“As we all know, access to reproductive health is facing the most aggressive attacks in modern history.  The 2011 legislative session saw the largest numbers of anti-women’s health bills introduced and laws enacted.”

For more details about the reception, click here. Stand with me and Planned Parenthood by coming out to the event!

“Funds raised at our reception will support Planned Parenthood’s work toward a prevention agenda at all levels of government during 2012, including local school boards and the Arizona legislature. Donations will also support our strategies to elect pro-choice leaders who will stand up for women, choice, and access to health care.“

At the reception there will also be a raffle for artwork and jewelry. I am donating an oil painting called Flowers Keep Emerging (No Matter What)!.  I think the title is apropos for the event – no matter how hard women’s issues get trampled on, we will keep on standing up and speaking up!

Flowers Keep Emerging (No Matter What)! 

This is an oil painting measuring 12″ x 12″. I am currently framing it, so in the end it will measure about 13″ x 13″ and will be about 2″ deep. Flowers Keep Emerging is priced at $300.00

My partner, Matagi Sorensen will also be donating jewelry for the raffle. Check out what he donated last year. To see more of his work, visit his website. I can’t wait to see what he donates this year!

Date: Thursday, March 8, 2012
Time: 5:30 PM – 7:00 PM
Address:
High Country Conference Center
201 W. Butler Ave
Flagstaff, AZ 86001
United States

For tickets – visit Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona.

The Walk Home

I could smell out the perverts even before I knew what a pervert was.

Brownies, Girl Scouts, youth groups, teachers, my junior high principal. It always seemed like wherever there were kids; at least a few of the adults were “off”.

30 years later, my younger sister said she quit playing violin because Mr. Ross would feel her up during lessons.

When I was 14, a photographer asked me to climb up a tree while I was wearing a skirt. I started to climb when I realized he was wanting to take pictures of my panties. I didn’t like what he was doing so I came down. He wanted me to have a drink of champagne with him so I would “loosen up” – he kept a bottle and some glasses in his trunk. We could “just sit in the park” like we were “having a picnic”. I refused and wouldn’t get back into his car.

I walked home.

There was a paved pathway through the woods. It occurred to me, as I was walking home, that he might try to follow. I walked quickly, looking over my shoulder as I went.

I tried to tell my mom about him, but she didn’t hear it. It was like she shut a part of her mind off. I don’t understand how she doesn’t recognize that look in men’s eyes. Push. Go on, it’s ok. She, with her soft brown eyes like a doe.

I grew dark. Part of myself dimmed out. Dim dim dim. And another part of me grew sharp. Soft cheeks, hard heart.

Another time, I was walking with my sister. The walk home. I was 14; she was 12. Two men, in their 20s, cat-called and followed us for a while. We talked to them a little bit. In a weird way it was flattering to get the attention.  We didn’t think much of it. 2 weeks later they kidnapped my sister. They tried to get a ransom. They were caught.

My 12 year-old sister – a child. Teachers, psychologists, principals, church ladies, doctors decided my sister, this child, was a temptress of grown men, that somehow she had caused these men to go wild and steal her away.

She still looked like a little boy.

Dim dim damn.

The walk home is too long now. The walk is home. The walk is home. The walk is home. The shadows are part of the journey, along with the flowers and the trees and the dust and the wind. The walk home. The walk.

The walk home. I kissed him in the doorway of a brick building, around the corner of Mother’s. We had just spent the night dancing. He wore leather pants and a black t-shirt. He caught me looking at his arms. He shouted over the thump of club music, “Are you looking for track marks?” I smiled, “You got me. I can’t help it.” He swigged his beer, “I don’t do needles. I don’t do hard drugs.” So I kissed him in the doorway, shaking, knowing there was no turning back.

The man I lived with, the man who I spent the last seven years of my life with – was out with someone else, too. But I wasn’t like him. This being out was not my style. I didn’t like complications.

I felt like the air, the world had stopped, like I was walking through a postcard on the way home. I tiptoed up the stairs, turned the key slowly in the door.

There was no one home.

New York City is damp in the summer time.

3/16/11

Reblogged from sorensen silver fine art:

Amethyst Crescent Moon The color of the amethyst in this pendant is such a rich purple it practically glows. Amethyst is traditionally worn to guard the wearer from drunkenness and poison. (Many people in recovery love this stone). Amethyst is also known to bring about pleasant or prophetic dreams. It is aligned with the Crown, or Seventh Chakra, so it may open the wearer to spiritual wisdom. This hand-carved pendant measures 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Amethyst Crescent Moon 85.00 M0007 photos: Holly Troy

My man has been on a moon kick lately. I love this amethyst moon! I love photographing his work (and wearing it, too)!

A song for a dark winter’s night . . .

Light, fresh, fair. Gay is a good way to be!

Spring is coming!

“Take it easy and enjoy it while you take it!”

Thanks for the reminder, Rosemary.

“Keep it Gay” from The Rosemary Clooney Show 

Have a great week! Om shanti.

Anne Ortelees January 15 2012 Weekly Weather 01/15 by Annes Weather | Blog Talk Radio.

© March 2011

I love Carol Burnett. I don’t remember this sketch at all. But it makes me wonder, with Neptune about to move into Pisces, will the world see a “feminine” shift . . .

Here’s a writing prompt: Take something you’ve written, and change the point of view to that of the opposite sex. Does anything about the writing change?
or
How would your life be different if you were the opposite sex?

“Love is the underlying reality of everything that exists.”

Gratitude for my teacher, Swami Swaroopananda. His vibe seems softer in this video than I remember from yoga teacher’s training—though he does say, “[the] yoga teacher’s training course, as it goes on, sometimes feels like a stormy ocean.” Perhaps it was the nature of the training, not the teacher . . .

“Ananda is not just bliss; ananda is also love.”

We are one. Yogis have been saying it for thousands of years.

Right before I went to Sivananda for my teacher’s training, I read Beyond Einstein: The Cosmic Quest for the Theory of the Universe, by Michio Kaku. In that book, Dr. Kaku discusses the string theory of the universe—what it boils down to is that everything in the entire universe, is made of vibrations. He described it very much like strings on a guitar—they vibrate, something (sound and more vibrations) is created. As a musician, I was fascinated. What kinds of vibes do we put out there, and how do they shape the world—even if they are only tiny ripples?

A week after reading Beyond Einstein, I was living on an ashram, learning about Vedantic philosophy and practicing meditation and breathing techniques that brought me to that state of “oneness” for hours every day. (Swami Swaroopananda, who was my main teacher, was a physicist before he became a swami—I appreciated his grounded perspective on philosophy). It was a mind-blowing time; my reality was definitely stretched!  Again, the question came up: What kinds of vibes do we put out there, and how do they shape the world—even if they are only tiny ripples?

We are One. Something to be reminded of and to ponder as we go into this next year.

How will you experience the ride?

Namaste Bill Hicks (and everything and everyone)

photo of Bill Hicks from Reckon: Personal Cargo.

I reviewed his product. Here is my review:

 Thanks for Nothing!, February 28, 2008

I’ve discovered that this nothing is resistent to the brown haze that eventually permeates the average all-purpose nothing. It’s so light and pure, I almost forget I’m wearing it!

One of my favorite uses is to wrap nothing around my head as I’m falling asleep–nothing blocks out the pesky worrisome thoughts that used to keep me awake at night. Thanks to nothing, I feel happy, well-rested, and ready for a new day every morning now!

Sometimes I use nothing when I’m taking the bus. I discreetly place nothing in my ears when I notice a gum chewer walking down the aisle. Since I’ve discovered nothing, I haven’t had to listen to loud cell phone talkers either! Now I blissfully look out the window and watch the buildings go by. I swear, it’s like a dream!

Best of all, when I ask my husband, “What are you thinking?” and his reply is, “Nothing!”— I have to smile. We are on the same wavelength at last! Yes, I have to confess, nothing has saved my marriage.

I highly recommend nothing to everyone. Nothing has made my life so much better! Thanks for nothing!

art by Erik Ruin