporary living. (805) 541-1963 www.spiritualcircle.org
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Susan Rodriguez has been a local State Farm Insurance Agent for 6 years, in the area 19 years, and in the insurance industry 21 years. Susan’s agency, located in downtown SLO, offers a wide variety of insurance products, mutual funds and banking products. They specialize primarily in auto insurance, homeowners insurance, and life insurance. For Susan, the most rewarding part of being a business owner in San Luis Obispo is building relationships with clients and associates throughout the community. Her agency’s mission is to help people manage the risks of everyday life, recover from the unexpected, and realize their dreams. (805) 783-7050 www.rodriguezinsurance.com
Green Acres Lavender Farm is a f a m i l y - ow n e d farm with a heritage of delivering quality natural products since 2004. Each day, we welcome folks from around the world to see how we distill fresh lavender oil from our farm, from our plants. We have over 13,000 lavender plants on our farm and over 60,000 lavender plants growing around the State in a cooperative Alliance, where we work together to grow the lavender industry one sustainable step at a time. We are committed to our community and making healthy lavender products. We are the original SLO County Lavender Farm open to the public, and we love sharing our lavender farming passion. (805) 466-0837 www.greenacreslavenderfarm.com
Rockview Lending Group is a full-service mortgage company based in Arroyo Grande, servicing the Central Coast and beyond. Leslie Kight is a certified mortgage planning specialist. FHA and VA loans are just a couple of the programs we specialize in. Call for answers to your mortgage questions, even if we did not originate your current mortgage. We are happy to help and look forward to being of service (805) 489-1978 www.rockviewlending.com Consignment shopping is not only hip, but it is also earth friendly. Where else can you have loads of fun shopping for treasures, and also be environmentally friendly? Our mission is to provide quality pre-owned garments and accessories at a third of the retail price, as well as provide a venue to re-coop a few bucks from those extravagant impulse buys at jacked-up prices. Why buy the LAST one on the rack when you can buy the ONLY one on the rack? 489-5266 www.act2boutique.com
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Core Mediation Services, “The Divorce Specialists” provides an Affordable Alternative to the expensive, time-consuming, and antagonistic divorce process often found with attorneys and the legal system. We provide Trained Professionals who are impartial and experienced to help you reach a mutually agreeable settlement. We offer a Complete Package: we can take you all the way through your divorce, including the preparation of all court papers so you can avoid having to see a judge. (805) 544-6334 www.coremediation.org
Voices
May & June 2009 | www.womenspress-slo.org | Women’s Press
VoiceS AROUND THE TABLE “In these stressed times, what do women of the world need now?” We need to quiet that voice that echoes throughout every day. The one that tends to get louder as the day comes to a close. It’s the one that constantly reminds us that we didn’t finish the laundry or pay the water bill or answer our best friend’s email. So what? we need to say. How about teaching our inner voice to say Ta Dah instead of To Do? Will the water really get turned off? And our best friend is probably just as busy and will survive...and the laundry? Well, that’s just nonsense. -Deborah Reyes-Gardner The reassurance that the stock market will recover so we can live comfortably through our retirement years and also comfort in knowing that social security will be around for us, our children, and grandchildren so we don’t have to work until we are eighty. It would also be wonderful if there were peace and harmony in all corners of the world and food for everyone. -Sue Kaplan More wine and sleep. Women of developed nations need a wife. Ok, seriously. Social acceptance of and support for a woman who works full time and has a family to care for. I think there is an increase in the anxiety in women because she is expected to do it all - well. Universal government assistance for childcare if she is employed. -Laurel White We need to step back and put into perspective the most important things: freedom to express our truest selves, love, and health. -Lisa Jouet
Wine. Hah. No really, women need perspective. Every “time” is stressed if you allow it to be. Take time to live in the moment and appreciate what you have. Change is inevitable, and it doesn’t have to be a bad thing. -Kristin Tara McNamera Perspective. Keeping things in perspective is key, especially when one seems to be in a baren, dark, lonely, or foggy season of life. Seasons always end; keeping a proper perspective helps us see further ahead and not get bogged down by troubles. It keeps us moving forward. I also think having a right perspective of our personal roles, responsibilities, and priorities is important (wife, mother, friend, sister, citizen of our city, state, country, and the world). Remembering that the world doesn’t revolve around me, but that I have the opportunity to be a blessing to someone is important. -Liza Hughes Each other. -Amy Hewes We need respect and no more patronizing. -Mary Kay Harrington To relax and renew. To remember to breathe and try to stay focused. Be present...I’d maybe throw good sex in there too. -Sara Kaplan Support from other women. -Terry Brogno Dogs. -Sadie Johann
Support. Women need to stop judging and tearing one another down and instead need to support and build one another up. We cannot accomplish our goals and make ourselves better unless we help those around us and receive help in exchange. We cannot succeed in our roles as daughters, mothers, grandmothers, employees, wives, partners or friends if we do not have the care and support of other women. -Jennifer Mowad Each day we are given a choice on how to live. Do we want to view the current state as “stressed times” or a time for creativity and flexibility? Given that your spending capacities are currently constrained, how can you stretch that dollar? What free activities are available in your community? How can you reconnect with friends and family the old fashioned way (board games anyone?) Though the market may have fluctuated and deflated, it does not mean our spirits need to. Stress in contagious, but so is joy. -Tricia Wolanin Education. -Michelle Creedon Relaxation tools; private downtime; meditation; playtime; joy in simple things. -Oak Haven meditation group ***
For the July/August issue: How can women promote their equality without being seen as radical?
Express your voice at: womenspress.slo@gmail
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The Answer is Isabella By Tricia Wolanin Isabella turned 30 on January 11. Friends she has collected throughout the years surrounded her Valley Village apartment. They spanned the country and time: Long Beach grade school to Syracuse graduate school. Her two bedroom shared apartment resembled a cheesy high school dance. Black and gold balloons flooded the ceiling next to cinema themed decorations. A make shift photo booth stood in the corner, with whimsical drapery surrounding the black and gold motif. Her brother acted as the paparazzi as guests posed in their 80’s themed attire. Guests filled their stomachs with potluck food and were entertained by a borrowed Wii Rock Band. Then the countdown began, as it had two weeks before for New Years. People surrounded Isabella. They waited to hug and scream as the seconds neared midnight. Another moment in time had been marked.
I look back at that night with inspiration, in hopes that my birthday will hold as much excitement. Isabella did not have a lavish apartment, high paying job, or a significant other. She had joy, which consciously lingered for the following thirty days. She appropriately created a blog “30 days of 30.” This blog followed her quest to daily acknowledge herself for having lived on this earth for three decades. Some excerpts were filled with alcohol debauchery and cake, while others were simply quiet moments filled with peace. I thought of Isabella, when posed with the question “In these stressed times, what do women of the world need now?” Isabella was laid off twice the previous year and had a gut wrenching break up with her first love. She could have chosen to wallow in her miseries, complain about the poor job and stock market, or seclude herself from others. Yet Isabella chose to celebrate life. And it was contagious to those around her.
My Built-in Life Support By Hilda Heifetz It must be my body and soul that are offended by the relentless attacks on my wellbeing by the mind-troubling health ads and warnings. The so-called “medical industries” and the media seem to be conspiring to create an unrelieved state of un-ease (dis-ease) in our human lives. The onslaught alone, with its resulting anxiety, can do us in! We are aware that what we
believe will shape our reality, and m a r k e t manipulators know that, perhaps even better than we do. On the positive side, drug companies and our doctors recognize the placebo effect. Testing a new drug takes into account that when a patient believes he is taking the drug (though actually given a sugar pill), his condition improves! On the negative side, we are being made to believe that we see Life support page8
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Women’sStories
Women’s Press | May & June 2009 | womenspress.slo@gmail.com
Eve-o-lution: The Birth of Humankind
By Heather Mendell Her name means the mother of the living. As women, how do we regard her and how does that affect the way we feel about ourselves? Eve, in Hebrew, Hava, can be understood in an entirely different light once we realize that the original story of our beginnings is told as poetry rather than prose. Poetry speaks in metaphor and when read literally, robs the reader of the grandeur of the images. The most dramatic result of such reading is a negative, patriarchal assumption about the “mother of living”. Not the disobedient, temptress she has been maligned to represent, Eve is, in fact, the quintessential heroine. She represents the bold and courageous intuitive aspect each human being possesses that moves the human story forward. Creating midrashim is an a traditional study of rereading biblical text by filling in the blanks. This month I offer a midrash I wrote in 1993. Eve stood beneath the branches of the Tree at the center of the Garden. They surrounded her, protectively like the wings of those who sang so sweetly from the tree. She loved being here, at home, in the Garden. The glowing fruit was in her hand, warm, soft, and inviting. She knew that the juice would be sweet to taste. Although time did not yet exist, here she was able to gaze into what would become the past and future of earth’s history. Once again she thought about her alternatives. She had been given the choice before, and she knew she
would be given the chance again. Not eating would ensure that innocence would remain in the Garden. Innocence, she knew, was incomplete, inexperienced, and inert. She looked at the warm, living fruit in her hand. The rosy blush of the sacred fruit was as pleasing to her eyes as its feel was to her hand. Eating of this gift of creation would open for them the gates of the Garden. They could step out into a material beginning. She looked at her beloved Adam. As the separated beings they would agree to become, they would experience loneliness. They would not be able to merge, as they could now, in this Garden of Oneness. Sexual fulfillment would be the closest they would come to knowing the ecstasy of merging. Separation would be necessary because the material world on Earth would operate under the law of duality. The challenge for their children would be to find a place of balance between the apparent opposites they would experience, to find the Oneness from which they came. This would be the first exodus of many for the children of humanity, whose mission would be incomplete until Oneness was attained. Physicality would bring the wonder of physical experience and emotion, as well as loneliness and even forgetfulness: to be totally present in their material world, their energies and attention would have to focus on the physical realm. She and Adam, her soul-mate and help-mate, would be the agents of consciousness that bring the God-force into yet
another level of existence. Adam comfortably deferred to her intuitive sense in matters of discussions with Wholly-One, just as Eve, he knew, would willingly follow his plan once the course of action was decided. Balance and happiness, you see, really did reign in that Garden! Eve knew how she would be vilified by humanity in its childhood. For a time, many of her sons would consider her the most evil of beings because of her decision to start this journey. She knew that her wondrous intuitive sense, with which she communed with Wholly-One would come to be detested and feared. Intuition would be symbolized by the awesome snake—an icon of wisdom and knowledge— which, like Eve, would become feared and demonized. Wholly-One assured her that although this early stage would seem like an eternity when they were in physical garments of skin, it would really be momentary. Time and space, after all, would be but illusions they would devise in trying to understand and to remember. Each would claim their Divinity when ready. Ultimately they would bless her and gratefully acknowledge her as their mother, the spark of the start of physical experience. For much of its childhood, humanity would take literally all the allegories their priests and storytellers would invent regarding their beginnings, until the time for maturity drew closer and understanding of symbol and myth would softly creep into their consciousness. It would take these children time
Life support continued from page 7
A Girl Thing By Hannah Hewes-Clark In my last article, I described my—is it safe to say?—unique relationship with my girlfriends. I know with great certainty that I wouldn’t be the person I am had I never been friends with them. They have all played a huge role in shaping my personality, my beliefs, and the manner in which I present myself. Now, we’re getting ready to disperse ourselves around the world—as I head off to New York City for college, two of them are going to be in South America, spending a year soaking
in foreign cultures and, I’m sure, leaving their own marks on the people who will be lucky enough to encounter them. With our good-byes quickly approaching, we are analyzing more than ever the meaning of our relationship and how we’re going to change as we adapt to our respective new locales. As I spoke about in the last article, our deep friendship has allowed us to understand ourselves better. Once we embraced our individual personalities, we began to analyze each other—observe what makes see Girls, page 9
cannot live without the use of “health” products, that we are filled with dire symptoms, that medication and science are our only recourse. The power of such repeated suggestion makes us fearful, faithful, consumers....and that brings in the profit. What if I don’t buy into all this salesmanship? What if I relate to a state of well-being, what if I think my environment is friendly, what if I give recognition to my builtin protectors and healers? What of the natural intelligence of my body (which my mind can only attempt to understand) and what of the spiritual participation of my soul (which works in mysterious ways)? I tend to feel they are both assigned to maintaining my survival. I believe my soul is married to my body, inseparable for life. I like to think they have taken an oath to care for each other “till death do us part,” letting nobody or nothing “tear us asunder.” I feel that the guardianship over it all is my responsibility. So much so that
to understand that this journey was a choice she and Adam were given by Wholly-One, who wanted them to undertake it— but only when they were ready. It had to be a choice of free will, which was the natural law in the Garden, as duality would be on Earth. Previously, she had hesitated. Compassion for generations of her future children stayed her hand. She could see the road ahead, the blindness, the misunderstandings, the hatred, the pain and tears caused by their ignorance. Out of those painful lessons would come understanding and remembrance. She would be blessed always by Wholly-One as she was now. She knew what Wholly-One wanted from her when she was ready and now, finally, she was. In joy and thankfulness, she put the sweet fruit to her lips, and savored its fragrance and flavor. This was the key to the Gates. She reached out and took another fruit from the sacred branch and giving it to Adam, encouraged him to eat with her. They once again discussed the odyssey they were to undertake. He was not sure he was ready for separation and the loneliness, for himself or for their children. He grieved for the time in the story in which his sons would forget the “wholiness” of his daughters. Eve understood and lovingly encouraged him, knowing that everything would turn out just the way it should. She knew it was time. Hesitating, he came to a decision. If Eve was ready, he would follow her intuition. He ate of the fruit she had brought to him. It was delicious. Savoring the wonder of it, he walked to the tree and took a second peach. Eve knew that his eating twice from the tree would make memory more difficult for him but she would be there, at his side, to help him remember. In sleep and story they would have the opportunity to cast off their human forms and revert to all they really were. She, Daughter of Wholly-One gave thanks, honored and joyful to be doing what had been desired, but never asked, of her. She lay down next to him and merged with him once more, for the last time, the two becoming one— inner and outer, active and receptive, male and female, intuitive and intellectual, thinking and feeling, wisdom and understanding, compassion and discernment — all at-one-ment in the garden. “Tomorrow” the adventure would begin. Eventually, they would return to the Garden, mature, whole and fulfilled, having completed the task lovingly offered them. The wholly-one slept peacefully beneath the Tree of The Wholly One.
B’shalom
Visit http://www.dancinginthefootstepsofeve.com for more readings from Heather Mendel.
it is reflected in my relationship with my doctors and pharmacists. Usually, most doctors will invite patients to report their symptoms but not qualify them to make any type of diagnosis. But my doctors are interested in both kinds of information from me as I interpret what my own body is telling me. Not entirely in jest, I refer to this exchange as the doctor being my “second opinion” while I am my “first opinion.” It seems basic and sensible. Perhaps this mutual respect has had something to do with longevity? I find myself rereading a chapter in a remarkable book, “The Lives of a Cell” by Lewis Thomas, practicing doctor, scientist, poet, and philosopher. The chapter, “Your Very Good Health,” urges us to have more trust in our own ability to heal. He wrote, “We are paying too little attention and respect to the durability and sheer power of the human organism. Its surest tendency is toward stability and balance. It is a distortion, profoundly disloyal, to picture the human being as a teetering, fallible contraption, always needing watching.
So giving Nature a fair chance to keep me whole, I don’t want to be too quick to dismiss or ignore what was provided as inherent helpers for my survival. I resist being exploited by tactics that scare me into buying products, that want me to believe my life depends on them. Could we slow down the trafficking in pathology and start broadcasting the celebration of the inborn benefits sustaining us? And the outer environment’s interconnection? These things I prefer to believe: That we need to know ourselves, strengths and weaknesses, in darkness and light...that life is the power to be an individual participant in the cosmic process. I would like to think that what I choose (or is given to me) to believe will be the compass for my life’s journey, staying my course, fulfilling my purpose. It is my belief that I am obliged to speak out against coercion by predators, as this essay of protest intends. Most of all, it would be important to find that all of my best beliefs defined my past 92 years and will attend my eventual departure.
Women’sStories
May & June 2009 | www.womenspress-slo.org | Women’s Press
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Tending the Garden with Soul By Berta Parrish It’s springtime on the Central Coast and my garden needs attention. Weeds abound, plants jump beyond their borders, and vines threaten their neighbors. Springtime is also a good time for reflection and the pruning of obsolete ideas and harmful habits. After several careers and pursuits, joys and sorrows, dreams realized and dreams delayed, Priscilla Mikesell compares living to gardening. “We check to see what works in our minds and hearts and how that shows up in our lives. If it’s not working, we weed it out to make room so something new can grow for us and those around us.” Priscilla’s life reflects this continual organic, transformative process. From union organizer to drug and alcohol counselor to real estate agent/broker to soon-to-be paralegal, she has known when to tend the soul’s garden, when let go of one thing to embrace another. However, the common harvest in all these careers is sharing her journey, her insights, and her vegetables with others. “Part of who many of us are is living our lives as
UNSUNG HEROINE:
Priscilla Mikesell Girls continued from page 9
each girl tick and how she handles herself in certain situations. In this sense, our friendship has not only given us independence, but it has also allowed us to understand other people, to become receptive to the differences that makes every person’s mind his/her own—especially that of women. As I look at other relationships between girls and women—my mom and her sister, other high school friendships, my boss and her employees, and of course my own relationship with my mom—I wonder how we females can avoid the stinging competition that often plagues our relationships and instead reach that point when we begin
to learn from each other and learn about ourselves through each other. From what I’ve seen in my eighteen years of living, there are many layers to female competition, and some are easier to identify than others. The most recognized and possibly the most unfairly blamed reason for competitive tension is men. In high school, you hear the same lines over and over: “She’s a bitch because she
hooked up with my boyfriend,” or, “She can’t date him because I did two years ago.” There’s even, “What a skank, you know he’s only flirting with her because she’s hardly wearing any clothes.” Girls in high school will find any reason to dislike each other and usually the most available reason revolves around the guys. Girls hooking up with other girls’ boyfriends creates civil wars and major see Girls, page 14
examples...I’m celebrating 17 and a half years of being clean and sober, and when you’re struggling with possibility and hope, any example is important.” She stresses that “it’s not just about recovery, but having the tools to deal with life.” Priscilla’s gardening tools keep her connected to her Source and connected to the Earth. Spiritual practices such as meditation, Tai Chi, poetry writing, Unity services, and the 12 step program maintain the optimism and energy she needs for her volunteer work. She’s a member of the Drug and Alcohol Advisory Board, the Cambria Connection Board, and the Unity of Cambria Board. Currently, she is also working at the Cambria Teen Center as Assistant Director, helping to set up a nicer environment. “It’s a good match,” she says, “Sometimes, I’m a 14 to 15-year- old developmentally! We play pool, and I use it as a teaching metaphor illustrating the need to slow down, to focus on the goal, to relax, and to realize that it’s just a game.” Priscilla also helped establish the Senior Day Care Center in 2001 and planned the Aging Graciously Conference in 2006. Gardening itself is another spiritual exercise for Priscilla. The entire process of composting, watering, weeding, mulching, sowing, pruning, and fertilizing develop an understanding for renewal, balance, wonder, patience, presence, care, and letting go of the need to control. These ideals are enhanced by a hobby in floral photography. “Taking pictures helps me slow down and see the beauty around us,” she explains. “Everything is about gratitude. You can’t feel thankful and fearful at the same time. If you focus on fear, you’re stuck. You don’t see the abundance. Just looking at the lush green hills, children playing, and blooming flowers can heal the heart.” Priscilla Mikesell is an inspiration and a role model for us as she passes on the gifts from her tilled and cultivated life. We don’t need an external garden to engage our senses, to evoke a sense wonder, and to gain meaningful insights. As we tend of our inner gardens and share the bounty, we are nourishing our souls in a greater appreciation of the mysterious cycle of life.
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Motherhood
Women’s Press | May & June 2009 | womenspress.slo@gmail.com
Birth & Baby Resource Network were touched deeply by a birth experience and wish to reach out to others. Some had There is an organization of tireless vol- a beautiful, positive birth which touched unteers working in our community who, them profoundly as women and mothers like those in many other “women’s” orga- and they wish to help other women achieve nizations, receive little recognition or fan- the same. Some had births that left deep wounds fare as they strive to educate, support, and empower young women starting families. on their female psyche from which they What drives these women’s passion to reach are still recovering and hope to spare other women. Some have never out and share their wisexperienced giving birth dom about pregnancy, but are drawn to the probirth, and early parentcess as a calling: a deep, ing? Why do they feel it abiding woman-tois necessary to continue woman, sister-to-sister to struggle against the experience in our core. tide of our current culAs in many other ture? areas of our female lives, In 1992 a group of these women are comwomen interested in ing to see our current set becoming midwifery of cultural beliefs about assistants and doulas birth as being a fraud met at a workshop. They perpetrated by the maleshared a common goal: dominated world of to make women’s birth medicine and litigation. experiences better, less hilde vanstraelen courtesy photo Women are drawn into medicalized, and more the system by offers to woman-centered—ultimately making women more self-empow- take away their pain and promises of perered. This meeting sparked an organization ceived safety. No one tells them about the risks inherthat has changed names, changed members, and changed locations over the years, but ent in the system or gives them an honest has never changed its core beliefs that preg- choice. No one really shares how empownancy and birth are normal, healthy pro- ering birth can be for a woman. This is a cesses that women are uniquely equipped pivotal rite of passage for a woman and to perform, and that women should have should not be directed by outside interests, access to quality evidence-based care wher- such as the threat of a lawsuit, or someone ever they choose to birth: in a hospital, else’s personal time schedule. Birth can’t be home, or at freestanding birth centers. They quantified, regulated, put on a timeline, believe that an educated woman will make or boxed into someone else’s preconceived her own best choices for herself and her notion of how it should be. Every woman family and that these choices should not be is unique, and so are her births. If you are interested in learning more made for her or taken away from her. This group is the Birth & Baby Resource Net- about birth in our community or becoming a member of the Birth & Baby Resource work or BBRN. As in many other “women’s” groups, Network visit them in Mission Plaza at there is a coming and going of members their annual Birth & Baby Fair Saturday as women try to balance the needs of their May 9 or on the BBRN website at www. families, their lives, their work, and their bbrn.org. passions. It is always a blend of birthing professionals, such as birth educators and Jennifer Stover is a birth educator and doula doulas, and women young and old who founder and vice president of BBRN. By Jennifer Stover
Attached Parenting:
Preparing for Pregnancy, Birth, and Parenting By Lisa Jouet The philosophy of attachment parenting starts with preparing for pregnancy, birth, and parenting. I work directly with clients all day in our small business. These wonderful people have shared their life stories with me for over 14 years. As luck would have it, many of them are women A large number of these women had strong opinions about natural childbirth and a few had home births. My mother’s fifth birth was natural and two of my sisters also had unmedicated births. These stories empowered me to research and pursue what I knew in my heart would be the best start for our baby. My husband and I took childbirth classes that were two hours each week for 12 weeks. The course recommended a high protein diet, daily exercises, and joining breastfeeding support groups. This work helped me so much while I was pregnant, and I urge other women to do the same. I also found a midwife we felt great about, and she encouraged us to learn more, ask questions, and follow our instincts. I even studied hypnotherapy, which added an element of calm to the day of our daughter’s birth. My husband was with me the entire day and so were my mother and sisters. I will always remember that day with
so much happiness. Almost everything was as we imagined or better. Our midwife and her team were right there when we needed them and for that we will be forever grateful. Our healthy, alert daughter was born in the wee hours of the morning, and we all fell in love with her instantly. With some help from family, our beloved midwife and friends, we have tried our best to parent and meet our child’s needs. An important part of parenting is really listening to children. We have always taken great pains to listen to our daughter, even before she could speak. On one occasion, our week old baby girl was crying inconsolably for much longer than we were used to. We tried walking with her, we swaddled her, I tried to nurse her to no avail. Finally, we took all of her clothes off, including her diaper. My husband had read somewhere that an adult hair could be wrapped around her toe or something might be poking her. He was right! Her plastic umbilical clamp had fallen off, rolled around to her back and she had been lying on it. As soon as we removed it, she stopped crying and we were so relieved. My husband and I anticipate each stage and we constantly discuss and reevaluate what works and what does not. Join me next time as I discuss the second stage of Attached Parenting: Feed with Love and Respect.
My Vaginal Birth After Cesarian: “women have the right to choose” By Jen Kaplan Other than a strange affinity for blueberries, my first pregnancy was a very mainstream and very typical. I was the perfect picture of a stereotypical expectant mother in our country today. And the outcome was also a very typical story in today’s birthing environment. One medical intervention after another started a downward, unstoppable spiral. A 40 week ultrasound showed that my baby was “very big,” much too large for “any woman” to birth. A pathetic attempt to labor was quickly called off since I was making no progress, proving that this baby was not meant to be born vaginally, and so I walked myself into the operating room, since that was what was “best for the baby”. Within minutes my son was born and being resuscitated while I was being given massive amounts of morphine. My son was whisked away with my husband in hot pursuit of all those first moment pictures. I was alone with the nurses and doctors. The next 4 days were a blur of pain, pills, and recovery. However, I went home feeling fine, healing well and successfully breastfeeding my son. We were inseparable. I had no major complications from the surgery, my son was healthy, and all was fine. Fast forward to three years later when I became pregnant again, and I was not the same person I was from my previous birth. Becoming a mother changed me. I am not the mother portrayed in the popular baby books or magazines. I became a mother who nursed on demand, co-slept, and wore my baby. But to find other mothers like me, I had to look
beyond mainstream media. And I found them: advocacy for VBACs, and prevention against families committed to a natural, attached, con- unnecessary C-sections. Through that organiscientious way of life. These mothers spoke zation, I found that SLO has a local chapter about how important, special, magical, amaz- and I soon found myself at the first monthly ing their births were. They were in charge meeting of ICAN-SLO. There I found a of their bodies, listened to their instincts, and world of information provided by our leader, strived to birth their babies naturally. I was a doula, midwifery student and mother of 2 led to a world of doulas and midwives and Ina C-sections and 2 VBACs. At these meetings May Gaskin. It was eye opening and trans- I met other mothers who were determined formative. I began to realize how sad and to not be forced into a routine C-section and pathetic my birth story were also seeking out was. I researched C-secVBAC information. I tions and felt like I had learned that Accordlucked out. The list of ing to the World Health possible complications Organization, for mother and baby “There is no justiare long. Don’t get me fication for any region “Pushed” by Jennifer Block. wrong: when a cesarean “Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth” to have a cesarean rate is medically necessary, it higher than 10-15 perby Ina May Gaskin can be a lifesaving techcent.” “Birthing From Within” nique for both mother And yet in our counand baby, and worth the try one in three births is by Pam England risks involved. However a cesarean. This cesarand films: the potential risks to ean rate increase has not “The Business of Being Born” led to an improvement babies from cesareans can be deadly. in the infant mortality “Pregnant in America” Knowing all this and morbidity rates, but pushed me into the instead has put mothers direction of wanting--no needing--to have and babies at greater risk. I also learned that a vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC). I was VBACs are safer for both mother and infant, determined to find out all I could about hav- in most cases, than is routine repeat cesarean, ing a VBAC. My search was relatively easy. which is major surgery. Online the information is everywhere. I I have heard labor and delivery nurses found an organization called International speak from both local hospitals. They all Cesarean Awareness Network (ICAN) which come to the same conclusion as to why so helps educate and support women by pro- many births wind up in C-sections: inducmoting birthing choices in the community, tions and epidurals. Mothers lose touch with
Recommended by the author
their instincts, bodies, and choices. Once an induction is begun, there is a series of events that have to take place. An IV and Electronic Fetal Monitoring must be used.When an epidural is requested the mother from that point on must labor in bed, lying down. These are all contraindicative to birthing normally and naturally. Women who birth naturally are in a comfortable environment, unrestricted, allowed to eat, drink, bathe, and move. There must be movement for the babies to descend into the birthing canal. Preferred pushing positions are squatting or standing. When there are unnecessary medical interventions, that then lead to more medical interventions, this whole process is broken down. She now must birth in the certain parameters and restrictions that have been laid out before her. But if you leave a mother alone to birth her baby and to trust the birthing process, we may not have so many unnecessary C-sections. C-sections rate across the world should be in the 10-15% rate. Why are we at 33%? According to a recent press release by ICAN, “Every pregnant woman in the U.S. should be alarmed by this rate. Half or more of cesareans are avoidable and over using major surgery on otherwise healthy women and babies is taking a toll.” A major driver of cesarean overuse is underuse of vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC). The VBAC rate currently hovers around 8 percent, far lower than the Healthy People 2010 goal of 37 percent. Driving this decline is the growing practice of hospitals banning VBAC, due to unattainable guidelines that hospitals have to follow. see VBAC, page 11
Motherhood
May & June 2009 | www.womenspress-slo.org | Women’s Press
Savoring the Moment out anyone asking for help or a snack, or just trailing me from room to room. I also enjoyed more one-onAs my children grow at what feels to be something one time with my first daughter; we chatted more, we akin to warp speed, I remind myself of the oft-re- cuddled on the couch with books, we ran up the street marked but rarely heeded cliché “savor the moment”. to the park for a quick playtime. Yet once my second I look at my daughters and marvel at how quickly they daughter arrived, naps and nursing quickly swallowed are growing and changing and how soon they will be in up a big chunk of my day, and I’m still scrambling school and I will be going back to work. Being a stay- ten months later. And as much as I worry about my at-home mom means I should have more time with eldest feeling like her mommy time has been taken my kids, yet as I reflect on my three years as a stay- away by her baby sister, I worry about how little oneat-home mom, I realize the years have flown by, and on-one attention I provide my youngest daughter. Her schedule completely revolves I’m not sure how well I’ve used all that time with my beautiful Oh, the quality time, such a around my needs and some girls. And knowing how many trite reference to something that days I worry she is an adoraccessory, as I wear her working moms would love is so essentially critical to our able in a carrier or hold her on my to stay home with their chilrelationships with others. hip more than I play with her dren, it feels like I have a duty on the floor. Those are the to appreciate and make use of days I am thankful that I am still nursing her, as it’s every day I get to stay home with my kids. But what exactly am I doing at home with these some of the best quality time she and I get all day. Oh, “quality time”, such a trite reference to somewonderful children I am supposedly staying home to benefit? Besides doing chores and meeting the kid’s thing that is so essentially critical to our relationships basic needs, which involves a baby that requires two with others. We spout about spending quality time naps a day and a toddler that naps right smack dab in with loved ones, but do we actually understand what the middle of the day, I am constantly running errands it means to be invested in our time with others? Do and providing my daughter with social and physi- we know how to shut off the technology that intrudes cal activities like play dates, preschool, and gymnas- upon us such as text messages, phone calls and Facetics, cooking healthy meals, and leading several mom’s book posts in order to dedicate our attention to one groups. And I’m exhausted half of the time. As much person? And even if we can ignore outside interrupas I mentally abhor and verbally scoff the hectic pace tions, can we turn off that inner voice reminding us of our society and the frenetic schedules I hear many of all the things we could or should be doing with our school-aged children keep, am I not subjecting my time? Can we stop worrying about time long enough daughters to a similar pace? Is my family not headed to enjoy purely being in the moment with the ones we down the same time-constrained road as most families love? So my charge to you (and to myself) is this: spend today? And where is the energy and attention I intended one week in which you purposefully ignore those interto dedicate to raising my children? I imagined sitting ruptions that distract you from investing time into with my kids painting and doing crafts, teaching them your relationships with those you care about. Devote colors, or picnicking in the yard. I pictured lots of days ten minutes daily to each person in your family and spent in the yard blowing bubbles, making trips to give that time solely to them, without allowing anylibrary story hour or a visit to feed animals at the local thing to detract or distract. Start a conversation, head farm. Of course we do enjoy many of these things, but outside to toss a ball around, or sit down with a book unfortunately it seems to be squeezed in between the or short game. Although I have only made this conscientious effort for a few days, the difference in my rest of our busy life, almost as an afterthought. The time constraints feel magnified now that I am attitude toward my children and husband has been a mother of two, and I wonder how mothers of three remarkable, and honestly, it makes me wish for even or more children manage their time. With one child, I more meaningful time with them. In this case, as in so always had nap time to find a moment to breathe, eat many others, it seems the more you invest, the more lunch in silence, and then get a few chores done with- you receive.
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By Jen Mowad
“
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VBAC continued from page 10
Thankfully here on the Central Coast, there are doctors and midwives that know and believe in the safety of VBACs. These doctors know that it is almost always safer to let a woman deliver vaginally. The very small (less than 1%) risk of uterine rupture outweighs the risks associated with a C-section. One of the precautionary guidelines for a VBAC birth is that there must an anesthesiologist in the hospital. The doctor must also be with the patient during the whole delivery. These are in place in case of a uterine rupture. The laboring mother and fetus must be able to have an emergency C-section quickly. Because of these limitations, the only place locally to attempt a VBAC delivery is at Sierra Vista Regional Center with a handful of doctors or at home with a licensed midwife. From numerous recommendations I found a doctor that would take me as a VBAC patient; he assured me that all labors and all births are different. And this time I would need to do some things differently. He highly suggested that I labor at home for as long as possible. He was happy that I had hired a doula, was a member of ICAN, and was educated on the importance of a non-intervention birth, and that I had tools to guide me through my labor this time. I learned that failure to progress is a relative term and that all births have their own timeline. I learned to trust my instincts, calm my fears, and to visualize a normal, vaginal delivery. I had a very uneventful pregnancy. No complications. Felt great. My doctor was a calm, experienced man who had delivered thousands of babies and who believes in the safety and practice of VBACs. My doula was a peaceful, strong, intelligent, loving presence who guided, taught, and supported me. Finally, 12 days past my due date, my labor started very slowly. After 2 days of laboring at home, we went to the hospital. We were greeted with an excited,
encouraging, and supportive staff of nurses who were just as thrilled as I was to have a successful VBAC. All through the night and next day I labored on, slow and off the normal labor curve, but still progressing. We were calm and capable and knowledgeable. We knew that this was not an emergency or a crisis. This was just me, slowly having a baby. Finally, after 36 hours of prodromal labor and 20 hours of active labor, I pushed my baby out into the world and into the hands of a doctor who held faith in the body’s ability to birth, surrounded by cheering nurses and a proud husband, and my doula who was with me every step of the way. When the baby was placed on my chest and was nursing shortly thereafter, I looked around calmly and knew that if I could do it, anyone could. Our own government wants to reduce the amount of C-sections being performed in our country. Our statistics are appalling and an embarrassment. Avoiding unnecessary C-sections needs to be a priority in his county. More accessibility and fewer restrictions to VBACs need to happen. Women should not be forced into repeat C-sections. Women can--and have the right--to say NO to an unnecessary surgery. Women need to demand their right to a trial of labor. Midwives are also an invaluable gift to our society. They are the original catchers of babies. They are the most knowledgeable when it comes to birthing and mothering. We need to seek out and utilize their wisdom and services. We are women. We can birth our babies.
By Lisa Pimental Johnson In honor of all intergenerational women with families, I have reviewed some of my favorite books about the wild and tender world of Motherhood. “The children were having breakfast. This was not a pleasant sight,” Jill Murphy simply and accurately states in “Five Minutes Peace”. The mother elephant gets up in the morning and tries to sneak away for five minutes of peace in her bathtub. Her children are like heat seeking missiles and right away find her in the bathtub and offer to entertain her by playing their recorder, reading a book and dumping two baskets of bath toys in the tub! The enticing bubbles, warm water, and food on a tray are too much for the children and they end up in the bathtub, pajama’s and slippers too. The mother elephant gets out of the tub, wraps herself in her ratty robe, and slips downstairs to make a new cup of tea and read the paper alone. She has three and half minutes peace before three naked, dripping wet children join her again. Every mother has craved and dreamed about five minutes of peace in her day, and this story is delightful in its truism. Without grandmothers, there would be no mothers and family stories would be much less colorful or entertaining. My grandmother was French Canadian and loved to show her French side. Until her passing at 92, she was fluttering her eyelashes, wrapping herself in French perfume and flowery scarves while flirting with any man! In the story, “Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Patridge,” by Mem Fox, the story of a young scrappy boy who lives next door to an old folks home in Australia is told. He likes all the old people and his favorite is Miss Nancy Alison Delacourt Cooper, because she has many names just like him. One day, Wilfred overhears his parents discussing Miss Nancy and commenting that she has lost her memory. Thus begins his journey of discovering what memory means and what it means to all his “old” friends. He learns it means something warm, sad, funny: something from long ago and as precious as gold. He starts to “collect” memories for Miss Nancy and places them in a special box to give to her. As Miss Nancy tenderly removes each object from the box, her memories come back in little bits and pieces to the joyful delight of both of them! This is a story that gives respect to the older generation and younger generation. It’s full of wit, imagination, and is sure to make you want to create your own family memory box to laugh, cry, or simply smile when you open it.
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LocalPerspectives
Women’s Press | May & June 2009 | womenspress.slo@gmail.com
Photo provided by Sonia Paz Baron-Vine
Photo by Anita Patterson
Nurturing Ourselves Moments By Jeanie Greensfelder On an overnight visit with my baby granddaughter Julia, I pampered her, anticipated what she might want and gave it to her. Exhausted when I got home, I wanted my own bouncy chair, a big wind-up swing, someone to fix my meals, sing me to sleep, and carry me on demand. I noticed my grown-up substitutes: a recliner chair, a rocker, comfort foods, bedtime music, hugs or cuddles, and massage. As a psychologist, I know that the need for mother is ongoing. Not from our parent, but the healing mothering we can give to ourselves. From childhood on, our job is to learn what we need and provide it. Sometimes we need extra comforts, but other times structure and discipline serve us best. For instance, I’ve mastered my desire
for daily exercise but haven’t found the discipline to create a regular writing time. How are you doing at mothering yourself? Might you need more nurturing, some play time and/or some organization of your priorities? Is your self-care balanced? To start, notice the tone of your internal voice and cultivate a kind, caring one. Perhaps pick one loving thing to do for yourself this week along with a playful one and one of the more challenging things. Put time for them, actually for you, on your calendar.
By Sonia Paz Baron-Vine One hot December day in 2008, four women, some professional, some artists, some stay at home moms, got together armed with garden utensils, gloves, and garbage bags, and spent the day cleaning and reforesting a once pristine cove in the central coast of Chile. Why is this important you may ask? Well, there is the obvious reason of helping the environment, but of even more importance, these women were each from different cities, had never met personally, and were of different ages. The two things they had in common was their love of nature and that they had responded to a call by me via Facebook,
where I had invited women to help me clean and reforest this wonderful beach. I remember as a teenager spending the afternoon on the white sand under the huge pine trees, looking at the clean blue ocean. But when my daughter showed me a picture she had taken of the same place, 35 years later, the pine trees were gone, the beach was dirty, and the ocean in danger of pollution by the oil tankers passing near by. So, my call to save the beach went across the miles in cyberspace all the way from California to Chile and it was heard by many, but only four brave sisters actually went there and did something!! In the photo above are their faces. They are my heroines! From the left: Berta, Rosario, Marina, Paula, and Jessia.
A Monthly Series of Spiritual Workshops
Save the World
A Mother’s Day Lesson
Congregation Beth David, 10180 Los Osos Valley Road, San Luis Obispo Third Thursday of Each Month • 7-9 pm • $20 Contact womenspress.slo@gmail.com or (805) 541-6874 for more information.
By Jill Turnbow Mother’s Day is not so much a celebration for me as it is a reminder of how Karma can bite you in the behind. I’m not a mom myself, so I can merely spend the day reflecting on the memories of my own mother, who has now been gone for many years. My mom was an “older” mom, being 36 when I came along. So in my prime mocking years, my Mother was the age I am today. As a teenager, my Dad and I found my Mother to be wildly entertaining. We just couldn’t figure out how she got through a day. It was as if her shining light became a dim bulb. During those years, we went through a teakettle about once a month. My mom would start the hot water for tea and then go take a bath…or go to the grocery store… or go to the mall…anything but remember that she had started the kettle. I would routinely enter the kitchen and smell smoke, or see flames shooting from the stovetop. Once I found the Crockpot shoved into the corner of the counter and I went to put it away, only to find it was still on. I didn’t remember having anything from the Crockpot that week, so I lifted the lid, gently, to see what lay inside. I’m still not sure what it was, but in a race with the Chia pet, it was winning. And my mother could never
Sisters Unite, Clean and Reforest
finish a sentence. She would yell up the stairs, “JAN! Bring down the…” and her voice would trail off. I never knew what she wanted but later you could bet she would be furious that I didn’t bring down whatever it was. And it was pointless to mention the fact that my name wasn’t Jan. So my Dad and I would constantly giggle and tease her. And when I say “giggle” I am being polite. We would guffaw at some of her mindless antics. How could she be so spacey? What has come over her? Ahhh, that’s where Karma comes in. Yes, as I look back on those years from where I am today, I regret the laughs, the jabs, the ridicule... because I SOOOOO get it now. And I apologize, Mom… wait, do I smell smoke?
May 21 • Gem Crystal Singing Bowls Balance your energy field with with sound therapist, Barbara Perry, and with guided imagery by Francine Jensen. Bring a blanket & pillow. June 18 • Cultivating the Sacred Feminine The summer solstice is traditionally a time to honor the fertility of Mother Earth. Through integrative breathwork meditation and guided imagery we will tap into the sacred Feminine and plant the seeds of the dreams we wish to cultivate. We will com-
plete the evening with a candle ceremony honoring the Sun. Please dress comfortably and bring a yoga mat as the meditation is performed lying down. Shantel Beckers is a massage therapist and the owner of Body Centered Therapy, Inc. She has studied shamanism for the past seven years with David Elliott, Carrie Woodburn and The Four Winds Society as well as through travels to Thailand, Tibet, India and Guatemala. She leads on-going meditation circles integrating pranayama breathwork and Native American shamanism.
NOWNews
March & April 2009 | www.womenspress-slo.org | Women’s Press
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T h i s Pa g e P r e s e n t e d b y t h e N at i o n a l O r g a n i z at i o n f o r W o m e n the purpose of
NOW is to bring women into full participation in the mainstream of american society NOW!
NOW’s WTF Files
COMMUNITY bulletins
CAMBRIA GOES COUNTRY WITH PATSY CLINE!
By Kimberly Anderson Recently, a nine-year-old, 80-pound girl in Brazil, who had been beaten and raped by her stepfather for three years, became pregnant with twins. Abortion is legal in Brazil, in cases of rape or life endangerment. Brazilian Catholic Archbishop Jose Cardoso Sobrinho, supported by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, head of the Vatican Congregation for Bishops, excommunicated the doctors involved in the abortion and the child’s mother, who arranged the procedure. When asked why he did not also excommunicate the rapist, Archbishop Sobrinho claimed that abortion was a more serious sin. After worldwide outrage that the church had taken the side of a rapist over an innocent child, Archbishop Rino Fisichella, claimed the excommunication had been a mistake… though only because an “innocent child’s” life had been at stake. NOW President Kim Gandy comments: “In Brazil alone, more than one million women are having unsafe, illegal abortions each year…” If doctors fear that they could be expelled from their religious communities even in the most extreme, horrendous cases like this… how does that affect their decisions? How can they treat their patients under these conditions? And above all, what will happen to the women? More from my WTF? Files… A couple in Glendale had their house searched without a warrant after the wife miscarried. She was approximately 5 weeks pregnant, and the miscarriage occurred over three days. She put the tissue in a bag in her freezer and asked her doctor what she should do with it. She was told she could either bring the embryonic tissue in for testing, or call a mor-
NOWcalendar May 8, 1914 - President Woodrow Wilson signed a Joint Resolution designating the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day May 10, 1872 - Victoria Woodhull is nominated as the first woman candidate for U.S. president. May 19, 2009 - NOW meeting at 6 pm May 26, 1951 - Birthday of Sally Ride astrophysicist; first American woman astronaut June 10, 1963 - Equal Pay Act enacted: “To prohibit discrimination on account of sex in the payment of wages by employers engaged in commerce or in the; production of goods for commerce.” (PL 88-38) June 14, 1811 (1896) - Birthday of Harriet Beecher Stowe - author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin June 16, 2009 - NOW meeting at 6 pm June 23, 1940 - The first women gradu-
tuary. The husband called a mortuary, who asked for a death certificate, which he did not have. They told him to call the coroner’s office, and the coroner’s office told him to call the police. The couple then found about 6 police officers at their house, who had been told their were “human remains in the freezer” and had searched the house without a warrant due to “exigent circumstances.” Cheers! Lower cost birth control pills and condoms will be available again at some campus and community health centers, thanks to a provision in the Omnibus Appropriations Act just passed by Congress. A big thank you to the tens of thousands of NOW activists who sent emails, letters, and made phone calls to their representatives! Access to reduced-price birth control pills had been cut off by a provision in the 2005 Deficit Reduction Act, which made it difficult for pharmaceutical companies to supply low-cost contraceptives to college health centers and other clinics, causing the women who rely on these centers for birth control to have to pay up to $50 per month, something they could not afford. Nursing Mom’s Update Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, recently announced that the House now has nursing rooms! Here in California, state law allows moms to nurse in public places, and there is a new bill, AB 513, which would require insurance companies to pay for lactation consultants and breast-pump rentals. This makes total sense, as some infants cannot tolerate any kind of formula, and also because breastfeeding can help prevent allergies, asthma, and a number of other expensive ills.
ate from Harvard Medical School, founded in 1783 June 24, 1903 - Madame Marie Curie announces discovery of radium June 27, 1880 (1968) - Birthday of Helen Keller - Advocate for the disabled; writer; lecturer Get Involved - Join NOW!
NOW Chapter # CA 565 PO Box 1306, SLO, CA 93406 SLONOW @ kcbx.net http://groups.myspace.com/~slonow
Allied Arts and Houselights Theatre proudly present the boot-stomping musical, ALWAYS… PATSY CLINE, written and originally directed by Ted Swindley-based on a true story. The show is filled with all of Patsy’s greatest hits, backed by the “Bodacious Bobcats”, a rockin’ 6-piece live band sure to have you up dancing in the aisles! ALWAYS…PATSY CLINE will open May 22nd and run thru June 21st at TOGS (Theatre at the Old Grammar School), 1350 Main St. in Cambria. Shows are Friday and Saturday evenings at 7:30pm and Sundays at 3:00pm. Tickets are just $20 and can be purchased at the Cambria Chamber of Commerce or by calling 9274667. This Houselights Theatre production will feature Jill Turnbow as Louise and Amanda Baker as Patsy. The role of Patsy Cline is also being understudied by Karen Anderson. Thom Waldman directs. SANTA BARBARA WELCOMES THE LIVE OAK MUSIC FESTIVAL The 21st Annual Live Oak Music Festival, a three day concert and camping event will be held Father’s Day weekend in the beautiful and peaceful hills off Hwy 154, above Santa Barbara, California. This year’s festival will be held on June 19, 20, and 21, 2009. 100% of Live Oak proceeds go to support San Luis Obispo’s KCBX Public Radio. To see the complete three day concert line-up and to order your tickets for the 2009 Live Oak Music Festival, please visit the website at www. liveoakfest.org or by phone at 805-781-3030. Full festival adult tickets are $115, teen tickets $75 and children’s tickets $35. Day tickets are $35 for adults and teens and $15 for children.
vice and Workshop day, May 3, 2009. Dannion will discuss the “7 Lessons from Heaven”. The workshop (directly after the Service) is $35. For more information, contact the Circle of Spiritual Enlightenment. NATURAL LIVING FESTIVAL MAY 30th Serenity Natural Living Health and Wellness Center has designated the Global Alliance for Balance and Healing, a local nonprofit organization that provides free energy balancing to humanity world wide, as the recipient of all donations received during its Grand Opening and Natural Living Festival on Saturday, May 30, from 10:30am to 5:30pm. The Serenity Center is located at 104 Main Street in Templeton. There will be product demonstrations, booths, tours, live music, food and raffle prizes. Additionally you will find mini-lectures on raw foods, meditation, and steps toward sustainability. To learn more, visit www.serenitynaturalliving. com or call 434-1924. To learn more about Global Alliance for Balance and Healing, visit www. globalalliance.ws
MONTHLY PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOPS OFFERED BY THE SIERRA CLUB A series of monthly Sierra Club Photography Workshops will be centered on the theme: “Focus on the Environment…learning to communicate your passion for the natural world through still and video photography.” The first workshop will be “…all about light,” and features Photo-Painting with Paul McCloskey. This workshop offers an opportunity for local photographers to participate in learning the various methods McCloskey employs to bring the mystery and joy of light to images that capture your imagination. This workshop will be held Saturday, May 16th, DANNION BRINKLEY TO 9:00am to 11:00am, in the Community Room of SPEAK The Circle of Spiritual First American Title ComEnlightenment welcomes pany, Pacific and Morro, Dannion Brinkley at a Ser- in SLO.
To register, call or email Linda Brownson: Linda.sierraclub8@gmail. com (805.543.8717). To save your place, send your check in the amount of $40, made payable to the Santa Lucia Chapter/Sierra Club, P.O. Box 15755, San Luis Obispo, CA 93406. Partial proceeds will benefit the local chapter of the Sierra Club. 2nd Annual “D.A.M. Art Show” Artists Dana Kim Hixson, Anne Godsey, and Marylou Falstreau are hosting their 2nd annual “D.A.M. Art Show” on June 27th and 28th at 423 Rennel Street, North Morro Bay.The clever name came by combining the first initials of these accomplished Central Coast artists. This year they are honored to announce the addition of M.B.H.S. art student, Molly Wilson. Molly has been an integral part of the planning of this show and will be displaying and selling her artwork as well. The show runs from 11-4 each day. A percentage of all sales by the D.A.M. artists will go to support the Central Coast Natural History Association. Female Zen Master to Visit SLO on May 9th A one-day Buddhist meditation retreat in the Serene Reflection Meditation Tradition (Soto Zen) will be led by Rev. Master Phoebe of Pine Mountain Buddhist Temple, a Buddhist temple and retreat center in Ventura County. The retreat will be held on Saturday, May 9, 10 AM to 3 PM in the Community Room of the San Luis Obispo Library at 995 Palm St. The day will include several periods of sitting and walking meditation, a Dharma talk and discussion, and a short Buddhist ceremony. This event is sponsored by the Central Coast Buddhist Meditation Group. There is no fee, but it is good to show one’s appreciation and help support Buddhist monks by making an offering (dana) which is gratefully accepted. Please bring your own vegetarian lunch.
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Women’sCommunityCenter
Women’s Press | May & June 2009 | womenspress.slo@gmail.com
Family Law Action Committee Dealing With Divorce Our mission is: • TO maintain an accessible center to collect and exchange information of interest and concern to women • TO organize and facilitate workshops, clinics, seminars, classes, and support groups on subjects of interest and need • TO engage in and facilitate interaction among local, state, and national agencies and organizations working to benefit women
Call for Volunteers Hear ye, hear ye! The Women’s Community Center is looking for a few volunteers to help with several projects.
3rd Wednesday of each month – 7 PM Upcoming: May 20, June 17 and July 22 Talk with other women who have been there, done that in a supportive, non-judgmental environment. $10 donation
Self-Represented Litigants’ Clinic 4th Tuesday of each month – 5:30 PM Upcoming: May 26, June and July 28 Get family law advice from local attorneys and/or paralegals. Reservations required. $40 donation
Need a classified ad? The Women’s Press is now offering a classified section. No more than 40 words, just $15. Reach thousands of women on the Central Coast, from Orcutt to Paso Robles and Cambria!
Girls Continued from page 9 “trash talking,” while the actual guys who cheated seem to just shrug and walk away without even a scratch. At this age, boys are too often an excuse for girls to lash out at each other. So why are girls so desperate for a good cat fight? Perhaps it’s partly just for dramatic effect, but what’s even stronger than that is the discomfort that girls can feel during their high school ages. We are still getting to know ourselves and becoming more acquainted with our sexual identities. Therefore, as high school girls “experiment” with their sexuality, they’re put under criticism and usually hypocritical scrutiny. Contrastingly, because my friends and I helped each other reach that place of self-confidence, we haven’t felt the need to call each other “hoes” and “bitches.” In high school, those who are most comfortable with themselves are usually the most wellliked. For my group of friends, the trick to having a strong, respecting relationship was to help each other figure out and accept our own identities. Perhaps the root of women’s issues is sexism. Throughout history, men have always had the upper hand in society. They’ve been able to go to college where they want, work where they want, dress how they want, etc. When a man does
Day with Creative Women Saturday, August 8, 2009
Call 544-9313 for information
Classifieds Looking for women to tell stories (amusing, bizarre, touching, erotic) of amorous adventures in the 70’s for writer working on novel similar in structure to Boccacccio’s Decameron. Contact tallulah97219@yahoo.com for details.
A Call For Artists, Musicians, Creative Business Women And Craftswomen for
something bad or good, he’s still assured a pat on the back from another man. Women haven’t always had that privilege, and therefore, though the feminist movement has come an extraordinarily long way, women still feel the pressure to get ahead and show men that they can do everything just as well, if not better. While a normal high school girl’s idea of “feminism” may be sexual freedom and wearing a low-cut prom dress, women in college and beyond have a natural tendency to show themselves as just as strong, smart, intelligent, and independent as men. How do we abolish this competition without making Betty Friedan turn in her grave? Is it as simple as becoming comfortable with ourselves, or does that only apply to a younger generation? Although the answers to these questions are relative and therefore ultimately unanswerable, I do believe that if we celebrate each other’s accomplishments, and help each other out during our failures, we’d create a much more respectful environment that lacks gossip and other forms of cattiness. As I move on to Barnard—an all women’s college—I look forward to meeting smart and independent women who I can learn from and support. This is the women’s world I hope to build for myself.
Calling all Creative Women! The Women’s Community Center of San Luis Obispo County invites you to participate in the 35th Annual Day with Creative Women, to be held in Mission Plaza in downtown San Luis Obispo on Saturday, August 8, 2009. This event draws over 2500 people from all around the Central Coast and beyond and features more than 80 vendors displaying their own creative arts. If you create art or handcrafted items, you are invited to display and sell your works. If you are creating something for sale, please submit pictures of your work with your application. Entertainers of all types will be performing throughout the day. Last year’s line-up included African dancers, Middle Eastern dancers, Hawaiian dancers, mimed folk tales by Fran Dukehart, singers Sheri O, Jennifer Young and Travis Larson, Karen Tyler, Jill Knight, and the Motowners. If you are a member of a woman-oriented band, let us know and we can make a spot for you! This year we encourage women in business to submit applications for a booth to market your creative skills. Please submit a short essay (no more than one page) describing how your business is creative and how it benefits
women. Non-profit organizations are also invited to reserve a booth to provide the community with information about your services. This event celebrates women’s creativity in all spheres. We realize many women have male partners and we welcome them. However, we do require that all booths be staffed by women during the event. Space on the Mission grounds is limited so reserve your booth now! For more information or booth space reservation, call the Women’s Community Center at 805-544-9313 or download the vendorapplication form from www.wccslo.org. Early-bird discount booth rates are $50 for non-profits, $80 for a single 8’ by 8’ space and $140 for a shared booth (2 or more vendors in one space). These rates increase after July 25, 2008. Day with Creative Women celebrates women’s creativity with music and entertainment, arts and crafts for display and sale, continuous entertainment, delicious food, and children’s activities, and is a fundraising event to benefit the Women’s Community Center of San Luis Obispo County, dedicated to the empowerment of women. For more information, check the website www.wccslo.org, call 805-5449313, or email us at dwcw2008@aol.com.
Help! I’ve Fallen & I Can’t Get Up! By Jackie Turner What’s the sound of a thud on a public sidewalk if no one sees, hears, or pays attention to the body lying on the floor? That is exactly what happened to me last week, in daylight, on Marsh Street, in plain sight of cars, passersby, and even bicyclists. I was walking along and all of a sudden, I tripped on the uneven pavement: my bag went flying and my body sprawled across the sidewalk. I lay there like a dead person for 5 seconds, while the world went on around (without) me. A man walked by on his cell phone and almost tripped on my supine body; the driver of a big pickup truck watched me fall but raced by to catch the changing light; the group of people across the street that were laughing and talking to each other – I think one of them might have even waved at me. What is going on here? Am I either too old or too young to deserve help? Or, is it
something worse? Are people too oblivious, too detached, too uncaring to help someone in need? Luckily for me, I picked myself up, dusted myself off and went on with my day —a little bruised—inside and out.
Resources
May & June 2009 | www.womenspress-slo.org | Women’s Press
ABUSE
Safe and Sober Support Group
Stroke Support Group
St. Barnabas (Depression/Divorce/Grief)
Caregivers of Stroke Survivors
473.6507
489.2990 www.stbarnabas.ag.org
Center for Alternatives to Domestic Violence
489.5481
North County Women’s Shelter & Resource Center,
Free monthly workshops 541.7908
Adults Molested as Children Support Group (AMAC) Rape Survivors Support Group, SLO Support Group for Sexual Assault Survivors
471.8102 (SLO)
544.2266 (SLO)
534.1101
544.4883
15
545.8888
Talk/Listen - Emotional support
781.6406
Transformations Counseling Center
(inc. domestic violence support groups) 461.1338
FINANCE/BUSINESS
POLITICAL
www.slocodepink.org ososousaville@aol.com
545.8412; Dawn Williams
541.4252
543.2220
www.kcbx.net/~slonow/ slonow@kcbx.net
SARP (Sexual Assault Recovery & Prevention)
545.8888 or 800.656.HOPE (4673)
781.6401 www.womensshelterslo.org
Women’s Shelter Program of SLO
ADDICTIONS AA Meeting
541.3211
498.2176
534.9204
927.1654
Women’s Recovery Home 481.8555
Adult Children of Alcoholics (ACA) Al-Anon
Cambria Connection (12 step support) Casa Solana
Consumer Credit Counseling Services
800.540.2227
GAY & LESBIAN
Gay and Lesbian Alliance of the Central Coast
541.4252
438.3889
Mostly socializing! Call 474.9405
PFLAG.Parents & Friends of Lesbians & Gays SOL (Single Older Lesbians)
HOSPICE
Hospice of SLO County, AIDS Bereavement Group
544.2266 and 434.1164
782.8608
Hospice Partners of the Central Coast
Women’s Support/Therapy v (general) Women’s Healthcare Specialists
Code Pink
Commission on Status of Women Democratic Women United League of Women Voters
NOW (National Organization for Women)
READERS/WRITERS Adult Literacy
541-4219
748-2676; contact Gloria
549.9656; contact Shirley Powell http://SinC-CCC.blogspot.com
Creative Writing Group Nightwriters
Chemical Dependency intensive outpatient program
JOBS/CAREERS
Compulsive Eaters Anonymous, H.O.W. Concept
Cal Poly Foundation
Cal Poly University
Adult Day Care
541-9113
546.1178 www.ceahow.org
781.4275 or 800.549.7730
541.3164
461.6084
929.1789 www.tops.org
215.536.8026 www.womenforsobriety.org
Drug & Alcohol Services Overeaters Anonymous
SCA, SLAA & SAA (Sex, Love & Romance Addictions) TOPS (Take Off Pounds Sensibly) Women for Sobriety
CHILDREN & FAMILIES
Birth and Baby Resource Center
546.3755 www.bbrn.org
541.2272 or 800.727.2272
“A child’s voice in Court in SLO County” 541.6542
Childcare Resource Connection
Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) Children’s Services Network
781.1847
781.4058; ask for Susan Hughs
462.0726; ask for Barbara
First 5: Children & Families Commission Homeschooling in SLO County (HSC) La Clinica De Tolosa 238.5334 La Leche League
489.9128
AARP
Sisters in Crime
788.2643
Jobline 756.7107 www.calpolyfoundation.org
SENIORS
http://calpolyjobs.org 756.1533
http://www.cuesta.edu Jobline 546.3127
489.8894 (Arroyo Grande); 434.2081 (Templeton); 927.4290 (Cambria)
788.2600 or 237.3014 www.slocareers.org
781.1790
549.3361
Computer help: 489.6230
595.1357 www.mcscorp.org
In-Home Support 781.1790 Nursing help for the terminally ill 781.5540
www.jobhunt.org 788.2601
781-5821
Core Mediation Services
473.4747
District Attorney’s Office – Victim Witness Center
782.9200
Family Law Facilitator
489.5481 dg17@juno.com
Lawyers Referral Services/Legal Aid Alternative
Free, trained in.home counseling for 60+ 547.7025 ext. 15
Pro Per Divorce Workshop
SPIRITUAL
Cuesta College
The Creekside Career Center
Department of Rehabilitation
Mission Community Services Corporation Women’s Business Partners Private Industry Council (PIC)
Adult Protective Services Computerooters:
Department of Social Services:
Elder and Dependent Adult Advocacy and Outreach – Victim Witness Assistance Center Elder Law, Geraldine E. Champion, Attorney
LEGAL
544.6334 medeee8@aol.com
Foster Grandparents.Senior Companions
781.5821
Senior Ballroom Dance club
788.3418
Senior Peer Counseling
788.2099
544.9313
Circle of Spiritual Enlightenment
543.5140
Senior Legal Services
541.1963; www.spiritualcircle.org
Meditation Monday evenings 7-8 pm Open to all. 772-0306 awakeninginterfaith.org
RC liturgy with womanpriest 546.8672
Mondays, 7:30–8:30 PM; 772.0306
Every Sunday, Coalesce Bookstore, MB
Anorexia Nervosa & Bulimia Support Group
Sunday Services 995-1599
Arthritis Foundation
Homeless Shelter
Migrant Childcare Program
MEDICAL SUPPORT/SERVICES
MOMS Club of South SLO county
544.4355 and 466.3444
ALS Support Group (Lou Gehrig’s Disease)
473. 2548
Alzheimer’s Support
541.8666; ask for Beth
460.9016
781.1600
473.6507
Awakening Interfaith Spiritual Community
227.4785 or 674.4162
Hungry Hearts Spiritual Community
547.3830, 534.9234 (SLO/Los Osos) 888.488.6555
Meditation Group
Social Services
San Luis Obispo 543.1481, 238.9657 Templeton 434.3051
Support for Kids Coping with Domestic Violence
541.9113
WOMEN’S CENTERS/SHELTERS
892.5556
781-3993
543.1481 ext. 3 for information
543.4478
543.7969
461.1338
226.9893
786.0617 www.pradodaycenter.org
www.endometriosisassn.org
544.9313
771.8640 www.enhancementinc.com
no or low cost reproductive health services 544.2478 (SLO); 489.4026 (Arroyo Grande)
549.8989 (crises), 781.6401 (business) www.womensshelterslo.org
No or low cost reproductive health services 542.0900
Community Counseling Center
542.6269
Dealing With Divorce
3rd Thursday, SLO, 7 -9 pm 464-0564
Depresson and Bipolar Support Alliance Group
785.0132
Divorce Discussion Group
2nd Monday, 4-5 pm, 782-9300
Central Coast Peace and Environmental Council
466.7226 (Atascadero/Templeton) 481.7424 (Arroyo Grande) 541.8633 (SLO)
Compassion & Choices (or Final Exit)
SLO 549.9446
Partnership for Children
Real F.A.C.T.S. (Forum on Abused Children)
EMERGENCY/CRISIS Hotline
www.slohotline.org 800.549.8989
545.8888 or 800.656.HOPE (4673)
Sexual & Rape Prevention (SARP)
Temporary Restraining Order & Victim Witness Program 781.5821
EMOTIONAL SUPPORT
A.D.A.P.T. (Aid in Divorce Adjustment Problems Today)
543.0388
434.2081 or 534.9234 or 888.488.6555
Alzheimer/Dementia Resource Center
CALL–Concerned Agoraphobics Learning to Live
543.3764
Co-Dependents Anonymous (CoDA)
American Cancer Society
Cancer/ Breast Cancer Support Groups Caregivers of Aging Parents
Celiac Disease Support Group Endometriosis Association
Enhancement, Inc. (for breast cancer survivors) EOC Health Services Clinics
Healthworks of the Central Coast
New Beginnings Church
Self-Realization Fellowship
Housing Authority North County Women’s Resource Center, Shelter Prado Day Center (for the homeless) Women’s Community Center, SLO
Women’s Shelter Program of SLO
OTHER WOMEN’S ORGANIZATIONS Altrusa International, Inc.
481.1039; Cici Wynn, President
781-0922 Karen www.aauw.org
440.2723 www.campingwomen.org
543.9452
American Association of University Women
542.0577 (SLO) 481.5093 (Grover Beach) 927.1654 (Cambria) 466.8600 (North County)
543.7969
IC Interstiti al Cystitis/Painful Bladder Syndrome
544.9313
Long-term Care Ombudsman Services of SLO County
927.3703
Lymphedema Education & Support Group
OTHER GROUPS & GATHERINGS
489.2990, saintbarnabas@sbcglobal.net
Parkinson’s Support Groups
544.3399 or 783.2383
546-3774; free, meets weekly in SLO
800.247.7421 or 489-5481
548.0909 www.projectlifesaverofslo.org
Eating Disorders Support Group Project Lifesaver
Hearst Cancer Resource Center
Planned Parenthood
Camping Women Hadassah.SLO
Please send additions, corrections or deletions to: womenspress.slo@gmail.com or leave a message at the WCC: 805.544.9313. Last update 4/27/09.
SAN LUIS OBISPO
Near Downtown Deluxe Continental Breakfast Pool & Spa Fitness Room Guest Laundry Suites
2050 Garfield Street San Luis Obispo, CA 93401 Toll Free: 800.544.7250 805.549.9911 Fax: 805.546.0734 SUPPORTERS OF WOMEN IN BUSINESS!
Where to find Women’s Press
All Libraries and the following exceptionally fine establishments! • NORTH COUNTY: Atascadero – The Coffee House and Deli, Starbuck’s at Von’s Plaza, Green Goods, Player’s Pizza, Harvest Health Food Store, North County Connection, Senior Center, Women’s Resource Center/Shelter Office, Curves. Paso Robles – Cuesta College North Campus, Café Vio, Curves, DK Donuts, Panolivo French Cafe, NCI Village Thrift Shop, Paso Robles Health Foods; Templeton – Twin Cities Hospital, Templeton Market & Deli, Affinity Chiropractic, Kinship Center, Jobella’s Coffee; Santa Margarita– Santa Margarita Mercantile. • NORTHERN COAST: Baywood – Coffee & Things; Cambria – Cambria Connection, Cambria Pines Lodge, Chamber of Commerce, Gym One, 7 Sisters, Azevedo Chiropractic, Lilly’s, Alloco’s, Cambria Drug and Gift, Bob & Jan’s Auto Shop, Linn’s, Donna’s Nail Salon, Cookie Crock, Rainbow Bean and Coffee Shop; Cayucos – Cayucos Super Market, Kelley’s EsPresso & Dessert, Ocean Front Pizza, Chevron Station, Mobile Balloons; Los Osos – Starbuck’s, Baywood Laundry, Cad’s, Carlock’s Bakery, Chamber of Commerce, Copa de Oro, Garden Café, Los Osos Deli Liquor, Volumes of Pleasure; Morro Bay – Backstage Salon, Coalesce Bookstore, Coffee Pot Restaurant, The Rock, Southern Port Traders, Sunshine Health Foods, Two Dogs Coffee, La Parisienne Bakery. • SAN LUIS OBISPO: Broad St. Laundry, Cool Cats Café, La Crepes, Edna Market, Booboo Records, Creekside Center, GALA, Marigold Nails, Palm Theatre, Susan Polk Insurance, Utopia Bakery, Unity Church, Zoe Wells, Naturopath, Cal Poly Library and Women’s Center, Center for Alternatives to Violence, Chamber of Commerce, Cuesta College Library, EOC Health Services Clinic, HealthWorks, Healing Alternatives, Laguna Laundry, Linnaea’s, Monterey Express, Natural Foods Coop, New Frontiers, Nautical Bean, Outspoken Beverage Bistro, Phoenix Books, Planned Parenthood, West End Espresso & Tea, San Luis Obispo Housing Authority Office, SARP, The Secret Garden, SLO Perk Coffee, Spirit Winds Therapy, The Studio Fitness for Women, Uptown Cafe, Yoga Centre, Ahshe Hair Salon, Apropos Clothing, Soho Hair Salon, Hempshak, YMCA, KCBX, Salon on Monterey, Jaffa Café, Med Stop (Madonna Plaza), World Rhythm and Motion, Steynberg Gallery, Correa Chiropractic, High St. Deli, Sunset N. Car Wash, Jamaica You, United Blood Services. • SOUTH COUNTY: Arroyo Grande – Mongo’s, Act II Boutique, Central Coast Yoga, CJ’s Restaurant, Curves-AG, Cutting Edge, EOC Health Services Clinic, Girls Restaurant, Grande Whole Foods, Chameleon; Avila Beach– Avila Grocery, Custom House, Sycamore Hot Springs, Inn at Avila, Joe Mamma’s; Grover Beach – Back Door Deli, Cindi’s Wash House, Nan’s Pre-owned Books, Therapeutic Body Center, 30-minute Fitness; Halcyon – Halcyon Store; Nipomo – Anna’s Creekside Coffee House, Healing Touch Spa, Curves, La Placita Market, Healthy Inspirations, World Gym, Trendy Sister Salon, Senior Centers; Pismo Beach – Honeymoon Café, Pismo Athletic Club, RETurn to JOY!; Shell Beach – De Palo & Sons Deli, Seaside Cafe, Steaming Bean. • SANTA MARIA: Café Monet, Hunter’s Landing, Library, Curves on Main and on Broadway, Lassen’s. • ORCUTT: Loading Dock, Oasis Spa.