I awoke this morning to beauty here in the Gila of New Mexico where I am visiting my sister. And then the disheartening election results. A win of the electoral college, though not the popular vote, will put a dangerous man at the forefront of our nation. The work to heal hatred is very real,…
Category: World of Possibility
Halloween, Samhain, Dia de los Muertos
To my ancestors we are in an important moment in the year. As we descend into the darkness of winter, the ancient Celts had a three day period of time-out-of-time, days not considered part of the normal calendar. This is the space to get your affairs in order, pay debts and follow through. On Samhain –…
Mr. Weatherman, and the Boy who cried Wolf.
The weather men were all a tizzy last week. “Batten down the hatches.” They said. Well, as it turned out the big blow never really showed up on Saturday. Though everyone stayed home to watch for it, and most all events were cancelled in these parts. Can’t help but liken it to the way it…
“There’s a storm coming, Harry. And we all best be ready when she does.”
The immortal words of Hagrid are feeling pretty apt right now. We are smack in the middle of a triple whammy of storms here on the North Coast of Oregon. Meteorologists are all a tizzy. So far we have had wind, rain, hail, lightening and there was a tornado today in Manzanita. Whoa. After 20 years…
Beyond Awareness II- The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire
Yesterday I sent out a long post contrasting the Shirtwaist Strike with the whole October pink mania. In Part II we will discuss the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire which followed the strike, as it relates to metastatic breast cancer – which is when cancer has spread beyond the breast into other parts of the body, the brain, liver, bone…
Beyond Awareness Month: Lessons from the Shirtwaist Strike of 1909
What follows is an account of the Shirtwaist Strike of 1909 as it might relate to Breast Cancer Awareness month. In late September 1909 some brave women, seamstresses actually, organized a general strike that pulled in over 20,000 garment workers. They were fighting for safer working conditions, a fair wage, regular working hours, and the…
The Inner Puppet Show.
Yesterday was so very beautiful. After work we celebrated a family birthday at Shively Park with a picnic supper. The trees there are big and old and have the feel that they are holding the world together. Two beech trees on either side of the park have covered the ground with their burst open little spiky…
World Peace Day – Pray for Sacred Lands.
“To us, as caretakers of the heart of Mother Earth, falls the responsibility of turning back the powers of destruction. You yourself are the one who must decide. You alone – and only you – can make this crucial choice, to walk in honor or to dishonor your relatives. On your decision depends the fate…
Brassieres and Moonsuits: How the Cancer Moonshot is just the latest boob-moon connection.
Looking up at the big beautiful moon this weekend I started to think about the Cancer MoonShot, and other historical attempts to address cancering. Nixon is known for many things; lying, opening up relations with China, and of course declaring war on mutated cells. This has not been nearly as successful as Kennedy’s goal to…
Holding up the sky for Chicken Little.
First off my MRI results came to the Clinic yesterday and the Nurse Practitioner, Marion, gave me the all clear. I looked at the report – and it is annoyingly brief. One would think with all the angst I have been feeling this past week that it would have more than a few sentence fragments….
The Pink & The Pissed
My friend David recently sent me an excellent article* written by Barbara Ehrenreich in 2001. In it she bemoans the tyranny of all things Pink. Barbara Ehrenreich is the brilliant mind behind the book Nickel and Dimed, and has spent decades questioning and critiquing and debunking the norms of our society. She helps us to see from new…
Grati-Tuesday ~ Ursula K. LeGuin
This letter is the first of what I hope to become a regular practice of writing letters to those who have influenced and enriched my life. Some on my list are living, some dead. Some are people I have known personally, others are public figures. This week I thank one of my favorite authors, Ursula K. LeGuin. Welcome…
Riding the Pooka 