A Real Magazine. News, Writing, Interviews from LadybugBooks.com.

There for the Ride
from Mary C. Wickner

I boarded the bus as I have every Wednesday afternoon for years. It began as just another ordinary trip. That soon changed, however, when a rather oddly-dressed woman got on board, and started rummaging through her badly-worn purse presumably to find her fare.
It is always humorous to me when people do not have their fares out or at least in their pocket ready to drop in the fare box upon entering the bus. The same can be said about the individuals at the checkout line of a grocery store just starting to dig for their checkbook when they get up to the cashier.
All of her clothes were mismatched and dirty. She had a hat on with some things sticking up from it that reminded me of short chutes of bamboo. Her hat had a veil that nearly covered her face. The veil had huge tears in it, where I could see that she was overly made up with rouge just caked on. She was sweating profusely which was apparent from her face and underneath her arms. She was constantly talking to herself as if she was berating herself for something; though I was near the front of the bus, I could not make out exactly what she was saying
After a few blocks, she told the driver that she could not find her fare, and asked him if he would please let her off at the next bus stop. As she got off the bus, she had a very self-satisfied grin on her face. I took it to mean that she had come to her stop. The bus let her off exactly where she was going—exactly where she wanted to be. What could be more perfect?
Lucky her. Her destination was only a few blocks away. That was not the case for me. I had another hour left to complete my commute. I wondered if the transit system knew about her.
My fellow bus riders and I resumed our journey to our pre-planned destinations.
The bus resembled a snail. It seemed to inch along between bus stops instead of making any real progress. Since the oddly-dressed woman exited the bus, the ride had been uneventful, but that was about to change again.
We stopped at a fairly busy intersection. A few people exited the bus at the front door, and one man boarded it.
The man seemed to be very drunk. He was staggering badly as he attempted to find something he seemed to think was in one of his pockets. The driver said that he had a schedule to keep. He told the man that he had to resume his route so either pay or get off the bus.
Suddenly, a cop stormed up the steps. He grabbed the back of the man's shirt and yanked him down the steps hard. The man fell backwards and landed on the sidewalk. The sound of bones crashing against cement was so disturbing, it almost made me physically ill. The other bus riders were affected too; I could tell by the expression on their faces.
The cop dragged the man several feet over to his squad car; pushed him down sideways on the trunk of the car and frisked him. The cop meant business.
The search had turned up only one thing - only one thing the man could call his own for right now—his toothbrush. The cop began to force the man into the back seat of the squad car. The man tried to jerk away. The two struggled for a moment. The man reached toward the trunk of the car... reaching with such determination—reaching to get ahold of something—to claim his only possession -that toothbrush.
The cop allowed him to take it. What a sad moment his triumph was.
I have often thought about what happened that day so many years ago. I wondered what became of the man. I wondered if the event would happen the same way today. No one knew what the man did. He might have been a criminal of the worst kind. He might have been a pan-handler who had enough money for a bottle of booze to steel himself against the heat of the day. He might have just been down on his luck and had a few too many. I will never know.
I can still hear the sound of the man's bones hitting the cement. I will never forget it. And I still can see the man reaching for his one precious possession—his toothbrush.

I have lived most of my life in Minnesota. Most of the positions I have held were administrative aid positions. I started writing in 1969 with the an abstract poem about the rat race that most people are on. I continue writing poems. I have also written papers on such topics as eating disorders which LadybugFlights published a few years ago. In 1990 I injured my neck which permanently altered the way I do things. Since then I have continued to write, and have edited several college papers for undergraduates. My son and daughter-in-law live close so I have the privilege of watching my two grandchildren, Kieran and Bridget, grown up.

Read this feature from past issues.

Shamanism in the Modern World

Many years ago, a powerful shaman named Twin Dreamers said to me, "We are all born wild like a mountain lion. To live in civilization we become sheep at a very young age. We become tame. But we are not house pets. We are fierce and wild by nature."
Are you fierce and wild by nature? What thoughts and feelings do these words evoke in you?
Twin Dreamers is a Kuna Indian of Central America. She is also a member of the Sisterhood of the Shields, an extraordinary group of native women who are the guardians of an ancient wisdom born of the sacred feminine that has been preserved and handed down from mother to daughter, shaman to apprentice for many thousands of years, and she is one of my teachers. For the past thirty years, it has been my great opportunity to study and work with the Sisterhood of the Shields, becoming a full member in my own right and a bridge between their ancient and our modern worlds.
There is one thing that the women in the Sisterhood want each of you to know: You are the shamans of the 21st century, no less worthy of the world of sacred healing rituals and the great mystery than traditional shamans centuries ago. The difference is that you and I come into the equation far less prepared. The modern world into which we are born has made it so, for ours is a world that has taught us to move far away from our instinctual natures. Children are told to speak when spoken to; women are taught that to speak of our power is to be shunned by much of society. We are allowed to be beautiful and rich, even famous, but we must not raise our heads above the crowd and be different. Men and women, alike, speak with voices that are strangled by the conditioning of our society and the expectations and demands of others, rather than what is important and true for us.
The modern human being has developed an extraordinary ego. Because of this ego, we think we are better than the flowers, better than the animals and the birds, even better than other human beings and races that are not our own, and we separate ourselves from the world around us. Yet deep inside us is a longing for the wilderness of the spirit and the power of other worlds. We know we have this magical power, for we get glimpses of it when we travel through inner space in the process of healing ourselves, when we see a baby born, watch a flower bloom or find the universe contained within an atom.
But how are we to access this power that we feel all around us and know is there, the unseen power that dwells within the mysterious corners of our lives and calls to us to be better than what we have become? For we have become too accustomed to borrowed knowledge. All our lives, we sit and listen as others tell us about their experiences and dreams, their understanding of the way things work. In school, we sit through lectures, read books and answer questions designed to see if we have learned enough about what is contained within those books, and we are rewarded only if we are able to squeeze ourselves inside the narrow confines of this learning environment. This is a very mental way of learning in which you gain power by going up the ladder, where you will find a few people at the top and everybody else at the bottom, struggling to get up the ladder somehow. And it is a way of learning that spills over into much of what we do for the rest of our lives, long after we have left the formal school system. Tragically, it is also a way of learning that tells us that the unseen power that we know is there really isn't there, precisely because it is unseen. Albert Einstein had enormous problems with this kind of learning, hating rote memorization to the point that one of his teachers suggested he leave school since his being there 'encouraged other students to disrespect their teachers.' He left high school to study math, physics and philosophy at home and went on to become one of the most brilliant minds of all time.
This is not to diss the school system in a world where quality education can mean the difference between success and failure, even life and death. It is, rather, to acknowledge that there are many things that the modern way of learning leaves us ill equipped to handle. The result is that while our science and technology put the whole world literally at our fingertips, we are living today with greater stress, chaos and confusion than at any other time in human history. And this is where the world of the shaman comes into play.
Shamanism arises from our own experiences. It is very much related to the harmonies of the earth, to finding balance and harmony with all that is around you, regardless of whether you like what is there or not. A shaman knows that all things are alive; that all things are part of the great oneness of life, not separate and apart; that all things have energy, purpose and a far deeper meaning than what we see on the surface. Without the honey bee, there is no pollination. Without pollination, crops will not grow and our world would face a famine of unfathomable proportions. We are different from the honey bee, yes; we each play vastly different roles in the cycles of life on this earth. But how do we separate ourselves from the honey bee, elevate our "worth" over its? A shaman is one who knows how to choreograph the energies of the universe, of all of life toward a higher purpose.
My shaman teachers have never told me what it is that I must learn. They teach me by putting me in situations - sometimes quite terrifying - where I have to grow and change in order to survive. Then the learning becomes true and real within me, and the teachings become a part of my conscious awareness of my own life. They believe, as do I, that you cannot teach anyone about life, nor can you heal in a world that urgently needs healing, through endless explanation and lecture. People only truly learn through experience, through exploring what confronts them and finding in that situation their own strengths and weaknesses, whether in the physics lab or raising children. Once you do that, you can shift the energies within you to a place of harmony and balance. If you want to find the universe within the atom, you must move into the atom within yourself so that you can explore it from the vantage point that is uniquely yours.
As Ani, a Nepalese hill woman who is also a member of the Sisterhood of the Shields, told me,
People have denied the possibilities of magic, the light that is real even though it cannot be touched. The strange dimensions of life happen just as much as scientific discoveries. In actuality, 'black hole' discoveries are the beginning of proof of the strange and magical dimensions of our existence. 'Strange' usually means only that it is something that occurs out of our frame of reference, out of our realm of experience. 'Strange magic' means beyond our understanding or the limits of our minds, something that is weird and bad. In reality, mind is like a rice bowl and rice is our knowledge. The rice is limited only by the confines of the bowl. Be a magician and stay open to the mysteries. Let your wisdom reach beyond the limits of ordinary mind. Life, existence, is a mystery. Symbolically, your knowledge is not limited to a simple rice bowl, and that is the way it will always be. Instead of fighting for the rice bowl, fight to make beautiful rice.
Shamanism teaches us how to enter the wilderness of the spirit and the power of other worlds that we so long to experience. Go out into a garden and sit with the plants. Just sit in silence with them. Become one with them; talk to them and let them speak to you. The flowers that have a fragrance are asking you to notice them. They are more highly evolved than the blooms without fragrance. The scent brings you to them and enables them to evolve and become more like you, more human. Then you can truly know the beauty and magic of your fierce and wild nature, because you are it!

Lynn Andrews is the New York Times and internationally best-selling author of the Medicine Woman series. She writes extensively about her experiences with Twin Dreamers and Ani in Star Woman and Windhorse Woman, A Marriage of Spirit, respectively. To learn more you can listen to Lynn on a recent interview with Dr. Jeanette on Live at the Edge (now in the library) or learn about Lynn's life and work at her website: www.lynnandrews.com.

Read this feature from past issues.

Relativity No Longer Works to your Advantage.
If it ever Did?
by Shimon Weinroth

Relativity is a summation of comparisons, statistics are based on differential comparisons our categories sets and groupings are evaluated on the basis of relativity. Our minds are geared and conditioned to think in terms of relativity.
Is it possible to escape from this mode of analysis and evaluations and use another more comprehensive and versatile way of thinking which can enhance our use of relativity without enslavement.
The subjective, a cardinal factor, is often an attempt to ignore or reserve a different method of evaluation other than relativity. The big fat ego and id often attempt to sweep aside the relative, which has come to mean the objective. My sightings and opinions are often divorced of so called objective data.
I Have come to believe, that objective data is the sum total of subjective sightings and by averaging the results we obtain the relative answers. This is all fine and good since there are accepted rules, checks and balances, which will not permit us to deviate too much, without agreement of those involved in adjudging data of an objective nature..
Nietzsche refused to believe there are facts, he recognizes the subjective factor and simply said, there are no facts only evaluations and estimations, thus criticizing the over all influence called relativity.
Nietzsche recognized that misanthropic Zastharus, after thirty years in the cave could not ignore all human contact . Today more so, we live in a society, so interwoven and interdependent ,that we can not ignore relativity, without being penalized for our subjectivity,
The so called objectivity, though not completely devoid of some elements of subjectivity has been accepted by society as the norm and often under the guise of objectivity is called, democratic fair and equal.
The old age problem, of the more equality for the group the less freedom for the individual the less democracy and equality prevails.
Today's society of people, the economies are so over burdened so overcrowded, that the services we take for granted will soon be untenable and we shall all suffer relatively and social security and welfare will have to lower the standards and only the wealthy strata of society will be able to purchase these services.
As long as there is a surplus society, objective relativity is the norm, but during economic difficulties the norms of relativity are lowered, to enhance as many as possible and fewer services are supplied.
Models of scientific research are also doomed to the factor of relativity, since all statistics are based on comparisons of the preceding years in comparison to the new sightings.
Often the evaluations are unable to cut loose and forecast, burdened by the past recordings. One way to escape this time factor, and the overall relativity evaluations to some degree, can be achieved by adding an additional factor of evaluation, that does not appear in the previous models. The additional factor of measurement is also a means to check the data of the previous models.
We are often bound in our decisions, by what we call the norm of behavior at a particular time, which is decreed by society and the particular discipline we might be discussing by sets and rules of relativity. The argumentation for present day models is usually based on averages of the present day norm.
Unfortunately relativity stifles creativity and invention refusing deviations of the average and norm. If we are continuously comparing how then will new innovations take place Who is to challenge the norm? Is there no such concept as serendipity? ( probably not)
Too often when sightings are taking place, if there are small deviations when measuring and evaluating there is an attempt to ignore for purpose of economics and comfort these deviations and tend to call these deviations (Negligible) s One recent example of poor, shoddy scientific judgment was the sweeping aside of RNA as being some waste material.
In the discipline of medical treatment and evaluation almost all decisions by the experts are made from relative findings but alas this is one field where relativity should not play the only role because the subjective element is and should be a major player as well. The subjective element is unfortunately a very costly factor and as a result of economics is being ignored to some extent in decision making. This is not done from cruelty or oversight but rather the models of treatment are determined by the economic factor. The more equality, the less freedom for the individual. So if you are contemplating medical aid take this factor into consideration!
Education and the social sciences are fields of endeavor in which relativity is overused and too often undermines the advances in these fields of human activity. We set up institutions, academies , schools to educate and instruct hoping the inmates will imitate the models presented in the most efficient and proficient manner.
Alas this is the most outstanding example where relativity does not work, the marks and grades are the closest means to evaluate but have failed the examples, because of the need for private and additional assistance which is the rule, whereas the academy is the forced framework which leans on all others to supply the omissions and lacks, namely the parents the friends the teachers the relatives the family which are the backbone of a successful educational process. The establishment has failed to employ relativity with the capacity to be innovative and creative.

Shimon is the host of The View From Anywhere on MooseMeals.com. If you would like to chime in, go listen and send him your comments!

Read this feature from past issues.

LIVING GREENER: A Primer

On the heels of my New Year's column, in which I touched on the subject of climate change, and in honor of Earth Day, I wanted to revisit the subject, but in a more practical sense; to give you some tools as to how you can live greener; easily, relatively cheaply, and in turn do your part to help save our third rock from the sun.
Had George W. Bush not stolen the presidency in 2000, Al Gore would likely have not made 'An Inconvenient Truth,' and the birth of the modern global environmental movement would probably not have happened, at least for many years to come. You see, the Universe does have a plan; we just need to be open to it.
The awakening to what we are doing to our planet took its time to blossom, and it may already be too late to fully turn the tide, but at least there has been a shift in awareness, and more and more we are seeing a 'greening' of the everyday things in our lives; from food (as in the organic movement), to the rush to find alternative and sustainable power sources. Suddenly, the photovoltaic cell (solar panels) has become part of our lexicon.
Still those hybrid cars remain out of reach for most of us, but eventually the prices will moderate...if we create the demand, they will come. Already, auto makers are falling over themselves in their efforts to provide vehicles with better mileage. None of the bigger companies have come close to making acceptable mpg, especially with gas heading up to $4 a gallon (from the $3.00 I moaned about in January), but it's a start.
There are many small changes that you can make that will help you do your part for the environment, and we will touch upon a few of them this month. It is better to do something than nothing at all, and if we all hold that thought in mind we CAN make a difference. From A to Z:

A is for Automobiles:
If you can't afford a hybrid, check out the ways to save in the links below. You should keep your tires properly inflated to save on the mpg. And, fill up your car either early in the morning, or early evening, during warmer weather, to save at the pump too - you get more gas and fewer fumes. Keep the trunk of your car free of heavy items as the extra weight will cost you more to haul around.
B is for Balls, Blue Ones:
If you can stand the noise as they tumble around, those spikey blue dryer balls, "As seen on TV" at most drug stores, really can save you in both fuel costs as well as dryer sheets. Hot air is more evenly distributed and clothes dry faster. What's not to like?
C is for Composting:
According to the EPA, in the US, we produce an average of 4.6lbs of garbage per person, per day. Next to recycling, one of the simplest ways to reduce that amount is to create a compost heap. When I was growing up all it entailed was throwing all our table scraps (except meat and fish, which went to the animals), vegetable peelings, tea leaves, grass clippings, etc., into an enclosure made of corrugated iron, with a lid, and over time it provided our garden with wonderful nutrients, which translated into better vegetables, greener grass, and more plentiful blooms. See the link below for tips on how to go about composting today.
D is for Drinking Water:
Bottled water has become an expensive, environmentally unfriendly, and wasteful commodity. No one should be drinking tap water, for sure, unless it comes from your own pristine spring, so what to do? Refillable bottles are one way to go; you can save on the millions of tons of plastic that are wasted every year, but you need to be careful about which bottles to use (see the link below on Bottled Water). Another method of saving is to use a water filter; the jug type, in-fridge, faucet-mounted (I have one of those), sink-side, under the sink, or whole house. Whichever one you choose, you know that you will be saving yourself money, helping the environment, and doing something to help your family's health. With such an array of filters to choose from, you can spend as little or as much as you can afford.
E is for Energy Star Appliances:
Since the program was introduced in 1992, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Energy Star appliances and other home-related products have become more popular, and certification now extends to whole houses that are built to strict, energy-saving criteria. If you are in the market for a new appliance, windows, or other items for your home, check out the Energy Star website for ideas. There are tax advantages to using the program, not to mention annual energy savings of approximately 30% on all Energy Star-rated products.
F is for Food:
I have consistently reinforced the value of eating organic foods, and to astutely avoiding the processed, hydrogenated, bromated, artificially colored and preserved do-do that passes for comestibles, at all costs! There are environmental reasons for eating healthily too: soil that has been saturated with chemicals loses its nutrients, and that includes areas that are not planted, but are affected through inadvertent spraying: They become unable to sustain life and thus we lose trees, plants, natural grasses, and thus more oxygen-producers, not to mention the impact of soil erosion when vegetation has been lost. Think flooding! Artificial colors are mostly made from petroleum sludge derivatives. Oil again. Talking of which, always remember when possible to think Global, buy (act) local. Through purchasing the bulk of your food from local sources you will be saving on transportation costs and pollution, and chances are that your food will be more nutritious from not being picked green/made days ago, stored, and shipped.
G is for Glassware:
Apart from the fact that glass bake ware cooks more evenly, retains heat better (and longer), thus saving energy, it is also 100% recyclicable, making it a wonderful alternative to the chemical non-sticks. Ceramic is also preferable to the latter, but is not as readily broken down and recycled. Drinking out of glasses, not plastic cups, and storing foods in glass containers are both much better for your health and environment too.
H is for H.E.P.A. Filters:
Believe it or not, indoor air can often be more polluted than outdoor air, and it is thus important to ensure that you clean your environment. One of the best ways of doing this is to use a HEPA filter in your home (see the link below for more info). Many vacuum cleaners now have then too, which is another line of defense against allergens and pollutants. HEPA stands for High Efficiency Particulate Air and the filters can remove up to 99.97% of the bad airborne stuff. H is also for Hybrid, but purchasing them can be hazardous to your wallets at this time!
I is for "(An) Inconvenient Truth":
The film that started the conversation on the environment for millions, and provided the impetus for the sea-change in thinking that is overtaking our world. Yea!
J is for Juicing:
You may not have thought about this much, but juicing is actually beneficial for both humans and the environment. It is not necessary to buy fancy top-of-the-line juicers; for less than $50 you can get one that will produce healthy drinks for all the family. The benefits of eating raw foods (organic, of course), have long been known, but now there are plenty of data support them. Combining the buying of local seasonal fruits and vegetables with eating raw food, you help the environment, twice! No cooking, no trucking.
K is for Kicking the Bad Energy Habit:
We take so much around us for granted. When we walk in the house on a cold winter's evening, we know that the heat will be on to greet us, and we switch on all the lights because doing so makes us feel good. We are so warm and cozy that we can relax in just a t-shirt, and lighting a wood fire would be just perfect. The crock-pot has been on all day, making a stew ready for our return, and we decide to bake some biscuits to go along with it, so put on the oven and get out the mixer. Can you see how this scenario could play out differently if we stopped to think about the environment for just a moment? Let's see where some savings could occur:
a) Instead of keeping the heating on all day at the same warm temperature of perhaps 78F, it would behoove us to get a thermostat on a timer. This way, we could program it to turn the heat down to say 68F, even lower if we don't have animals, when we leave the house, and switch it back up to a sensible 72F just prior to our usual return. It can work with air-conditioning too, and setting it to 80-82F when we are away from the house, and 78F when we are home, will also save both money and energy.
b) Only switch on lights in the room we are in at the time, and use the new fluorescent, energy-saving bulbs (see L), which will save us and the environment a bundle!
c) Instead of stripping off all our heavier clothes (or putting on a jacket in the summer because the a/c has put a chill in the air), because the house is so toasty, we could keep on a sweater, or warm sweatshirt, and be just as comfortable. A pair of warm, natural fiber socks always feels good too!
d) Most firewood does not come from sustainable (renewable) sources, and cutting down trees just to heat our homes is not something that is necessary (it just looks and feels good) for most of us these days. Smoke is also polluting. If we want a fire, we should purchase the eco-friendly, slow-burning, smokeless, fire logs made of recycled materials.
e) How about cooking such dishes as stews, biscuits and other dinner dishes on the weekend, and putting them into the freezer until needed, thus keeping cooking times to a minimum the rest of the week, when we can put a dish to thaw out in the fridge and reheat using a microwave or toaster oven upon our return? This saves considerable energy in the long term. Simple, really. Another tip: keep your fridges and freezers well stocked (not jam packed) - they use less energy that way.

L is for Light bulbs:
Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs (CFLs) are everywhere now, and the prices are coming down as a result. By replacing each regular incandescent bulb in your home with a CFL, you will be saving a whopping 75% in energy, not to mention that the life of CFLs is approximately 10 years, so savings translate accordingly. N.B. These new bulbs contain mercury, so if you break one you need to call your local Poison Control Center to ask about clean up. Also, because mercury is toxic, you will need to ask Poison Control where to dispose of them when they eventually burn out!
M is for Man-made:
Man-made generally means that there is some chemistry involved. It indicates that something is artificial, not natural. It is thus something that we should think twice about purchasing or using if we are going to live greener. Man-made fibers, such as nylon and polyester are two that come to mind. The fact is that they are derived from natural sources (oil and coal), but to actually make the fibers is a mind-boggling chemistry lesson. (Check out Polyester on Wikipedia, if you dare.). Would you not feel much better knowing that what you put on your skin is made from natural fibers that have been sustainably grown and processed; meaning that the materials have been harvested from plants that are easy to produce and reproduce (cotton, hemp, silk), or animals that are well looked after (I'm thinking wool here) and the fibers energy efficient to make into clothing? One caveat is that unless the clothes that you buy are certified organic, chances are that even being made with natural materials does not guarantee that they will not have been 'dressed' with the chemical formaldehyde (a known carcinogen), to preserve them whilst in the stores. Thus, you need to always wash new clothing, bedding, etc., before wearing or using. Man-made can also refer to such things as sweeteners, but you don't want to be using those either.
N is for Natural Cleaning Products:
Even the Clorox people have come out with their own, toxic chemical-free, range of cleaning products (called Green Works), and regular supermarkets and mega stores carry them, and other Earth-friendly cleaners, like Ecover. Other, natural, alternatives are such wonders as baking soda and hydrogen peroxide; both cheap, both found everywhere. Check out the links below for suggestions. Using natural cleaning products, you are helping the environment and your health. Many people are sensitive to the toxic chemicals used in most cleansers, but don't realize it. We still don't know all the facts as to the harmful effects that long-term exposure to these chemicals can bring, so isn't it better to take the risk out of your home?
O is for Organic:
Organic doesn't just mean something that has been grown in soil that has not been subjected to artificial enhancement (e.g. fertilizers, pesticides) for at least three years; it is a way of life. If you really want the best for you and your family, you should begin to think about ways that you can eliminate toxins from your food and your home. It is just a question of reading the labels and educating yourself about healthy living. Living organically also has the added benefits of improving your health, and the environment in which we all live.
P is for Plastic Bags:
The Wild Oats and Whole Foods Market stores were the first to lead the push back from using plastic bags, here on the East Coast, several years ago when they offered a small rebate for every bag that was brought (i.e. re-used) when you shopped. Today, the rebate is up to 20 cents per bag, and as of Earth Day (April 22, 2008), Whole Foods Markets will no longer even provide plastic bags at check out. What they now offer are inexpensive re-usable bags, made from recycled materials, available for purchase and we are encouraged to use them every time we shop. I carry several of these recycled bags in my car and use them constantly. There is, apparently, a sea of plastic bottles and bags floating out in the Pacific, carried out to sea on the tides, which is supposedly twice the size of the continental US. I find this a little hard to believe, but if it is true there is no wonder that we have enormous 'dead zones' around the globe, where marine life has ceased to exist. It is one of the greatest environmental disasters in our life times, so please, start to reuse your remaining plastic bags, and recycle the bottles, invest in recycled, re-usable bags, and USE THEM every time you shop. Thank you.
Q is for Question:
Our elected officials are in office at our behest. We voted them in; we can also vote them out. It is our duty as responsible citizens to QUESTION their policies on the environment. If they do not have a pro-environment platform, inform them that they need to change their thinking; not just for you and your family's sake, but the rest of the planet's sake too. We have so little time to turn this around, and to stop the terrible impact that we have had until now. If our politicians don't care, what does it say about they way they truly feel about us, their constituents?
Recycling:
This is probably THE most effective, and one of the cheapest and easiest ways to help protect our environment. I already touched on composting, which is another way of recycling, but there are many other ways you can do it too! Buying toilet (loo!), and kitchen paper, as well as paper napkins, all made from recycled materials is a great place to start. There is a wonderful group, which has online communities nationwide, called Freecycle (check out Freecycle.com for more info). I encourage everyone to join and participate. The object of the exercise is to offer your unwanted clothing, appliances, electronics, furniture, knick-knacks, music, toys, electronics, gardening items, etc., for FREE. In turn, if there is something that you need, you can post a 'wanted' ad to the group - chances are you will get what you are looking for. No money changes hands, unwanted things get a new lease on life and don't fetch up in the landfill, and there is no need to swap or barter. And, talking of swapping - how about holding a clothes swap? We have them where I live; a bunch of us get together, bring along a dish to share and some bring a bottle of wine, and we throw all our unwanted clothes into a big pile in the middle of the floor and dive in. Again, it's free; clothes go to homes where they are wanted, and what is left over gets donated to Goodwill or the Salvation Army, or whatever charitable group would most benefit, and the best part is that we all have a great time as well as get something new to wear. Be creative. There are many ways that you can recycle. A cousin of mine makes her own greetings cards using recycled cards from previous festive occasions. And lastly, don't forget to recycle all the glass, plastic, paper and aluminum that your household gets through each week. Most communities have a recycling program, and if your town doesn't, start one! The EPA has information on how.
S is for Shower Heads:
Did you know that there are low-flow shower heads that can save you up to 3,000 gallons of water per person per year? You will also save money (approx. $50 per annum), not to mention prevent thousands of pounds of carbon dioxide emissions. There are also shower heads that filter out the harsh chemicals, such as chlorine, that dry our skin and hair (here are some examples). Attaching an aerator to each faucet will also provide savings to both you and the environment, and they are easy to install.
T is for Toxins:
Several years ago, I wrote an article about the impact that our total disregard for the environment has had on us and our planet since the Industrial Age. In it, I reminded us that we are playing biological catch-up, and that is why we are seeing so many genetically-linked diseases, caused by pollutants affecting us and our biosphere at the cellular level. Back in the early days of industrialization, we had no idea what all that pollution was doing to us, and our eco-systems, but today we have no excuses. We know that driving a gas-guzzling mega-SUV is harmful to the environment. We know that throwing away tons of trash each year, instead of shopping more astutely and recycling, is negligent. We know that using lots of harmful chemicals on and in our food, homes, furniture, environment and clothes is stupid, and dangerous to our health and that of our planet, so WHY do we still do these things? Only you can answer these questions, but I hope that you will look around you; in your closets, garages, greenhouses and pantries, and begin to take note of what exactly is in, on or produced by, the things that you have taken so much for granted over a lifetime. Being AWARE of the dangerous number of toxic chemicals that we breathe, ingest, and absorb is a very important first step. The next one is to do something about it!
UV Rays:
You know about the ozone layer, right? You also know that it is shrinking the more we pollute our planet. Correct? Did you also know that the depletion of the ozone layer is allowing more harmful ultraviolet (UV) rays to reach our planet - the same rays that are responsible for an increase in skin cancers worldwide? If you didn't know these things, then you need to start learning about their importance, especially every time you get into your car. Check out this website for a user-friendly explanation of what it all means.
Washing:
Next time you go to do a load of laundry, please make sure that you are doing a FULL load, and not just a couple of things. The same goes for the dishwasher. Not only do you save water, you also save energy. Another idea is to use environmentally-friendly washing detergents; ones that do not contain lots of phosphates. And, when you are doing lawn and garden care and watering plants, please avoid nitrates too...their run offs are contributing to Red Tide, and it's killing fish and marine mammals at alarming rates, is harmful to human health, and makes life misery for the millions of people who live on the coastlines.
X is for Xeriscaping:
It is a method of landscaping with plants that do not require extensive and expensive watering. Florida Gardens are one such example, and can be highly cost effective too. They help protect our environment, but are also beautiful to behold!
Y is for YOU!
It is up to YOU to make a difference in the way you live, so that you will be in harmony with your environment. It just takes following some of the suggestions laid out here for your actions to have a positive impact. Mother Earth will love you:-)
Z is for "Zeitgeist":
Although the term is used to indicate what is current in popular culture, or the 'spirit of an age' or era, it is also the name of a stunning documentary, which I recommend everyone see. It pulls no punches, so if you are easily offended, then perhaps you need to give it a miss. If, however, you have had some nagging doubts about, for example, why we wage wars, who turns the world economy, or fundamentalism, then you should see it. While it might be sensationalistic, and some of the ideas far-fetched, it speaks volumes as to what we have done to our climate, and our poor, and offers reasons why. It is a very profound and disturbing indictment, not only on our leaders, but also on our apathy for letting such horrors happen right before our eyes. It's free and it's online.

And on that note, I would like to wish you and yours a splendid spring, and HAPPY EARTH DAY! Until next time................Go Green! Lots of links for you this time:
Garbage facts from the EPA
How to save money on gas
Composting
Wikipedia's Info on Solar Cells (Photovoltaic cells)
Facts on bottled water
The Energy Star Program
Wikipedia on HEPA Filters
HGTV has some great ideas on green living
Good info on juicing and eating raw foods
Info on Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs (CFLs)
Lots of Uses for Baking Soda
Many Uses of Hydrogen Peroxide
Info on Organic Practices
Info on low-flow shower heads and aerators
In case you want to know about toxins
The Ozone Layer, the basics from NOAA
Red Tide, from Wikipedia
Plant a Florida-friendly Garden

Visit MyHealthNavigator.com

Listen to Tina on "BLue Lips" at LadybugLive and...
Read this feature from past issues.

Spring is for the Birds

Spring is here, and outside the windown your colorful feathered friends are singing a heatfelt welcome as they visit the feeder. Do you know who they are? eNature can help you figure out a lot about your winged visitors and other wildlife.
The site has a wide variety of options, many specific to your own area. Type in your zip code and identify what birds or animals are native to that zip. We have five birds of the cardinal family who live in northwest Missouri, and I have looked at their descriptions and listened to their songs. Next time I see a rose-breasted grosbeak, I'll be ready.
In fact, if you see a bird, the site will help you identify it. I saw a hawk-like bird the other day, flying high. : I went to the website and selected the option of identifying a bird. I clicked on the colors I saw, gray, brown and black. It seemed about 15 inches long, and I saw it here in the suburbs of Kansas City, Missouri. There are three possibilities� it looked most like a peregrine falcon! And once you identify a critter, you can add it to your own personalized list of wildlife sightings.
Games and quizzes make the site fun for kids, and you can send wildlife e-cards with delightful nature images. Ask an expert if you can't find the answer to your question among those already there.
Suppose you want to travel farther in your birding adventures. With WebCamLocator you can quickly find links to other people's birds. Watch a nesting box in Germany at www.birdcam.de .
Some of my favorite birds are hummingbirds, which have not arrived here in Missouri yet. When will they show up? Soon, according to hummingbirds.net, which indicates they have reached the southwestern tip of the state and it will be time to put out the feeder in about two weeks.
Whatever your question about birds, you can find an answer on the internet - I hope you can enjoy many of them this spring and all through the year.

Read this feature from past issues.

Separation of Joel and State

In Joel's elementary school, they say the Pledge of Allegiance and sing the National Anthem every morning. The principal of the school recites them both over the intercom. I was surprised to hear that because I thought both things were long gone from the classroom.
I also remember distinctly when morning exercises disappeared from my own elementary classroom. A young Jehovah's Witness and her parents fought through the school board to have it all removed because it offended them and went against their religion. It was all in the name of the separation of church and state.
I didn't understand then or now why the simple stating of the pledge and our nation's anthem separated anything but there were key words that went against too many things. The little girl in question was really too young to understand and one of her parents was not even of the religion in question. It was all very convoluted and political but it worked. Even with masses of parents fighting, the pledge and the anthem went away. One child spoke for the school.
This was also the point that Easter Break and Christmas Break got name changes for the same reason. They became Spring Break and Winter Break. At Joel's school, the latter names still stand. Parents can bring in books and discuss the religious holidays but teachers aren't allowed to mention any of the Christian holidays by name. They have to explore snowmen and flowers. Even at six, Joel is a little confused why the name doesn't reflect why he is getting time off.
Most of his class is actually Protestant despite a relatively large proportion of international students. Interestingly enough, his teacher can mention the other religious holidays and even explore their history and background. The few that aren't Protestant enjoy more freedom than the majority that are.
However, unlike my classmate thirty years ago, the children of today seem to speak their minds and be much more informed about their religions, politics, and world. In Joel's kindergarten class, they discussed the primaries and what each of the parties stood for and their historical backgrounds. They have examined racial issues and the differences between different cultures and civil right's history. It is all done carefully and at a child's level but the messages are getting through.
We have always thought that, as parents, we are ultimately responsible for our kids' education. While the school provides a large portion of their everyday education and the church offers Sunday school instruction and services, we still are the main educators and help them sort things out.
It is hard to tell at these young ages what is getting through from any source. I found out Emily knew who Jesus was as she pointed to a Christmas card and announced that was "the baby Jesus. I love him". Joel has been in church since he was a baby and now sings and recites the set parts of the service. Joel's religious education has been longer and more intense than Emily's. Again, I wonder what is getting through. I wonder where his own confidence and voice are as he matures and finds his own identity.
Around Christmas time, I found out exactly how strong he is. While the teachers are not allowed to talk much about religious holidays or services, the kids apparently don't see that same division. One little girl proudly told the other kids that her church was the only one and that they all should come there and that they should be saved. After meeting her mom, I knew she was just parroting. The mom told me she instructed her on how to act and what to say to "save" the other kids. Joel's class is a very international one and I can imagine that the children might have felt offended. Even with my own evangelical upbringing, it made me cringe a little to think of the approach and heavy-handedness implicit even in a six-year-old. Yet, she was serious and standing up for her beliefs.
Joel came home and very matter-of-a-fact announced to us that three of the Indian children in his class told him they went to temple and prayed to statues. We started to explain the situation to him. There was no need. He proceeded to let us know that he told them that was against the ten rules to pray to anything other than God.
We inquired a little further and he said they all just went back to playing. There was no prostylizing or inviting to services or even intentional condemnation. There was nothing about appearances or whose religion was better or worse. It was just four kindergarteners discussing their lives and comparing their backgrounds. They each stood up for what they believed. It was an equal, unrehearsed, unprompted discussion that probably went well above many adult conversations about theology in its civility and brevity.
I am reminded of the saying about the man who didn't come to the aid of any of the other people of other religions as they were taken away. In the end, he was all alone and no one came for him. I do question myself that I don't have the presence of mind or maybe even the courage to stand up for my own religion in a setting like school. I think back to when I had the chance to fight back and keep the pledge and anthem and even the Lord's Prayer.
I wish for the strength of my son and the simple yet profound words that he says without a second thought. I am thankful that there are still remnants of our forefathers in the classroom and that there are flags flying outside the school. While church and state may remain separated, I know that Joel already has a foundation to stand on and that he won't be separated from his beliefs.

Read this feature from past issues.

Sir Edmund Hillary's Little Namesake Strikes Again

I try to keep the fact that I know nothing about current affairs hidden by making a rule for myself to never write about them. This morning I decided I don't need no stinkin' rules. I mean after all, isn't life just one big experiment anyway? That's what my hair thinks. And if it's good enough for my hair it's good enough for me. Yesterday, on my way to the Home Shopping Network, I made a pit stop at the quickie news where I saw Hillary saying this about a trip she once took to Bosnia.
"I remember landing under sniper fire. There was supposed to be some kind of a greeting ceremony at the airport, but instead we just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base.'
I noticed that Hillary had a little chuckle in her voice when she said this, playing it off like it "weren't no big thang!" When it later turned out that what she said "weren't no big thang" because it wasn't true, she simply explained she had misspoke. But what does that mean?

The dictionary says you misspeak when you pronounce something incorrectly like pronouncing an "l" in the word "both" so that it comes out "bolth". I've noticed all three of my kids say "bolth" instead of "both." And so do all their friends. Apparently those under 30 get some sort of thrill out of misspeaking.
Another way the dictionary says you can misspeak is if you "express yourself unclearly." This happens often in the written word. Here's is a good example of an unclear sentence:

"Never leave a hamster and a child alone in a room with a dog who likes to eat them." This is unclear. What the author meant to say is, "Never leave a hamster and a dog alone in a room with a child who likes to eat them." Do you see the difference? (If so please shoot me an e-mail ASAP as I'm getting alittle confused myself).

The third definition for misspeak listed in my dictionary says "to express yourself in a way that is inappropriate, inaccurate, or unclear" and gives this example sentence:

"Unfortunately the envoy misspoke himself on that particular issue." (Hmm . . . does this dictionary know something we don't?)

Now let's look up a different word in the dictionary just for comparison's sake. Let's see now . . . what word shall we look up? Any suggestions? What's that you say? Lie? You want us to look up the word lie and compare that definition to the word misspeak? Well, what a great idea!
My dictionary says the word lie has several meanings. The first one is "to deliberately say something untrue." The second one says "to be deceptive; to give a false impression." The third one is "a false statement made deliberately."
Of course, now that we've compared the definition of misspeak to the definition of lie, we can safely conclude that Hillary wasn't lying when she said she was under fire when she wasn't. The reason we know she wasn't lying when she said she was under fire when she wasn't -- but simply misspeaking -- is because she later explained the misspeaking incident thoroughly and concisely in this official statement about her misstatement.
"I went to 80 countries, you know. I gave contemporaneous accounts, I wrote about a lot of this in my book. You know, I think that, a minor blip, you know, if I said something that, you know, I say a lot of things, millions of words a day. So if I misspoke, that was just a misstatement," she said.
And so there is absolutely no question in my mind that Hilary is telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth about her lying . . . uh I mean her misspeaking . . . sorry I just misspoke. I guess I'm just tired.

Blog with Linda! ~ Read her thoughts on "My Empty Nest" at www.OverTheGardenFence.com
Linda has joined the lineup of ejoyable programming at LadybugLive.com. Listen to "Shut the Hell Up Girlfriend." And, did you know: Linda Vernona was a Grand Prize Winner of Bulwer Lytton Fiction Contest.

Read this feature from past issues.

THIS MONTH:

Poetry Corner

Fascinating Interims
We are here, a dozen years and some Brush and tall pine, rub shoulders The front row formidable and giant Blot out the sky shut out the light Cast dark shadows and shades Cool, twilight and dusk mysterious, Dancing to the tune of sunbeams setting, Tube of mirrors, kaleidoscope of grays Protecting and awesome, one never Knows , one begins the other ends, Strolling behind the house a Jungle of wild weeds unattended, In a corner, under spreading leaves Shade, a foursome of poppies, Playing poker smiling red, in a sea of green Tucked away in their stolen zone Some of the winter growth seems To have lost its thrust or is it me, My Agava tree bent to an impossible Angle hangs on , Unwilling to let the next come in Knows something I do not, Breathes its pace of interim Tenaciously defying gravity
Shimon Weinroth

If you were engaged by Shimon's poem listen to his MooseMeals.com program The View From Anywhere. If you would like to chime in, go listen and send him your comments!

Read this feature from past issues.

Dr. Doris Jeanette
The host of Live at the Edge, talks to Georgia Jones on Why A Woman President Would be Real Change in America and the status of women in America


Dr. Jeanette is leading a discussion of the Presidential nominations. Join in.

We are serializing Flying Lessons for Butterflies by Sheila Whitman. Sheila Whitman is a Professional Counselor and Life Coach, with a private practice in CT. She has done agency counseling with pregnant and postpartum women, and coordinated a residence for women and children in a domestic violence program. Sheila strives to nurture the potential of her clients, and understands that past or current abuse is incredibly detrimental to this goal of self-actualization. The lessons contained in this book invite the reader to challenge old beliefs, and make concrete changes in self-esteem and creative risk taking. Emphasis is on strategies for altering perceptions and behaviors that may have been distorted during childhood, and the development of a healthy integration of mind, body, and soul. The underlying message is that every individual has great value and can eventually soar to discover his or her best self. Sheila completed her B.S. at Temple University and M.S. at Southern CT State University. She is a Licensed Professional Counselor in Connecticut and a Registered Professional Counselor in California.
Information about Sheila Whitman's counseling and life coaching can be found on the web site http://www.counselorlifecoach.com/.



Flying Lessons For BUTTERFLIES
How to free yourself from the effects of abuse

Chapter 2
PHYSICAL ABUSE

Lesson 6 - Assess the warning signs for current or impending abuse

1. How does this person treat your friends, children, and pets?
2. How does this person deal with stress or show anger?
3. Does this person accept responsibility for own actions or always find external excuses?
4. Does this person listen to your opinions or always insist on being right?
5. Is this person open to your feelings and willing to express his/her emotions?
6. Is this person possessive and/or jealous?
7. Is alcohol or drug abuse in the picture?

In the following discussion of these questions. Listen to your instinct. If it feels wrong, it probably is!

Discussion of Lesson 6
1. Rejection, anger, or abuse toward any one of these should be a warning sign. Sometimes, children or pets are abused, in an effort to control the person who loves them, or they may simply be the victims of uncontrolled violence. Behavior with friends can be deceiving, since some of these individuals are very charming in public. This can mislead casual acquaintances and cause partners to think that no one would believe their revelations of abuse. However, if an acquaintance offers support or assistance to the victim, an abuser often reveals his/her true personality.
2. You should not live in fear, or be the scapegoat for the normal experiences and emotions of another person.
3. A mature adult takes responsibility. One who blames others creates confusion and guilt, while avoiding any personal consequences.
4. You should expect to be an equal partner, not a silenced one.
5. Openness in a relationship creates trust, safety, and mutual understanding. A controlling partner may be unwilling or unable to show vulnerability, and may reject feelings that you express, or use them against you.
6. These behaviors can prevent your interactions with others, adding the too frequent ingredient of isolation to the relationship.
7. Drug or alcohol use does not predict an abusive relationship. However, it can reduce inhibitions, and a person who is controlling or inclined to be abusive may be more likely to act on this when drinking or drugging.

Lesson 7 - Forms of Abuse
Check the actions that have occurred in your relationship.

Anger and Intimidation: looks, actions, yelling, breaking things, hurting pets
Isolation: controls what you do, who you see, what you read, where you go
Psychological abuse: humiliates you, threatens to harm you financially or emotionally
Abuse of privilege: treats you like a servant. Takes total control over money, free time, friends, activities
Economic abuse: takes your money, forces you to ask for what you need, makes you dependent
Emotional abuse: demeans you, makes you feel inferior
Physical abuse: physically hurts or frightens you
Sexual abuse: treats you like a sex object, forces you to do things against your will

A Yes answer to any of these indicates an unequal, controlling relationship. Often there are many forms of abuse occurring at the same time, and sometimes it escalates from hands off to hands on abuse. Regardless of the form it takes, you will invariably pay an emotional price as the recipient.

Lesson 8 - The Cycle of Abuse
1. Building up to crisis:
You are experiencing some or all of the forms of abuse. You try to control a major outburst with efforts such as keeping the children quiet, agreeing with everything, cooking, cleaning, complying with sexual demands.
You hope to prevent an outburst or assault this way, but in truth you have no control over it.
2. Crisis: This often involves a violent incident, and you may attempt to leave or file a report with police.
3. Honeymoon Phase:
- partner apologizes profusely, is very affectionate and solicitous
- brings flowers and gifts, promises it will never happen again
- you agree to reconcile, give him/her another chance
4. Calm period
5. Escalation and building up to crisis
6. Crisis again

What makes some people, especially women, remain in abusive relationships, while others run the other way? It's important to understand that women place a high value on connection, and will endure, forgive, and work tirelessly to sustain something that began as love. These bonds are formed in the early days of a relationship, and are easily reinforced by acts of concern or affection. Research is proving that a woman's identity is tied, in part, to her skills in relationships, and giving up on them detracts from this. But, it would be simplistic to assume that there is a single explanation for why women are particularly likely to stay. Many reasons, such as money, and fear of being sick, alone, or homeless may hold her in an unhealthy partnership. I can't count the times that women have expressed to me their fear of living under a bridge. Children are a barrier to leaving, either because the partner threatens to take them, or the woman may not want to deprive them of a parent, albeit one who abuses their mother. Also, it should not be forgotten that the most dangerous time is when she tries to leave. This may infuriate and make her partner desperate, and is a real safety risk. All of these issues are deeply rooted in the cultural role of women, and are entwined with economic considerations and the importance of love and kinship. If there was early abuse or loss of a parent, the decision to leave could represent one more unacceptable loss of family attachment. Certainly, there are plenty of children who weather such circumstances and proceed into tranquil adulthood, but the themes of abandonment and early mistreatment are present in many who live with abuse. The losses and/or uncertainties of childhood may have impacted their sense of personal value and control over their lives. If these perceptions become incorporated into adult relationships, a woman may feel insecure about its permanency and in herself as a partner. If a woman believes that she is inadequate, another person's attention and jealous isolation can make her feel loved, and it is deceptively easy to become dependent on another human being who provides this. If this was missing in the past, she may feel it is undeserved, and will continue to work at keeping it. A healthy childhood foundation can hold you up with strength, while a weak one may need to be counterbalanced with action in the present. If you understand the events of your childhood, and learn what is required to become strong, you are already on the path to acting in your best interests.

Next month: Begin Chapter 3: HEALING EMOTIONAL ABANDONMENT

To order Flying Lessons for Butterflies: How to free yourself from the effects of abuse:
Contact the author at 203-910-4279 or WhitmanLPC@aol.com

OR

Get information on Domestic violence and violence against women at LadybugBooks.com
We invite any of you to contribute on this subject. We feel it is important to continue the discussion of domestic violence.
Read this feature from past issues.

A little bit in writing about what's happening at
LadybugLive.com, MooseMeals.com, and TeenTalkNetwork.com

Serious and Entertaining
We have it all
News this Month:

We have several new hosts this month.... and a favorite coming back!

Relationship coach, a new slant on poetry, new books from two of our best
Edythe Denkin, Ph.D., a marriage and child specialist, teacher, coach, motivational speaker and a published author will host "Ask Dr. Eydie" on LadybugLive.com, while we are expecting poet Joan Adler, "Adora" to begin a series for poets on her return from Mexico.
Dottie Moore, host of The Gallery at ladybugLive.com has finally finished recording her book, Lives in Process, The second fifty years, about quilting, art and women, so watch for the audio version (complete with the original text CD with images) in our store!

AND Tina Steele is back with incisive political comment on Blue Lips on MooseMeals.com. Her guest this month will be:

Lt. Eric Shine Nails U.S. Coast Guard for Military Tribunals over U.S. Civilians - and now they're Retaliating
Today, we are facing despots in government, who, under the blanket of national security, are prosecuting "civilians" before a series of military tribunals. Contrary to military tradition, the U.S, Coast Guard is succeeding it its excess by declaring itself to be a branch of military that can arrest, carry on detention, prosecute, adjudicate and even punish civilians. Lt. Eric Shine is a case in point. Eric Shine is being charged with..... "being depressed." The 46-year-old former Merchant Marine and whistleblower is being hauled in front of a military tribunal and charged with nothing more than a state of mind, with no allegations of misconduct or negligence in his actions.
Lt. Shine, has been subjected to years of harassment and legal proceedings ever since he wrote his reports on malfeasance of government contractors working on a ship on which he was an officer. Besides losing both of his homes, he has been stripped of his office and has not had the benefit of legal representation owed to him.

A Conversation with Joan Adley

     Interviewed by Justin Spring of SOUL SPEAK

Reminders from LadybugPress and NewVoices.com

Take a look at the

If you are a writer and would like to become a NewVoices author or artist, contact:
Georgia@ladybugbooks.com
Please use the subject title: NewVoices Information

     It's Not Your Same Old Radio!

"There are people who have something to say and those who have something to sell. We are interested in the ones with something special to teach the world."

For LadybugLive, TeenTalkNetwork, and MooseMeals to continue growing, we need correspondents and readers. The process is quite simple: submissions are by email. If accepted, a reader calls, either our local or our toll free number as directed in the acceptance email, to record. What will you be recording?
We are looking for: readings of original creative work, comment and commentary, and ideas for regularly appearing programming that can be done within this format. We are not able, as yet, to do direct call in shows, but shows that require listener (delayed) response are OK. All of this, of course, within the same guidelines as everything we do: Of interest to women (no particular restrictions). This format might also be ideal for some of those traditional topics, such as clothing and makeup, with a fresh "twist."

Send ideas and proposals to Georgia@ladybugbooks.com
We strive to bring you the best in women's writing.
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We also offer our audio programs in downloadable MP3 format for offline listening, and at the same modest subscription price — With no unwanted advertising! We know online radio is new to many of you but we also know how rewarding it can be. So, if you need help to get started, don't hesitate to contact Georgia for help... And, hey! Our hosts love hearing from you!
Our teen site, TeenTalkNetwork.com programming is safe — no porn or other unwanted promotions are attached to our files.

The Internet promised and we are delivering.

New programming is always available at:
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Read this feature from past issues.

What Happened at Bear Stearns

The Subprime Mortgage Collapse

In mid-March the Federal Reserve and Treasury Department provided financial assistance to JP Morgan Chase & Co.’s, making it possible for JP Morgan to purchase a crumbling Bear Stearns. This raises a lot of questions for investors and us the general public, not the least of which is whether this action by the Fed amounts to a taxpayer-funded bailout of an investment bank. This is one to keep an eye on, especially if you are retired and have investment funds you think are safe.

The Basic Details of the $263,200 Transaction

Q. What exactly did the Federal Reserve contribute?

A. To protect JP Morgan from the biggest risks on Bear Stearns’ books, the Federal Reserve agreed to guarantee up to $30 billion of Bear Stearns most at risk assets, primarily mortgage securities that have dropped significantly in value and have become virtually impossible to sell.

Q: Why did the Fed agree to this?

A: Pundit say the risks of taking no action were far greater. With investors backing away from anything tied to the U.S. mortgage market, the Fed aimed to prevent the value of those investments from dropping even further, which could cause a widespread fallout among all of the big banks. Peter Walliston, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute stated “The problem is that unless the major financial (companies) are kept solvent, the economy will suffer (so much) that everybody’s livelihood will be affected.”

Q: Does this action mean that our tax dollars are being used to bail out Wall Street?

A: Not exactly. The Fed has huge resources of its own, thanks to its ability to sell Treasury Securities that investors believe are extremely safe. However, many fear that the mortgage crisis that swallowed up Bear Stearns will soon spread to other companies and ultimately stress the Fed’s resources, especially after the central bank said last week that it would lend up to $200 billion in exchange for mortgage investments.

Q: Is it possible/likely that we taxpayers will ultimately be on the hook?

A: It is possible. The Federal Reserve’s actions could be the forerunner for a much broader government action to stabilize the mortgage market. Congress is being pressured from all directions for a government-funded effort to help borrowers refinance out of troubled loans.

Q: Didn't’t the Bear Stearns CEO say his company was in great shape just the week before the weekend?

(Editors observation: does this look like a happy camper?)

A: Yes. Alan Schwartz said on CNBC that Bear Stearns was not having any trouble funding its business. He may have been correct, given what he believed at the time. But confidence matters at least as much as reality, and his statement wasn't’t enough to reassure investors.

Q: What happened between Wednesday and Friday?

A: It appears there was a classic bank run: Nervous clients decided to take their money out of Bear Stearns, but Bear Stearns said Friday that it did not have enough money on hand to meet all payments. When word got out, many more clients demanded their money.

Q. How could Bear not have enough money with recorded assets of $33 billion?

A. They faced a liquidity crisis. Those assets were not all liquid which means they weren't ’t easily convertible to cash that could be paid to investors.

Q. What about any Bear Stearns shares you might own?

A. Bad news: They are worth at least 95 percent less than they were at the start of January.

The Possible Future

Q. Will this be just the start of the meltdown?

A. The subprime mortgage collapse now hitting Bear Stearns may be just the start. Serious analysts from big investment firms are talking ominously about "the big one". It will make you angry to learn just how the investment industry has got you involved. If you can understand what's happening, you should have time to move your investments. So let's get to the bottom of the problem.

From subprime mortgage to MBS

It all starts with the mortgage. About 6 million people in the United States who have no money have borrowed about 100% of the value of a house, right at the top of a housing market which has since collapsed. These are the subprime borrowers.

The lenders worried very little about the risk of default, because they rolled these mortgages into bonds called mortgage-backed securities, which they then sold. They got out from under the risk within a few weeks, because by then these re-packaged mortgages belonged to other financial organizations.

But it's not always easy to sell a package of these mortgage-backed securities (MBS). Selling these products requires that the credit quality is guaranteed and because the underlying mortgages are subprime they are quite likely to go into default.

So a credit-ratings agency will only give the subprime MBS a low credit score, which means it is not considered investment grade. That disqualifies it from the portfolios of many professionally managed funds.

This is where it pays to get a bunch of smart investment bankers involved.

The investment bankers slice the MBS into several portions. These are known as collateralized debt obligations, (CDOs). The idea is to create some higher risk assets and some much safer ones by cutting up the MBS into what are called equity high risk, middle risk, and the high demand investment grade bonds (low risk investments).

Higher risk equals higher returns, of course, so the MBS will earn the highest profits if things go well. But if things start to go wrong, the equity is lost first, and then the middle group follows. After that, the investment-grade bonds are likely to get fully paid out. This influences the credit ratings agencies to give the lowest-risk sub-groups a high enough credit rating to qualify for the critical investment grade rating.

In this way the investment bank has created a decent proportion of highly marketable bonds out of a package of low-quality mortgages. Fairly standard, for example, is to convert a large package of MBS into perhaps 80% investment-grade bonds, 10% middle risk, and 10% high-risk equity.

How investment banks distribute the debt

The original mortgage lender is in a rush to get the whole MBS sold off, because this raises cash which can then be used to fund fresh mortgage loans to new subprime borrowers. This lets them earn their money primarily by deal-making and distribution, rather than by taking risks with borrowers. These investment technique is referred to as "toxic waste".

Create a hedge fund

Imagine that the investment bank puts up the first $10 million. The hedge fund then buys the equity groups of the CDO from the investment bank. In effect, the investment bank is actually buying the equity from itself. The housing market goes up. Now the CDO equity has more value, because there's a cushion of higher house prices preventing those original subprime borrowers from defaulting. The CDO gets marked up in value, and it gets marked up much faster than the underlying house prices

The hedge fund now goes to an unrelated lending bank, who now holds the high-performing but "toxic waste", and this lender asks to borrow money using the waste as collateral. The lending bank has access to cheap money, and so it has the prospect of lending for spectacular profits. And the wheel goes round and round... The money lent by the bank against the CDO equity goes back to the hedge fund, which buys more CDOs from the investment bank, which buys more MBS from the mortgage lender, which provides more money to subprime borrowers, who then buy more houses, pushing real-estate prices higher again.

This process only gets into trouble when house prices turn sharply down. The lending banks ask for their money back, but the hedge funds haven't got it. Something like this is what happened to Bear Stearns' hedge funds. Its two funds were leveraged 5 times and 15 times respectively. That's the number of times they went round the financing wheel of leverage. ONLY THE SMALLER FUND HAS BEEN RESCUED AT THIS POINT! It appears that the Bear Stearns funds were not actually invested in the toxic waste. They had bought the investment grade bonds. That clearly means the toxic waste and the middle-risk bonds have no value. We don't know who owns these.

Dump the waste in landfill

"If it's not these failing hedge funds who own the toxic waste, then who does?" Only a core group of investment banks in this market has the ability to market the toxic waste, and it's one of their most sensitive commercial secrets. Some of it goes into stable, largely unsuspecting, and almost always "institutional" portfolios, the type of investment fund which looks after your money and typically signs an indemnity to confirm to its brokers and banks its own professionalism and awareness of risk. That means some fund managers are habitually reporting asset values which are a fiction, and we don't know who they are.

Synthetic CDOs

This method on the face of it seems to resolve this question of moral hazard.

The investment bank who is now the owner of the hard-to-sell and risky middle and high-risk groups. Rather than dumping them into landfill, decides to keep them, along with all the cash flows that they generate. But the investment banker managing these CDOs also decides to take out an insurance policy, just in case the home loans go into default.

The investment bank pays an insurance premium to another investment institution for underwriting the risk of the underlying home-loans defaulting. That's all there is to a Credit Default Swap. In return for a cash payment, you swap the risk of default.

These insurance premiums, paid to the underwriter of the CDS, appear to the receiver as income, just like bond interest payments. But unlike a standard bond, they are paid without the receiver having to put up any cash of their own. It's income received without putting their money at the disposal of the institution who pays them. The investment bank is being paid for accepting risk, not for lending money.

The investment bankers have been very clever. They have said there are two components in a bond-interest payment: a fee for the use of your money, and a fee for the risk of default. The CDS just separates out the element for the risk of default.

This lets the risk appear much lower than it really is because the risk is based on cash flows deriving exclusively from insurance premiums that are paid to cover the risk of mortgage default. That's how CDSs get packaged into what is known as a "synthetic CDO", and the investment bank can sell them for what appear to be fantastic yields. The risk of default has now been transferred into the broader financial markets.

Who is going to fail next?

Sources indicate that Bear Stearns only has problems with those CDOs issued in respect of Mortgage Backed Securities created in 2005 and 2006. This makes sense. Those CDOs were issued nearest to the peak of the US housing market, so they have the least room to move. Older CDO issues should have more headroom before defaults become a problem.

This would suggest that it is those firms who were late to the CDO party who should be in the deepest trouble. The following data was published by Standard and Poors in a 2005 report entitled "CDO Spotlight: Update To Sizing Collateral Manager Participation In The US Cash Flow CDO Market," and may be a good indicator of who's next. A partial list is shown below.

The data only concerns cash-flow CDOs. The synthetic part of the CDO market is not included. The synthetic market is bigger. The overall liabilities of both funds are in the $20-$25 billion range.

Happy Trails,

B.S.

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Are you tired of being lied to? The purpose of this column is to try to sort the fact from the lies in consumerism, both on and off the Internet. If you find a product or company you would like to compliment or blast, please let us know and we will talk about them here.

Day Care Destruction
from Fiona Lohrenz

This consumer caution was sent by Fiona Lohrenz whose 10 years of experience running a day care renders her very capable of writing articles on all aspects of childcare. She also pours this knowledge into her child care website and has made a How to Start a Child Care Business DVD guide. She can be reached at her website..
I drop in on a child care providers discussion forum from time to time and make comments/suggestions if I feel I can be of help (or just want to join in on a rant!!). Recently, I read a post about a child who was deliberately damaging day care property, everything from toys, to day care furniture and including personal items belonging to the provider. The parents laugh it off, ask the child to say an empty 'I'm sorry' and offer no discussion nor action for remedy. The provider is pretty distraught at this point. To date the child has deliberately destroyed over $200 worth of items. Unfortunately, dealing with difficult behavior can be a staple of day care life and can lead to some unpleasant situations.
Difficult and challenging behaviors can be a tough fact of day care life. A firm and consistent approach is vital in dealing with same regardless what the reasons for the behavior. When it becomes clear that a child is being continuously disruptive, destructive and aggresive it is time to 'meet the parents'. Parent and provider working together is key to dealing with challenging behavior successfully.
Discussion will uncover if similar behavior occurs in the home, if there is a root cause that can help all parties better understand the triggers and reasons for the behavior. A mutual behavior plan should be agreed whereby all parties are cooperating and on the same page. It is pointless if you are being consistent and constructive in your handling of the child if the same positive actions are not dealt out at home.
Individual plans can be formulated using your behavior policy as an outline (please tell me you have a behavior policy!). Include time frames and deadlines for implementation and re-evaluation. This might also be a good time to revise your parent contract to include when parents will be expected to reimburse you for excessive damage caused by their child.
Insert also your 'end of tether' clause where you would be forced to ask a client to withdraw their child due to ongoing issues and lack of cooperation/communication. Don't forget, sometimes professional, outside help is required.that does not indicate failure on the part of either the provider or parent. It is simply the best way forward in some cases.

Share your consumer experiences with us: Send us your story and we will print it here.
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Books, Cooks, Looks & Ms. Elani

Dear Friends and Readers,
An Underground for scores of Jews or any Russian that looked Jewish.
Year of Wonders
by Geraldine Brooks
ISBN 9780142001431

Any plague brings up the image of death, destruction and loss. Throughout history there have been many such instances that have resulted in the loss of thousands of lives. In Geraldine Brooks' Year of Wonders the plague of 1666 started by an infected bolt of cloth that traveled from London to an isolated mountain village. One traveling stranger started with symptoms that could not be given to any one illness. He eventually died, but not without spreading the seeds throughout the area. It soon became apparent that there was more than one way to pass on the horrendous disease. One housemaid, Anna, becomes the thread that ties the village people together through the trying times as the plague spreads.

Due to long range sights of the young minister, people of the village elected to quarantine themselves off to any outsiders. Notes were left at the boundary rock requesting items they could not find within their own surroundings be delivered to the rock. Unfortunately, the doctor of the village had no idea how to cure the unknown disease. Death soon took hold of someone in every family. Prayers were taken over by other means in which to destroy the disease; use of medicinal herbs and so called witch-craft. Anna had to defend those she loved as she mended her own broken heart. She alone had to earn the trust of those in the village when she decided to step forward and help in the healing and birthing.
Brooks' riveting book gives a glimpse into history of a time almost forgotten in modern day. She does so with compassion and courage.

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From the EDITOR

The Seventy Percent Reduction

From Davey Crocket's Own Story, on his experiences in the east in 1829: "Come here, and you will see women doing men's work. . . Is it not better for themselves and [their] families, instead of sitting up all day busy about nothing?"
Busy about nothing.
If your labor is not being used by a corporation, are you busy about nothing? Perhaps you are raising children? Perhaps you are exercising your innately human skills in philosophy and thought, the ones that are the true dividers between the species? Is it possible for us to value such time when those who calculate productivity agree that we are busy about nothing?
Have our machines become the standard we set for ourselves? A computer can work endless hours, without vacation, without question. A human mind works best when it understands the goals. Both mind and body are at their peak when relaxation is part of the picture. Do we need to prove ourselves equal to our machines? Humans think. Computers process. Humans create. Computers correlate. Where is the comparison? Which will our society benefit from more?
Busy about nothing.
Equal pay for equal work is a sexy slogan. Women thought that a woman's revolution would change the world. But, being the last to be swallowed by the industrial revolution is hardly an achievement on the grander scale of meaning. Women were only the last to be given the opportunity to give up their claim on themselves in exchange for material goods and insecurity. Human worth is judged, more than ever, by the size of a paycheck which represents a currency which has no value other than that which it assigns to itself. And the revolution has changed the world very little, and women who stay home are still said not to be working. They are "busy about nothing."
Up by six-thirty preparing three different breakfasts, two different lunches. Finding all manner of lost items from crumpled, jelly-stained homework, to the expensive leather briefcase, and the odd sock that makes the other one a pair. Then to chauffeur duties and back to the aerobic workout that housework has become, with, perhaps, time out for an official workout. Chauffeur again, or only wide receiver for the far-flung interests and locations of off-spring. Cook, bottle-washer, diaper-changer, doctor, counselor, seductress. Women who stay home are said not to be working.
They are not paid, these women who stay home. They cannot be fired, though divorce is a possibility by a bored spouse stimulated by the more exciting life of a professional woman who goes to work and sits at a desk and answers phones and does all manner of recognizable things. Recognizable to a man, that is. This is the woman a man will leave home for, give up matching socks, and home cooked meals, and the vanity inspired by children growing up in ones own image, and the comfort of knowing that someone is there, and that someone cares. Where is the logic which is supposed to distinguish modern man?
Busy about nothing.
We live in a society that values action over contemplation and paid activity over anything which is self-directed. We barter our true gifts, our lives and the short time that defines them, for automobiles and hair dryers, video games and CD players. Our deadening eight-hour work day has spread over our lives until even sixteen is not unthinkable. Vacations are time to recover in order to return to work, not times to regenerate our humanity. Weekends are spent preparing for the next work week, catching up on what was neglected during the last work week, or working for our employers. But this is progress, we say, meaning this is where we are now. And who has time to reflect on how it got this way?
In the beginning, which will be defined for my purpose here as sometime around 1969, women demanded a choice. There should be no such thing as "women's work," and the value of work should not depend on titles or pay. In the beginning, as I have defined it, it was still possible to live on next to nothing, to have and express, nay, demand autonomy and freedom simply by stepping back from, outside of the system of work and wages. Subsistence. Dropouts. ...Ah, one name has the air of hope and potential, the other of loss. Women demanded a choice. Instead, we settled for inclusion in a culture of work, a culture which many women had seen as corrupt and corrupting, as no choice at all.
Up by six-thirty preparing three different breakfasts, two different lunches. Finding all manner of lost items from crumpled, jelly-stained homework, to the expensive leather briefcase, and the odd sock that makes the other one a pair. Then to chauffeur duties and to work by eight-thirty. At her desk, shifting through a pile of papers, interacting with a computer or other machine on the machine's terms, on the telephone talking to someone about something which matters only to the job, not to her. Fear that the voice on the phone will be the school, or a child, trouble in either case. Lunch spent shopping for dinner, picking up laundry, not lunch in any sense but time to catch up. Everything, orthodontist, gynecologist, veterinarian, house cleaning, car servicing, sex, everything is subservient to the job. It is the only thing which must be done. Everything else, even the fleeting enthusiasm and disappearing moment of time when a child is six and perfect and in awe of the world, must be put second to this job.
The rent depends on it. The house payment, the orthodontist payment, the car payment. . . The vacation where all you really wanted to do was to sleep, away from telephones, faxes and the labors of the job, but ended up sitting in the sun comparing titles and payments with that man and his wife you met in the hotel lobby who seemed compatible at the time, this, too, must be paid for.
Paid for, the phrase has religious overtones. Atoned, repented, rued, regretted, deplored, all of these describe this transgression from the worship of work. But religion used to stand for the contemplative, before it, too, grew into big business requiring big financing and more contributions of labor than of love.
And a women's revolution would change the world.
Busy about nothing? We could be planning. Who knows?
And the title of my piece? Women are worth only 70% of a man's workplace value, but perhaps we have been looking at this all wrong: We have 30% more left to salvage from this mess.

Georgia Jones, Editor

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At LadybugFlights we have always encouraged the participation of our readers. For that reason we have this space, a place where you can be heard. Nothing as formal as an article or a column... Just some venting, self-expression, or a chance to communicate what you are thinking on almost any topic. Send it to us and we will let you know if we can use it!

Jane Roberts is co-founder of 34 Million Friends and author of 34 Million Friends of the Women of the World. She has recently been involved in spearheading an effort to produce a documentary on the important work of the United Nations Population Fund. Jane recently released news of major progress toward this goal. A brief update and a request for input:

I am delighted to send you the Executive Summary for The Stories Women Tell, a 90-minute feature documentary that Linda Harrar hopes to produce over the next year. The full proposal will be sent in the coming weeks to leading foundations which support women's and girls' health and human rights. We would be very grateful if you would share any thoughts you may have on possible sources of production funding from individuals. Please don't hesitate to contact me or Linda with such ideas or contacts. And also we want the film to give people ideas of what they can actually DO after seeing the film. Send us your thoughts . With this film project we aim to "get the whole world talking" about improving the lives of girls and women and to bring the subject of gender inequality to the world stage. Cordially, Jane Roberts, 34 Million Friends of UNFPA www.34millionfriends.org

The Stories Women Tell
By Linda Harrar, Executive Producer/Director/Writer
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Film Concept: Linda Harrar Productions, LLC proposes a documentary feature film entitled The Stories Women Tell, about the challenges faced by women around the world due to gender inequality. The stories told will focus on how gender inequality limits women's and girls' access to health, particularly reproductive health and family planning, and to education and economic opportunities. The stories in large measure will be related to international commitments to women promised in the Cairo Consensus of 1994 and the Millennium Development Goals.
The film concept grew out of extensive discussions with Dr. Allan Rosenfield, Dean of the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University; grassroots organizer Jane Roberts, co-founder of 34 Million Friends of the United Nations Population Fund, and Dr. Nafis Sadik, former director of UNFPA. The film will be produced for screenings in movie theaters in the United States and around the world, at film festivals, on television, in classrooms, and in small discussion groups. The ultimate aim of The Stories Women Tell is to galvanize a worldwide dialogue about gender inequality and to elicit a demand for change in policy priorities for women and girls. It is our belief that such a change would benefit people, the planet, and chances for peace and stability.
The film will consist of a dozen "story vignettes" six to nine minutes long, each creatively distinct from the others -like a dozen polished gems strung together on a necklace. Taken together, the stories will create a powerful global portrait of the often life-threatening consequences of gender inequality that women face every day-of women who must wait for a husband's permission to go to a hospital to have a baby; of women denied family planning services but then beaten by their husbands for getting pregnant; of women kicked out of their own home for being HIV-positive-an infection brought home by their husbands. On the face of it, such stories may seem disheartening-and they are; but we also find great nobility in the women's spirit of survival, and great hope in the struggles of activists working with them to bring about social justice.
The Stories Women Tell will be produced by a diverse group of creative, award-winning filmmakers. Viewed together in a theater setting, the sum of the stories will be far greater than the parts. Our goal is for the audience to leave the theater, as playwright Bertolt Brecht imagined for his plays, primed for engagement and armed with ideas and the means to become involved in the fight for equality for girls and women. In short, we envision a film that will launch an international discussion of gender equality, motivating activism and change.
Style and Approach: A variety of talented female directors will produce the individual films, each bringing her own personal style to the storytelling. Uniting the vignettes will be the intimacy of the voices, each key character telling her own story from her own village and home. The vignettes will be visually dramatic, with minimal narration and straight-to-camera interview, and accompanied by a lively international music score, which will be available as a separate CD. A celebrity or well-known journalist will serve as host. Between stories the film will offer a set of powerful "water-cooler" facts describing women's challenges in stark, often-surprising terms, e.g.:
In Southern Sudan, a girl is more likely to die in childbirth than to learn how to read.
What kills one woman every minute of every day? Pregnancy and childbirth, which take the lives of nearly 500,000 women each year.
Thirty percent of teen women in the United States become pregnant by age 20.
Two thirds of the illiterate people on the planet today are women.
Two thirds of those living on less than $1 a day are women.
To be true to an often-dark subject, the directors of The Stories Women Tell will not pull punches. But neither will we portray women only as victims: Against a backdrop of seemingly insurmountable odds, our audiences will find inspiration and even humor in the spirited struggles of women who work to bring about social justice and gender equity.
A Sampling of the Stories:

A child bride struggles to give birth safely in Mozambique
American women bear the costs of childcare and unequal pay
A human rights activist fights honor killings and rape in Pakistan
Women gain respect through education and micro-credit in Bangladesh
Teens learn the cost of unwanted pregnancy in Mexico
Commercial sex workers learn how to avoid HIV in Thailand
A young wife gets help to avoid domestic violence in Peru
A mother-to-be fights the bias against girl babies in China
A wife contracts HIV from husband and becomes an activist in Rwanda
An American physician flies over the Western plains to offer safe abortion
The Go-Go Grannies of South Africa step in to raise AIDS orphans
A Kenyan physician saves the lives of women with botched abortions
Promotion, Social Marketing and Impact Campaign: The Stories Women Tell will pioneer its own powerful model of success in terms of publicity, distribution and impact, by planning a campaign that carries in its very DNA the empowerment of women and girls. Working with experts in communications, viral and social marketing, such as the Communications Consortium Media Center, the producers will mobilize girls and women through schools and universities; churches, synagogues, and mosques; civic groups, professional associations, NGOs, sports associations, environmental groups, women's philanthropic groups, medical, nursing and public health institutions.
Television Broadcast: Following the film's release in theaters and a run on the festival circuit, the producers will seek to arrange American broadcast on HBO, Oxygen, PBS and/or Lifetime Cable Networks. An aggressive international distribution plan will ensure that the film is seen widely around the world in principal languages.
Budget Estimate: Our goal is to raise $4 million, approximately two-thirds of which will support production and one-third will support promotion, outreach and evaluation.
Timeline: The Stories Women Tell" project is in pre-production and fundraising during the spring of 2008. Depending upon our fundraising success, we hope to commence production by late summer/early fall 2008. Initial development funding for the film concept has been provided through the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. We will be searching for funding from a combination of multi-lateral, foundation, corporate and private sources. The funding strategy is available upon request.
About the Producer: Linda Harrar is an independent executive producer, director and writer specializing in documentaries on global health and the environment. A staff producer on the NOVA series for a dozen years, Ms. Harrar served as Senior Producer for the landmark 10-part Public Broadcasting series "Race to Save the Planet"; as Senior Content Director of the Emmy-award-winning PBS series "Rx for Survival - A Global Health Challenge"; and as Executive Producer of a two-hour special for NOVA entitled "World in the Balance." In her career, which includes filming in 35 countries, she has worked with hosts and narrators such as Gregory Peck, Meryl Streep, Alfre Woodard, Blythe Danner, Mariel Hemingway, Linda Hunt and Roy Scheider.
Contact:
Linda Harrar, Executive Producer
1300 Soldiers Field Road - Suite 4
Brighton, MA 02135
Tel: 617-787-6332
Fax: 617-787-5545
LDHARRAR@aol.com

Contributions to the film's budget are tax-deductible through
The Filmmakers Collaborative, a 501c3 organization
Bonnie Waltch, Executive Director
397 Moody St.
Waltham, MA 02453
781-647-1102
Bonnie@FilmmakersCollab.org

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