My workshops present exercises for nurturing the creative spirit and tools to jumpstart joyful living. 

I have started running the Book Club at the Sahuarita Library. This month's (Sept. 2011) book: Garden Spells, by Sarah Addison Allen

I write poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. In 1995 I won a Tucson/Pima Arts Council grant for Creative Nonfiction, for portions of my manuscript, Drinking Holy Water. 

In 2000, my chapbook, Blessings, was published. In 2006, New Verse News published my poem(s) Democracy. The below mentioned Verse! published The Grumpy Stomp. In 2008, both The Atomic Cocktail Party & Trivia Book and The Titan Missile Museum Coloring Book were published.

What can I say but that both paradise and apocalypse frame our existence?

I have a video on YouTube called No-Nukes Peacenik Nuclear Blues.

In addition to being a writer and a Certified Laughter Yoga (Hasiya Yoga) Leader (what else could someone who made the Grumpy Stomp do?) I am a non-demoninational minister and a ceremony consultant, which means I can perform ceremonies and/or help you design your own rituals and celebrations for all of life's seasons--birth, death, and in-between.

I've been on the Arizona Artist's Roster, done residencies in elementary, kindergarten, & Pre-school classrooms, and I helped edit the University of Arizona Poetry Center's poetry curriculum for young children, Verse!. I was also the Education Coordinator for the Poetry Center. I also worked in bookstores for many years.

I have also been a  Pima Community College instructor for creative writing classes in Continuing Education, teaching poetry and my seminar Writing The Sacred (TM). 

I have just finished reading the most amazing book!

The Spirit Level: why greater equality makes societies stronger.

The authors propose a welcome vision for the peaceful transformation of society. The first two thirds of the book is a marshaling of facts and figures that show, in their view as health researchers, that wide divisions of material wealth are bad for the rich as well as the poor. They tellingly do not point out (perhaps it's that British reserve) that such wide divisions in human society have generally resulted in bloody revolt (usually very bad for the rich). They vote for gentle revolution instead.

Simplified: greater inequality results in social tension, lack of trust (both interpersonal and towards society as a whole), lower lifespans and levels of wellness both physical and mental for the poor AND the rich, and the breakdown of society; greater equality leads to a firm social fabric, greater interpersonal and impersonal trust, less violence, better health and longevity for all. The societies at the "top" of the world have entered a phase where greater wealth is not providing a better life, or indeed, better opportunities, for all. In fact, such societies have higher rates of physical and mental illness, violence, crime, and suicide.

Capitalism is not democracy. Communism (as practiced by the state) didn't work. What shall we do? The authors acknowledge that the political will to change must come from the grassroots level, from the bottom up, as it were. (As most beneficial changes in societies have.) They also seem to realize that people are not moved to change by rational thought and the thoughtful presentation of facts and figures. They call on Martin Luther's vision of the arc of history leading toward the good, and ask all like-minded people to help further the vision by promoting equality in many different ways.

I am amazed and happy to say that they have a proposal for social change that doesn't rely on violence or plague. It involves rather than a simple (ha!) redistribution of wealth, that governments act proactively to provide incentives for a major shift in business (from corporation to cooperation)--where the ownership of businesses changes from that of anonymous shareholders to that of mutually responsible and accountable employees. They argue that unethical and morally reprehensible acts (carried out by tobacco and oil companies, for example) are easier for people when they are "only following orders" than when they are both making the decisions and carrying out the acts. Also that people are happier and more productive when they perceive that they have more control over their lives.

It's time for our world to move beyond the age of the individual and toward a society that mirrors our innate sense of fairness and goodwill.
Website:http://www.equalitytrust.org.uk