If you honor women, remember to VOTE on November 7.
Your foremothers
Volume XXI, Number 6
November & December, 2006
Women’s Community Center
NOW News
Voices Around the Table:
What makes a home?
Local Perspectives
Women at Work
Body & Soul
Community Bulletin Board
Community Resources
UnsungHeroine
Kay Tift: Growing Healthy Groups
By Berta Parrish
If eyes are windows to our souls,
then Kay Tift’s soul is open, enthusi-
astic, and expansive. If one’s home is
where her heart is, than Kay’s heart is
filled with people, purpose, and plea-
sure. An 87-year heroine’s journey
has brought her from a conservative,
middle-class background to being an
inspirational role model for women
who want to expand and enrich their
own lives and the lives of others.
The Call to Change. As the
daughter of a high school principal
in Upland, CA, Kay was destined for
motherhood, education, and com-
munity service. After graduating from
Berkeley, she began teaching in the
Japanese Relocation Camp at Tule
Lake while her husband Floyd served
during WWII. Like most women of
that era, she didn’t have a life goal. So
after the war, she returned to being a
stay-at-home wife, raising three chil-
dren. Later, while living in Washing-
ton, D.C., volunteering and being
a member of the League of Women
Voters didn’t satisfy her restlessness.
She was depressed and didn’t want
to duplicate her mother’s patriarchy-
ruled existence. Something had to
change or she was heading towards a
breakdown.
The Trials and Tests. Searching for
something more, she took a job teach-
ing in a psychiatric clinic for emotion-
ally disturbed children which required
regular therapy for all staff members.
It helped when her daughter told her,
“Mom, you don’t have to be a sec-
ond-class citizen all your life. You’ve
been a martyr-victim long enough.”
With new psychological insights and
struggled for 72 years so you could cast a vote. Don’t let them down!
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her family’s permission, Kay earned a
Master’s in education and a Doctorate
in human resource development. She
left second-class citizen status when
she became a consultant and later the
head of curriculum development for
the National Drug Abuse Training
Center. She loved the excitement, the
work, the prestige, and the people.
The Abyss. Despite the job suc-
cess, increased confidence, and rec-
ognition, Kay began feeling empty.
She describes it like this: “My head
had gotten pretty crammed with
intellectual stuff. I loved the idea of
thinking, but I really wasn’t able to
care very much about people in gen-
eral…I wasn’t gentle because I had
grown up trying to get recognition
in a man’s world.” She became disil-
lusioned because the external rewards
didn’t make her feel as good as she
thought they would. Something else,
something deeper, was still missing. A
powerful inner voice told her that ego-
achievements were part of her life’s
journey, but not the final goal.
The Healing of the Feminine
Spirit. Once again searching, Kay
became involved in the human poten-
tial movement that was impacting
education, politics, psychology, and
women’s studies. Now she believes
that “nature abhors a vacuum – that
if you’re missing something, why,
part of your inner self reaches out for
it. There’s just a sweeping nature that
wants us to be whole.” This search led
Kay and Floyd to the Findhorn Spiri-
tual Community in Northern Scot-
land immediately after retiring. The
community building and motto “You
can do it superbly alone – now we
must learn to do it together” attracted
them. The initial one-year commit-
ment lengthened as she learned to let
go of her ego and to give and receive
interdependent love from others. She
admits to being a slow learner: “It
took seven years before the same inner
voice that brought me to Findhorn,
told me it was time to return to our
roots in California.”
The Return to Share the Boon.
Acting upon this inner knowing, Kay
and Floyd moved to Cayucos where
they volunteered for a variety of agen-
cies and causes. In 1987, she joined the
Women’s Alliance whose goal was to
nurture women’s spirituality as a foun-
dation for personal and global heal-
ing by bringing women from different
races and sexual beliefs together to
work as a team at its summer solstice
camps. Kay served as a group process
staff member and was grateful to hear
outstanding speakers, such as Joanna
Continued on TIFT, page 8
League of Women Voters hosts Ukrainian leaders:
A real-world civics lesson
By Galen Ricard
Left to right: Tetyana Khimchenko, Yuliya Yesmukhanova, Trudy Jarratt,
Tetyana Pechonchyk and Oksana Levkova.
It was an eight-day week recently for
three up-and-coming Ukrainian lead-
ers. Their itinerary spanned the county,
with a diverse sampling of Central
Coast lifestyles, leaders and land-
marks. They toured county govern-
ment offices, met with local officials,
attended receptions with community
leaders and activists, and were taken
behind the scenes of various media
operations, with a few time-outs for
sight-seeing. It was an intense, peripa-
tetic, and exhilarating real-world civ-
ics lesson that, to a woman, they fully
immersed themselves in.
The October 14-22 trip was spon-
sored by the League of Women Voters
of San Luis Obispo County as part of
the Open World program, which gives
emerging Eurasian leaders a firsthand
look at the U.S. political system, busi-
ness, and community life. The Cen-
tral Coast was one of two major stops
on the group’s tour, which included
Washington, DC.
For Ukraine, it’s a time of renewed
opportunities. Since gaining its inde-
pendence in 1991, it has shaped a
Cover Art by Linda Huggins
democracy largely based on Euro-
pean values and struggled with the
complexities of a modern post-Soviet
national identity. The country’s initial
progress was clouded by political drift
and corruption during the 1999-2004
term of its second president, then dra-
matically revived by the Orange Rev-
olution of 2004 that elected Viktor
Yushchenko as president in a wave of
pro-Western sentiment.
“The theme of the tour was
‘accountable governance,’” said Trudy
Jarratt, president of the local League.
“The Ukrainians learned about the
openness of our government, includ-
ing the high level of activism – here
and throughout the U.S. We, in turn,
learned about a well-educated, com-
mitted, pragmatic, and passionate
people who want to insure that their
country has a government that’s hon-
est, open, and accessible. They want a
strong democracy. We have much in
common.
“What particularly struck me was
their amazement at observing citizens
Continued on UKRAINE, page 8
 Women’sPress Women’s Press November & December 2006 | editors@womenspress-slo.org

Letter to the Editor

Happy holidays!
Our theme
Volunteering: I was interested to read in your last
issue the section Voices Around the Table:
The “loose” theme of this issue is “home”: Good For Your Health and Business “Why do you think sexual harassment
from Linda Huggins’ dreamlike painting of a continues to be such a problem in our
by Margaret Hennessy
cottage and picket fence that invites us into the schools and in the workplace?” But as
landscape to Trisha Oksner’s article on Tirtza What can helping others do for about helping others. It makes them I read each response, I felt increasingly
Abuan, who hopes to make her cooking avocation into a profession; from Berta our well being? Apparently, a lot! feel needed and provides a sense of frustrated as each response focused on
Parrish’s cover article on Kaye Tift, who has chosen to make her home in inten- You may be surprised to find out belonging. We all need to feel as if we what women were, or were not doing,
tional communities to Galen Ricard’s account of the Ukrainian women’s visit that a solid link has been established are a part of something that can make to end sexual harassment. The truth is
and their observations on our home country compared to theirs. Many of you between doing volunteer work and a difference. Even in some small way. this: sexual harassment continues in
also submitted your answers to our Voices Around the Table question: What good health. Too busy to volunteer? Become a our workplaces and our schools because
makes a home a “home” to you? Enjoy the responses. Several years ago, NBC “Today sponsor. MEN continue to commit acts of sex-
New columns Show” regular Dr. Art Ulene, in his There are a variety of volunteer ual harassment. Before something can
We have new columns by local naturopaths, who will be offering you sug- annual fitness campaign, put signifi- opportunities in this community. They be prevented, we need to be clear about
gestions and insight into health issues not usually available from medical doc- cant emphasis on mental health as range from helping animals, children, who has the power to prevent, and only
tors. We invite women who provide alternative therapies, such as color therapy, well as physical fitness and how the seniors, healthcare, the homeless, as the person committing the act has the
sound therapy, and others to submit articles. We also are beginning a new col- two are closely related. Social interac- well as abused women. But what if you power to NOT commit the act. Vic-
umn, “Younger Women Speak Out,” which will offer you the voices of young tion can play a huge role. are working and do not have time to tims can do things that may reduce
women in our community. A 10-year study of 2,700 subjects physically volunteer? I have personally their risk, but they cannot actually pre-
New advertising team in Wisconsin showed that men who talked to many business people who vent the act from happening.
Three women, led by Margaret Hennessy, who once ran her own local pub- were socially isolated were twice as are discouraged because of this lack of We must be clear about who is
lication in Colorado, are working on getting regular advertising for the Press. likely to die of heart disease, cancer, available time. The answer? Sponsor- responsible. Sexual harassment contin-
Jacky Lopez, Carol Dawn, and Maria Foster will be calling and visiting local and other illness. ship. Find an organization that you ues to be a problem because some men,
businesses and encouraging them to support the Women’s Press with ads or busi- Many volunteers will tell you that feel good about working with and certainly not most, have not learned
ness profiles. The price for the latter, a ¼-page spread with your logo, business they experience a kind of “helpers’ help sponsor an event. I have worked that it is unacceptable, as well as unlaw-
information, and a short article about what you do, will be $149. Give us a call high” from their work, which seems in public relations for over 30 years ful. Women can definitely play a part in
for an appointment: 544-9313. to override the sense of being a “do and there is no better way to build stopping the problem, but men need to
Writer’s guidelines and volunteer manual gooder.” It may be that these people your business than with goodwill. The step up to the plate if issues like sexual
My planning committee has been working on developing both writer’s guide- simply enjoy what they do, which in people in your community will take harassment, sexual assault and domes-
lines and a volunteer manual, both almost complete. The volunteer manual will turn affects their immune system in a notice. The best way to achieve your tic violence are ever going to be erad-
give details about the type of work expected from volunteers as editors, advertis- positive way. goals is to help others achieve theirs. I icated. Violence against women is not
ing staff, distributors, etc., including the number of hours spent per issue. Both Or, it may be that volunteers who have seen it work many times. just a “women’s issue.” It belongs to all
will be posted soon on our website: www.womenspress-slo.org. I hope you and take care of others simply take better To find out more about volunteer of us, because it affects all of us. So let’s
your friends refer to it and call to volunteer. The more women we have, the more care of themselves. Dr. Ulene stressed and sponsorship opportunities with hold the men in our lives accountable
diversity in voices and viewpoints we will have. that mental fitness is also a critical part the Women’s Community Center and help them to take responsibility for
Next issue of a persons’ total fitness program. and other local organizations call their own behaviors and attitudes. Men
The topic I’d like to explore in our next issue is “Superwoman,” society’s Over the past 20 years that I have vol- 805-544-9313. must stand up and speak out against
expectations that women can do it all and our striving to do it! Frances Yee, a unteered for different community- sexual harassment...and any other forms
Cal Poly student, submitted an article that gave me the idea. Especially young based organizations in several states, Margaret Hennessy is a commu- of violence against women...so that we
women are feeling pressures to do and be all, and I think we need to talk about I have heard over and over again the nity volunteer and can be reached at can all enjoy a more peaceful world.
it. Please submit any viewpoint or article related to the theme. I welcome them. same statement: People feel good mtnhen@yahoo.com Please contact our office (805-545-
Another idea is to look at women in other parts of the world. Always want- 8888 or www.sarpcenter.org) for more
ing to keep a local focus, I will accept articles on this topic if you or someone information on prevention efforts, as
local you know has a relationship with someone abroad or has traveled there and well as men in the movement.
has a personal account.
Ask us about buying a Sincerely,
Volunteer business profile for $149. Jennifer Adams
Call me if you would like to be come involved in a publication that keeps Call 544-9313. Executive Director
getting better: 474-6444. Meet other interesting and dedicated women. No date Sexual Assault Recovery
has been set for the next staff meeting, but I will put you on a notification list. and Prevention Center
Joy to you and all your loved ones, of SLO County

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6000 free copies distributed in SLO County. Subscriptions by mail & by e-mail available.
November & December 2006 | www.womenspress-slo.org | Women’s Press
Dona Cobelens
A Woman of Passion and Compassion
By Susan Howe
Our free peer support group for women, occurring weekly on
Thursdays at 7 PM, is fortunate to have an imminently quali-
fied and hugely non-judgmental counselor who joined our ranks
October 5, 2006. Dona has been interested in the field of psychol-
ogy since the 7th grade. She experienced one of her classmates
being mistreated and was so upset by it that she dedicated her life
subsequently to fighting for the underdog.
She comes to us with an almost completed licensure in her
MFC degree. She returned to college in her late 30’s after a hiatus
for marriage and a child. Her interests have taken her into studies
in the Jungian school and other “mental dishes.” She has a par-
ticular passion for equality for homosexuals as some of her fam-
ily members are gay. Dona is unphased by whatever anybody is as
long as it does not hurt anyone else.
Her mother was a Christian evangelist and she was forced to
go to Bible camp, which raised her feminist consciousness at age
8. She was a whiz at memorizing Bible verses and was in a compe-
tition to the very end, winning it in fact. However, the boy who
was second was given the prize “just because he was a boy.” In
later years, when she and her sister in -law (Jamie) were both mar-
ried to abusive husbands and living in Holland, the feminist edu-
cation continued as Jamie and she talked over their relationship
with the abuse. She read a great deal of feminist literature, and
left her husband soon after her son’s birth.
Dona became aware of the vast amount of violence against
women and gays through her many contacts. She volunteers at
SARP (Sexual Assault and Rape Prevention) and has helped
Planned Parenthood in the past. Her life is enhanced by living
with an intriguing partner, Michael, and his teenage son. Michael
is also in service work and has had the distinguished position of
poet laureate for San Luis Obispo. Three gorgeous cats also share
the home. Thank you, Dona, for being of service.
Join us!
This year’s last Intergenerational
Conversation will be November 15 at the
SLO Library from 4:30 to 6:30. If more
women don’t attend, we will have to
drop this very inspirational event.
Women’s Drop-In Support Group
Thursdays, 7pm. Women’s Community
Center, 880 Industrial Way, SLO. No
charge. Phone for more info: 544-9313.
880 Industrial Way • San Luis Obispo, CA 93401 • 805.544.9313
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
An Open Letter to the
Wonderful WCC Community
By Angie King, Board President
Thank you to everyone who responded to our announcement in
the last issue of the Women’s Press that we were actively recruiting
new members to be on the WCC Board of Directors. We got a lot
of calls! It makes me humble to think that what we do has made a
difference to you, and that you responded so generously.
We talked at some length at the last Board meeting about
some of the qualities we were specifically looking for in new
Board members, and realized we have to clarify our own goals and
objectives before we can ask people to join us in furthering the
mission of WCC.
After all, isn’t the first question you have in your mind about
this job — what is it you actually do? If you read the Women’s
Press, you know some of our activities, but there’s more that goes
on quietly as well: volunteers who are drawn to the Center for
reasons of their own, help us with a project, and then (sometimes)
move on, having touched us and, by extension, the women’s com-
munity in San Luis Obispo, with their generosity, wisdom, and
grace.
So, what do we do? What have we accomplished, and is it
what we had in mind 6 years ago when we signed an agreement
with the Women’s Resource Center to take over their space, their
assets, and their liabilities as a new organization.
To try to make sense of it all, I looked through the past 6
years of board meeting minutes. My, we are a lively bunch! We
have energy and enthusiasm and high hopes.
We are still a young non-profit, guided by the vision of the
founders, without much infrastructure or long-range continuity
planning. Those who study non-profits say this is entirely nor-
mal, and in fact, welcome. But at some point, the group must
“grow up” and build that infrastructure and plan for the future.
I think we’re at that stage and the burst of energy from taking on
new board members is just what we need to grow up healthy and
strong We are holding a strategy planning session in early Decem-
ber, from which will emerge, we hope, the plan and vision for the
second stage of our development as a nonprofit organization.
So, to all of you who have expressed an interest in our Board,
thank you. We will be contacting you, probably after the holi-
days. In the meantime, if you have ideas or suggestions you want
us to have in developing our planning, please call the Center and
leave a message, or e-mail at info@wccslo.org.
Cover Art
Linda Huggins of Cambria and the Bay Area, is a plein air painter
of California landscapes and seascapes. Ms. Huggins “has a highly
developed sensitivity to the fleeting quality of light and hones in on
the beauty of place and space with a subtle yet exquisitely rich palette.
Her impressionistic use of the oil medium infuses the works with a
lively energy that capture the natural essence of the scene in an econ-
omy of marks, a Haiku in paint, so to speak, pure poetry…” She has
studied with various masters including Van Waldron, Charles Mov-
alli, Libby Tolley, and Kevin MacPherson. Linda is represented on
the Central Coast by the Chambers Gallery in Cambria.
Women’sCommunityCenter 
Family Law Action Committee
No meetings in December
Dealing With Divorce
3rd Wednesday of each month – 7 PM
Upcoming: November 15 and January 17
Talk with other women who have been there, done that in a
supportive, non-judgmental environment. $5 donation
Self-Represented Litigants’ Clinic
4th Tuesday of each month – 5:30 PM
Upcoming: November 28 and January 23
Get family law advice from local attorneys and/or paralegals.
Reservations required. $25 donation
A Bit of History of the WCC
WCC became what it is because of the tenacity of a few women:
Jan Potter, Dawn Williams, and Sue McMeans. They knew how
scarce help was for women of little or no means in divorce situ-
ations. They knew the extreme lengths to which some fathers go
in fighting a divorce, and how detrimental that was to the woman
and her children. In February 2000 we attended a conference in
Fresno on some of these topics, and came home energized to start
a place where women could find that help, and be protected. That
was the genesis of the WCC. Almost immediately, a woman came
into our lives offering the possibility of a large sum of money,
enough to buy a building. While that possibility didn’t work out,
we are still looking for that endowment to enable us to create a
real women’s center building.
In the meantime, we were approached by the Women’s
Resource Center board to consider a merger or consolidation. By
June we had hammered out the details; WRC officially dissolved,
and we became the new nonprofit tax exempt agency, Women’s
Community Center. Immediately, we asked for county grant
money to run a family law clinic – and got it! We then asked the
San Luis Obispo County Community Foundation for a grant
to buy computers and office equipment – and, again, got it! We
signed up with a web space and joined the modern world.
We quickly gained a reputation in the community as an
umbrella organization that sponsors events for people. Examples
include a seminar on art therapy, a program for Cal Poly students
designed to help them create their own empowering models of
womanhood, computer classes for women. We also produced
public presentations on topics of interest to women, such as Bev-
erly Urban on the impact of domestic violence on the workplace
economy; T.S. Wylie on her hormonal protocol to combat the
symptoms of menopause; a tax amnesty workshop by Lisa Gonza-
lez; and last spring’s “Women’s Way to Wealth” in coalition with
other women’s agencies. (BTW, that seminar will be repeated in
early 2007!)
Meanwhile, the core activities, the family law classes and clin-
ics, have flourished. We have a monthly class which prepares lit-
igants for the divorce process; a monthly legal clinic staffed by
volunteer attorneys; a manual on how to put your case together,
including tips on etiquette in court; court watchers who monitor
the way the court treats women without an attorney and report
findings to the court; and a program to accompany women to
court for moral and emotional support. All these programs con-
tinue today and all were organized and are run by volunteers.
From the beginning we have been fortunate to have Cal Poly
interns who find us, who are wonderful ,and whom we miss when
they graduate and move on.
Since 2004 we have been a service site for a number of women
doing probation-ordered community service, enabling us to meet
some wonderful women, many of whom have continued to vol-
unteer after completing probation.
There were 2,000 copies of the Women’s Press printed when we
became the publisher in 2000; over time, we have increased circu-
lation to the present 6,000 copies, still distributed free throughout
the county, and to your home by paid subscription. As you can
see, the paper has become a premier publication, again, thanks
to the wonderful volunteer editors and production staff over the
years.
Along the way, we moved from upstairs in an inaccessible
building to a row house along Marsh, for a time, with the Com-
munity Counseling Center, and now, clustered with other non-
profits at the Goodwill Building. We are looking forward to the
future with enthusiasm.
 NOWNews Women’s Press November & December 2006 | editors@womenspress-slo.org

This Page Presented By The National Organization for Women

The purpose of NOW is to bring women into full participation in the mainstream of American society NOW !

Coordinator’s Corner Reproductive Rights News Election News

By Angie King This is obviously written before elec- against employers who violate gender
South Dakota Abortion Ban: When component of reproductive and fam- tion results are known, but if the past equity wage requirements (remember
By the time you read this, the elec-
South Dakota’s law banning nearly ily planning health care. holds true, more women than men equal pay?).
tion will be history, and I can only
all abortions in the state—the most Harsh Restrictions on Young will have voted this fall. The ratio I am counting on the failure of Prop
hope I am right that the fear monger-
restrictive state measure enacted Women’s Access to Abortion Stymied of women to men voters has been 85, the teen consent initiative. Every-
ing radical extremists in the Republi-
since Roe v. Wade legalized abortion in Senate: Failing in a last-minute climbing for the past 20 years, and in one I spoke to before the election about
can party have been undone by their
nationwide and scheduled to go into effort to increase abortion restrictions 2004, the scales were tipped. As more this issue, said, “What, are we still hav-
own hubris. Whatever the outcome,
effect on July 1, women’s rights sup- before Congress leaves Washington, women vote, we can expect to see ing to fight this one? Is that on the
we must look forward; the winter sol-
porters throughout South Dakota D.C., to campaign, Republicans were real “family values” actually get trans- ballot again? “I hope that this frustra-
stice is coming, and the re-warming
banded together and collected tens unable to force a vote on a bill that lated into legislation – like equal pay, tion with the antics of a minority that
of the earth follows soon thereafter,
of thousands of signatures, enough to would deprive young women of family affordable child care, a living wage for wants to punish women for their sexu-
and it will be spring again. Keep that
temporarily halt implementation of support, threaten their friends and rel- all, universal health care, etc, etc. The ality translated into a landslide defeat
thought.
the legislation, and to refer the law to atives with jail time, and restrict their sad part, however, is that only 65% of for Prop 85. NOW had alerted activists
Back in October (who can remem-
the voters on November 7th.Polling access to abortion services. The Sen- eligible women actually vote. to monitor the Yes on 85 messages – in
ber that far back?), it was Love Your
showed that voters would reject the ate could not muster the required 60 And speaking of universal health automated phone bank calling, radio
Body Day, and once again, Julia Palm,
law, but here’s the catch: voters believe votes, although the House had passed care, remember it was Schwarzeneg- and TV spots, etc., and let them know
NOW member and events planner
the ban “goes too far” because there the measure earlier. The Teen Endan- ger who vetoed universal health care which groups pay for those ads and
extraordinaire, organized a commu-
is no rape or incest exception. The germent Act would have restricted – because it would cost too much calls. This was one race that pulled out
nity resource fair on campus. Infor-
same polls show that the ban would young women’s ability to access abor- money! He also vetoed four pieces of all the stops with out-of-state corpora-
mation was made available to Cal
be approved if it had those excep- tion services, and provided only mea- legislation designed to curb employer tions funding this Yes campaign. Ironic
Poly students about how the media
tions, even without a health exception ger exceptions to protect the young unfair labor practices because he said that one of the other Propositions (89)
use unhealthy images of women (too
and without regard for other circum- woman’s health. Said Kim Gandy, it would hurt the state economy. One would restrict corporation spending on
thin, tied up, naked) to sell every-
stances of women’s lives.It is danger- NOW President, “They really don’t bill would have increased penalties proposition campaigns.
thing, including liquor and tobacco,
ous to frame the issue that way.The care about real women’s lives. The
and ways to combat the pressure that
stronger, longer range, argument calls Republican leadership was determined
makes American women mistreat their
for laws that protect women’s health to trade off the rights of young women San Luis Obispo NOW Purchases
bodies to try to conform to the media
image. If we refuse to succumb to the
and respect their need to plan their for a few Brownie points with their Science Books About Women
families, while also appealing to those right-wing base, just before the elec- There are only a handful of prominent work with her to motivate young girls
advertising, it will be a start to defeat-
voters for whom the idea of “govern- tions. No doubt they will be back.” women today in science. The number to stay with science.
ing the cultural bias against our own
ment intrusion” into personal deci- The Teen Endangerment Act of high school graduates going on to The San Luis Obispo chapter of
natural body shapes. Each year NOW
sions is anathema. would have imposed mandatory a college science curriculum is declin- NOW took that challenge. We have
Foundation sponsors a poster contest.
Henry Hyde Retires after 32 parental notification and delay ing. Women in particular seem to be purchased a set of books designed
This year’s poster featured the Statue of
years; his Amendment turns 30: In requirements on young women who turned off by the isolating nature of for the middle school student, called
Liberty, saying: “Give me your curves,
October Illinois Republican Repre- need abortion services outside of their hard science, and many report they Women’s Adventures in Science, part
your wrinkles, your natural beauty
sentative Henry Hyde announced he home state; make it a federal crime view it as socially irrelevant. However, of the Scholastic Series by Joseph
yearning to breathe free.” The winning
would not seek another term.It also even for an aunt or grandmother to it is science and technology that will Henry Press. Each of the 10 books in
designs of the past contests are now
marked the 30th anniversary of the accompany a young woman across cure the world’s major social problems the series is a biography of a current
compiled in a calendar for 2007, avail-
Hyde Amendment, the legislative doc- state lines to obtain an abortion, thus – poverty, illiteracy, disease. These woman scientist who explains her field
able soon. You can order a copy of the
trine used to control the reproductive making criminals of trusted friends issues seriously affect women and in language a young reader will under-
2007 Love Your Body calendar for
lives and limit the health care options and family members who help teens women must be part of the scientific stand. They are filled with the obvious
yourself or as a gift at NOW’s online
of poor women. Passed by Congress unable to involve a parent in their innovation. passion these women have for their
store (www.now.org).
every year since 1976, the current ver- decision; and will subject young Sally Ride, former astronaut and careers. It is hoped young girls will be
Also in October, we had a very
sion denies federal coverage for abor- women, abortion providers, and oth- one of those prominent women, inspired to go on in science and create
successful fundraiser as part of the
tion, except in cases of incest, rape or ers to a confusing maze of overlapping spends her time now improving sci- the next innovations that change their
Morro Bay Harbor Festival. Thank
life endangerment, but without any and conflicting state and federal laws, ence education for children at the world.
you to each and every volunteer who
exception to preserve the woman’s which will make it more difficult and middle school level. At a recent con- San Luis Obispo NOW is arrang-
helped us sell the drink tickets and
health, placing the financial burden more dangerous for young women to ference dedicated to Grace Hopper ing to donate these books to teachers
glasses. NOW will receive $375 for
on already-tight state Medicaid bud- obtain abortions. (another of those women and a pio- in the county, as a teaching resource
your weekend’s work. We use all our
gets, in effect encouraging states not to The Other Side of the Story: We neer in developing computing), Dr. for their schools.
funds to pay the costs to produce
expand abortion coverage. Currently, all think of pro choice as the right Ride challenged her colleagues to
our actions – rent space, buy sup-
more than half of the states provide to choose to have an abortion. But
plies, publicity, postage, etc. Our next
no additional funding, according to it is as, and maybe more, important,
public event will be the annual Roe
v. Wade celebration – we’re planning
the National Abortion Federation, the right to choose not to have one. Sexual Harassment Update
which notes that only South Dakota Take the case of the 19-year-old girl Remember Anita Hill? In 1991, she fact, in California women farm work-
another movie at the Palm for Sunday,
provides less coverage than the Hyde in Maine who was literally kidnapped almost prevented Clarence Thomas ers are regularly subjected to abuse
January 21.
Amendment.Since the amendment’s by her parents and taken to a doctor from becoming a Supreme Court and harassment by their field bosses,
Mark your holiday calendar now
enactment, the Guttmacher Insti- for an abortion. The young woman, Justice when she revealed his sexual forced to trade sexual favors to get
– the NOW winter party will be our
tute has found that 20-35 percent of however, wanted her baby, and she harassment of her in his nomination paid. These women are often not pro-
regular meeting day – December 19th
women eligible under Medicaid who managed to escape along the way hearings. Almost. But her testimony ficient in English and have no way to
– with a short business meeting at 6
would choose abortion have carried and called police. She had not told has helped others stop similar behav- know they have rights under the law;
and party at 7. For location and direc-
their pregnancies to term due to lack them she was pregnant, even though, ior. A whole generation of women has they are frightened they will lose the
tions, send us an email at slonow@
of personal financial means and the as an adult she was under no obliga- been emboldened by the publicity she only means of support for themselves
kcbx.net.
absence of state funding. About 12 tion to inform them of anything. And engendered on this topic to complain and their children, and they are cul-
million women are covered by Medic- with good reason, as it turns out. Her of harassment against them at work, turally inclined to be quiet.
aid.In addition, the Amendment fur- choice is why we must continue to resulting in both federal and state laws That is now changing. For the
ther politicizes abortion care, instead fight for a woman’s right to make the prohibiting such practices, and some past 10 years, a group of Farm Worker
of recognizing it as a fundamental decision about her own body. huge awards against employers in civil Women Leaders has organized and
cases. Baker & McKenzie, a San Fran- trained about 500 women every year.
cisco law firm, paid $3 million in dam- These women arrange house parties
ages in 1994. To decrease exposure to at the home of a farm worker, who
NOW Calendar Nov 21: such claims, companies now offer sex- invites her own friends and relatives.
• NOW regular meeting, 6 PM ual harassment training. In this supportive atmosphere, the
Nov 7: Nov 30: The results have paid off. The farm worker leaders explain the law,
• Election Day • Birthday of Shirley Chisolm, number of claims now brought has using skits and humor to get their
Nov 8: 1924, first black congresswoman sharply declined. Where cases do get points across. Agribusiness companies
• Washington state votes for (1969), first black presidential to court, the fines are higher; it is the are now providing sexual harassment
women’s suffrage, 1910 nominee (1972) companies without a policy in place training to their managers and super-
Nov 11: or without regular training or with visors to make sure they follow the
• Birthday of Abigail Adams, early Dec 1 sub-standard training that make the law in the fields. Of course, a verdict
advocate of women’s rights, 1744 • AIDs Day Without Art news. Observers note that 90% of of almost $1 million in 2005 against
Nov 12: Dec 16: complaints are successfully dealt with a grower in California helped change
• Birthday of Elizabeth Cady • Birthday of Margaret Mead, 1901 internally. While some workers feel attitudes towards sexual harassment in
NOW Chapter # CA 565 Stanton, 1815 Dec 19: constrained by sexual harassment pre- agriculture as it did 10 years before in
PO Box 1306, SLO, CA 93406 Nov 15: • NOW regular meeting, 6 PM vention policies, the attorneys who the white-collar office jobs.
SLONOW @ kcbx.net • Birthday of Georgia O’Keefe, Holiday Party represent these women have an easy If you feel you have been harassed
http://groups.myspace.com/~slonow 1887 answer. “Just ask your daughter or at work, call the US Equal Oppor-
Nov 18: your spouse if they think they should tunity Commission at 800-669-
• First national women’s confer- have to tolerate uninvited touching or 4000 or www.eeoc.gov or the state
ence, Houston, 1977 suggestive comments at work.” Department of Fair Employment
Sexual harassment is not con- and Housing at 800-884-1684 or
fined to the white-collar office. In www.dfeh.ca.gov.
November & December 2006 | www.womenspress-slo.org | Women’s Press LocalPerspectives 
Cynic’sCorner
SLO Code Pink Update
By Dian Sousa
Universalism
By Jacqueline Turner

When I was little my greatest fears
assaulted me in the guise of three hid-
eous ideas which presented themselves
monotonously in a queasy, horrific
pattern of torment depending on what
I’d learned in school that day and what
I’d watched on television that night.
The first sick notion lodged itself
in my tiny, half formed brain, after
watching an episode of Twilight Zone
in which a child sits on her bed, leans
against the wall to read her favorite
illustrated, abridged Arabian Nights
–and then, just as she turns the 1st
page—the wall becomes a whirlpool,
sucking her, book and all, into the 4th
dimension. To this day, I keep the wall
next my bed covered in fine gauge
chicken wire, just in case.
If I successfully made it through
the day in the correct dimension, the
fear would meet me at school dressed
as one of the thin-lipped, ear-twist-
ing Nuns, who in 1968, roamed the
playground of Our Lady of Victory
Catholic School in Compton, Califor-
nia, hunting for little girls whom they
would always catch behind the annex
singing their wispy, cotton versions
of “Heard it Through the Grapevine”
while line dancing a spastic, antedilu-
vian, precursor of Crump.
The worst fear however was subtle.
It was a vague though terrifying pos-
sibility that wormed its way into my
consciousness every night through the
warm, wood paneled voice of Walter
Cronkite.
I’d watched my parents and older
brothers sob over the murder of JFK,
then throw up their hands and sob
again over the assassinations of Martin
Luther King and Bobby Kennedy.
I watched a young, intelligent,
soulful America voicing its righteous
anger over civil rights abuses, the
draft, the incomprehensible Vietnam
war. And I thought, “I hope I will be
brave someday, but I hope I don’t have
to become President.”
That was my biggest, most ridicu-
lous, most persistent fear,—that I, a
little girl from Compton California,
whose mother was a hairdresser and
whose father was more often than not,
laid off from Mc Donald Douglas—
might have to grow up and become
President of the United States. (True,
I’d never seen a woman in that office
but I believed it was only a matter of
time.)
Examining these fears now from
the hazy vantage point of 40 years, I
see them only as little shadows of crazy
innocence and I mourn them: The
possibility of a spontaneous vacation
in the 4th dimension and the Nuns
who have all fledged to some other,
hopefully, more rewarding hunting
ground.
But more than anything, I miss
democracy and possibility. I miss the
sweet idea that “we are all created
equal,” that anyone from any class,
race, or gender in America, could
become President if their ideas are
sane, if they are motivated by peace
and compassion to govern their coun-
try because they love it and because
they truly respect the human beings
with whom they share it, and for
whom they have the honor of serving.
Because SLO Code Pink will not
give in to fear and has not given up
hope, we are raising money for our
campaign to “Buy Back the Media.”
Placing ads in newspapers and on
radio stations to promote those can-
didates who support peace and will
govern with integrity based on the
will of the people and guided by
principles of compassion and justice.
We are waging a full grassroots cam-
paign in support of Sharon Beery
for 22nd Congressional District.
www.sharonbeeryforcongress.com.
For a full platform of recom-
mended candidates or other infor-
mation, please visit our website:
www.slocodepink.org
I recently went to a party… well,
not a party actually… it was really
a fundraiser for a very good cause.
The party fundraiser was kinda bor-
ing, but my heart was in the right
place by being there, and I was plan-
ning my exit when I encountered this
attractive older woman sitting at one
of the tables; she was the only one at
the event that looked like someone
I could relate to, so I sat down near
her. We started to talk. You know, the
usual stuff — where do you live, what
do you do, blah blah blah, when the
conversation turned deeper. I don’t
know how that happened, but all of
a sudden we were actually talking to
each other. Confiding almost.
 Then she dropped a bombshell:
she had just come from a function
for women of the Republican Party.
I had already sized her up as part of
the landownership class of SLO, or
one the ‘Haves’. This is okay with me
because I want to be that someday
anyway. Then she said, “You can’t be
voting for anyone other than Repub-
licans (Schwartzeneger) because they
(Democrats) will raise taxes, and you
don’t want that, do you?” I was really
taken aback because I didn’t know
how I felt about that! Cowardly, I
changed the subject. After all, I was at
a shindig, and here I was involved in a
pseudo-political/philosophical conver-
sation with a stranger with apparently
different values than me.
There were more bombshells
because we started to discuss the
Bible, religious beliefs, and abor-
tion rights. (Bloody stuff for a Friday
night after a full week of work.) For
many days after, I couldn’t stop think-
ing about her issue regarding ‘raising
taxes.’ Why did that subject not reso-
nate with me? I started to ponder the
question of what was truly impor-
tant to me. Here’s where we get to the
good stuff… I realized that:
I DO NOT CARE THAT
MUCH ABOUT TAXES! My heart
and my vote (if we can find a candi-
date) will go to support the person(s)
who are concerned with universal
things like environment, education,
health care, poverty, children’s rights,
women’s rights, men’s rights, animal
rights, love, peace, freedom, safety, the
future of this planet, etcetera.
Am I an idealist, a liberal or just a
damn fool?! A Democrat or a Repub-
lican?. Those entities no longer work
for me… I propose that we start a
competing group, namely The Uni-
versalism Party. This Party would
promote universally loving and car-
ing for Humanity and the Universe
more than, or as much as, the indi-
vidual. Making choices based upon
the whole, or universal, picture. It’s
religious, political, philosophical, and
easy.
 Universalism! The belief that
human beings are collectively and
individually responsible to our planet
and to all humanity! The Greater
Good! Sounds so simple. Can we get
it started?
Hugs, Jackie Turner

Let There Be Peace On Earth And Let It Begin With Me

By Beverly Engel

With the current problems in the
Middle East, many of us are wonder-
ing if there will ever be peace in that
area. And many of us are despair-
ing since Peace on Earth seems way
beyond our reach. But I believe there
is hope as long as there are many peo-
ple focusing on doing what they can
to create peace in their own backyards.
If each person took responsibility for
creating peace in his or her own heart,
mind, and spirit, I think we could cre-
ate the miracle needed to create peace
in the world.
Peace begins within each individual.
Peace begins within each individ-
ual. It begins by each person coming
to appreciate the differences between
people instead of fearing them. It
begins with each person committing
to the values of tolerance, empathy,
and compassion. Most important,
peace begins when each person comes
to know, deep in their heart, that the
things they despise, fear, and hate in
others are qualities that lie buried deep
inside themselves.
Peace begins in each family
Peace begins in each family. It
begins by each parent taking respon-
sibility for breaking the cycle of abuse
and neglect that has been passed
down from generation to generation.
It begins when each parent comes to
view his or her children as unique
individuals who have the right to
their feelings, preferences, and per-
ceptions – when family members
learn to really listen to one another,
to apologize to one another, and to
forgive one another. The reason peo- scorned. It begins when we recognize power-hungry, violent, and tyranni- In times of crisis people tend to
ple become violent is the same rea- that we are perpetuating violence with cal and recognize that we are guilty put aside their petty differences for the
son they become abusive—because our strong-arm tactics throughout the of the same faults and shortcomings. common good. During times of crisis
they have been abused, because they world and when we begin to under- It will come when we turn ourselves people also want to know what they
have been ignored, because they have stand that the violence we project into a society in which social justice, can do to help. There is something
been shamed. into the world love, and compassion are so prevalent that each one of us can do to create
When we stop Be the change you want to see through our that violence becomes only a distant peace. We must start by examining the
the neglect in the world. movies and memory. way we make enemies out of our loved
and abuse in our music ones, how we view our mates as oppo-
our families,
— Mahatma Ghandhi is bound to A pivotal moment in history.
Many people believe that this is nents rather than allies, and how we
we take one come back one of those pivotal moments in his- teach our children to be either victims
giant step to us like a tory when we can change the world or victimizers. Then we must closely
toward stop- r e t u r n i n g for the better if we bring wisdom examine the ways we treat those who
ping the violence in our culture. boomerang. Peace begins when we actively to the for and apply it with are different and our own tendency
Peace begins in our community. recognize that it is pure arrogance to diligence and clarity, and if we engage to judge and exclude others. Once we
Peace begins in our community. It assume that our way is the only way in deep dialogue for the purpose of have cleaned up our own psyches and
begins when we teach our children to and that those in other countries who what Rumi has called, looking for our own homes, we can expand our
accept the differences between people have different beliefs are wrong. It the “root of the root” of our collective efforts by becoming Ambassadors of
and when we model this acceptance begins when we learn to listen to the selves. Many spiritual teachings point Peace in our communities. By becom-
in our daily lives. It begins when we views of those from other countries to this as a time of great change and ing role models for others, including
no longer continue to believe that and other cultures and when we open redemption. our children, we can have a powerful
our church, our political party, or our our hearts to take in their views. There is a song that says, effect on the world. By introducing
beliefs are superior to those of others Peace in our world. “We will have peace because we must.” and advocating dialogues and circles
– when we agree to meet in small dis- Peace in the world will come when Because of continual terrorist attacks, in our communities we can begin
cussion groups or circles to discuss our we all treat one another as an equal, the war in Iraq, the situation between to really hear and understand one
differences and to create solutions to no better or Israel and Leb- another and begin to end dissension
our problems. It begins when we view worse than “Never doubt that a small anon, and the and prejudice. By learning about alter-
a child=s anti-social actions as a cry for we are. It will group of thoughtful, threat of North natives to violence such as mediation,
help and when we support a system in come when Korea, more conflict resolution, and restorative
which first-time offenders are asked to we are no lon- committed citizens can and more peo- justice, we can heal our wounds and
take responsibility for their actions, ger threatened change the world. ple are forced replace revenge with justice.
gain empathy for those they have by our differ- Indeed, it is the only thing to face how We are not powerless to change
harmed, and make reparations instead ences because bad things our violent world. Each of us is capa-
of being merely being punished. we are able that ever has.” have become. ble of making real changes in the way
Peace begins in our country. to commu- ­ — Margaret Mead It has caused we live our lives—changes that can
Peace begins in our country when nicate our many to enter make a significant contribution to
we refuse to be divided because of ideas freely a period of changing the world.
our political beliefs – when we start and listen to one another with open reflection, to get back in touch with
to have respect for the differences hearts and open minds – when we our common humanity. It will no
that make us such a rich country, stop judging others for being selfish, doubt encourage many more people
when diversity is celebrated instead of cruel, controlling, narrow-minded, to join the efforts for peace.
 LocalPerspectives
My House Is Yours
I’ve always liked the phrase...”Mi
casa es su casa” That to me means
that wherever my home is, whatever
its shape or color, it’s always there
for sharing: ideas, thoughts, provok-
ing perspectives, or just a cup of cof-
fee and some small talk. Our homes
can be made of whatever material.
What matters is what we put on the
inside, how we build and nurture it,
that and how we treat the people that
pass through the front door to greet
us. Home is about people, not mate-
rial. It can be a country, a city, a nook
in the forest, or a Sunday drive. Home
to me is intangible.
Tyler Aldrich
A House Is Not a Home
Growing up in a six-story Brooklyn
building, I sometimes took day trips
out of the city to the easternmost part
of Long Island to beach communities
known as “The Hamptons.” Marvel-
ing at the impressive homes that were
scattered along the coast, I often won-
dered what it must feel like to live in
a house that had grand pianos, floor-
to-ceiling windows, and what it would
be like to walk your own private steps
to nature. I was accustomed to only
concrete and brick buildings, (and to
my young mind), I was certain that
the happiest people alive lived in these
glass houses.
 In those days, I fantasized that
if I lived in one of those beachfront
homes, my life would be perfect… my
parents wouldn’t fight, the boy who I
liked would like me, and I would be
beautiful and smart. I thought that
just by living in one of those houses, I
would find the home I was constantly
seeking.
 Today, I know better. I lived in
houses that, though not
palatial by any means,
were wonderful: there
was the Shell Beach house
with balconies overlooking
the ocean; there was the
condo near golf courses
surrounded by lakes
and palm trees, and for
a short time, there was
the Manhattan apartment near
Sutton Place with views of the Hud-
son. None of this impressed me once
I started living there because wher-
ever you go – there you are! So, if A
House is not a Home … those people
who were in my fantasies were prob-
ably happy with their houses … but
I will never know if they ever felt at
HOME there.
 I live simply now, in San Luis
Obispo, in a cozy two-bedroom house
with two cats, fourteen fish, lots of
friends, and my daughter and son-in-
law nearby. Truthfully, I have never
been more at Home.
Jacqueline Turner
An Inner Feeling—
An Outer Structure
What makes a home a “home” for
me? Well, certainly home is being in
the midst of my children and their
families, nature and loved ones, and
I can say happily that there are peo-
ple with whom I feel “at home.” Still,
having said that, I need to admit that
“home” for me awakens an inner long-
ing—I have always wanted to own my
own home, but haven’t been able to
afford one. As a child we moved every
three years; and as a single mother, I
moved with my jobs. Other people
long to travel to distant shores; I dream
of staying put, of a quiet place, a place
of my own where I can be: I won’t get
the call that the landlord is selling and
I’ll have to move out, or watch the
rent jump so high I’ll need to move
yet again, nor worry if I’ll get docked
for a nail-hole or wear and tear. I can
play music without worrying about
shared walls and don’t have my walls
reverberating with the noise of those
less considerate. Even knowing this is
no panacea, I dream of money to fix
up that home, the freedom to buy the
furniture I really like. Perhaps if you’ve
never owned a home, you’ve had these
dreams too. Then my thoughts go
to those around the world who find
themselves homeless, and those who
have far less than I; I think of my spir-
itual home – the most precious of any
that I would not trade for a physical
one. I think of the abundance I have
all around me, the gratefulness I feel,
and with all these thoughts, wonder
why this dream lingers. But it does. So
I share this with you and acknowledge
the paradox. I accept what is even
as I hope with trust, knowing I am
unconditionally
loved and,
house or
no, I’m
a very
l u c k y
lady.
Home is
where the heart is after all.
Barbara Atkinson
Where the Memories Are
I have moved so many times my
family of origin calls me “the gypsy.”
It’s true, I can easily imagine living in
a brightly painted wagon festooned
with bells, only a few pots and pans to
call my own. But my husband is more
traditional, so we compromise by cart-
ing our stuff around like a snail carry-
ing its home on its back.
Each new house quickly becomes
familiar as we unpack – there are
the clay dolphins one son made in
third grade, swimming in the bath-
room near the tiny wise old lady who
appeared when the other son went off
to Berkeley. On the fireplace mantel
is a vase, shaped like a Victorian lady
with flowers sticking out of her head,
chipped and cracked during the Loma
Prieta earthquake. In the kitchen
there’s a painting of the tumbledown
beach hut on Kauai where we lived;
the dining nook sports a painted drop-
cloth decorated by a crazy artist friend
in Santa Cruz and the hallway fea-
Voices Around the Table:
tures hats –an old, worn cowboy hat
from our sojourn in Colorado, a fur-
trimmed one from New Hampshire, a
coconut palm one from the Big Island.
Everywhere the eye lands is a vignette,
a story. Our collection provokes recol-
lection as we go about daily life in the
present, continually embraced by the
past. That’s what makes a place home
– it’s where the memories are.
Shana Ross
Warmth
What makes a house feel like
home to me is warmth; the warmth
that comes from the heart and soul. It
is my haven and where I feel inspired
to be creative. I love my time alone at
home as well as sharing it with friends
and family. Most of those times cen-
ter around good food, music, and
vigorous conversation. When I walk
into a space and my soul can breath,
my heart says “Aaaah!”, and I smile
from the inside out, then this feels like
home. If there is little soul warmth, it
doesn’t matter how dressed-up a space
is, it doesn’t feel like home. I like peo-
ple to feel love and warmth when they
come into my home. A good measure
is if I feel like I could curl up and take
a nap: then this feels like home.
Renee Sanpei
Safety
Home means safety to me - where,
as a child, the shadows following me
down the street couldn’t go. I think
you have to feel safe for where you are
for it to be a home.
Angie King
A Reflection of Life Lived
My home holds everything for
which I am grateful. My children, my
pets, my history. Its condition paral-
lels how I am living my life. When I
am grateful, it offers me abundance-
-memories, comfort, and energy.
When I am feeling needy, disheveled,
or lonely, I see in its rooms the things
that need attention and respect.
My home wears its scars like
badges of honor. The handprints on
the walls that grow higher with the
passing years; the worn trail in the
carpet, guiding thousands of footsteps
to its hub; the dented wall behind the
front door, marking countless enthu-
siastic entries--these things celebrate
its history and offer all who enter a
glimpse of what has come before.
The messes and imperfections
were all created in the living of my
days within its walls. My home is a
reflection of who I am. It has flaws
and faults that remind me of my own.
Imperfect, yet loved. Complete, yet a
work in progress.
Elizabeth McGregor
Women’s Press November & December 2006 | editors@womenspress-slo.org
Going Inside
When I was a little girl, I loved
box turtles and always had one or two
for a pet. I loved watching them with
their funny little noses that turned
into part mouth and their tny beady
eyes and soft, tickly claw feet. They
liked to swim and catch their food
in the water and they liked to sit on
a rock in the sun. Then suddenly
they would be gone inside their green
mosaic shells. They didn’t need a nest
or lair or a roost or a house. I used to
wish I was a turtle.
The saying goes “Home is where
the heart is” and I think this is true
in the most literal sense. We are at
home only when we feel at peace in
our own skin, when we know who
we are and when we accept and nur-
ture our deepest self inside our bodily
home. But once we begin to go inside
that home we walk around in, we’ve
got to start house cleaning or we won’t
feel comfortable. We have got to start
being aware of what we eat that makes
us not feel good and we’ve got to be
aware of what we’re feeling when we’re
off and why. But most of all we have
got to be aware of what has closed our
hearts and do the work to clean that
off. And some- times it
really helps to
sit on a rock
in the sun.
So home
really means gong
way inside and
acknowledg-
ing that “yes,”
this is the only
true home, the
place where our
hearts and souls live
so we need to take
good care of them. We need to treat
our true home as a sacred place where
we can know we are Divine.
Jodee Smith
Healing Place
My home nurtures me spiritually,
emotionally, and physically. I have a
“healing house.” Having my compan-
ion animals makes my house a home.
Susan Howe
A Home is Border-less
In an elegy written for her mother,
Emily Dickinson describes her grief as
a state of being “Homeless at home.”
I have read this poem countless times
and my heart still breaks open when
I come to Dickinson’s darkest line in
her elegy: it brings me face to face
with my own familial losses. Begin-
ning with the death of my father when
I was seven, my mother’s death when
I was 25, and an elusive ancestral his-
tory I have felt this brand of home-
lessness ever since childhood. For me,
the heart of a home is family, and
so I have sought to reclaim
remnants of my
family in any way
possible.
This past
summer I trav-
eled to Timiso-
ara, Romania,
the birthplace of
my father, and where
my maternal grandmother,
Erszebeta, wrote me intermittent let-
ters in elementary English up until
she died in 1974. Yet, who she was as
a woman, and what her life was like
as a Jew who survived the Holocaust,
is lost to me. My connection to her
comes from the only photo I have of
her. It is a black and white, taken circa
1938, when she is in her early 40s.
She and my father (who is in his late
teens) are walking arm in arm, dressed
it seems for synagogue, both smiling
serenely at the camera. Looking at the
photo, no one would guess that in the
coming months my family would be
prisoners in a Nazi work camp.
I spent a week in Timisoara search-
ing the census archives for genealogy
records, walking neighborhood streets,
talking with elders in the Jewish-Hun-
garian community, attending a Shab-
bot service, and roaming the Jewish
cemetery. Though no longer a thriv-
ing Jewish-Hungarian community as
it once had been, my father’s birth-
place offered itself to me in a way that
only a place of personal history can:
the more I came to know of Timiso-
ara, the more I felt my family ghosts
becoming formidable.
Two days before my departure,
quite unexpectedly, I located my
grandmother’s grave. With wild ivy
close encroaching, her indomitable
headstone stood as a force to reckon
with, marking her place in the world.
At that moment it did not matter that
my only physi-
cal contact with
my grandmother
would be here, this
unyielding marble
slab etched with only
the skeleton of who she
was and when she lived,
resting upon this patch of
earth.
As is the Jewish custom, I
placed a stone on her grave, a
gesture meant to remind my grand-
mother’s soul of its connection to
the living, and recited the mourner’s
prayer. Having retraced my roots I
discovered a piece of home in a place
I least expected.
Bailey Drechsler
A Home Is an “At-Home” Feeling
My Uncle Everett was raised on
an Iowa farm and lived on that farm
until his death.  I am sure no other
place could have been home to him.  I
grew up in a military family so my
actual home changed many times in
my childhood  I feel at home at Uncle
Everett’s because I have been going to
that lovely Iowa farm since my early
childhood.  In another home
of an aunt in Indiana
after being away
for many years,
I told my
cousin as we
sat in the
cozy din-
ing room,
“I feel like I
am home”.  She
assured me, “Well, you
are!”
 There is something about walking
in and just feeling that peace of mind
when you are home.  Some work-
places qualify.  I had a job a few years
ago that was an uneasy fit.  My co-
worker wouldn’t answer my questions
and would barely talk to me.  My
superiors made no effort to become
acquainted with me but did let me
know they were indeed superiors! (Or
so they thought!)  My next workplace
was like being home again.  I was
taught the job, was appreciated for my
November & December 2006 | www.womenspress-slo.org | Women’s Press
What makes a home a “ home” for you?
efforts, and enjoyed an easy camara-
derie.  Walking into that office was a
homecoming every morning.  There
were ups and downs but that’s what
you get at home!
That “at-home” feeling existed in a
tiny bar my husband operated on the
worst street in a big city in Northern
California. The denizens of this saloon
were very poor, varying from semi-
homeless to lower middle-class. My
husband truly liked and respected his
customers and bartenders. Conse-
quently, they treated us and the bar
with respect and affection.  It was
a home away from home for many
of them.  Many of them were there
when we opened at the crack of
dawn and many stayed until closing
time.  They brought food to share at
potlucks.  One grizzled, skinny gruff-
looking man, on winning our chili
cook-off, had tears of joy running
down his face.   One evening we ran
into one of our most down of the
down-and-outers.  She was a former
prostitute and her life was
written all over
her face.  She had
spent some time in
Folsom Prison and she
looked much older than
her actual years.  She was
scolding her boyfriend in
the parking lot because his
shirttail was not tucked in.  where you won’t
She looked at me very solemnly
and declared “This is our place.  Kathy Bond
We just don’t go in there without our
shirttails tucked in!”  Home as Mother, Body, Earth
One of our bartenders died an
early death from a larger than usual
mixture of drugs and alcohol.  Her
boyfriend made his beer money by
selling any items he could find or walk
off with.  But after his girl friend died,
he brought me her treasured little
doll.  He asked me to take it and keep
it.  “You will take care of it”, he said. I
keep that doll displayed in a case.  It
reminds me of those people and their
dignity.  ity in the homing pigeon, the bat,
Now, moving into old age, I find
I am one of those seniors who are
ready to move on.  Our house is too
big for us now and too far away from
our children.  We hope to sell it soon
and move to a condo near the family.   us, humans, it is certainly not limited
I picture my husband, cat, and myself
living with fewer possessions, free to
stroll
to the library, pool, or spa, Natu-
rally, with the process of aging, there
will also be time spent in doctor’s
offices!, Hopefully we will travel and
will feel at home in Amtrak sleepers,
motel rooms and ships.   Working
will be voluntary - performing in the-
atres, assisting in public school class-
rooms, following passions rather than
a paycheck!   We will miss our won-
derful friends here but we have a wel-
come sign for our new home: “mi casa
es su casa!” We hope they will come
and visit and feel very much at home!
Rosalee Kay Calvillo
A Home of My Own
Gardens of quiet,
The music of light,
Open abandonment,
Wings of flight.
Breath as food,
Signs of love,
Beauty in my midst,
A hovering of doves.
Sadie sniffing,
Freedom to roam,
As Heaven meets Earth,
I’ve finally come home.
Barbara Atkinson
A Home is Where the Heart is Joyous
The importance of home to me
and all other living creatures has
shown itself in so many ways. I’m
aware that it is a profound instinct
provided by nature for survival of the
organism and a shelter for the arrival
of new generations…arrival and sur-
vival, a nice lilt!? A familiar example
in other species is a type of sonar abil-
etc., and the caves, dens, nests, rocks,
as some of the places we can call their
homes.
But for me, and for them, they are
essentially more than a place. And for
to one kind. As I look back over my
92 years, I have lived in more than a
dozen locations—different climates,
different relationships, differ-
ent circumstances.
One thing
remained
constant—the
FEELING of being “at
home.”
It’s become trite to say “a house
is not a home,” but the truth of it
expresses my own feeling. A home
happens when (not just where ) there
is some sense of family, some sense
of refuge, some sense of attachment,
some investment of my creativity,
some openness to daily connectedness
to what goes on beyond. As to the lat-
ter, I like to think that wherever I live,
I am also at home in the world.
I confess I can’t keep up with how
economics, technology, and the chang-
ing shape of the family has changed
the definition of “home” At the risk
of being trite again, I hope that we
continue to feel “home is where (and
when) “the heart is” joyous.
Hilda Heifetz
Home Sweet Home
I don’t know where
to begin,
but Frost said
“Home is where they
have to take you in.”
It’s cuttings on the
kitchen window sill,
a refuge when you’re ill,
a guardian at the
foot of the bed,
and a place to
rest your head,
people who love you
to talk to.
It’s not grand vistas
or chandeliers—
things to impress
your peers,
acres of cars
in the garage.
Not Shangri-La
or the Taj Mahal.
Not a mirage—
not that at all.
It’s cozy and warm,
come to any harm.
Home is a place that holds all
things in close and loving embrace.
To her, we bring our tears, joys, sacred
objects, intimate relationship with
ourselves and others, disappoint-
ments, self-humor, creativity, food,
and warmth. She receives us always
When We Dream of Houses
By Ron Masa, Ph.D.
Let’s explore one of the more fre-
quently appearing dream symbols,
the HOUSE. Every dream symbol
includes powerful, personal meanings
and generic, archetypal levels as well.
First, our body “houses” us in
one sense. A dream house with many
unexplored rooms may suggest great
undiscovered potential within us. A
run-down house might suggest we
need rest and physical self-care.
A house’s condition may also com-
ment on the state of our mental and
emotional well-being. Our house is a
refuge and place of identity, so houses
often tell us about our place in the
world and how we identify ourselves.
If you exaggerate the pronunciation
of the letters in the word “house”
it sounds like “How-You-See” and,
indeed, our “point of view” may be
examined.
When we dream we are in a child-
hood house once again, it gives us an
automatic frame of reference for a
slice of our personal history and may
refer to child parts of the psyche still
present in us. In a given house, certain
people lived with us and we dealt with
LocalPerspectives
with a comforting gaze, a hot cup of
tea, and overstuffed armchair into
which we can fall and rest ourselves
form the wears and tears of our mate-
rial world.
Home is all of that which dwells
within us. Home les deep in the urn
of our bellies, a well of resource from
which we can draw at any given time,
if we know the secret of our own
address. Home is that soft hand that
reaches out for us from the deepest,
hidden arc of ourselves when we call
out to her in our need and yearning.
Call to her, call to yourself. She will
answer with gentle words spoken into
your inner ear. Listen for her. Listen
for her in silence and she will come,
long skirts rustling with the move-
ment of a strong and certain pace as
she makes her way through the maze
of our underworlds, ascending to
meet us. Feel her perfume reach you
in the currents of her motion. Know
the full sturdiness of her core body as
she sits down beside you, lending her
presence into your own experience.
Meet her gaze.
Home is a grove of pine trees sigh-
ing in
curling winds in the night at 10,000
feet while a choir of barred owls sings
particular issues; these may be alluded
to. It helps to ask, during what years
of my life did I live in that particu-
lar house? Who else lived there? What
issues or themes do I recall from that
home and that era?
In retrospect, could you find a
theme or two that described that por-
tion of your life? These will get you
started unraveling the many layers of
meaning in the house in your dream.
There are many symbols of the
interior of houses. The dream house
may have higher levels (like a sec-
ond floor or attic) that can connote
spiritual values, or less positively,
ungrounded intellect. A basement
could suggest the unconscious or per-
haps sexuality, while hallways indicate
a passage or transition of some sort.
The favorite room of many dreams
is the bathroom! This may be because
such universal processes are so hidden
there… just as our interior life is hid-
den from our waking self. And because
the release of toxins and the process of
cleansing are so important to the mind
and heart. Plus, all that plumbing
connects to invisible, hidden resources

your name to the stars. Home is my
father’s apple tree, under whose limbs
I lay on moist soil and dozed to the
scent of fallen fruit and the drone of
bees seeking sweets. Home is a late
afternoon breeze that gently brushes
my hair. Home is the fire I make with
my own hands, held in the open belly
of the earth, so that I may dream into
the light. Home is the fecund mother,
the hibernating bear, constantly turn-
ing in her cycles of fertility and decay.
Home is her deep caves and young
grasses and rivers that course down
steep ravines. Home is the detritus
on forest floors that muffle my foot-
steps as I make my way through terri-
tory and landscape I do not yet know.
Home is the turning inward of my
own eye so that I may know of my
own vast horizons.
Amelia Free
on which visible life depends, just as
the invisible realm of dreams underlies
and supports daily life.
“The condition of our true and
private self is what dreams are about.
If you rise refreshed from a dream--a
night’s settlement inside some house
that has filled you with pleasure--you
are doing okay. If you wake to the
memory of squeezing confinement,
rooms without air or light, a door dif-
ficult or impossible to open, a trou-
bling disorganization or even wreckage
inside, you are in trouble--with your-
self… Jung, in a difficult time, slowly
built a stone garden and a stone tower.
Thoreau’s house at Walden Pond,
ten feet by fifteen feet under the tall,
arrowy pines, was surely a dream-
shape come to life....” (Mary Oliver,
“Winter Hours”)
Happy Homey Dreaming.
Ron Masa, Ph.D. co-leads TeleDream
(a telephone dream group) and Dream-
Talk (an e-mail-based dream group)
Info at www.UniversityofYourself.com
or call (707) 937-0454
 LocalPerspectives
Tift
Continued From Cover
Macy, Jean Shinoda Bolen, Angeles
Arrien, Starhawk, and Susan Griffin.
She realized how hungry women are
to share with one another. “I’m not
alone” was a common thread of dis-
covery and reassurance for the partici-
pants.
Wanting a deeper commitment to
community life and to their personal
growth, Kay and Floyd moved to the
Tierra Nueva Cohousing Commu-
nity in Oceano in 2000. This beauti-
fully landscaped 27-unit passive solar
complex brings children, parents, and
retirees together to build an inten-
tional community for social interac-
tion and support. It’s one of over 50
cohousing communities in California
and 200 nationally. Group consen-
sus resolves problems and facilitates
important decisions. The residents
devote a lot of time and effort to
establish the mores and customs that
inform the community.
Kay chooses to participate in
Tierra Nueva to remain active and
to practice openness and community
building. She loves the intergenera-
tional energy and the variety of activi-
ties in the Common House. But most
of all, she’s pleased to see an increas-
ingly healthy community emerging
with residents yielding personal time
to support its growth.
The Journey Continues. Cur-
rently studying Ken Wilber’s integral
approach to human evolution, Kay
continues the inner journey, trying to
stay open to uncertainty, to be unat-
tached to living and dying, and to
trust in the Universe. She’s grateful for
the many gifts that have been given to
her. And, we’re grateful for the many
gifts of time, talent, and love that she
has passed on to others.
BookReview
By Charlene Huggins
Will Ends Ever Meet?
Joan works full time at Hearthside, a
diner frequented by tourists, in Key
West Florida. She makes $2.25 an hour
plus tips. She works 40 hours a week,
52 weeks a year. She does not make
enough money to take a motel room,
rent an efficiency, studio or apartment.
She cannot save enough money for
two months worth of security deposit
and rent. She lives in her truck. She
is homeless and (Not) Getting By in
America. She is one of a growing seg-
ment of the American population who
work one and two jobs, seven days a
week and still cannot afford a place
called home. This is one woman’s
experience in 1998. In 2005, according
to the National Low Income Housing
Coalition, “at the locally prevailing
minimum wage an individual cannot
earn enough to afford the Fair Market
Rent of a one-bedroom apartment in
any county in the U.S.” Most of these
individuals punch-the-clock without
health insurance, sick leave, paid vaca-
tion, or personal observance days.
In the spring of 1998, less than two
years after the welfare reform statute
was signed into law, Barbara Ehren-
Ukraine
Continued From Cover
stand up at public comment time dur-
ing government meetings to express
their concerns. They will surely take
this part of our democracy home to
Ukraine.”
The delegates included:
• Tetyana Khimchenko, 41, dep-
uty director of “Every Child,” a
new social service organization in
Ukraine that works with vulner-
able children and families.
• Oksana Levkova, 26, youth
director for WETI, which pro-
vides public education on envi-
ronmental issues and promotes
ecological tourism in the Car-
pathians, Ukraine’s highest
mountains, famed for their for-
ests and thermal springs.
• Tetyana Pechonchyk, 23, a sci-
entist and public relations pro-
fessional with the Ukrainian
Independent Information &
News Agency.
They were accompanied by a facil-
itator, Yuilya Yesmukhanova, as well as
a translator, Irina Primakova.
The group was chauffeured almost
everywhere by Lois Hughes, an inde-
fatigable League member, who accom-
panied them most of their waking,
walking, and talking hours
Hughes’ impressions:
• They were impressed by our fos-
ter-care programs.  Unlike their
current programs, we have short-
term stays available for children
with the intent to keep fami-
lies together wherever possible.  paper article about your visit.”
That’s their goal, too, but not yet
the reality. There, once children
are removed from their homes,
reich was curious: What types of jobs
were available to citizens newly enter-
ing the workforce? Ms. Ehrenreich
thought it would be a good idea if a
Harper’s journalist did some old-fash-
ioned reporting and experience what
it would be like to live on the mini-
mum wage. Her good friend, Louis
Lapham, editor of Harper’s maga-
zine, challenged her to be that person
and she accepted. The result was her
observant book Nickel and Dimed: On
(Not) Getting By in America.
She decided she’d live only on the
earnings made from “unskilled” labor
jobs: waitress, maid and retail clerk,
posing as a recently divorced home-
maker re-entering the work place.
Realizing she had advantages others
did not, she allowed herself some ini-
tial cash, “$1000 for the first month’s
rent and deposit, $100 for initial gro-
ceries and cash in [her] pocket, and
$200 stuffed away for emergencies”
and, a big plus, a car. She lived this
life for two years.
Ms. Ehrenreich writes about the
experiences she shares with her fel-
low members of the “invisible under-
class”: housekeepers, waiters, retail
District 2 Supervisor Shirley Bianchi poses with Ukranian Leaders at a banquet in their honor. Left to
right: Oksana Levkova, Tetyana Pechonchyk, Shirley Bianchi, Tetyana Khimchenko and Yuliya Yesmukhanova.
they may not ever get back.  drink vodka (or anything else) in
Social services are an emerging
area, and Tetyana Khimchenko is
a leader in that field.
• Both journalists were actively
interested in the nuts and bolts
of media operations, as well as
issues such as freedom of speech,
science and responsibility, and
government and election cov-
erage. Our local media opened
their arms to them.
• Stereotypes were regularly
upended by reality. Told to
expect aloofness, the visitors
were, instead, routinely met
with hugs and enthusiastic hand-
shakes.  People on the streets and
in restaurants would walk up to
say, “Welcome! I saw the news-
American stereotypes of Ukrai-
nians were similarly debunked:  make themselves. They were really
They do eat salads, they do not
clerks. I suspect it’s an invisibility of a
complicit nature. Prodigious consum-
ers of all economic means, we encoun-
ter the working poor everyday of our
waking lives (they are not invisible).
We go to the grocery stores, the Wal-
Marts, the restaurants, the gas stations;
we engage and interact daily with the
American service industry, but do we
ever pause to contemplate the cost of
our conveniences and money savings?
Ehrenreich’s experiment forces her to
both wear and reveal the veil of invis-
ibility, learning that earning a wage
isn’t enough. “Unskilled” is a misno-
mer and having a job doesn’t necessar-
ily mean having a life, civil rights, or
the basic necessities. The largest and
fastest growing segment of the U.S.
economy is the service industry and
the jobs generated do not provide the
necessary income for a family’s sur-
vival. Ehrenreich’s book, an easy read,
chronicles moments of humor, com-
passion, and the challenges she tem-
porarily experiences in this milieu of
anxious survival, giving insight then
and now into the inequities and strug-
gles of our country’s most under-val-
ued citizens.
Women’s Press November & December 2006 | editors@womenspress-slo.org
copious amounts, and they love
to travel, visit and share ideas of
all kinds.  They love their coun-
try and are extremely enthusias-
tic about the future.  sold-out audience.
• The American phrase, “Plan B,”
was new to them, and one they
took special delight in – and it’s
sure to turn up in their work in
Ukraine.
Sara Horne, past president of the
League, who, along with her husband
Boyd provided full accommodations
for the group, as well as some chauf-
feuring, had similar observations:
“They were charming, well-edu-
cated and extremely positive that
their country will become a dynamic
democracy.  They were impressed by
how transparent our government is,
and how accessible our public officials
surprised to see so many public offi-
New Regular Feature
Younger Women Speak Out
The first article in our new column devoted to the
voices of younger women in community is written
by Jaymi Heimbuch.
Younger Women’s Task Force,
Central Coast (YWTFCC) is nearly
one year old! And what a productive
year it has been.
Beginning with our launch meet-
ing on January 24, 2006, we have
grown to over 50 members and hosted
a variety of events to help younger
women in our community. Our activ-
ities of 2006 included social activist
gatherings like Letter-to-the-Editor
Writing Potlucks; a real estate work-
shop where local experts taught
younger women what they needed to
know to buy their first house; item
drives and fundraisers that gathered
thousands of dollars worth of much
needed items and money for our local
women’s shelters; reviews of feminist
books; booths at the Farmer’s Market
registering people to vote and educat-
ing younger women on election issues;
and our monthly meetings featuring
educational speakers from our com-
munity.
YWTFCC has been an increas-
ingly significant presence in our area.
We plan on growing even more! Our
cials at the banquet in their honor.
Jack O’Connell, state superintendent
of public instruction, was keynote
speaker, and numerous county and
city officials and staff were among the
I think that anyone who had con-
tact with them came away with the
feeling that if all Ukrainians are like
these young women, their govern-
ment — and our world — will be in
good hands in the future.”
For more information about the
League, there’s “League 101 – Ev-
erything You Ever Wanted to Know
about the League – How and Why
We Do the Things We Do,” held
Nov. 15, 4111 Broad St., SLO, from
1-3 p.m. The League website is
slo.ca.lwvnet.org. Or call 543-2220.
goal for next year are to become an
even stronger resource for younger
women. We plan on holding work-
shops, one on media effects on
younger women and body image and
another with local experts educat-
ing younger women on reproduc-
tive health issues and solutions. We
will spearhead a Progressive Women’s
Summit where like-minded groups
can combine efforts to achieve a larger
goal that benefits younger women in
our area, and we will continue with
letter-to-the-editor writing socials,
book reviews, and other educational
events.
If you are interested in partici-
pating, we encourage you to attend
meetings and get involved. Everyone
concerned with protecting and pro-
moting the rights of younger women,
regardless of sex or age, is welcome to
participate. Our monthly meetings are
held the last Wednesday evening of
every month. More information about
YWTFCC can be found at our web-
site www.ywtf.org.
 November & December 2006 | www.womenspress-slo.org | Women’s Press
What’s Cooking?
Classes on Mediterranean Cuisine
By Trisha Oksner
Tirtza Abuan, single mother and full-time math teacher at Morro Bay High School doesn’t rest on her
laurels. She also enjoys teaching Mediterranean-themed cooking classes and catering small parties.
The Wonder of It All
Call Waiting
By Hilda Heifetz
I have found that unanswered ques-
tions don’t like to go away. They
tend to hang around (often secretly),
expecting the answer to arrive. That it
might take as long as 70 years doesn’t
seem to matter… as in this case:
It was back in 1929, when I was
in high school in New York City. We
were studying the work of poet John
Milton, on his blindness. There is a
line in it: “They also serve who only
stand and wait.” Well, to a 15-year-
old New Yorker, that was very puz-
zling. I was conditioned to action and
impatience. So of what possible use
can anything or anyone be just stand-
ing around and waiting?! The teacher
never explained.
But, in 1999, quite unexpect-
edly, a Dr. Robert Becker threw light
on Milton’s line. Not intentionally or
directly, but nevertheless…
Dr. Becker, an orthopedic surgeon,
wrote a remarkable book entitled: “The
Body Electric.” He was researching the
mysterious connection between elec-
tro-magnetic currents and the knit-
ting (even recreating) of bones, tissue,
and body parts. In describing the roles
of cells, he pointed out the vital pres-
ence of neutral cells. These cells, called
“undifferentiated,” are unique because,
unlike other types of cells, they have
no specific function until the organ-
ism has a special need. They then take
on the capability of a failed or miss-
ing cell, obeying instructions that will
benefit the troubled organism. (These
spare cells are among the stem cells
making headlines today.) How fasci-
nating to read about these tiny body-
guards, seemingly idle, but very alert.
How does all this relate to the
poetry of John Milton? Well… as I
came to this part of Becker’s book a
long overdue light flashed on. This
was a wonderful example of how
“They also serve who only stand and
wait”! After all these years and at the
microscopic level of a cell! SCIENCE
illuminating LITERATURE? But
why not? After all, isn’t everything
in the universe interconnected? I am
convinced that all the disciplines are
merely fragments of one whole cosmic
process. We humans seek knowledge
by analyzing, verbalizing, piece-by-
piece, always taking things out of con-
text. As it turns out, it’s a charming
paradox to find that all these separate
viewpoints and finite methods are in
pursuit of oneness and infinity.
With daughter Danielle, 19, now a
sophomore at UCLA and Natalye,
15, looking to college in three years,
Tirtza is focusing on the next phase
of her own life and how she will han-
dle the “empty nest.” “I realized that
this is a good time in my life to build
something up, so that by the time
my second child leaves home, I have
something I enjoy doing that is fulfill-
ing outside of my full-time job,” she
said.
That “something” has taken the
form of teaching Mediterranean-
themed cooking classes and catering
small parties. Born in Casablanca and
raised in Israel, France, and the United
States by an Algerian mother and
Moroccan father, Tirtza is uniquely
qualified to share her expertise with
others. She grew up watching her
mother prepare vats of homemade
food for the school districts in their
small town of Kiryat Gat in Israel.
At home, her mother often prepared
family feasts for 100-plus people with-
out breaking a sweat.
“When you enjoy something, you
embrace everything about it,” Tirtza
said. “I don’t think of cooking as work.
It is a creative focus and an outlet for
me. People always love to eat and they
always need to eat. I find cooking to
be fulfilling.” Being able to mesh her
lifelong dedication to teaching with
Nourishing Moments
By Jeanie Greensfelder
Love is, above all, the
gift of oneself.
— Jean Anouilh
LocalPerspectives
Ask Tirtza Abuan “what’s cooking?” and she has a
ready list of her latest activities. But now the single
mother and full-time math teacher at Morro Bay
High School has decided to literally get cooking
by turning her favorite hobby into a source of
additional income – both financial and spiritual.
her lifetime love of cooking has been a
dream come true.
It all started this past spring,
when she brought a Moroccan dish
to a women’s group potluck at her
synagogue in San Luis Obispo. The
women raved and suggested she teach
a cooking class. By summer, she had
put together some marketing mate-
rials, got a business license, and held
her first series of classes in Los Osos,
focusing on main dishes, breads, and
desserts from Algeria, Tunisia, and
Morocco.
For each class, Tirtza provides a
handout with a recipe and informa-
tion about the region where the recipe
originates. As she prepares each dish,
she addresses relevant historical and
cultural points, while the handful of
students take notes, nibble on appetiz-
ers, and ask questions. Everyone then
dines together on the finished prod-
uct.
Pam Logan, a member of the
women’s spirituality group, attended
the first series of classes and was
hooked. “I had never taken a cooking
Love of Self
Andy and I visited our two-year-
old niece who was so excited at our
arrival that she greeted us at the door
with “I... I’m clean!”
Wearing a white dress with tiny
red and purple tulips, she pirou­etted
barefoot around the living room.
Later she showed us the animals in her
playhouse and demonstrated her lion’s
roar.
Down on the floor we joined her
on all fours.
“Nicole is in love with herself,” I
said.
“That’s it,” Andy said. “We all
need to love ourselves.”
With that, we shook our paws and
roared.
 Is this a good moment to notice
how wonderful you are?
The Best Moment Is Now
 When I read the question, “What
was the single best moment of your
life?” my mind went blank.  Finally,

class before,” she admitted. “While
I like North African foods, I don’t
know much about preparing them.
But the whole experience was fun,
educational, and very social. I even
re-created the recipes at home and
they turned out great.”
If students find that their recipes
don’t turn out as well as Pam’s did,
Tirtza has reassuring words for them.
“You can’t be too hard on yourself,”
she said. “Cooking is something you
get better at the more you do it. And
sometimes, your mistakes can turn
into your best recipes, a dish you
never expected.”
For Tirtza, creating a business
from her hobby was something she
never expected. “I want to model
for my kids how to find ways to ful-
fill themselves, develop meaningful
friendships, and have a spiritual self.
It doesn’t matter how old you are,
there is always time for making your
journey in life. You just have to be
willing to explore.”
For information on upcoming
classes, call 805-234-7931.
Tunisian Carrot Salad
Tirtza Abuan
•
•
1 lb. carrots
2 large garlic cloves
• 1 t. cumin
• 1 T. white vinegar
• ¼ c. chopped Italian parsley
• 5 T. olive oil
• Salt & pepper to taste
Peel carrots and boil in water until
slightly tender (about 25 minutes).
Rinse in cold water, drain and slice
into ¼ inch rounds. Heat up oil, add
chopped garlic and cook until lightly
browned. Add sliced carrots, salt,
pepper, vinegar and cumin and cook
another 10 minutes. Let mixture cool
and then add chopped parsley.
a thought came:  “This is the best
moment of my life.”  I was puzzled
because rain kept me from the hike
I’d wanted to take, but soon I under-
stood my internal message: the best
moment is the present moment, the
only moment.
Sometimes that thought pops into
my mind at the computer, on walks, or
at meals:  “This is the best moment of
my life!” and I welcome the reminder
to appreciate small things and whisper
or shout, “Hallelujah.”
Andy and I share a laugh when
one of us dips a spoon into a bowl
of bran cereal and says, “This is the
best moment of my life!” And we are
reminded not to take life for granted.
Sometimes the word “best” doesn’t
work for me, and I substitute “most
important” or “only moment of my
life.”
 What reminds you to be grateful
to be alive?
10 WomenatWork Women’s Press November & December 2006 | editors@womenspress-slo.org

Mind Your Business:

Turn Your Job Interviews Into Job Offers
Your New Women’s Business Center By Dianne Legro
By Andrea Zeller

Have you heard the great news?
Mission Community Services
Corp. (MCSC) received a Notice
of Award from the U.S. Small Busi-
ness Administration for a five year
$750,000 grant!
What does this mean to you?
Expanded small business support
services at no cost to you! Your tax
dollars are now supporting small busi-
ness counseling and other support ser-
vices designed especially to meet the
special needs of women here in San
Luis Obispo County. MCSC’s Wom-
en’s Business Partners (WBP) pro-
gram is committed to each individual
that seeks our assistance and will care-
fully guide you towards improving
your financial situation.  From teach-
ing basic budget skills, credit repair, to
starting or growing your own business,
we make sure you have whatever it
takes to succeed!   We offer care, guid-
ance and positive inspiration in a safe
educational environment all designed
to make sure you get absolutely the
best help available.
MCSC/WBP employs its unique
Mission Small Business Success Model
of service which includes six spe-
cific steps designed to assist small and
minority-owned businesses execute
overlooked yet critical tasks in devel-
oping their business. Most business
owners miss these important steps and
unfortunately, experience high failures
rates.
When you first contact MCSC,
we’ll invite you to come in for a free
in-take assessment of your situation
and goals. We then design a carefully
crafted plan that leads you step by step
through all the critical steps necessary
to achieve success. Once you agree to
the plan, we then stay with you side
by side while you get the education
you need and plan your business from
start to finish (including succession
planning, an often overlooked step!).
Once you have your business plan
in hand, WBP stays with you and
envelops you with the highest level
of professional advice wrapped in a
multi-discipline team advisory effort,
we help you to access the capital you
need to make your vision come alive
and then we teach you to monitor the
health of your business as it grows.
Women’s Business Partners are
there for you over the long term -
- even as long as10 years if that’s how
long you wish to stay linked with the
supportive environment of our sophis-
ticated professional mentoring pro-
gram. And of course, we hope each
woman that we help succeed will in
turn reach to the next woman climb-
ing up the ladder of business success.
Get in touch with us today so you can
take advantage of WBP’s expanding
services!
MCSC is now a part of the
U.S. Small Business Administration
Women’s Business Centers (WBCs)
national network of more than 90
educational centers designed specifi-
cally to assist women start and grow
small businesses. WBCs operate with
the mission to level the playing field
for women entrepreneurs, who still
face unique obstacles in the world of
business.
Reach MCSC and the Wom-
en’s Business Partners Center at
(805) 595-1357 or www.MCSCorp.org.
Se Habla Espanol.
Andrea Zeller, Executive Director of
Mission Community Services, coordi-
nates Women’s Business Partners (WBP)
to ensure all community resources are
leveraged and optimized to support
entrepreneurial women. WBP serves
everyone interested in establishing self-
sufficiency through small business owner-
ship while primarily focusing assistance
towards socially and economically disad-
vantaged women.
We all have only one chance to make
a good first impression. Here are
some ideas to make the most of your
interviews and hopefully turn your
interviews into job offers. There are
definitely strategies and tactics that
make the most of each phase of your
interview- The opening phase, the
selling phase, outlining benefits, posi-
tioning yourself, repositioning your
competition, overcoming weaknesses,
closing, rapport building, great ques-
tion asking… to name a few.
Let’s take a breath and start with
the simplest and most effective advice
I know. You probably heard this grow-
ing up, and it is always true.
Be yourself
• Right from the start. No mat-
ter how nervous you are, your
goal is simply to establish trust
with your interviewer and give
the interviewer a few ideas about
what you can do for the com-
pany. You tune up the parts of
you that match the job and tune
down the parts that don’t, but
never pretend to be someone or
something you are not. It is a
sure recipe for disaster.
• Have a ready list of anecdotes,
examples, and stories that you
are happy and confident to retell
about your past triumphs. These
personal examples go a long way
towards helping you to convey
who you are on the whole.
• Look for ways that you and your
interviewer are alike, and talk
about them. Look for important
things and emotions that you
both have experienced, and the
currents that drive your interests
in common. You are interviewing
the interviewer here as well.
Research the company and tell them
what you can do
• How can you help this company
in the future? You will know that
if you have done your research.
Find out how you can help, and
develop a strategy to clearly com-
municate your value.
• Underline the ways your
strengths match the needs of
the job. If your strengths don’t
all match, create ‘bridges’ using
unique talents and experiences in
life that you have had. Show how
you can transfer your successes to
the new position.
• Connect a success from your past
work life experience that matches
the company’s current challenge.
• Carefully prepare a story that
describes the learning that came
from a failure. Many interview-
ers will ask about your past fail-
ures and you can beat them to
the punch by working it into your
discussion of lessons that have
strengthened you as a leader. This
will elevate you in the interview-
er’s mind, not diminish you. Have
a good story ready that shows you
Follow up
are big enough to admit that mis-
• At the end of the interview ask
takes have been part of your edu-
when they plan to make their
cation.
decision. You will learn how long
• Ask good questions. How does the
you will have to wait! One phone
interviewer define success in this
call to follow up is allowable if
job? How do they measure that?
you haven’t heard.
What is an example of a previous
• Always send a thank you letter!
success? What are the biggest cur-
Even if you think it went poorly,
rent challenges? Why is this job
say one or two clever things you
open right now? What is the his-
wish you had said. Refer to the
tory of this position?
interview “I gave more thought
Go in with confident body language.
to the question you asked about
Everything about you speaks!
relocating…” “What you said
• Non-verbal cues are more impor-
about X gave me some new
tant than verbal ones. Studies
insights into Y.”
show that body language com-
The process can be enjoyable and
prises 55% of the force of your
stimulating for both parties.
response, whereas verbal content
To learn more, ask a coach or find
provides only 7%, and “paralan-
books or resources on:
guage” (intonation, pauses, eye
• Job interview questions
contact) represents 38% of your
• Interview phases
impact.
• Public speaking
• Make sure that your body lan-
• Leadership
guage is congruent with your mes-
• Career issues
sage. Most interviewers believe the
• Conducting an interview your-
nonverbal, so make sure your mes-
self
sage matches your body language.
Happy Job Landing!
• Traumatized interviewees often
appear downcast, even when talk-
Dianne Legro is a voice specialist
ing about their strengths. Difficult
and speech coach for professionals. Her
questions cause them to fidget, or
expert coaching makes your process a
become overly rigid and defen-
fun, meaningful exploration into your
sive.
best self. Dianne offers keynote speeches,
• Your actions reveal your inner
group workshops, and sees clients one-on-
confidence so practice in front of
one. Contact her today for a free 15-min-
a mirror, or better, with a coach
ute consultation. 805-534-9535 Dianne@
who will help you to conquer
diannelegro.com
these moments by using groups
of related gestures that are specifi-
cally placed, not random.

YourCareer
When the Interview Turns to Salary
By Denise Nickeson
Salary discussions can sometimes be
like a card game—the one who shows
his hand first is often the loser. Try to
I was recently on an interview and the interviewer NOT be the first one to mention sal-
asked me how much salary I expected halfway into ary figure. In this situation, an accept-
able response would be to request that
the interview. I was a bit caught off guard by his any salary discussion be postponed
question and blurted out a wage that was really until there is an offer on the table. You
lower than I wanted. How could I handle this want to make sure you a) want the job
and b) they want you before you start
better next time? discussing salary. Some employers will
be okay with that, some won’t. If they
press you for a figure, you might try
to ask them first if they had a range in
mind. They probably do but may not
want to share it with you!
If they say something like, “Well,
it depends on experience!” you could
say, “Well, with my experience and
A subscription to the Women’s Press qualifications what would be your best
would be a nice holiday gift! offer?” Now, if you don’t want to con-
Call 544-9313 for more information. tinue with the coy back and forth, you
could offer them a range. “I am look-
ing for something in the $12-17 range.”
(Don’t make your range too small).
Just make sure you know what the
lowest amount is that you’ll accept.
In this case it better not be more than
$12/hour if that was your low range!
Some other arsenals at your dis-
posal would be to know, ahead of
time, what a typical salary range would
be for the position for which you are
interviewing. Some ways to do this
would be to go one the internet; www.
salary.com; www1.joboptions.com;
www.bls.gov (the Bureau of Labor
Statistics web site), to name a few.
Another option would be to call some
companies that are in the same indus-
try (and that you are NOT looking
to pursue for employment) and see if
someone in human resources or a hir-
ing manager would be willing to share
the info with you. Make sure that you
tell them that you are doing research
and are trying to get an idea of the sal-
ary ranges for a particular position.
Or, better yet, see if your network of
contacts knows anyone who works at
the company (ies) you are targeting.
See if they can help you out.
Keep in mind that base pay or sal-
ary is just part of the picture. Benefits
such as vacation, sick time, health care
benefits, any bonus or incentive pro-
grams or other perquisites are poten-
tially negotiable. The job offer/ salary
negotiation stage is a good time to ask
about the above and salary and/or per-
formance review frequency. Last but
not least, GET EVERYTHING IN
WRITING!
Denise Nickeson’s background includes
working as an employment trainer/job
coach for an occupational training cen-
ter as well as a personnel manager and
corporate trainer for desktop support ser-
vices company in Silicon Valley. She is
available for private career assessment
and job coaching services. You can reach
her at dnickeson@hotmail.com.
November & December 2006 | www.womenspress-slo.org | Women’s Press
SpiritualityMatters
The Metaphoric Life
By Heather Mendel
Living the metaphoric life is a way
of approaching our daily experiences
with an awareness and a sense of con-
nection that that deepens our lives.
Ancient peoples were far more in tune
than we with the wonders of the nat-
ural world and how nature impinges
on our perceptions. We are all famil-
iar with the optical illusion. A com-
mon example is an image of a goblet.
We look at it and then some magi-
cal shift occurs and it is no longer a
goblet, but two faces turned towards
each other. As we continue to watch,
the faces magically disappear and it is
once again a goblet we see. And then
the faces appear again, and finally we
find ourselves able to switch easily
back and forth between these elusive
twin realities. A frustration sets in —
if we can see one image in two totally
different ways and find two complete
truths, which is real? Foreground or
background?
They are both real, both valid, and
both have something for us to enjoy
experiencing. We live in a state of fas-
cination with our technological devel-
opment; to live the metaphoric life,
we need to peer into the background
of a connective reality that we bypass
in our literal lives. The underlying pat-
terns of connections are there, like the
two faces in the optical illusion, wait-
ing for us to stop long enough to per-
ceive them.
Natural Medicine Chest For Your Home
By Marleen Walmsley
Here is a cheat sheet of natural medi-
cines that will save you a great deal of
money (up to 90% savings over the
packaged version of the same thing).
Some can be prepared from bulk herbs
which you can buy at some health
food stores around the county. Folk
and native remedies are just as good,
and often purer than packaged ones.
Spices: I buy pure organically
grown spices like oregano, rosemary,
and cinnamon for pennies as bulk
herbs. They aren’t irradiated, and are
so much fresher. A small commercial
brand jar of cinnamon, for instance,
will cost $5 or more, while the bulk
herb is around 20 cents. This is also
true of teas and dulce available in
health food stores.
Unsure how to prep the herbal tea
or tincture? Most stores have people
in that department that can tell you
step by step how to prepare and apply.
If they don’t have a person there, they
will refer you to a book in the depart-
ment for the public that tells how.
Body&Soul 11
Immune Health:
Preventing the Flu & Colds Naturally
By Dr. Darya Boland ND
If you catch colds easily, get more Lifestyle practices that enhance
What would you do if you came
than two colds a year, suffer from healthy immune systems include:
home and found a snake on your
chronic infections, get frequent cold not smoking, maintaining proper
doorstep? This happened recently to
sores, or have swollen lymph glands, body weight, regular exercise, getting
a friend. I loved the humorous coin-
it’s time to support your immune sys- enough sleep, and meditation.
cidence of the fact that my friend’s
forms. Books fall open on pages we tem. Supporting immune function Many herbs have been shown to
name is Eve! Living on a literal level,
had not meant to read and yet find involves a comprehensive approach. stimulate and support the immune
we may feel, after the initial shock of
words that are important for us to see With the cold and flu season upon us, system. Echinacea, Astragalus, Glyc-
seeing this uninvited guest at the front
in connection with issues in our lives. there no time like the present to start. yrrhiza, Rhodiola, and Schisandra are
door, that we must find a way of get-
What elements of the natural world Supporting the immune system is herbs that are often prescribed.
ting rid of it. Coming from South
appear, as if by magic, into our field critical to good health. On the other Homeopathic remedies, taken
Africa, home of extremely poisonous
of vision? What lessons can we learn hand, good health is vital to support- orally or injected, are natural alter-
snakes, I was taught to be fearful of
from the seasonal changes that occur ing the immune system. Enhancing natives to the flu shot. Homeopathic
these creatures. In the twenty years I
every three months? What dream the immune system may involve diet, remedies are made from plant or
have been in the US, I have had two
images, uninvited but welcomed, lifestyle, stress management, nutri- mineral sources that are diluted to
personal and unexpected meetings
come to awareness each morning with tional supplementation, botanical, the point where all that’s left is the
with their less venomous American
clues to a deeper understanding of and homeopathic medicines. source’s energetic properties. The goal
cousins. Both occasions occurred at
reality than just our superficial percep- Nutrition is fundamental to all of homeopathic medicine is to stim-
times in my life when I was deep in
tion encourages? health. Nutritional factors that depress ulate the body’s recovery process, so
study about ancient cultures and their
I love the goblet and the faces that immune function include nutri- essentially the homeopathic flu shot
relationship with snakes that is very
represent the twin realities of our exis- ent deficiency, excess consumption strengthens the immune system.
different to ours. Foreground or back-
tence and the ability we have to move of sugar and refined carbohydrates, As a Naturopathic Doctor, my
ground? For me these mysterious and
from one to the other. I am paying and consumption of allergenic foods. goal is to help you protect your great-
magical moments of meeting were
more attention to these shifts that Optimal immune function requires est asset ~ your health!
portals to the metaphoric life. With
occur and add meaning and humor a diet that is rich in whole foods, as
a sense of wonder and delight, I was
to my experience. Are you? I would organic as possible, and limited ani- For more information, or to help you get
able to acknowledge the unexpected
appreciate hearing about the meta- mal fat and fish consumption. A good started on building a strong immune sys-
arrival of these snakes, symbols of
phoric experiences of our readers and multi-vitamin and greens drink (such tem, contact Dr. Darya Boland ND at
ancient wisdom, as a sign, a very per-
invite you to share them with us. as nanogreens) should also be part of the Advanced Alternative Medical Cen-
sonal sign, of the connection we have
your daily regime. ter. 805.462.2262
to a deeper reality. On both occasions,
it was for me an acknowledgement of Heather Mendel has focalized women’s
the truth of what I was studying. spirituality groups for the past 15 years.
To live a metaphoric life, we need She can be contacted through her web-
to pay attention to more than our site at www.wordartist.com, e-mailed at
daily schedules. Messengers from heathermendel@charter.net or called at
the deep appear, uninvited, in many 544-4933.
AILMENT HERB OR MEDICINE TO BUY OR TO PREPARE
Bruising, muscle aches Arnica – 6C homeopathic ointment Any health food store
or pills
Intestinal parasites Pumpkin seeds Trader Joe’s, health food store
Wormwood tincture Health food store
Black walnut tincture Health food store
Artemesia Quassia Supreme Health food store
Constipation Cornsilk Boil 15 minutes, take 3x day
Milk of Magnesia
Headaches Feverfew (pre-headache) Health food store
Prostate Saw palmetto Boil 20 minutes, cool, take on ongoing basis
Skin itches Milk Dab on cotton ball
Mosquito bites – prevent Laurel leaves Boil, cool, spray on skin
Warts Thuja – homeopathic pills 6C potency under tongue
Ayurvedic pitta oil Apply daily for 3 days Marleen Walmsley is a naturopath
Dandelion, fresh stems Apply directly for 3 days in Morro Bay.  She is host-producer of
Poison oak Jewelweed, oatmeal Healers Who Share, an educational TV
program on Ch. 2 for those without
Weak Immunity Astragalus, Ligustrum, Any health food store
Goldenseal, Echinacea health insurance.  She writes a global
naturopathic newsletter and teaches
Heart – weak Hawthorn berry Any health food store workshops for medical professionals
CoQ10 Any health food store called New Paradigms In Healing.  To
Sunburn Aloe vera juice fresh from plant Health food store reach her, call 771 9172 or e-mail her at
Nursing – sore nipples Marshmallow Health food store
walmsleyND@gmail.com. She welcomes
your questions.
Gallstones Cranberry juice Organic only. Take 1 week.
Fever White alder bark Boil 20 min, cool, drink
Aspirin alternative White willow bark Boil a handful in water 15 minutes, cool, drink 2 cups
Hyperactivity GABA, an amine Found in amino acid section of health food store
Congestive heart failure Hawthorn berry, Magnesium, CoQ10 Health food store. Best if taken in combination.
Antidepressant St. John’s Wort Health food, drug stores Your gift to
Nail fungus Tea tree oil Apply with cotton swab. Avail at drug stores, health the Women’s
food stores
Community Center
Pimples Dab toothpaste, leave overnight The chalk in the toothpaste dries the pimple.
is tax-deductible.
Puffy eyes in morning Witch hazel on cotton balls Cucumber slices work, too
Call 544-9313.
Edema Dandelion or raspberry leaves Health food store
Insecticide Laurel leaves Boil bay laurel leaves 15 min., cool and mist on skin.
12 Body&Soul
Chunky Qi
by Jenny Dull
I had been treating a woman who
had lost her best friend five months
ago, and she described herself as hav-
ing “chunky Qi.” She spiraled into a
dark cave of depression, fatigue, pain,
heaviness—she had lost her motiva-
tion for life. I understood her and as
she was talking about her symptoms,
my mind was imagining rivers and
streams flowing through her body
that had been clogged by pollution,
damned up by coagulated thinning
waters, rocks, and trash. This analogy
of water in a river relates to Qi flow-
ing through our bodies.
In traditional Chinese medicine
(TCM), acupuncturists and herbal-
ist work with our Qi (pronounced
“chee”), which is our vital force, our
positives and negatives, electricity,
energy. This Qi runs externally/inter-
nally via our network of channels
through our brain, internal organs,
muscles, fat, fluids, and blood. The
goal is to be in harmony and homeo-
stasis by keeping our Qi moving
smoothly through these channels.
When we are under stress, have an
extreme traumatic experience, or have
long-term emotions unresolved, our
Qi becomes stagnant in the channels,
thus in our organs, muscles, brain,
etc. This stagnant Qi causes blockage
and our signs and symptoms can vary
depending on each person’s vulner-
abilities.
Qi is the mover/the energy/the
leader for our blood and body fluids’
flow, and when Qi is stagnant from
grief, stress, anger, and other emo-
tions, everything else will clump up.
Our lymph system, for instance, needs
movement, flow, and sifting energy to
detox our bodies. When our Qi is dis-
turbed by emotions and stress, the Qi
slows down or stops in different parts
of our body and the lymph cannot
do its job. Usually, our digestion and
immunity weakens. This may show up
as sinus infections, fatty tumors that
come and go, fat, migraines, depres-
sion, a feeling of heaviness, foggy
thinking, fatigue, dizziness, etc.
So imagine our Qi is smooth flow-
ing water, flowing down the river.
When we have a stress upon the river,
the water diverts, can clog, can “eddy
out,” can be damned up: we become
out of balance. Luckily we have an
innate ability to heal ourselves, but we
sometimes need a kick-start.
I could feel her energetic “chunky
Qi” in the channels along my patient’s
arms and legs, which caused physi-
cal pain and tenderness. I certainly
could not feel her depression physi-
cally, but the acupuncture stimulated
and moved through her to stimulate
hormone balancing, specifically her
“happy hormone,” serotonin. After
a few acupuncture treatments, my
patient started to feel movement in her
body, awakenings, more energy, and
a sense of sunshine in her mood. By
using acupuncture as a tool to access
her Qi, she smoothed her “chunky
Qi” and released her clumps of coagu-
lated, stuck, toxic fluids.
Lifestyle changes such as move-
ment, exercise, stretching, more water,
meditation, hypnosis, fresh air, deep
breathing, clean foods—organic whole
foods, and a 28-day detox program,
gave her the boost to get through the
grieving process. We all have stresses
and emotions, some are bigger than
others, and our bodies are physically
sensitive and will react and change.
Our good health, wellness, and aging
process depend upon how we process,
resolve, let go, laugh, and move on
from these stresses. It’s all about the
smooth flow of Qi!
Jenny Dull is a California Board
Licensed Acupuncturist and Chinese
Herbalist, as well as, a Nationally Cer-
tified Diplomate of Oriental Medicine,
Acupuncture, and Chinese Herbology.
She accomplished graduate training in
China in Gynecology and Orthopedics,
and has experience in integrative sports
injury and cosmetic facial rejuvenation,
which entails acupuncture, Chinese
herbs, Qigong, and diet protocols. Jenny
is determined and dedicated to each
patient’s mind and body in healing and
is a guide to harmonized health. Edu-
cating each patient about his/her health
is a priority for Jenny. 805-481-3442
Women’s Press November & December 2006 | editors@womenspress-slo.org
Moving Onward with Passion and Courage
By Laura Hyde
When you are inspired by some great
purpose, some extraordinary project,
all your thoughts break their bonds.
Your mind transcends limitations,
your consciousness expands in every
direction, and you find yourself in a
new, great and wonderful world.” --
Patanjali
Every day our future beckons us to
follow the path of our greatest dreams
and joy. Committing to our high-
est purpose and moving onward with
passion and courage summons legions
of support. Others who resonate to
our same level of willingness with the
same degree of intention will be drawn
to us. Connections will be made. Cir-
cumstances will be crafted. Energetic
dots will be connected—all aspects of
the divine plan that have been created
to assist us as our progress.
Our purpose is to awaken and be
light-workers on the planet. As we
give birth to the best we can be, we
become living channels of love and
peace. When we commit ourselves to
offering the best within us, the natu-
ral outcome is that it is good for our-
selves, for the planet, and for other
people. But this kind of choice inevi-
tably holds difficulty and challenge
because without Spirit’s guidance we
cannot do it. Nor should we, because
if we attempt to do it on our own, it
won’t reflect the best that we can and
is not worthy of what Spirit has called
us here to do. Each of us possesses
greatness and the capacity for making
our dreams come true. We move from,
“I dream,” to “I dare,” to “I Am.” If
you believed your dream was possible,
what might you do next?” Then take
that step.
Courage is an essential ingredient
to moving onward with passion. We
muster courage by dreaming big, giv-
ing birth to our dreams, and bringing
forth our highest potential. We muster
courage by releasing the past. Eileen
Cady wisely penned in the book God
Spoke to Me, “Dwell not on the past.
Use it to illustrate a point, then leave
it behind. Nothing really matters
except what you do now in this instant
of time. From this moment onwards
you can be an entirely different per-
son, filled with love and understand-
ing, ready with an outstretched hand,
uplifted and positive in every thought
and deed.”
Begin fulfilling your purpose on
this planet by moving onward in the
direction of your dreams. There is no
step too small. Every action you take,
like every piece of a puzzle, leads to a
bigger picture of accomplishment. Our
future lovingly beckons us to move
onward. All we have to do is walk our
paths one step at a time with trust and
unconditional love in our hearts.
Affirmations for Moving Onward with
Passion and Courage:
• By expressing my gifts and abili-
ties I live with enlightened pur-
pose.
• I Am a magnificent child of Love
and I am supported by the uni-
verse.
• As I allow my light to shine forth,
I support others in shining their
own light.
• I deserve to live a life filled with
peace, joy, and love, and so does
everyone else.
Laura V. Hyde is the Spiritual Leader
of the Circle of Spiritual Enlight-
enment in San Luis Obispo, CA:
www.spiritualcircle.org. Laura is also
the author of the books Gifts of the Soul
and The Intimate Soul, and the host of
the show “Relationship Wisdom” on San
Luis Obispo Public Access Television.
Visit Laura at: www.laurahyde.com or
call: 805.748.7506
November & December 2006 | www.womenspress-slo.org | Women’s Press CommunityBulletins 13

Events Classifieds
Room for rent in Atascadero
2 bedroom, 1 bath, upper apt. Laun-
dry, garage, and pool
Come join the Sexual Assault $525/mo. Includes utilities.
Recovery and Prevention Center for Credit and background check
our 2nd Annual (310) 948-4541
Dream Dinners Opening In An Evening with the Artists
San Luis Obispo on November 9th from 6:00 to
YMCA Receives 50% Of 9:00pm at Edna Valley Vineyard.
Featuring artists Jer Houston and
Proceeds For First Two Weeks
Judy Ann of Saiku Studio and Gallery
in Cambria
A Grand Opening Celebration
The event will include live acoustic
will be held Thursday, November 30th
jazz by Jim Chalifoux, a silent auction,
from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM at Dream
Edna Valley Vineyard wines, a choco-
Dinners, located in the Ferrinis Square
late fondue fountain provided by Out-
in San Luis Obispo (795 E. Foothill
spoken Beverage Bistro, and a cocktail
Blvd.). Half of all proceeds from the
supper provided by Palazzo Giuseppe,
event, and continuing for the next
Phoenix Fine Catering, Trumpet Vine
two weeks will be donated to the SLO
Catering and the Cakery.
County YMCA for community-build-
Tickets are $40 and all proceeds
ing programs.
benefit the Sexual Assault Recovery
The Grand Opening will run from
and Prevention Center of San Luis
5 to 7 PM, on Thursday, Novem-
Obispo County.
ber 30th. This free event will offer
For tickets or more informa-
delicious food samples and a dem-
tion call (805) 545-8888 or visit
onstration. A number of prizes will
www.sarpcenter.org to purchase tick-
be given away; including a 5 Cu. Ft.
ets online.
Deep Chest Freezer donated by Idler’s
Appliances, 1 year’s worth of Dream
Dinners and 2 Lift Tickets at Mam-
moth Mountain Ski Area. Half of all
proceeds from this event and con-
tinuing for the next two weeks will be
directed to support YMCA programs
in San Luis Obispo County.
What is Dream Dinners? Dream
Dinners is an innovative concept in
meal preparation that eliminates menu
planning, shopping, prep-work and
clean-up by moving the meal assem-
bly process out of people’s kitchens
and into specially equipped stores.
Dream Dinners’ guests pre-
view a monthly menu online at
dreamdinners.com and then, at a spec-
ified time, go to the Dream Dinners
store to assemble their meals, from
ready to use, pre-washed and chopped
ingredients. Rotating through refrig-
erated recipe stations, scooping fresh,
prepped raw ingredients into the pro-
vided baking pans or gallon-sized zip-
top bags, you can assemble your meals
which all come with the appropriate
cooking instructions.
Dream Dinners enables you to
provide your family with nutritious,
wholesome, home-cooked meals with
less stress. They do the grocery shop-
ping, preparation and clean-up which
gives you the opportunity to enjoy
family dinners with less mess and

g for
stress.
We hope you will give Dream
ok in Then look to your good neighbor
Dinners a try and help the YMCA in
the process! Lo State Farm® agent. Through an
unbeatable alliance with
Fortis Health*, I’m offering flexible
Open House
and affordable insurance coverage.
Equal singles 60+ , a social group
for active non smoking men and If that’s what
women is having an “open house.” you’re looking
Dec. 2, 2006, 5 pm at the
Blacklake Golf Resort in Nipomo. for, come see
Complete dinner with choice of beef or me today:
chicken and dance music, all only $25
per person. Inclusive.
If you’re a resident in SLO or Santa Susan Rodriguez, Agent
Call for details on coverage, costs,
restrictions and renewability. Lic.# 0D30697
Maria Counties, make reservations *Coverages issued and underwritten 1317 Broad Street Suite A
before Nov. 25th by phone 489-5481 by Fortis Insurance Company,
San Luis Obispo, CA
a Fortis Health member company,
or e-mail dg17@juno.com. Milwaukee, Wisconsin. No member 805-783-7050
of the State Farm family of
companies is
financially
responsible for the
Individual Medical
Coverage product. Like a good neighbor,
Fortis Insurance
Company is not an
State Farm is there.®
affiliate of
State Farm. statefarm.com®
State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company
P01421 11/02 Home Office: Bloomington, Illinois
14 CommunityBulletins Women’s Press November & December 2006 | editors@womenspress-slo.org

Five Wishes Forum

Wednesday, November 8th,
from 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
at the San Luis Obispo City/ Semi-rural Retreat Center (5 acres)
County Library
LAY MONASTIC
November 2006 marks the 28th MASTER PATH
anniversary of National Hospice RETREATS
Month, and Hospice Partners of the WITH

Central Coast will host a community SPIRITUAL TEACHER

forum to educate the public about the
LIGIA DANTES
Five Wishes document as an effective
way to deal with end-of-life issues.
• For mature male/female who is drawn
More than five million Americans
to quiet reflective living, but does not
require ritual or dogma
have turned to the Five Wishes docu-
ment to make sure their preferences
• Advanced spiritual instruction & inquiry
with Ms. Dantes in a non-religious, mo-
are known and respected. The end of
nastic environment
life is an intensely personal, emotional,
and spiritual experience for every-
• Daily meditation practice & mindful
service, periodic Zen-like intensives
one - the person who is dying, their
caregivers, family members and other
• Share caretaking duties: maintaining
loved ones. The Five Wishes approach
grounds and serving guests who come for
retreats
to advance care planning has proven
popular and effective for all ages.
• One-month to one-year retreats
To register for this free commu-
For complete details visit:
nity forum or for information on
www.naturalinsight.org/masterpath
hospice care, call Hospice Partners of
the Central Coast at (805) 782-8608. Inquire about shorter or 1-day retreats.
Hospice Partners, a non-profit, State
CENTER FOR HOLISTIC LIVING
licensed, Medicare certified Hospice P.O. Box 368
Agency provides hospice care to the Grover Beach, CA 93483
residents of San Luis Obispo County e-mail: info@naturalinsight.org
and northern Santa Barbara County.

Women’s Shelter of SLO

Needs Mentors
Do you want to mentor a child
in need? Do you want to give back to
the community? The Women’s Shelter
Program of SLO County is recruiting
for the mentor program. CHAT men-
tors attend a 40-hour training and
then are matched with a child from
our program. The mentor has visits
with the child and does advocacy in
the community and the school sys-
tem for the child. The Women’s Shel-
ter Program is also recruiting Crisis
volunteers for the crisis line. If you
are interested in either of these oppor-
tunities, please contact Beth Raub at

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 Sande Rutstein, Licensed Occu-
JOOFSHVJEF!TCDHMPCBMOFU pational Therapist, Owner of New
Directions for Kids, and Karyn
Lutes, Licensed Speech and Language
Pathologist, Owner and Director of
The Learning & Speech Coach, join
to offer therapy services and learning
resources to children and adults with
special needs and learning challenges.
The new Center will provide both
individual and group services to fami-
lies on the Central Coast at::
290 Station Way, Suite #A
Arroyo Grande, CA 93420
Sande Rutstein offers on-going
individual therapy and sensory inte-
gration groups, yoga therapy, infant
massage, Handwriting and Socializa-
tion Groups. Her vision is “holding
the potential of each precious child.”
Phone: 805-541-7628
E-mail: srutstein@sbcglobal.net
www.newdirectionsforkids.com
Karyn Lutes provides custom
designed and state-of-the-art commu-
nication and educational assessments
and programs.
Phone: 805-474-1144
E-mail: 5Lutes@sbcglobal.net
www.thespeechandlearningcoach.com
November & December 2006 | www.womenspress-slo.org | Women’s Press Resources 15
ABUSE
Adults Molested as Children Support Group (AMAC) Talk/Listen - Emotional support Parkinson’s Support Groups
545.8888 489.5481 466.7226 (Atascadero/Templeton)
Center for Alternatives to Domestic Violence Transformations Counseling Center 481.7424, 473.1714 (Arroyo Grande)
781.6406 Free monthly workshops 541.7908 544.1342 (SLO)
North County Women’s Shelter & Resource Center, Planned Parenthood
(inc. domestic violence support groups) FINANCE/BUSINESS SLO 549.9446
461.1338 Consumer Credit Counseling Services Stroke Support Group
Rape Survivors Support Group, SLO 800.540.2227 471.8102 (SLO)
545.8888 Mission Community Services Corporation Caregivers of Stroke Survivors
SARP (Sexual Assault Recovery & Prevention) Women’s Business Partners 544.2266 (SLO)
545.8888 595.1356 www.mcscorp.org Women’s Support/Therapy v (general)
Support Group for Sexual Assault Survivors 534.1101
545.8888 GAY & LESBIAN Women’s Healthcare Specialists
Women’s Shelter Program of SLO Gay and Lesbian Alliance of the Central Coast 544.4883
781.6400 www.womensshelterslo.org 541.4252
PFLAG.Parents & Friends of Lesbians & Gays POLITICAL
ADDICTIONS 438.3889 Code Pink
AA Meeting SOL (Single Older Lesbians) ososousaville@aol.com
541.3211 Mostly socializing! Call 474.9405 Commission on Status of Women
Adult Children of Alcoholics (ACA) 545.8412; Dawn Williams
595.2695 HOSPICE Democratic Women United
Al-Anon AIDS Bereavement Group (Hospice) 541.4252
534.9204 544.2266 League of Women Voters
Cambria Connection (12 step support) Hospice of SLO County 543.2220
927.1654 544.2266 and 434.1164 NOW (National Organization for Women)
Casa Solana Hospice Partners of the Central Coast slonow@kcbx.net
Women’s Recovery Home 481.8555 782.8608 SLO Green Party
Compulsive eaters Anonymous, H.O.W.Concept http://www.slo.greens.org 544.1580
546.1178 JOBS/CAREERS Younger Women’s Task Force
Drug & Alcohol Services AARP 788.2643 www.ywtf.org
781.4275 Cal Poly Foundation
NA 800.549.7730 Jobline 756.7107 READERS/WRITERS
Overeaters Anonymous Cal Poly University Adult Literacy
541.3164 http://calpolyjobs.org 756.1533 541-4219
SCA, SLAA & SAA (Sex, Love & Romance Addictions) Cuesta College Nightwriters
461.6084 http://www.cuesta.edu Jobline 546.3127 549.9656; contact Shirley Powell
TOPS (Take Off Pounds Sensibly) The Creekside Career Center Sisters in Crime
929.1789 www.slocareers.org 788.2631 or 788.2690 http://SinC-CCC.blogspot.com
Women for Sobriety Department of Rehabilitation
http://www.womenforsobriety.org 549.3361 SENIORS
215.536.8026 Mission Community Services Corporation Adult Day Care
Women’s Business Partners 544.1414 (SLO); 748.9070 (Arroyo Grande);
CHILDREN & FAMILIES 595.1356 www.mcscorp.org 434.2081 (Templeton); 927.4290 (Cambria)
Childcare Resource Connection Private Industry Council (PIC) Computerooters:
541.2272 or 800.727.2272 www.jobhunt.org 788.2601 Computer help: 528.3892
Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) Department of Social Services:
“A child’s voice in Court in SLO County” LEGAL In-Home Support to the Elderly/Homemakers
541.6542 ACLU Helpline help with ADLs 781.1790
Children’s Services Network 544.0142 nursing help for the terminally ill 781.5540
781.1847 Core Mediation Services Equal Singles 60+ Meet Monthly
First 5: Children & Families Commission 544.6334 medeee8@aol.com 489.5481, dg17@juno.com
781.4058; ask for Susan Hughs District Attorney’s Office – Victim Witness Center Foster Grandparents.Senior Companions
Homeschooling in SLO County (HSC) 781.5821 782.9200
462.0726; ask for Barbara Family Law Facilitator Senior Peer Counseling
La Clinica De Tolosa 238.5334 546.3769 free, trained in.home counseling for 60+
La Leche League Lawyers Referral Services/Legal Aid Alternative 547.7025 ext. 15
489.9128 788.2099
Migrant Childcare Program Pro Per Divorce Workshop
544.9313
SPIRITUAL (OR NOT)
544.4355 and 466.3444 Circle of Spiritual Enlightenment
MOMS Club of South SLO county Senior Legal Services
995.1390
473. 2548 543.5140 Awakening Interfaith Spiritual Community
Partnership for Children
541.8666; ask for Beth MEDICAL SUPPORT/SERVICES Sunday service, 10–11 AM; 772.0306
Central Coast Jewish Historical Society
Real F.A.C.T.S. (Forum on Abused Children) ALS Support Group (Lou Gehrig’s Disease) 543.9452
460.9016 227.4785 Meditation Group
Social Services Alzheimer’s Support Mondays, 7:30–8:30 PM; 772.0306
781.1600 534.9234 (LO); 547.3830 (SLO); New Beginnings Church
Support for Kids Coping with Domestic Violence 226.8669 (Templeton) Every Sunday, Coalesce Bookstore, MB
473.6507 Caregivers of Early-Stage Alzheimer’s
EMERGENCY/CRISIS 547.3830, 534.9234 (SLO/Los Osos)
American Cancer Society
WOMEN’S CENTERS/SHELTERS
Homeless Shelter
Hotline Paso Robles 238.9657 781-3993
www.slohotline.org 800.549.8989 Anorexia Nervosa & Bulimia Support Group Housing Authority
Sexual & Rape Prevention (SARP) 541.9113 543.4478
545.8888 or 800.656.HOPE (4673) Arthritis Foundation North County Women’s Resource Center, Shelter
Temporary Restraining Order & Victim Witness 892.5556 461.1338
Program 781.5821 Cancer/ Breast Cancer Support Groups Prado Day Center
543.1481 ext. 3 for information 786.0617
EMOTIONAL SUPPORT Caregivers of Aging Parents Women’s Community Center, SLO
A.D.A.P.T. (Aid in Divorce Adjustment Problems Today) 547.3830 (AG); 927.4290 (Cambria); 544.9313
543.0388 226.8669 (PR); 547.3830 (SLO) Women’s Shelter Program of SLO
Alzheimer/Dementia Resource Center Endometriosis Association 549.8989 (crises), 781.6401 (business)
434.2081 or 534.9234 or 800.443.1236 www.endometriosisassn.org www.womensshelterslo.org
CALL–Concerned Agoraphobics Learning to Live Enhancement, Inc.
543.3764
Co-Dependents Anonymous (CoDA)


(for breast cancer survivors)
771.8640 www.enhancementinc.com
OTHER WOMEN’S ORGANIZATIONS
Altrusa International, Inc.
542.0577 (SLO) 481.5093 (Grover Beach) EOC Health Services Clinics 481.1039; Cici Wynn, President
927.1654 (Cambria) 466.8600 (North County) no or low cost reproductive health services Hadassah.SLO
Community Counseling Center 544.2478 (SLO); 489.4026 (Arroyo Grande) 543.9452
543.7969 Healthworks of the Central Coast Women’s Network, SLO
Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance Group no or low cost reproductive health services 546.3727 www.womenslo.org
927.3703 787.0100 (SLO); 773.4500 (Pismo);
Eating Disorders Support Group
546-3774; free, meets weekly in SLO
610.8865 (Atascadero)
Long-term Care Ombudsman Services of SLO County
OTHER GROUPS & GATHERINGS
Central Coast Peace and Environmental Council
Hospice of SLO County (inc. miscarriage/stillbirth 785.0132 544.3399 or 783.2383
support) 544.2266 or 434.1164 Lymphedema Education & Support Group Compassion & Choices (formerly Hemlock Society)
Safe and Sober Support Group 2nd Monday, 4:00-5:00 pm 938.7853 or 458.5481
473.6507 782-9300 for info
Senior Peer Counseling Please send additions, corrections or deletions to:
free, trained in-home counseling for 60+ editors@womenspress-slo.org or leave a message
547.7025, ext. 15 at the WCC: 805.544.9313. Last update 10/28/06.
BackTalk Who cooks and cleans in your house?
Renee Sanpei
Both David and I cook.
He is a fabulous cook and
makes all things beautiful,
as well as delicious. I am the
one who brings order into
the chaos and likes to take
care of things. House clean-
ing is a bit like composting
around here; I like to trans-
form the piles of crap into a
something beautiful. David
does an excellent job clean-
ing when inspired; company
coming, looking for some-
thing, or a death-threat usu-
ally does it!
LONGEVITY
h c are Ce
t n
al
He
Integrated Medicine
Specializing in
Healthy Aging,
Chronic Disease,
Allergies and
Nutritional Therapies
Reversing the Underlying
Cause of Disease,
Not Just Symptom
Management
Peter J. Muran, MD
Board Certified
in Holistic Medicine
1405 Garden Street, San Luis Obispo
805-548-0987
Subscribe to Our Complementary Lecture Series
and Newsletter at www.longevityhealthcare.com
Emily Yurcheshen
My boyfriend and I both
cook and clean and it is
wonderful. He used to own
a cafe and art gallery so he
creates some delicious and
aesthetically pleasing dishes
and I enhance them with
my nutritional touches and
playful garnishes. We also
work together to maintain
a clean home space. What a
joy it is for us both to reap
the many benefits of living
in a well-maintained and
beautiful home.
te
r
photos by Lynda Roeller
Angie King Aidel Pereira
That’s easy, my husband! At the beginning of my
He’s a great cook and home marriage my husband and
more than I am, and I am I used to do 50/50. Now
happy to let him take over! that we are remodeling our
I do the food shopping, and home, he has an excuse and
clean up dinner. He does I am the one who cooks and
the laundry and keeps the cleans most of the time. He
house clean.  I’d say things is a great cook and I try to
work out even. let him know how much I
appreciate when he cooks
and/or helps me cleaning.
It is always nice to have a
break.
Where to find Women’s Press
All SLO County Libraries and the following exceptionally fine establishments!
• NORTH COUNTY: Atascadero – The Coffee House and Deli, Starbuck’s at
Von’s Plaza, Carlene’s Café, Player’s Pizza, Harvest Health Food Store, North
County Connection, Senior Center, Women’s Resource Center/Shelter Office; Paso
Robles – Café Vio, Chelsea Bookshop/Café Novella, Curves, Old Mission Coffee
House, Wilmot Market, DK Donuts, Panolivo French Cafe, NCI Village Thrift
Shop, Paso Robles Health Foods; Templeton –  Magic Windows Coffee Café, Twin
Cities Hospital, Templeton Market & Deli; Santa Margarita– Santa Margarita
Mercantile
• NORTHERN COAST: Baywood – Coffee & Things; Cambria – Cambria Con-
nection, Gym One, La Crema, 7 Sisters, Azevedo Chiropractic; Cayucos – Cayucos
Super Market, Kelley’s Espresso & Dessert, Lily’s Coffee House, Ocean Front
Pizza; Los Osos – Starbuck’s, Baywood Laundry, Cad’s, Carlock’s Bakery, Cham-
ber of Commerce, Copa de Oro, Garden Café, Los Osos Deli, Valley Liquor,
Volumes of Pleasure; Morro Bay – Backstage Salon, Coalesce Bookstore, Coffee
Pot Restaurant, The Rock, Southern Port Traders, Sunshine Health Foods, Two
Dogs Coffee
• SAN LUIS OBISPO: Art Café, Booboo Records, Creekside Center, GALA,
Jaffa Café, Marigold Nails, Palm Theatre, Susan Polk Insurance, Susan Rodriquez
Insurance, Utopia Bakery, Unity Church, Zoe Wells, Naturopath, Cal Poly
Library, Center for Alternatives to Violence, Chamber of Commerce, Cuesta Col-
lege Library, EOC Health Services Clinic, French Hospital, Garden St. Essentials,
HealthWorks, Healing Alternatives, Jamaca You, Karen Hale Chiropractic, Laguna
Laundry, Linnaea’s, Monterey Express, Natural Foods Coop, New Frontiers,
Nautical Bean, Outspoken Beverage Bistro, Phoenix Books, Planned Parenthood,
Rudolph’s Coffee & Tea, San Luis Obispo Housing Authority Office, SARP, The
Secret Garden, Sierra Vista Hospital, SLO Perk Coffee, Spirit Winds Therapy, The
Studio Fitness for Women, Two Dogs Coffee, Uptown Cafe, Yoga Centre, Ahshe
Hair Salon, Apropos Clothing, Soho Hair Salon, Tom-Mel Beauty Center
• SOUTH COUNTY: Arroyo Grande – Natural Balance, Mongo’s, World Gym,
Act II Boutique, Andreini’s, Central Coast Yoga, CJ’s Restaurant, Country Kitch-
en, Curves-AG, Cutting Edge, EOC Health Services Clinic, Family Chiropractic,
Girls Restaurant, Grande Whole Foods, Hunter’s Landing, Kennedy Club Fitness;
Avila Beach– Custom House, Sycamore Hot Springs; Grover Beach – World
Gym, Back Door Deli, Cindi’s Wash House, Nan’s Pre-owned Books, Therapeutic
Body Center, 30-minute Fitness; Halcyon – Halcyon Store; Nipomo – Center for
Holistic Healing, World Gym, California Fresh; Pismo Beach – HealthWorks,
Honeymoon Café, Pismo Athletic Club; Shell Beach – De Palo & Sons Deli,
Seaside Cafe, Steaming Bean
• SANTA MARIA: Café Monet, Hunter’s Landing, Library, Loading Dock, Mar-
ian Medical Center