Veille de bonnes années

Happy New Years Eve!!! Someone once said that the year of 7 is the strife before the harvesting. I think that means that 2008 we will be reaping what we sowed. I hope that is a good thing for you! I think it will be for me. I do have some things I would like to change for next year. They are simple things, but things that will be better for me. Like what you may be asking??? Well, simple like I don't ever want to spend another snowy holiday! I want to be on the beach. That's it! SIMPLE! Now let's see what I have to do to make that happen!



These are some great firework photos of past Chicago New Years Eve fireworks. Pretty huh?





I do so love the Lakefront of Lake Michigan and fireworks over our waterfront!
Make it a great one!!!

NOLA SUNDAYS!!!!!!!

This is GREAT for me! The end of the NFL season with my two favorite teams! I know it is NOT yesteryear where I had a dilemma. I was at ESPN Zone with my Chi-Town Bears Hat and Reggie Bush jersey. In my heart I wanted my Bears in the Superbowl. My prayers were answered! And Miami was a blast, but this is NFL 2007, with all that has come and gone.

I read in the Times-Picayune my New Orleanians are not feeling coming up to the cold -- cold weather and cold fans. Some were treated quite badly last year but I am here to apologize. We Bears Fans are brutally loyal. It is no disrespect. We brave below zero, snowstorms and freezing rain for our BEARS. We even stand knee deep in Miami monsoons for them ~ SO, come on up. If you are here, have some fun! WE are not so scary and mean. We are mostly just fans who really love our team. AND there are more like me running around (LOVING your team too) than you would imagine. There are even some phenomenal creole restaurants like "Heaven On Seven" and "Wishbone" for your eating needs!!!

SO, enjoy the day! And goodbye regular season football. I will miss you!!!

Blooming to Best

Image by K.R Copeland


Yes, we can blossom in the middle of winter. We can bloom in times of "stuff".
How did I rise out of yesterday's funk? Well, I shipped the books I collected from the book drive for Color Online. That made me feel very good! I hope to hold another drive in the spring when everyone cleans out their closets again!!! And I had a few pots of Seattle's Best coffee.

It is my new passion. I go through phases of coffee loving. It has most recently trumped my longest, and deepest love affair with Dunkin Donuts coffee. I had a brief, albeit convenient affair with McDonald's coffee, but am now totally committed to Seattle's Best. SO, if there is a Border's Book Store with Seattle's Best, they are assured a few hours of me toggling about, gathering books and sipping until I am in a caffeinated frenzy!!

Are we naive?

I am suffering from a combination of fatigue and disbelief. My last post was one of peace and hope. I know it is so naive to think there will ever be peace on earth, but to gun down a candidate and then blow yourself up, that is beyond cowardice.

The holidays were a joy. To spend with friends and family. To embrace the coming New Year and the spirit of love.

I had been marvelling at the peace in Bethlehem during Christmas and how everyone got along. Everyone allowed to worship...whatever their faith or nationality...I felt quiet. Then the bridge collapsed in Nepal. Then the assasination.

I think I need to regroup. I hope it is just a time to need and find balance.
I hope all of you are still seeking peace. Somehow.

Peace on Earth

Many of the faiths agree that Jesus Christ was born unto Mary and Joseph. Here is a peak of Bethelem. The Holy Land. Merry Christmas to those who believe.



Some things about Bethlehem are very interesting. Very beautiful and serence. Whatever your persuasion ~ Lets all desire for peace on earth.


Todd Bolen featured photographer on bibleplaces.com is a professor at the Israel Bible Extension (IBEX) campus of The Master's College. He has lived in Israel for the last decade and has traveled extensively throughout the Middle East.





This photo features the spot believed to be where Mary birthed Jesus.






A family lights candles in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem (AP)



A general view of Manger Square in Bethlehem (AP)

Our prayers and thoughts to those in Nepal who are suffering today.

Wherever you are in the world, and whatever you believe, May you find the secret of goodness, happiness, joy and dreams.

Reveillon Dinner

For those who are Christians, this is Christmas Eve. For the New Orleanian it is the Reveillon Dinner that one has been waiting for. It is the celebration of "the Awakening"...a meal after the Midnight Mass.

A nineteenth century Creole tradition that is still celebrated in New Orleans. Originally enjoyed after Midnight Mass at St. Louis Cathedral, the elaborate meals broke the religious fast that lasted throughout the day.



Stay blessed and may all of our families be safe to enjoy our love!!

NOLA SUNDAYS!!!!!!!

This occurred December 16th 2007.

And While I'm at it....

Alban Arthuran,Chanukkah Sameach, Eid Mubarak, Merry Christmas, and Vishan Puja!!



Click here to uncover the meanings of each symbol!

Many of these celebrations are falling around the same time this calender year! May everyone find Peace, Blessings and Love for the coming New Year!! May we all find a way, a path, a common ground to allow each other to exist in a way that is both encouraging, explorative, and safe!

Here are some photos I took (don't lose consciousness) here in Chicago at our "Daley Plaza", it was 60 degrees today. But more on that aspect later! Enjoy!!!

Friends On Friday PresentsLatrice Fowler

Latrice, we have never met in person but I feel like you are family. Your spirit just
exudes warmth, love and grace and I am so grateful to have met you!
Thank you so much for saying that. I really think
that we’ve been put together for a reason. I thank
GOD everyday for placing me with people like you. GOD
Bless!

When you cook, do you cook with the same spirit of love and fervour?
I really do! I love seeing the enjoyment in people’s
faces when they’ve tasted my food. They’re
expressions show their love for the food I’ve spent so
much of my time and love into making. I get more of
my own enjoyment from watching reactions then I do
creating tasty vittles.

What are your passions?
_ GOD!
_ Self-Love (Becoming the person I’m suppose to be!)
_ Family
_ Present & Future Legacy
_ Being a Positive Community Figure

We met on the WomenforHire network, which has been such a great networking tool, had
you begun your entrepreneurial quest or were you motivated to accomplish things from
meeting the women there?
The Women For Hire Network has been an exceptional
networking tool for everyone that has been privileged
to find it. My mother is so big on networking and
after seeing a segment on GMA about WFH I immediately
logged on to the site and signed up. Although I had
already started developing my businesses before
joining WHF, it has definitely helped grow, and several
opportunities have evolved from being apart of that
online community.

What are your aspirations?
_ Obeying GOD
_ Continue to love and respect myself!
_ Elevate my family to our highest potential, and
continue to build our legacy!
_ Inspire the uninspired!

Tell us a bit about your businesses.
Fowlerville Publishing – A digital publishing
powerhouse. (Launching and excepting new clients
April08)
1. Raising Chefs…not just good cooks! (eCookbook)
2. ModelGirlUSA eMagazine (My daughter’s modeling
magazine, for girl about girl ages 6 – 14)
3. Blackpreneurs Social Network/eMagazine
4. Dirty South Locals eMagazine (Hip Hop Culture)
5. Macaiah eMagazine (Premier Client)
_ Going Pro @ Home Productions
1. Raising Chefs DVD Video
2. Food Photography & Food Styling (Print/Web)
3. Southern Artist Promotional Videos
_ Other Non-Business (Self Promotion)
1. Weekly Column – Un World Radio Show Magazine
(Latrice’s Tasty Treat Thursday)
2. DoubleDutch Magazine Recipe Submission DEC & FEB
3. Girlz In Transition Recipe Submission
4. Radio, Print, Online Interviews & Features
Other things are also in the works, so stay tuned, because
there are more wonderful and exciting things up our
sleeves.

How do you see your pursuits positively affecting your children? They are so involved,
what a great education.
I wanted them to be surrounded by someone who was
positive and making dreams become a reality. They
have absorbed everything they’ve seen me do and have
come up with goals of their own. They’ve executed
those dreams and goals and are now seeing them come
full circle. They believe that if you work hard at
something you love and understand that things will get
hard along the way. Sticking with it will expose
sacrifice and dedication. They are the most awesome
kiddos I’ve every met and I thank GOD everyday for
trusting that I would be a great fit as their mother!
What are some of your short-term goals for the civil rights work you do?
_ To continue to be able to mobilize our resources. Be
in a position to help were there’s a need. Create
awareness on issues within our communities.

What are the long-term goals?
Basically the same as the short-term goal. Raising awareness is an ongoing focus!

Latrice, Have a wonderful holiday! Thank you SO, SO much! We will check in with you soon! Kiss the kiddies and all the best to your family!

NOLA NEWSBREAK!!!!!!!

Please contact your local officials who are representing you in Washington to tell them you are unhappy with the treatment of the residents in New Orleans! I mean honestly, have these councilmen never heard of "town hall meetings"?? Have the churches and other community services been allowed to have the councilmen visit and let displaced residents speak? And what about those who remain displaced outside of Louisiana?

Our friend, Tracie L. Washington of the www.louisianjusticeinstitue.org has been very careful and hesitant to put blatant racism out there. She has been a proponent, being a civil rights attorney, for ALL, including the immigrant worker, so if she is saying "racism", I am listening. In addition to that, I am watching, and I hope the rest of the world is watching with me:


Whatever your opinion regarding this, make your voice heard. These New Orleanians have endured far too much. Peace and love and understanding should be abundant for them now...even if the housing has to be demolished. For as far as I could see, those buildings were the sturdiest things standing in New Orleans. A makeover? YES. But suffering at the hands of federally backed developers is too much of a possibility if the world turns their back for one minute! Don't let New Orleans undergo a political hurricane! Say something, say anything, say SAVE NOLA NOW!

Visit here to educate yourself www.defendneworleanspublichousing.org and www.justiceforneworleans.org. Please check your local stations or visit NOLA.COM for details!!!!

Don't Fret We're All Family!

When you think of the state of the family and the world today, you may become inclined to get depressed and run to your physician for one of those prescriptions! It is occurring all over our world. I read this very well written piece featured on the Blogher ad and am now inspired to contact Germany! They are having a rash where mothers are killing their children. Please read it! It is by a wonderful woman, Rose-Anne Clermont, who has dedicated her career, it appears, in commentating on the strife of our world's children.

I can not help but wonder if some of our world's problems are caused by what we are ingesting. The feed we give our stocks and crops and the preservatives in our drinks and treats may be negatively affecting the brain. I am no scientist,historian, nor am I a naturalist, but I am aware that infanticide and child killings have occurred since the beginning of time (and occurs frequently in nature). We can, however, find comfort in the statistics that prove we are a less violent society per person than in the times before us.

In saying that, I must emphasize that we are in a state where we can effect change like we have never been able to before. With the click of a mouse we can reach across continents. We can spread love and devotion on a computer screen. We need to share our knowledge and compassion.

I think that is what Latrice Fowler has begun. With her blogs here, she has shown that you can include your children in a way that inspires others. What better way to spend quality time with your family than when encouraging them to cook!!! It is such a more positive experience than that quick trip through the drive-through!

Latrice Fowler -
Author
Raising Chefs ...not just good cooks!
www.raisingchefs.com

********************************************
Latrice's other entrepreneurial projects promote taking care of the spirit and encouraging entrepreneurship within the black community. In light of all the recent outrageous commentary within the media, it is nice to read postive accolades. So, thanks Latrice for encouragement and grace! Every little bit helps!

www.goingproathome.com (an online diary of a culinary home chef)
www.spiritualreminders.com (a spiritual minded blog to inspire the uninspired)
www.blackpreneurs.com (an online entrepreneurial blog)

Women of the World Unite!!!!!

Thinking of the young women learning and maturing under the auspices of Color Online, I began to consider the great works we are all pursuing in the name of betterment and cause. When one woman ensures the safety of another and mandates her right to have goals, and to have a way to expound and obliterate the commonplace, and have what is essential...what resonates is how far the idea of pure love can go. We deserve to be unmutilated. We deserve to be free to dream WHEREVER we are on the planet! We deserve and are deserved!

Women of color often have their self-esteem challenged quite literally at every turn ~ so for the rest of this week I would like to celebrate my friend Latrice's ideas. Today we can look at her vision of ModelGirlUSA because I think it is revolutionary. To use all of your means to promote self-esteem and love of self and to encourage independent thought and growth is invaluable ~ ESPECIALLY for little ones!!!


Latrice, is another friend I met on the Womenforhire network (Patty Matlock being the other). Later in the week we can check out some of her noteworthy blogs. It was through her eyes that I was able to see that blogging is a great tool, is great fun and is not as difficult as I thought. I was inspired to learn this trade and accomplish something outside of my comfort zone.
So I really must thank you for reading and allowing me to express what is important in my little world!

Latrice Fowler is the Editor - N - Chief of ModelGirl.USA - Official Launch Date - FEB 2008!!
www.modelgirlusa.com
********************************************
more to come! AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Sissy!!! Kiss, Kiss, hug, hug***

Twinkle, twinkle little stars

My very first interview here on "Healthier, Happier, You!!!!" was with LaTonya Baldwin of Color Online, my favorite literacy group. Since then Color Online and its parent organization Alternatives for Girls have been very busy!

There have been poetry readings, gatherings, and all sorts of events! These activities have surely kept many young women focused on expanding their minds and encouraging procurement of how wonderful and productive, if not graceful and pivotal they are to our society and its movement.

So please read a bit further about the hopes and aspirations of the program to see if there is anything you can contribute, donate, suggest, and contribute.

LaTonya was featured here and here a few weeks ago.







I think her work is SO VERY important. Our young artists, writers, photographers, mothers, educators -- sometime only need a kind word or small effort to get them moving foreword toward some glorious outcome ~~ and we owe them that!!





So, THANKS COLOR ONLINE for all you do for young women! Anyone interested in the wishlist please visit the Amazon.com Wishlist. Have a great Tuesday!!!

For the love of the game

I am counting the days until Opening Day. It is roughly 109 days -- April 2008 when the first pitch will be thrown out. Now, you guys know I LOVE sports...football and baseball are my favorite to watch. I kinda think my Dad was hoping for a boy, so I am the one he inundated with stats. I am the one who watched all the events with him and was happy to do it!!! Basketball, baseball, football, boxing you name it. There were ice skating and tennis matches on occasion. I loved em! And I love em still ~ And thankfully, my Dad and I still manage to watch "Da Bears" together. SO


let me just say, I am sick and tired of this player performance enhancement crap! I want to enjoy the games again! ALL of them. The Olympics included! They did this. Whomever "they" are by putting so much money and emphasis on winning. Where is the love of the game??? I saw Katie Couric clips trying to get the scoop out of the $275 million dollar man. Honestly, I just want the guy to play! I hate the media probing and I hate what has become the meltdown of what used to be pure and forthright. We don't know what supplements folks were taking in the 20's. I think they should stop manufacturing all of that crap anyway! Why go after mere mortals when you can go after the manufacturing??? DUH??? There should be just healthy alternatives and fun here people!!!!





When that first pitch goes out at White Sox Park (Cellular Field), I want to be eating my veggie burger, my veggie dog, my cheese fries and bottled water in PEACE! I may be knee deep in snow when, one day after my birthday, we sox it to the TWINS or YIPPIE!!! Later, April 22-24 when we meet my YANKEES! And I don't want to be thinking about steroids! I don't want to hear about it on the way to the park, on the news the night before -- dang gone it --- I JUST DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT ANYMORE!
Hot coco'd or sun burnt, (you never know in Chicago that time of year) I wanna be enjoying the sport and that is what it should be about! So somebody out there...FIX IT, and fix it now! You've got about 100 days ~ or there is gonna be hell to pay!

Just kidding, but wouldn't it be nice?

NOLA SUNDAYS!!!!!!!

SAVE NOLA NOW


“make a difference with everyday purchasing. Hundreds of retailers – including Amazon, Gap, Macys, and Target, will contribute to Save Nola when you access their sites through our eMall. You get the same products for the same price through the eMall, but now, your shopping can support our cause at the same time. The average retailer contribution is 3% and the highest is 15%. You’re going to shop anyway – why not make every purchase also raise money to help New Orleans? Just add the link as a favorite, and use every time you shop!”


Click here for pertinent recovery information

****Christmastime in New York City****

photo courtesy of Mario Page

My cousin loves me. He really does. I am poor. I am cheap. AND I am technically challenged, SO whenever he goes on his adventures to report the news, he takes pictures for me. I love him too. When we were little we used to play G.I. Joe, and swim, and laugh and giggle. He was my friend and he still is. He is talented and very good at what he does.

He won't let me interview him yet, so I will just be happy soliciting for pictures.
I hope he goes to Aruba soon, OR maybe Paris, France! But for now New York is fine with me! I've always wanted to spend Christmas in New York...maybe next year!

Rockefeller Center Ice Skating in New York photo courtesy of Mario Page



Christmas In New York City!!! photo courtesy of Mario Page













That's all I have to say about that ~ Forrest Gump
( I like quoting Forrest Gump now and again, don't ask me why, I just do! )

Friends On Friday Presents Janet Snell!

Self-portrait by Janet Snell

Janet, you mention on one of your sites that you began art with oil
painting in the 70's. What prompted you to take an art class? What were you
into before that? Anything artistic?? What influenced you?
I went to the Maryland Institute College of Art, and studied with the
abstract expressionist Edward Dugmore. He, and the city of Baltimore
inspired me. I have the link to an interview he did for the
Smithsonian on my Scattered Light
blog that will help you to see why. It reflects his iconoclastic
personality. By the way, the photo of Cheryl and me on that blog was
taken by his wife Edie in their New York loft.

You and Cheryl have this phenomenal ability to capture and hold an
audience's attention delicately ( when I am observing both your works I feel
cradled and safe like I'm a baby free to experience whatever it is you both
are sharing--even if its not something nice), was your home life suitable
for encouragement of the arts, or did you both cultivate the love for
expression later in life?
Throughout our childhoods, Cheryl and I painted for fun with our
mother, an excellent realist painter. Our dad did not paint, but he
did write stories with an Edgar Allen Poe feel, and played many
musical instruments. He was even in a Dixieland band with some other
physicians once. He was the one who got me started on the violin. He
was a great influence and inspiration--he had a dark sensibility
balanced with a huge sense of humor. He died at 52, after suffering
with heart disease all of his life.

My sister and her work is another influence.I think in images and she
can extend the metaphor with words, so a collaboration between us is
more like two takes on a similar idea, instead of one art explaining
the other. I send her photos of whatever I'm working on, and if the
idea sparks a response in her, she'll make a poem for it, then send it
back to me for comments. The work on the Admit 2 site happened that
way.

Does your environment inspire you? Please give us a little insight as to how you work and what motivates your visions.
Often, I'll make drawings of images, which may come from musing about
the man/woman thing, or from listening to Hendrix, Dylan, or the
Doors, or from reading Jean Genet, for instance. Those images will
find their way into my linocuts or paintings, sometimes intact,
sometimes altered. Funny, but classical music doesn't bring up actual
images for me, although it does give me ideas.

What are you working on right now that you can share with us?
Right now I'm working on my third volume of art and words. It's
tentatively called "At The Gates", and I've attached the painting of
the title piece for you.

At The Gates by Janet Snell


Can we check in on you from time to time?
I'd love to be checked on! Thanks so much for this opportunity.


More images can be seen here

This has been wonderful! Thanks, Janet!

Uhmm, just one more thing...

Dugmore by Janet Snell

This afternoon, I wanted to share with you a bit more about Janet Snell as I am sure you are aware by now, she is our "Friends On Friday" feature!!!! She is a magna cum laude graduate of the Maryland Institute, College of Art (1976). She studied painting with the late abstract expressionist Edward Dugmore(featured above). Janet has been included in over 50 group and solo shows in New York City, Washington D.C., Baltimore, Cleveland, Akron and other cities. She has also authored "Flytrap" (Cleveland Poetry Center 1990)- a book of drawings and poems about the drawings, as well as an E-chapbook, "Heads" (March Street Press 1998) which features painting and verse. Janet Snell is published and also writes at www.snellsisters.blogspot.com

Also check out this site for more.

By Janet Snell

Downstream


The_encroachment _of_you_on_my_frowning_wall

Primal

Janet Snell has many wonderful pieces. You may contact her at janetsnell@gmail.com.
Here are some more of my favorites.

On Loving Ryan

Ryan by Janet Snell

I personally love Ryan. Getting to know the Snell sisters has been such a gift. Though I have not been able to look into their eyes or hold warm skin to give gratitude for their contributions, it is amazing how much heartfelt emotion can come through the written word, through this technology, and through the love of art. I have an appreciation for their expression via the internet. A few months ago I could barely open my email correctly! To me, this new medium has given far more meaning than I could have ever imagined! Okay, back to loving Ryan...when I birthed my own little nugget into this world, I became someone quite outside of myself. When I look at this piece it reminds me of how deeply I loved this bump of cells and neurons. This is a feeling I like remembering. I still love him but it has now morphed into respect and admiration. It feels good reflecting the time when I held new life and witnessed frail and delicate wonder as a little one discovers their world. Ryan is Janet's nephew. But now, as a piece of art, Ryan can become so many things; in my mind he is a soft melody of youth and promises ~~ of how good things can be and how special life can become if you just hold on for one more possibility.

Waiting
2007
by Janet Snell

Today is a sullen, wet rainy, icy cold, slick, grey December day in Chicago. I can hardly keep my eyes open. My coffee is brewing. My brains are in need of a skewer to get them moving. I am not one for Mid-west winter. I am waiting. Spring (which in Chicago is hot and humid like summer) is just around the bend. Us native Chicagoans LIVE for it. 5 months of hot, sweaty bliss by the Lake. So where do I turn to when trying to make muck into Mallarme? I like to look at Janet Snell's pieces. They turn me away from mundane, and introspectively back into the best part of the world, our thoughts, our passions! It is our dreams and our visions that lead to enjoyment and light. I for one have made my own day by contemplating this piece. Then I visited here and the SnellSisters made me LAUGH! Thanks ladies! I am still laughing.

You can see more of Janet's work here and throughout the week on "Healthier, Happier, You!!!!

Wherever you are today, make it a good one~I hope this helps!

NOLA SUNDAYS ~ Made In New Orleans

Photo of Benjamin Jaffe from PBS

image of The Lousiana Purchase courtesy of this link


Photo courtesy of Mario E. Page



Preservation Hall Jazz Band
Louisiana Music Factory
Made In New Orleans

PRESERVATION HALL JUKEBOX

Though Jazz has been alive and well in New Orleans for centuries, there has not been a venue, or hall if you will, for displaying the culture. So, in 1961 an art dealer named Larry Borenstein opened a building he called Preservation Hall. Alan Jaffe, a young tuba player, ran the hall and organized things, naming the performance band after the hall, hence the Preservation Hall Jazz Band was born.

New Orleans was born in 1718 as part of the Louisiana French Colony. Louisiana ceded to Spain in 1763 but was returned to France in 1803. The United States acquired Louisiana in the Louisiana Purchase on December 20, 1803 in the Sala Capitular.

With the Creole culture in prominence, its Catholic and French-speaking rather than Protestant and English-speaking, life took on a more liberal approach celebrating an appreciation for good food, wine, music, and dancing. Spectacular festivals were frequent, and then Governor William Claiborne, the first American-appointed governor of the territory, is said to have commented that New Orleanians were ungovernable because of their preoccupation with dancing.

Whatever the case, New Orleans has been the breeding ground for so many rich and flavorful aspects of our country, as much as I may try, I may not be able to bring ALL of them to you!

This week however, with our discussion on the release of Made In New Orleans and Benjamin Jaffe AND the Anniversary of The Louisiana Purchase coming soon, and of course with Reveillon dinners upcoming, take a trip, make a New Orleanian purchase of your own, or just make a pot of gumbo while listening to these great tunes.


Louisiana Music Factory

Jazz History

Ayez une grande semaine

Friends On Friday Presents ~ KELLY MADIGAN ERLANDSON

Photo of Kelly Madigan Erlandson, LADC, courtesy of Helen Stringfellow


Your site details a series of creativity retreats that seem very ruminative, almost like a pensive adagio, how did you come to this approach? They seem so wondrous!
Thank you. The workshops/retreats have been a collaborative effort. For my part, I have tried to create experiences for people that I myself have needed: great discussion about the creative process; time in or near the river; a day of quiet, side-by-side writing. These were things I longed for in my twenties, but I didn’t yet know how to manifest them.
The rich part of it, from my end, is the community of interesting people that have been drawn together by these occasional offerings. I have benefited greatly from our campfire discussions.

Kelly's Writing Workshops

Kelly, you have shared recently that you have begun exploring Nebraska rivers. Tell us about that. Does it provide tranquility for life's stressors? Does it serve as inspiration for material? Or is it just about peace and enjoying creation -- OR all of the above! Feel
free to expound.
From my earliest memories, I have needed to spend time in wild areas. I have a theory that the human body, the mammal body, is designed in concert with the earth, and requires direct connection with the planet to recharge and inform itself—much like a docking station for an IPod or Blackberry. So many of us live lives removed from natural states. We walk on asphalt and concrete; we live and work in buildings, sometimes several stories or more above the earth’s surface. We are raised up from the ground by our vehicles, separated from our natural environment by rubber and steel.

I have searched for ways to remedy this in my own life. I need the energy and the information that direct contact with the ground provides. Many Nebraska rivers are remote and isolated places, and exploring them by canoe or kayak insures I will be climbing up and down muddy banks, and will be sleeping in places where I can hear the coyotes in the middle of the night. Due to my novice kayaking skills, it also insures I will be occasionally baptized in river water.

My goal is to canoe or kayak every navigable Nebraska river. I’ve been on ten of them so far.

What have you found on your journeys?
I have been teased about my interest in scat, but the truth is I love nothing more than the opportunity to tear apart a pile of animal droppings with two sticks and try to determine what animal left it, and what it might have been eating recently. I collect jawbones, and I love the patterns on wild turkey feathers. I’ve been known to bring home the sun-bleached skull of a small animal, which sometimes freaks out my family members.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thanks Kelly! My prayers and thoughts are with Nebraska during this difficult time ~ Good Luck to you, please keep us posted on all of your great endeavors~~~

"GETTING SOBER"

Kelly Madigan Erlandson

Your work with addiction is very brave because in many cases it takes someone a few times or more before they really get a handle on it, how do you deal with setbacks?
I must politely disagree with you. My work with people who are on the threshold of recovery doesn’t feel brave—it is exquisitely rewarding. I am in a position to watch people with broken spirits transform themselves, and so far I have not tired of it. I am repeatedly encouraged and inspired by their courage and ingenuity. The changes they make in those initial weeks of recovery make me feel I’m like working in a Miracle Factory. I am not naïve—I realize some people fail—but I have quite a bit of hope, and I expect they’ll come back around at some point and take another stab at it. I don’t view the time they spent in treatment as wasted—in spite of their continued use, they have a little more information about addiction and recovery, and they will know where to turn when they are ready to try again. I tell people there is no such thing as a hopeless case, as long as they’re breathing.

What is one of your best concepts when assisting an addicted person once they have decided to recover?
I don’t have one “best” concept to offer in response to your question, because I don’t think there is one solution for everyone. I do think that in general, people who engage in a 12-Step support program tend to do better than those who don’t. Much of my work in recent years has been focused on helping people overcome the barriers that prevent them from attending 12-Step meetings. Sometimes the things that are stopping them are actually misconceptions, or unfounded fears, such as the idea that one must be religious or believe in God in order to participate. In Getting Sober: A Practical Guide to Making it Through the First 30 Days, I discuss those common misconceptions, and also offer a wide variety of other techniques that might help someone through those early days and weeks—from the Banned-From-Your-Hand Rule, to a technique called Triggerlocks. It isn’t as simple as just quitting. There are many lifestyle changes to be made, and new skills to learn, in early recovery.

How long have you been writing?
I’ve always written letters. The way letters slow time down—the long pauses in the conversation—is part of the appeal for me.

I’ve been writing poetry since childhood, with the exception of one long break from it in my twenties. I began writing essays, or creative nonfiction, in 2000. I wrote my first book, Getting Sober: A Practical Guide to Making it Through the First 30 Days (McGraw-Hill), in 2005.

Currently I am experimenting with fiction.

Here you can "Heal, Or Choose Not to Heal..."

Smith Falls on the Niobrara River and Niobrara River near Meadville by Algis J. Laukaitis.

Nebraska


This is a place for things that take time. Long histories
that need to be unrolled and laid out across oak library tables,
with a hard backed book set on each corner to keep them pressed open.
Here, we understand that shadows fold their wings and settle down
in midday, tucked underfoot like a coyote den the unschooled never
notice. We can see a fire in the next county, the smoke a thundercloud
of blackbirds twirling for fall, grouping and regrouping themselves
as though to remember something already lost, washed out
and splayed in the wet clay of the creek bed. You can drive
an entire afternoon here and not see a person, but all the way
the meadowlarks will be opening the doors of their throats,
letting out music like milkweed seeds delivered downwind.
You might start counting those birds after awhile, picture them
as mile markers on the telephone wires, wondering if you’ve seen
the same one over and over again. We have more stars here, so many
that strangers think there is something wrong with our sky, that it’s
fake or that Sioux women have beaded our night with constellations
not seen in Minneapolis or Memphis, fresh ones that we can give
names to as we lie on the hood of the car. We can call one Mountain
Lion Reclaims Ancestral Home, after the cougar who roamed up
a wooded thicket into Omaha this fall, ranging until the zoo director
shot him with a tranquilizer dart. Here we can keep naming star puzzles
until the threat of sunrise blues the black space above us.
This is a place for things that take time, the long stitching together
of soft spots in the heart, the wind across the Missouri River Valley
scooping loess into hills unlike any others on this continent,
seeds stored in the cellar of the prairie for a hundred years
patient for fire, unable to crack themselves open without it.
This is a place where disappointments deep as aquifer
can spill themselves out, fill up and empty again, as many times
as the wound requires. This is a place where a person can heal,
or choose not to heal. We have both kinds.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nebraska shared with the permission of Kelly Madigan Erlandson

BREAKING NEWS

I guess you are all aware by now who our "Friends On Friday" guest will be this week! BUT what you don't know is that Kelly Madigan Erlandson has awesome news to share with us this morning. Just announced today!Check it out!National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship

CONGRATULATIONS Kelly Madigan Erlandson, receipient of 2008's Literature Fellowship, the Arts Endowment's most direct investment in America's creativity, encouraging the production of new work and allowing writers the time and means to write. We will be featuring more work by Kelly tomorrow to celebrate!

Sometimes I wish I could take my problems, my inhibitions, my fears and my dreams and go to where there is boundless beauty and clean air...to where there are vibrant colors and things that are more important than me. To have the courage to go beyond myself and inherit the great beyond is fascinating so I will share with you this week someone who can inspire us to live out our lives appreciating gifts that have no price tag...they are priceless. Engage your spirit and senses with:





KELLY MADIGAN ERLANDSON



Before She Decides

They are in a dark plum thicket

and she is too far above the ground,

can feel the lift and fall of walking

but is not walking. Beneath her

are the shoulders of a boy

who is willing to carry her for years


but he is unsteady as a shirt

unbuttoned in the wind and she

is like a feather on the surface

of a river with round stones

in its bed. She already knows

he will fall and because she is above

him she will fall further


but that doesn’t matter yet, the night

held up all around her

like great bolts of cloth for her choosing.


******

Kelly's poem shared with permission. Stay tuned this week for peeks of Kelly. Kelly is a writer and more...

WORLD AIDS DAY 2007!!!!!!!

WORLD AIDS DAY 2007