Saturday, feb 6, 2010 Women's Magazines and Cigarette Ads Lung Cancer is the leading cancer killer of women, surpassing breast cancer. Why are magazines like Marie Claire, Bazaar, and many others putting ads for cigarettes in their magazines? It is unbelievable. Are they for us women or against us? Are they so greedy that they will support products that kill women every year? Not to mention second hand smoke, which kills children, husbands, family members. We know that second hand smoke is extremely dangerous. They put advertisments for these health destroying products right next to articles on how to be healthy. They promote cancer cure marathons and pink ribbons while also promoting things that cause cancer! What hypocrisy. Any women's magazine that gets money for promoting tobacco products is equally as guilty as the tobacco companies in causing harm and death. Young girls often look to these magazines to see what is trendy and cool. But these magazines are full of lies. There is NOTHING cool about smoking. It makes you sick. It makes those around you sick. It makes you smell like an ashtray. It turns your teeth yellow. And it can kill you. What is so cool about that? Nothing at all. These magazines value their advertisers more than the lives of their readers. Write to any women's magazine that advertises cigarettes and tell them this must stop. Don't buy their magazines. Let them know this is not ok.

Saturday, jan 30, 2010 "We deserve a country where our elected officials are not bought and paid for by Big Business. But last week's Supreme Court decision in the case Citizens United vs. FEC overturned over a century of precedent and opened the floodgates for unlimited amounts of corporate money to flow into our political system. Shockingly, the court's decision may even allow foreign corporations and large multinationals to manipulate our elections. If we do nothing, this ruling has the potential to undermine the very foundation of our democracy. Sign our petition to President Obama and the Congressional leadership telling them they must enact strong laws to save our democracy from the pernicious influence of corporate money." http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/grayson_democracy/?rc=tw

Friday, jan 29, 2010 Road Trip One of the reasons I like doing this radio show is that not only does it help listeners, but it helps bring me back into a space of possibilities when life feels like a metal wall pressing in on me from all sides. I lose my grip, my strength, my stamina, and then find it again, over and over. Doing this radio show helps me tap into a space where there is an out there, and it is bigger than me and me alone. I am reminded that we are not in control of everything. We can do our visualizations, our affirmations, focus on what we would like to have happen, but then we must somehow have patience and be in a space of love no matter what is happening. Not even death can separate us from that love. It is hard to be at peace when things are not going our way. There is a challenge in every situation, whether it feels incredibly good or bad, and that is that there is no true peace in circumstances alone. So we must find within ourselves something that is the same regardless of circumstance. Today my challenge is to let go of my demands upon life that it should or shouldn't give me this or that.

Friday, jan 29, 2010 Dairy Where does your dairy come from? http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=967199

Tuesday, jan 19, 2010 Are Americans obsessed with happiness? I remember once hearing a leader in the self help world talk, and he was saying he is happy every day and has a multi million dollar home, a gorgeous wife, best selling books and luxury cars. Life was perfect for him at every moment, the way he made it sound. God Bless Him, but I remember thinking to myself, either the guy is in denial or he's just not that deep! Life is not about feeling happy every single moment of every day. We all have times of grief and sadness. We all have challenges, conflicts with others and ourselves. And yet all of these things can be part of a happy life. To me, happiness is a feeling, and yet it is also much more than a feeling. It transcends the temporary nature of fleeting feelings. I am sure that like me, you have been closely following what is happening in Haiti. I have always had a special place in my heart for the people of this country. When I was 15 I had the chance to travel there and sing in some churches. This is a picture I took of one of the homes in Port Au Prince. To most of us, living in a home like this would not give us a feeling of happiness. The floor is dirty and uncomfortable. Rain obviously leaks in. There are bugs, and it is sticky and humid. Yet there are people there right now, who would feel happy to have this home. Is happiness all a perspective? How is it that so many of us here have so much, and yet feel unhappy? Many people in Haiti have no access to clean running water or healthy food. And here in America we endlessly obsess about how to avoid eating too much. Are most of us overjoyed on a daily basis that we have so much food to eat and so many choices? Or do we take it for granted and instead focus on all the things we want that we don't have? I remember a woman carrying a huge basket on her head- a weight so heavy I could not have lifted it much less carried it on my head for miles. I remember a tiny box of cereal costing more than the average weekly wage in Haiti. I remember raw open sewage in Port Au Prince, starving animals wandering around on the dirt ground right next to grains that women sifted through while naked children begged for money. I remember eating some corn flakes but not finishing them when I thought they were too soggy, only to see a guy eating them out of the trash a few hours later. Life is HARD in Haiti. Have you ever been through an accident or illness that was so painful, that once you got through it, just being free of it filled you with a sense of incredible happiness and gratitude? Isn't it amazing how happy we are when we get something back that we lost? Before we lost it, we didn't even think about it. I have a friend who right now cannot even walk down a flight of stairs due to her long battle with M.E. For her, happiness would be feeling good again. Walking. Being able to go outside, have conversations with people. Just those simple things. It is very hard to feel happy when you feel that sick! Yet how many people who enjoy good health each day, don't think about what they have? As the saying goes, "If you haven't got all the things you want, be grateful for the things you don't have that you don't want." That quote has helped me a few times when I've felt down. My guest this week is Dan Baker Ph.D. His book is BRILLIANT. He shares true stories about how people have healed through grief and sadness, and how people have healed everything from anorexia to depression. And it's not in the ways we are use to hearing! He shares common happiness traps and what he has learned from counseling some of the wealthiest Americans. He turns traditional psychology upside down on its head and kicks it out the door. There are no cliches here. I can't recommend this enough. Fantastic book- "What Happy People Know" To hear more, listen in on my conversation with Dan Baker: http://www.zentertainment.org/podcasts.html Or purchase the book at : http://www.amazon.com/What-Happy-People-Know-Happiness/dp/1579546021 Peace, Jo "There are risks and costs to a program of action, but they are far less than the long-range risks and costs of comfortable inaction" John Fitzgerald Kennedy "Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all." Dale Carnegie "Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing. " Mother Teresa

Friday, jan 15, 2010 South Street Seaport & The Brooklyn Bridge © Jo Davidson

Friday, jan 15, 2010 Brooklyn Bridge © Jo Davidson

Friday, jan 15, 2010 Brooklyn Bridge/ South Street Seaport/ © Jo Davidson This is another shot I took yesterday-

Thursday, jan 14, 2010 The Diagnosis Many Doctors Miss! It is hard to understand why more doctors do not treat and know about systemic candida infections. They do not even check for it many times. Do you have issues with extreme fatigue, re-occuring sinus infections, intense headaches, short term memory loss, feeling spaced out, craving sugar, hypoglycemia, lymphatic swelling, blurred vision, joint pains, insomnia, sensitivity to humidity and to chemicals? Do you have trouble swallowing, difficulty breathing, tingling and numbness in your arms or legs? These are only a few of the many symptoms of candida. They can also be symptoms of other things, so get checked out! Awhile ago I had Ann Boroch on my radio show. She was diagnosed with MS and through an intense anti candida program for several years, she totally regained her health. http://www.annboroch.com/about.php There is another website that has some great information on natural supplements to help fight candida along with diet recommendations: http://www.thinforlife.info/sugar_cravings.html One of the products I really like is Young Living Oil of Oregano. Because what I have dealt with for several years is a neurotoxin related illness, with mold and lyme being involved. I focus on any herbs and plant oils that are anti viral, anti bacterial and anti fungal. Young living oregano oil is powerful. I put 4 drops in a capsule each day and take it with water. I also diffuse Young Living Thieves oil. Some days I also put it in capsules and might take up to 8 drops. My cat has a bladder infection right now. Yesterday she was not moving at all. Within 15 minutes of diffusing thieves oil, she got up and walked across the room and back! Some cats do NOT tolerate thieves oil at ALL, so be cautious and watch your animals. If they do have a reaction, give them some organic milk and turn off the diffuser. These two products- Young Living Oregano, and Young living Thieves oil, have made a big difference in whether I can move or not. More than anything I have ever done, they have helped the most. I should also add, that at times, vibrational remedies also helped quite a bit. Want to know more? Email me- Jodavidson@mac.com

Tuesday, jan 12, 2010 Are the lies finally starting to come to light? Last spring- in May, I created a podcast episode on the swine flu media frenzy. http://www.zentertainment.org/podcasts/zentertainment54.mp3 Every year people die from various flu strains. It is a tragedy and what I am about to say in no way minimizes that. When the swine flu information first started coming out and then quickly turned into a fear frenzy followed by demands for vaccinations, it was obvious to me that everything was wrong with that picture. Nothing felt right about it to me or added up. I couldn't believe the way the media was getting behind big pharma to make them billions of dollars. And I couldn't believe how many people were falling for it. It seemed to me to be a mass experiment on whether the public could be persuaded on any subject if the information was pumped hourly through every tv network and talk show. Even 60 Minutes totally failed to blow the whistle or ask the hard questions. And the ladies on "The View" sounded like they were part of a paid commercial for the vaccine. This overload of false information scared me far more than the flu. What else could the public be persuaded on if it was so easy to convince many Americans they needed this vaccine? An article from The Examiner says, "Flu experts have always agreed that the nature of the influenza virus has made it nearly impossible to develop an effective vaccine. The flu virus, unlike the Small Pox virus, is constantly shifting, constantly mutating. If this were not so, there would be a vaccine with small samples of all known flu viruses, and the flu would be eradicated." Finally more evidence is coming out to support what many of us have believed all along. There is mounting evidence to show that this frenzy was a hoax. Who won? The pharmaceutical companies. http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-29511-Colorado-Springs-Christian-Spirituality-Examiner~y2010m1d11-H1N1-vaccine-hoax-mounting-evidence http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,582749,00.html?loomia_ow=t0:s0:a16:g4:r4:c0.000000:b29747424:z10

Saturday, jan 9, 2010 Surrender Surrender For me, to surrender does not mean to give up, it means to bend gently in the storm. It is to keep focusing on what I am grateful for and what I want to co-create with God, while also accepting what is, right now. It is holding a bigger vision of knowing that what the ego might want is different from what the soul might desire. There are some fights that can snap me like a broken tree branch. Surrendering is bending. It is being open to a bigger vision, a bigger purpose than the few small pieces of the puzzle that I see in front of me. Surrendering means making my plans, working hard towards my goals, and then letting go. It is not a form of defeat or an action of giving up. When I surrender to my self pity and my frustration over how some challenge has changed my life, then I start to sink. It's normal to stop there and visit those feelings, they are so real, but if I stay for breakfast, lunch and dinner day after day, I won't make it. To surrender and have it be a positive thing, is to become grateful for what I have. More than that, it is to take life's hardships and through them become softer instead of harder. To know that in time this soft nature will wear down even the hardest rock, just as it happens in the sea. And every time I focus on what is right, what is beautiful, and what is working, I am creating a better future by learning to create a better now. This does not mean I am without tears, frustrations, and struggles. It's that I feel these things over and over perhaps, but keep coming back to something beyond my understanding. To the awareness that I am part of something greater that is happening. I truly only tap into this through meditation. The tricky thing, is that sometimes we do need to fight for what we want. Hard. Surrendering does NOT mean giving in to any voice that tries to tell us we're out of the game. It just might mean creating a new game. Outgrowing the old ballpark, the old rules. It is is a dance between acceptance of what is and the determination to create something new. We each must find out way through our own song. These are some thoughts i had a few minutes ago as I was feeling and thinking about some of my own life challenges. © Jo Davidson http://www.Zentertainment.org

Thursday, jan 7, 2010 This email is posted compliments of www.andreacandee.com.. Did You Know…that comfrey root helps osteoarthritis of the knee, sprained ankles, lower back pain, and more? I’ve used comfrey ointment for many years for healing wounds, abrasions, dry skin. It's been used for centuries in Chinese medicine to treat wounds and reduce arthritis pain. A Native American herb, comfrey is well known for its abilities to heal bones and connective tissue as well. The problem is that while perfectly safe in combination with other herbs, comfrey is not meant to be used in large amounts internally, due to potential for liver damage. Now I’m going to do something you don’t usually find me doing...supporting a pharmaceutical company’s product. Merck makes a non-pharmaceutical ointment called Kytta-Salbe (German for comfrey salve), a comfrey root ointment for EXTERNAL/TOPICAL application. Wonder why it isn’t marketed in the US? Because doctors in Germany recommend the product and here in the US...well, you know they don’t because it probably isn’t even marketed to them. In a recent study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, German researchers tested the effectiveness of Kytta-Salbe in treating lower back pain. 120 patients with acute upper or lower back pain were divided into two groups, one of which was treated with a daily placebo ointment while the other group was treated with four grams of Kytta-Salbe daily. Treatment period lasted only five days Results showed that pain intensity decreased about 95% on average in the Kytta-Salbe group Pain intensity decreased less than 38% in the placebo group For some subjects the treatment worked very quickly, reducing pain within one hour! Another German study tested Kytta-Salbe in a trial with 220 subjects all suffering from chronic osteoarthritis of the knee. As in the back pain trial, the ointment reduced pain and restored mobility significantly better than placebo. Kytta-Salbe may not be readily found in pharmacies and health food stores in the U.S., but it can be ordered from Amazon.com! In fact, two customer reviews on Amazon note that the ointment relieved pain associated with a sprained ankle and tennis elbow. There are other comfrey ointments out there. I have always used Dr Christopher’s Comfrey Ointment. For deeper tissue healing, I’ve recommended Dr Christopher’s Bone, Flesh and Cartilage (BF&C) ointment, containing comfrey and other healing herbs. In combination with Dr Christopher’s Deep Heating Ointment (containing cayenne), the BF&C Ointment penetrates even deeper into the tissue. I have had clients who swear by it to get through their golf or tennis games. But if you want to use the same comfrey root product that the German studies used, try the Kytta-Salbe. If you'd like to see a funny You Tube video for Kytta-Salbe, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGJvg23HeRI. You'll see it in German in which an American Indian on a mountaintop makes a pitch for Kytta-Salbe, and what do you know...the American Indian speaks fluent German! Please think about who you know that would benefit from this valuable information and share it with them. It's a blessing to be able to help one another. Until next time…stay healthy, think peace, be love and see love in everyone! Andrea Candee Andrea Candee is a master herbalist and holistic health counselor with a consultation practice in Westchester County, New York, and is well known for her unique and successful approach to reversing chronic Lyme Disease. She does Meridian Health Assessments, computerized electro-dermal screenings, for taking a pro-active approach to preventative health. Visit www.andreacandee.com to learn about the workshops she is scheduled to give and can bring to your area, and about her award-winning book, Gentle Healing for Baby and Child…A Parent’s Guide (Simon & Schuster)…although written for parents, grandparents and caregivers, everything in the book can be used by adults as well! Andrea has also written “How Do I Get My Family Through the Winter~Should I Take the Flu Vaccine~Herbs, Recipes and Guidance for Winter Wellness”, “The Cell Phone Dilemma...options for protection in an unseen world”, and “Sparkling Home~Healthy Planet~Clean Green.”

Thursday, dec 17, 2009 Winter Tree

Tuesday, dec 8, 2009 Merry Christmas & Happy New York I hope you are enjoying this holiday season. I love this time of year. I wanted to let you know that my holiday CD is available now! It is called "Merry Christmas & Happy New York." It is a collection of very meditative holiday classics which I recorded on my 1929 Steinway Grand. It is perfect for intimate dinner parties, relaxation, meditation/prayer and massage. I have even been told it helps babies sleep. It is a great gift for everyone! I just got a new shipment in, so order your copy now to get it in time for the holidays! http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/davidson3 Here are some of the things people have said about Merry Christmas & Happy New York..... So absolutely beautiful, mesmerizing, enchanting and spirited that I bought a few for familiy and friends. You will never tire of this one. Andy "IN A CROWDED MARKET OF CHRISTMAS ALBUMS,THIS IS ONE OF THE MOST ENTICING COLLECTIONS I'VE HEARD IN YEARS...LOVELY AND WARMLY NOSTALGIC" -Dan "A CHRISTMAS CARD ADDRESSED BOTH TO AND FROM THE CITY WE WILL NEVER LOOK AT IN THE SAME WAY AGAIN." -Christmasreviews.com This collection is so perfectly balanced between peaceful and festive, I listen to it non-stop at Christmas time, and all year long as well. It is peaceful, soothing, mesmerizing, haunting, spirited and most of all "genius." -Christina Soothing and mezmerizing! Christmas shouldn't be without this CD!! -Kevin This CD is so beautiful. I ordered 5, but I'm thinking that is not enough! -DeAnna This CD is my new favorite, not only to listen to during the holidays but anytime that I want to hear beautiful piano music. This is a keeper! Teresa How many hackneyed renditions of the Christmas standards can you own?? If you feel you've tried the best, try again and buy this (I got three but will be re-ordering more)--it's the songs you know so well, but presented in an intimate, haunting and can't-get-enough manner. A true gift of the season! Liv http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/davidson3 (You can also link to it from my store page here at Zentertainment) ******************************************************************************************* Whether you live in NYC or are visiting for the holidays, you'll find a million fun things to do during this holiday season. This barely skims the surface, but these are a few things on my radar! The Radio City Christmas Spectacular with the Rockettes http://www.radiocity.com/ The Nutcracker Ballet http://www.lincolncenter.org/ The New York Pops http://www.newyorkpops.org/html/concerts.html Holiday Window Displays at Barneys New York 660 Madison Avenue (at 61st Street) Bergdorf Goodman Basics 754 Fifth Avenue (at 58th Street) Bloomingdales Basics 1000 Third Avenue at 59th Street Saks Fifth Avenue Basics 611 Fifth Avenue (at 49th Street) Lord & Taylor Basics 39th Street at 5th Avenue Macy's Basics Herald Square, Broadway between 34th and 35th Streets Check out these fun outdoor markets for special gifts: Holiday Shopping in Union Square Location: Union Square @ West 14TH Street The Holiday Shops at Bryant Park http://www.TheHolidayShopsatBryantPark.com/index.php Columbus Circle Holiday Market Columbus Circle, Central Park (59th Street and 8th Avenue) 8th Annual Holiday Train Show at Grand Central Station Annex and Holiday Kaleidoscope Light Show at Grand Central Terminal www.mta.info/museum The show runs every half hour on the hour from 11am - 9pm http://grandcentralterminal.com/ Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree and Top of The Rock 30 Rockefeller Plaza Great views from the 70th Floor Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree http://www.rockefellercenter.com/home.html Holiday Train Show at the New York Botanical Garden www.nybg.org Ice Skating in Battery Park City http://www.batteryparkcityice.com Ice Skating at Rockefeller Center Ice Skating at the pond in Bryant Park Ice Skating at Wollman Rink in Central Park There will be two performances of Handel's "Messiah" on Dec. 13 and Dec. 14 at Trinity Church in NYC http://www.trinitywallstreet.org/music/choir/schedule A Christmas Carol Manuscript on View at The Morgan http://www.themorgan.org/exhibitions/dickens.asp Lincoln Center Holiday Events http://www.lincolncenter.org/ The Cathedral Church of St John the Divine, A Cathedral Christmas Concert http://www.stjohndivine.org/ New York Revels- Winter Solstice Celebration http://www.nyrevels.org/ Dance Events at the Joyce Theater http://www.joyce.org/performancestickets/calendar_joyce.php The Big Apple Chorus at the South Street Seaport http://www.southstreetseaport.com/html/index.asp Annual exhibit of Robert Frost Christmas cards at Poets House www.poetshouse.org Bargemusic Concerts at Fulton Ferry Landing www.bargemusic.org One of my favorite things to do is to just take a walk along the Battery Park City Esplanade as well as take pictures from the Robert Wagner Park in Battery Park http://www.thebattery.org/ Check out the Giant Snowflake at the intersection of 57th and Fifth Ave Annual Christmas Tree and Neapolitan Baroque Creche Metropolitan Museum of Art http://www.metmuseum.org/ NYSE Christmas Tree Music and tree lighting in front of NY Stock Exchange at 3PM Dec 10 New York Stock Exchange 11 Wall Street, Manhattan at the corner of New Street The tree is on Broad Street between Wall Street and Exchange Place Happy Holidays! http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/davidson3 http://www.Zentertainment.org

Thursday, nov 19, 2009 Cherokee Wisdom Two Wolves - Cherokee Wisdom . One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people. He said, "My son, the battle is between two wolves inside us all. One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego. The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith." The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: "Which wolf wins?" The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed."

Thursday, nov 12, 2009 SILK brand Soy Milk no longer organic Hey All I just wanted to let you know that SILK Soy Milk is no longer organic, even though the company who owns SILK, "Dean's" has tried to pass it as organic. They quietly re labeled the cartons to read "Natural" when in fact they are using conventional soybeans (Which are usually sprayed with chemicals). The disturbing part of this is that they tried to do it quietly, without letting people know about it, while still charging the same price and using the same bar code. Food Company Pulls Bait and Switch On Organic Milk http://www.naturalnews.com/027450_food_foods_Dean.html

Wednesday, nov 11, 2009 I definately need strength and patience in this moment! If you would know strength and patience, welcome the company of trees. ~Hal Borland

Monday, nov 2, 2009 Swine Flu propaganda This old 60 Minutes documentary only aired once on the Swine Flu Propaganda. PLEASE watch this. Is history repeating itself? http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x9mh9f_swine-flu-1976-propaganda_webcam

Saturday, oct 31, 2009 Happy Halloween Happy Halloween! Since I am not eating sugar right now, I guess I will have to stick to the healthier treats. I actually tried baked apples recently. Just peel the bottom of an apple enough so it sits in a pan, core the apple, and filled it with raisins, nuts, cinnamon, and bake it for about 40 minutes. YUM! I took a walk and watched the Doggy parade earlier. It was so funny. All these little dogs were dressed up and paraded along the esplanade. One was a hot dog! He had buns on the side of him and a yellow cushion on top that was suppose to be the mustard. Poor little guy! hahaha This one was dressed as a bat.

Saturday, oct 31, 2009 Fear The problem with fear is that when I choose to fall into its trap, I lose sight of the truth. I am starting to see that rather than focusing on the events I think need to change, it is my relationship to fear that needs to change. Because there is always another fear behind the one I think I've gotten rid of. -Jo

Friday, oct 30, 2009 Anxious Thoughts Well I seem to be going through another layer of very intense lyme detox. Lyme hides out. It can be such an insidious illness. So it is from this physical place that I am working on how I feel and see. This is boot camp! How easy it is to feel good when I FEEL GOOD. Then life is a piece of cake in comparison to this. This feels like eating dirt and trying to say, oh my, how delicious! Maybe you are reading this and have a health challenge you are going through. Sometimes the big challenge on top of coping with symptoms, becomes how to handle fear. Fears such as, will this ever end, will I ever feel well again, how can I cure this or is there a cure, will I ever be able to live a normal active life again and feel good physically, how can I create meaning in my life when I am this ill, is what is happening a healing crisis or has something harmed me, and on and on it goes. I find it very tough to feel great emotionally when I feel bad physically. I think that is a normal reaction. Ask anyone who has the flu if they feel fantastic, and you are not likely to hear the answer YES. So what do you do when something like this lasts for years? Most people cannot relate to such a thing, and yet many of those same people have no problem dishing out advice. I love philosophy, but even the best sounding theories don't always apply in every situation. I would rather experience my philosophy than recite it. Every once in awhile, I find ideas that resonate with me not just in words, but in how I can live those words. Guy's book "The Essential Laws of Fearless Living" has some seriously great "must underline dog ear this page" moments! "Rather than look to anxious thoughts to help us through some fearful situation, we can see that anxiety SERVES fear, so how can it free us from it? The light of this new awareness empowers us to let go of both of these imposters." -Guy Finley Check this out- http://www.zentertainment.org/podcasts/zentertainment61.mp3

Friday, oct 16, 2009 Go towards what makes you feel alive, and dare to live outside the box of limitations. Do not let shame or fear lead you or direct your path. Do what you fear, be brave, and explore your truth. Wear it, be it. Accept who you are. LOVE who you are. -Jo

Thursday, oct 15, 2009 Young Living Thieves Oil Products Several people have asked me about what I am using right now to support health. I have been getting some GREAT results from various Young Living essential oils, and I would like to share some products I personally love. They have made a huge difference for me. These therapeutic grade oils support immune function, and they are anti viral, anti fungal and anti bacterial. Very powerful! I love the Thieves Oil, the soaps, handwipes, cleaners, and essential oils. Feel free to email me with any questions you have. You can order any of these through me, see my sign in information below. I am taking the following: http://www.youngliving.com/essential-oils/Oregano (1 drop each evening in a capsule) http://www.youngliving.com/thieves-essential-oil/Thieves-Oil (3 drops per day in a capsule) http://www.youngliving.com/essential-oils/Frankincense (2 drops per day in a capsule) http://www.youngliving.com/accessories/Vegetable-Capsules http://www.youngliving.com/natural-hand-care/Thieves-Hand-Soap (daily) http://www.youngliving.com/natural-hand-care/Thieves-Hand-Purifier (daily) http://www.youngliving.com/natural-cleaner/Thieves-Cleaner (I use this on shower curtains, floors and windows) http://www.youngliving.com/natural-cleaner/Thieves-Spray (great to spray on door knobs, and etc) http://www.youngliving.com/natural-household-cleaners/Thieves-Wipes (I use these when I am out and about to prevent the spread of germs) Also, each morning I rub two oils all over my feet. First I rub Immupower: http://www.youngliving.com/essential-oil-blends/Immupower Then a minute later I rub all over my feet with Valor http://www.youngliving.com/essential-oil-blends/Valor 2 times per day I take an ounce of Ningia Red http://www.youngliving.com/goji-juice/Ningxia-Red If you would like to order any of these great products, go to: https://www.youngliving.com/signup/custType.faces Click on Customer and then enter my # which is 1096238 Questions? email me at Jodavidson@mac.com These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Consult your health care professional about any serious disease or injury. Do not attempt to self-diagnose or prescribe any natural substances such as essential oils for serious health conditions that require professional attention.

Wednesday, oct 14, 2009 My Box of Crayons My computer tech was over yesterday setting some stuff up for me. Somehow he also accessed very old email files from as far back as 1999. I started browsing through some of them. Some made me cry. Others made me laugh. Relationships have come and gone, so many circumstances have changed and shifted. Some emails made me feel such nostalgia I could barely handle it. I found tons and tons of emails over the years from my friend Greg who recently died. I miss him so much, and it really hurts inside. I really want to talk to him right now. I also found many emails about the life I was living at that time, and it made me reflect on how things have changed. It is hard to believe I was touring and recording and playing so many shows! I remember when I first started getting extreme back pain and pain in my left arm so bad I could not lift anything. I remember being very disoriented and how the fatigue issues got very serious. I tried so hard to work it out emotionally. I was looking into John Sarno's books and others. Little did I know that I had just gotten lyme disease. How that changed my life. I can hardly believe all the stuff I have been through because of it. Sometimes it is a good thing to look back for a minute and peek into the past. And sometimes, if you keep your head turned in that direction for too long, you'll crash your car. So I looked back for a little while. Now it is time to be here, now, and also look forward. One thing I do know, is that if there has been any benefit from all the trials I have been through, it is that they have made me stronger, have made me grow and stretch and bend in ways I never thought would be possible. I might have started out with 64 colors in my crayon box. Now I have about a thousand.

Tuesday, oct 13, 2009 My new favorite bookstore Today I discovered an absolutely gorgeous little indie book store. They specialize in travel guidebooks and international literature. Everything is categorized by its geographical location rather than author. They have some great fiction novels with stories based in NYC as well as Paris,( two of my favorite places), and much more. The space is stunning with beautiful light, architecture and hardwood floors. The owner was friendly, and he offers personalized service to match customers with books. Idlewood is one of my new favorite spots. It has character and charm and is a true gem in the city! Idlewild Books www.idlewildbooks.com 12 W 19th St New York, NY 10011 (212) 414-8888

Saturday, oct 3, 2009 Autumn at the NJ Shore I took this picture last weekend before I came back to the city!

Tuesday, sep 29, 2009 The passing of my friend Greg Ladanyi Hey All It is with so much sadness that I tell you a very dear friend of mine, Greg Ladanyi, passed away early this morning. He was touring with an artist he was producing overseas, and had a freak accident where he fell, went into a coma from the head injuries, and died. This is a shocking, unexpected senseless death. I am shaken to the core right now. I have been doubled over with grief and tears. His passing is so unexpected and sudden, and it is hitting me hard. Many of you remember my first record "Kiss Me There." I consider that record to be Greg's as much as my own. Even though I wrote and performed all the songs, he engineered and co-produced the whole thing with me. It was a real act of love, and it was truly a homegrown project. He came over to my home studio every single day for many months. Then after signing my record deal, he worked with me to bring in string arranger David Campbell and we added some more things to the CD to make it even better. We had lots of laughs and spent so many months together. It was a special time. Greg has been a huge important part of my creative life and world, and he has always been a friend to me. He always believed in me and supported me. He was generous with his time and talents. I knew I could call him anytime and he would be there, and I knew that if I needed anything he would try to help me. I feel a huge loss, a huge emptiness inside. I feel that even listening to the music from my first CD is hard, because he is as much a part of it as I am. I was so hoping to see him in the next few months. Two days ago was one of the best health days I have had in quite a long time, and I was hoping to tell him. I knew he would be happy to hear I was singing again. What a senseless accident this was, and how sudden. I really feel in quite a shock from it. I miss him so much. If you would like to read more about him click here: http://www.prosoundnews.com/article/24448 Greg was an amazing talented producer an engineer. Ih his career he worked with Fleetwood Mac, Don Henley, Jackson Browne, Toto and so many others. This is a very hard time. I miss him sooooooooo much..... Jo

Wednesday, sep 16, 2009 Re-focusing "You do yourself and others a disservice when you believe that you live in a broken world and that others are broken. You cannot focus on the weaknesses of yourself or somebody else and expect or encourage any kind of strength or power. Focus on what is working, what is right. Focus on strengths. Focus on what makes you feel good when you focus on it. When you do that, your entire life and those of the people around you will turn in the direction of those thoughts, shifting from negative to positive like a tide." -Robert Mack, author of "Happiness from the Inside Out." (You can hear my show with Robert on episode #58)!

Thursday, sep 3, 2009 Believe Note to Self from Self: It is easy to believe in possibilities when you see them all around you. It is courageous to believe in them when you do not. It takes courage to day after day face the unknown, in the midst of a great storm to know that hopelessness is merely an illusion. What seems like a dead end now could be the door you needed to go through in order to discover a new world. Believe. -Jo

Saturday, aug 29, 2009 Me and my Piano Check out my new "Video" on You Tube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGnpsjXNDMs&feature=email

Tuesday, aug 25, 2009 Upcoming guests! This morning I tried some new samples from a natural skin care line called MyChelle. My skin is glowing right now! I can't believe how good it feels. I used the fruit enzyme cleanser and scrub, and the Perfect C Serum. These products are are paraben-free, non-toxic, 100% natural, eco-friendly, and cruelty-free. I'll take that any day! http://www.mychelle.com/about-us.aspx

Friday, aug 21, 2009 The Story of Food Have you ever walked through your grocery store and wondered where the food comes from? If you are like me, you probably grew up assuming that the food in your grocery store was safe. Even if not great for you, maybe you always thought hey, it can't be THAT bad if it is legally sold to the public. All the packaging labels at the grocery store feature warm fuzzy images of red barns, rows of corn, chickens freely running around, cows in the pasture, and clean laundry drying on the clothes line. Too bad the truth is far from this picture. Last weekend Tommy and I walked over to this cool new indie mom and pop theater in Asbury Park called "The Showroom." What a great little place to see a movie! http://www.theshowroomap.com/ We saw a movie I have been wanting to see for a while called "FOOD, INC." This movie changed our lives. It was one of the most inspiring, informative eye opening films I have ever seen. "In Food, Inc., filmmaker Robert Kenner lifts the veil on our nation's food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that has been hidden from the American consumer with the consent of our government's regulatory agencies, USDA and FDA. Our nation's food supply is now controlled by a handful of corporations that often put profit ahead of consumer health, the livelihood of the American farmer, the safety of workers and our own environment. We have bigger-breasted chickens, the perfect pork chop, herbicide-resistant soybean seeds, even tomatoes that won't go bad, but we also have new strains of E. coli—the harmful bacteria that causes illness for an estimated 73,000 Americans annually. We are riddled with widespread obesity, particularly among children, and an epidemic level of diabetes among adults." Isn't it interesting that more people are getting sick from E Coli than from swine flu, and yet what are we hearing about in our media? Swine flu. Why is this so? That is food for thought. FOOD INC traces where our food comes and explains how we are purposely being kept in the dark by the food industry. Hidden cameras and investigative journalism along with a great deal of talent and courage were behind the making of this amazing film! The hope of the film is to educate us so we are no longer in the dark. And while seeing the truth of what is happening can feel very discouraging, we are not powerless. We are actually EXTREMELY powerful. Corporations cannot sell products if we do not buy them. We place our vote three times a day. What I realized watching this movie was that every time I buy a food product, or eat it at a restaurant, I am planting a seed. What seed am I planting? Am I supporting health or disease, freedom or slavery, consciousness or greed? One of the scenes we saw in FOOD, INC. showed chickens falling over unable to walk. Why? They were being pumped with antibiotics and things to make them bigger so their breasts (white meat) would be bigger, therefore making companies more money. They were kept in dark large chicken "houses" where many died. Also highlighted was the ongoing cross contamination of the deadly bacteria E. coli 0157:H7 within most of the cramped and unsanitary beef cattle feedlots. They images were disgusting and far from the ones we see on food labels. The cows by the thousands were shown standing in their own manure, and being fed an unnatural diet of corn rather than grass. Ammonia was washing the meat to make it "safe." One scene from hidden cameras showed a sick and very alive cow being dragged by a trailer across ground. We need to wake up! Equally disturbing was the lack of respect given the to the meat industry workforce (many of whom are illegal aliens). We also saw hope. I love hope! It was very inspiring to see organic farmers making a huge difference. They continue to work the land, raise animals in humane ways, crops without chemicals, and commit themselves to organic standards. They need our support! I would love to see our government rewarding them. I would like to see the day when fresh produce is cheaper than soda. This is where true health care reform takes place. It is with what is on our plates. One farmer said that people complained to him about the cost of $3 for a carton of organic eggs, yet they were holding a 75 cent can of soda in their hands. It all comes down to choices. When more and more of us support organic farmers and say no to brutal factory farm practices and products, then organic products will become more affordable for everyone and will become the norm again. How great would that be? Depraved behavior can only flourish when we choose to look away. When we bring our light to the darkness, we can heal and transform it. I found a website where you can type in your area, and find out where you can purchase sustainable organic food: http://www.eatwellguide.org/i.php?pd=Home Please take a minute to find out more about this life changing film and view the great trailer at http://www.foodincmovie.com/ This movie is life changing!

Wednesday, aug 19, 2009 Brain Health and You I stumbled on an amazing show on PBS tonite on the subject of hormones and brain health, with Dr Daniel Amen Did anyone else see it? 50 Brain dos and brain don'ts http://www.amenclinics.com/my-brain-health/brain-health-club/50-brain-dos-and-brain-donts/ Supplements to improve memory http://www.amenclinics.com/my-brain-health/test-your-brain/memory-screen-test/supplements-that-may-be-helpful-to-enhance-memory/ Interesting brain scans on PMS http://www.amenclinics.com/brain-science/spect-image-gallery/spect-atlas/images-of-pms/ "SPECT scan looks at blood flow and activity patterns and is different than CAT scans and MRIs. CAT scans and MRIs show what the brain actually physically looks like, SPECT looks at how the brain functions. " There were some key things I wrote down from the show - I scribbled a few notes down- 1. A healthier brain = a sexier you Healthy Diet wild salmon, avocado, blueberries etc Bad habits for the brain- too much alcohol, poor sleep, (For some people even a few glasses of wine a day is not good) 2. It's all about blood flow Your blood gets 25% of the blood flow in your body Whatever is good for your heart is good for your brain is good for your genitals Anything that decreases blood flow damages your brain and your ability to make love To be a great lover you have to protect your blood flow- eliminate smoking, too much caffeine 3. Know your partner's brain Some of us love novelty and some have too much activity in the front of the brain and hate a good argument and hate novelty in the bedroom If your partner has an anxious brain, she needs reassurance, a warm bath and a foot rub in order to relax Different brains need different strategies Sometimes in her cycle a woman wants you to be assertive and just take her, other times she will hit you upside the head if you try this 4. Boost the chemicals of love Many chemicals go into the feeling of love and attachment Oxytocin is the bonding, trust and cuddle hormone It is enhanced by watching romantic movies, long loving eye contact, A man's level goes up 500% after making love Withholding sex or being too busy to make love pushes couples apart Work to stay close, it is good for you as couples He mentioned a hormone, I cannot remember what it was- He said it works deep in the brain that something fun is about to happen Dark Chocolate and almonds and cheese also contain this (Cheese contains more than chocolate) no wonder French restaurants serve cheese as dessert I like dark chocolate Focus on what you love most about your partner Where you focus your attention will determine how you feel If you focus on the things that bother you about him or her, you will feel less loving Make a list of 7 things you are grateful for about your partner and meditate on one of them per day 5. Embed yourself in your partner's brain in a loving way Cards, flowers, foot rubs, exciting experiences, etc We love people because of the memories we have about them and we hate people for the same reason Find ways to take your partner's breath away Plant thoughtfulness in your partner's brain Do small things on a regular basis and always be on the lookout for ways to take your partner's breath away If you do something special for someone your wife loves you will be a hero to her for a long time to come 6. Get rid of the little ants! One of the worst things you can do is to believe every stupid thought that comes into your head. Your thoughts lie and lie a lot. It is these negative automatic thoughts that ruin your day and your relationship. They can totally mess up your love life. Negative thoughts make you more vulnerable to negative thoughts and depression. Learn how to be extremely honest with yourself and stop the lies in your head that are stealing your happiness. When you feel angry, irritated or disappointed with someone you care about, write out the automatic thoughts going through your brain. Ask yourself if the thoughts are really true. It is the little lies that we tell ourselves that spoil intimacy and create distance. Cleaning up your thinking helps your brain and those you love 7. He said the single most important thing he has learned about relationships from looking at over 50,000 brain scans- There are many reasons people behave badly. Simple answers are not sufficient. Brain injury affects behaviour. When you look at behaviour through the lens of brain heath, we see a knew way of understanding health and forgiveness. The price we pay and our loved ones pay for undetected brain problems is very high. When a relationship is in trouble, think about the brain. With help, many families can stay together in a loving way. Taking care of your brain health and the brain health of those you love is important! When you balance your brain you improve everything in your life ---------

Tuesday, aug 18, 2009 Sunrise “The grand show is eternal. It is always sunrise somewhere; the dew is never dried all at once; a shower is forever falling; vapor is ever rising. Eternal sunrise, eternal dawn and gloaming, on sea and continents and islands, each in its turn, as the round earth rolls.” -John Muir

Monday, aug 17, 2009 Is Tamiflu Safe? http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23730613-details/TV+man's+daughter+'almost+died'+after+taking+Tamiflu/article.do http://blogs.healthfreedomalliance.org/blog/2009/08/13/tamiflu-turned-my-children-into-hallucinating-sobbing-wrecks/ http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1730112/half_of_kids_on_tamiflu_had_side_effects/index.html http://colloidalsilversecrets.blogspot.com/2009/04/tamiflu-vaccines-hybrid-virus-and.html

Sunday, aug 16, 2009 A single Footstep If you are making a change in your life and feel impatient for results, be inspired by these words! "A single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives." -Henry David Throreau

Thursday, aug 13, 2009 A true test of faith Today I was watching a re run on Oprah, although I never saw the show the first time around. It is a story I remember hearing about, all though at the time for some reason I did not follow the details. It is about a deadly car crash in Indiana. It focuses on two families. One lost their daughter in the crash and buried her in Michigan. She was in college. The other family's daughter was brain damaged and swollen up so much she was not recognizable. They stayed with her for 4 weeks in the hospital 24 hours a day, hoping and praying and caring for her, only to realize, as her swelling went down, that the identities had been mistaken. Their "daughter" was actually Whitney, the other couple's daughter. There real daughter Laura had been buried weeks ago by the wrong family. As I sat here watching their extraordinary strength and faith- both families together- I couldn't help but cry thinking of the trauma they all went through. I was so touched when they quoted some verses in the Bible that talked about forgiveness, love and mercy. They did not sue even though lawyers called them. The father of the girl who was the one who died, said that their family has learned that it is better to live in forgiveness and love, it is healthier, than living in bitterness and anger. It is rare to hear of such tragedies and then witness such faith in people's lives being put into action. In the midst of so much grief they still chose love. It is amazing in life, how sometimes our stories reach people that we will never meet. How these ripples spread out to people and places beyond what we see or know. I so often get very turned off by much of what passes for Christianity. What I saw in these people dealing with such a horribly hard situation, showed me the good side of faith. What it can be at its best.

Wednesday, aug 12, 2009 On the road of possibilities Interesting product- http://www.miraclemineral.org/

Tuesday, aug 11, 2009 debates Someone asked me why I thought Hilary would have made a better choice than Palin for President. The truth is beyond words. But since we are dealing with words, here are a few: Hilary Clinton: Serving currently in President's cabinet as Secretary of State NY Senator from 2001-2009 (Population 19,306,183) Wife of President Bill Clinton serving as First Lady from 1993-2001 2008 Leading Candidate for Presidential Election Graduated from Wellesley College with a degree in Political Science After that, Graduated from Yale Law School Was a full partner at the Rose Law Firm Taught Law at the University of Arkansas Co founded the Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families among many other things Listed twice as one of the most 100 Influential lawyers in America Led a task force to reform education in Arkansas and etc etc etc etc etc Smart, intelligent, compassionate, ambitious, well read, articulate, highly educated Sarah Palin Won the Miss Wasilla Pageant and finished third in the 1984 Miss Alaska beauty pageant Attended 5 colleges in a 6 year span Briefly was a sportscaster Helped in her husband's fishing business Was elected to the Wasilla city council in 1992 and again in 1995 Was elected Mayor in 1996-2002 (Population under 6000) Governor of Alaska from 2006-2009, resigned two and half years into her four year term Republican candidate for Vice President in 2009

Sunday, aug 2, 2009 Does this sum up NYC real estate or what?! From "Today’s Cartoon by Randy Glasbergen", displayed with special permission. For many more cartoons, please visit Randy's site @ www.glasbergen.com You can visit Randy's Cartoon Gift Shop @ http://www.cafepress.com/glasbergen where you'll find his cartoons on posters, mugs, t-shirts and other fun gift items!

Saturday, aug 1, 2009 Social Networking Sites I think social networking sites are getting out of control. The more people we connect to the less we are connecting. I mean, REALLY connecting. Then everybody is looking around. Who has the most "friends" and who is the most popular, who gets the most hits, who this who that blah blah blah. It is very funny! And pretty ridiculous. Today, someone I know said, "Social networking sites are just one step away from reality tv." I laughed. It's sort of true! I have thousands of people on my myspace page. Many of those people are people I do not know. Nor we do actually connect and talk. I have met a few really cool people online who I have actually talked to on the phone. What a concept! Scary! But I love that I have made a few real connections. I like staying in touch with friends and meeting new ones. I like sharing my show and my music and any interesting things that happen to grab my attention. So I would not say that social networking sites are useless. But I do notice that they can be an adrenaline rush. Then the burnout inevitably happens. I have a facebook page now, and have been more personal on my facebook page than myspace. Although I love myspace for sharing music and discovering new music. I recently opened a twitter account. It's fun. I like posting quick links to things that inspire me and hope they inspire anyone who also checks in. But I think people need to step back and look at their lives and ask, what is important here? How am I using these sites and is it working for me or against me? One day I saw one post where somebody actually listed the number of emails he had answered that day. (It was over 700 which actually is impossible). What struck me was that he was somehow able to count them all and then felt the need to tell everyone therefore trying to show how important he was or is. Ick! Surely we are more grown up than this? There are some GREAT words of wisdom from Seth Godin on social networking. You can see the video on you tube. See the link below! "It's worthless to have lots and lots of friends on facebook, because they're not really your friends. They're just people who didn't want to offend you by pressing the ignore button. And if you've got 5000 people following you on twitter because you tell a dirty joke every couple of hours, that's not particularly useful for your business either. The internet is this giant cocktail party with all these people swarming around connecting as much as they can because they're keeping score. Who likes me today, who's talking about me today. But one day when you need to ask them to authorize a $100,000 contract, it doesn't matter. What matters is, where are the REAL relationships? Networking is always important when it's real, and it's always useless distraction when it's fake. What the internet has allowed is an ENORMOUS amount of fake networking to take place. It's so easy to be seduced by it. Like a dashboard, a scoreboard, look how popular I am. It's NONSENSE. What translates is, are there people out there who I would go out of my way for and who would go out of their way for me? That's what you need to keep track of. And the way you get there, is by going out of your way for them. By earning the privilege of one day having that connection be worthwhile." -Seth Godin http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0h0LlCu8Ks&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ebrandinfection%2Ecom%2F2009%2F08%2F01%2Fseth%2Dgodin%2Don%2Dsocial%2Dnetworking%2F&feature=player_embedded

Wednesday, jul 29, 2009 Beating the Heat under the Fishing pier

Tuesday, jul 28, 2009 Boat in the NY Harbor © Jo Davidson

Wednesday, jul 22, 2009 Tools in the Toolbox What we think affects our bodies, and how we feel affects how we think. It goes both ways. Most holistic and metaphysical books overemphasize the thoughts first theory. I happen to know it works the other way too. (Just look at how sleep deprivation affects one's thinking). So how do you think good thoughts when you feel REALLY bad? Maybe there is some challenge in your life that you are feeling down about. How do you get through it? Having been through this myself, my advice to you and to me is to start small. Don't put pressure on yourself. There are times when nothing feels good. But here is something you can do no matter what situation you are in, no matter what challenge is in your life. Set a timer for 20 seconds. Close your eyes. Just for those 20 seconds, think about something good. Maybe it is a memory from the past, or your pet or a dream for the future. Maybe it is someone you love, something fun you can imagine doing. Or maybe it is simply a color or a picture. Focus only on that good thing for 20 seconds. If you can do this once a day, great. Then maybe you can do it twice a day. Then maybe 3 times a day. Again, don't pressure yourself. Just do it a few times a day if possible. It's a nice time out in the day, a nice break from worries or stress. This exercise can build you up and support you. It's one tool in the tool box.

Tuesday, jul 21, 2009 The Long Road It has been said by many experts, that diagnostic tests are only 50-60% reliable for lyme. When the disease has advanced, it can spread to organs, the central nervous system, and wear down the immune system making one more vulnerable to co infections, heavy metal toxicity, mold illness and more . If you have had these symptoms- consider further testing with a specialist. Do NOT rely on lyme tests alone. Some of the symptoms of lyme include: A rash (not in all cases), getting lost and being disoriented, memory loss, shortness of breath, joint pain and swelling, shooting or stabbing pains, extremely intense fatigue (crushing and profoundly debilitating) migraines and headaches, tingling and numbness, weakness in the hands, arms and legs, being unable to walk,crying spells, panic attacks, confusion, brain fog and being out of body, floating feeling, paralysis, jaw pain, dental problems, pressure in head, blurred vision, hypersensitivity to sounds, chills, fevers, tremors, burning icy pains shooting through body, dizziness, unusual depression, feeling like you're going crazy, blanking out and memory loss, slurred speech, forgetting how to do simple tasks, continual infections and co-infections, extreme chemical sensitivities, ringing in ears and more. I have had all these symptoms, sometimes at the same time. Hard to believe but true. It's no walk in the park. M.E (Myalgic encephalitis) which some call chronic fatigue immune dysfunction or CFIDS, is an inflammatory neurological disease. It is multisystemic and affects the central nervous system, immune system, endocrinological system, cardiovascular system and more. Cellular metabolism is disrupted. It can cause a very severe levels of disability. Mold illness and heavy metal toxicity share many of the same symptoms as M.E and can be involved in it as well. These conditions are complex. I have been diagnosed with M.E for many years and with lyme since 2004 although I had it before that and got it AGAIN a year ago. The relentless attack on my immune system has really worn me down. It feels like a very long hard right right now. This has been a part of my life to one degree or another, progressively worsening, for 15 years. The past month has been one of those months where it has been full blown 24/7. I've taken a break from posting shows and hope to be back soon. I am not giving up. I explore treatments and cures and will continue to share what I learn about healing whether it is physical, spiritual, emotional. I feel like I am putting together a very complicated puzzle. Meanwhile, the suffering I have been going through is difficult beyond words. I am hanging in here. I miss my music more than I can begin to express. I have had an entire collection of classical songs I composed, ready to record for quite awhile now. I have many of my newer pop/rock band songs ready to record as well. And yet I am feeling stuck here, feeling like a wingless bird longing for the sky. The sky that seems more like a memory. It is this journey that has led me to the topics of health and healing that I present on this show. Because of what I have been through, I've learned about so many aspects of healing that I never would have thought about otherwise. I refuse to believe this is all incurable, even though as I write this, It's dark in here and I feel buried. I feel like my mind is in the mud. I don't see a way out. I don't see Alaska from here either. But hey, that doesn't mean Alaska doesn't exist.

Friday, jul 17, 2009 Kids and Cell Phones There are a lot of kids these days walking around with cell phones. The other day I saw one girl on the beach with her cell phone in the top of her bathing suit so it would not get wet. The phone was on. You see young boys (under 12) with their phones on, and they keep them in their pockets. Teenagers too. Everyone uses cell phones these days. But what are the risks? And is this the riskiest experiment ever conducted? How is this technology affecting kids who are still developing? This is the first generation to be exposed to so many electromagnetic fields from such a young age. I was reading Lilipoh magazine tonite. "France outlawed cell phone ads to children this past January, Russia's Ministry of of Health issued a warning that no child under 18 should use a cell phone. Israel's Health Ministry and Canada's Department of Health issued warnings as well. Germany, the UK, Belgium, India and Finland have all publicly discouraged children's use of cell phones." As I read the article more, I discovered that Om P Ghandi, PhD, a professor and Chair of Electrical Engineering at the Univ. of Utah, says that " when an adult makes a cell phone call, there is 30% radiation into the brain. When child uses a cell phone, 50 % radiation penetrates the brain. If the child is under 5, it goes up to 75%. " "Lennart Hardell MD from Sweden, studied teenagers on cell phones and found they are at a fivefold increased risk of brain cancer by the time they reach their mid twenties. Cordless phone risk gives them a fourfold risk." Robert Becker, MD says that "The greatest polluting element in the earth's environment is the proliferation of electromagnetic fields (EMF's). With all the warnings and studies that shows the dangers of cell phone use, what is our country's response? Sprint has signed a 2 billion dollar contract with Disney to market cell phones to kids under 12. For the full article, pick up a copy of Lilipoh Magazine, the summer 2009 issue. www.Lilipoh.com

Wednesday, jul 15, 2009 The Reflection Spiritual Story by Unknown There was a king who presented his daughter with a beautiful diamond necklace. The necklace was stolen and his people in the kingdom searched everywhere but could not find it. The king then asked them all to search for it and put a reward for $50,000 for anyone who found it. One day, a clerk was walking home along a river next to an industrial area. This river was completely polluted and filthy and smelly. As he was walking, the clerk saw a shimmering in the river and when he looked, he saw the diamond necklace. He decided to try and catch it so that he could get the $50,000 reward. He put his hand in the filthy, dirty river and grabbed at the necklace, but some how missed it and didn't catch it. He took his hand out and looked again and the necklace was still there. He tried again. This time he walked in the river and dirtied his pants in the filthy river and put his whole arm in to catch the necklace. But strangely, he still missed the necklace! He came out and started walking away, feeling depressed. Then again, he saw the necklace, right there. This time he was determined to get it, no matter what. He decided to plunge into the river. Although it was disgusting, he plunged in and searched everywhere for the necklace. Yet one more time, he failed. This time he was really bewildered and came out feeling very depressed that he could not get the necklace that would get him $50,000. Just then, a saint who was walking by, saw him, and asked him what was the matter. The clerk didn't want to share the secret with the saint, thinking he might take the necklace for himself, so he refused to tell him anything. The saint could see this man was troubled. Being compassionate, he again asked the clerk to tell him the problem and promised that he would not tell anyone about it. The clerk mustered some courage and decided to put some faith in the saint. He told him about the necklace and how he tried and tried to catch it, but kept failing. The saint then told him that perhaps he should try looking upward, toward the branches of the tree, instead of in the filthy river. The clerk looked up and true enough, the necklace was dangling on the branch of a tree. He had been trying to capture a mere reflection of the real necklace all this time.

Tuesday, jun 23, 2009 City Landscape

Thursday, jun 11, 2009 Inspiration for the day This is a picture I took a few days ago.... The lotus grows up from the mud into something beautiful. So it represents life's struggle. These flowers sometimes are popular for people who have gone through a hard time and are coming out of it. They've been at the bottom, in the mud, and now they have risen above the hardship and overcome a challenge. Some say that the Water Lily is a symbol of rebirth and also a symbol of all that is true, good and beautiful.

Thursday, jun 11, 2009 The Ride Home

Thursday, may 28, 2009 Protection from ticks that carry lyme Andrea Candee is an herbalist who specializes in treating lyme disease. She sent over some great tips to share with you all! Her website is www.Andreacandee.com Protection against tick bites: The safe, natural way to prevent tick bites is with the essential oil of eucalyptus, found at the health food store. The strong but pleasant smell seems to effectively repel the ticks. There are three ways to use this aromatic oil. In a spray bottle, add 16oz water to 1oz eucalyptus oil. Spray on the skin before an outdoor activity, like gardening. The bottled mixture remains potent for many months. For longer protection, as in a hike in the woods, mix 10 drops eucalyptus into ½ ounce almond or sunflower seed oil and apply to skin and clothing. A larger amount can be pre-mixed for a camping trip or for sending off with a child to summer camp. Protect your dog and cats from ticks and you will also be protecting yourself! Some people never touch a blade of grass yet get Lyme disease and wonder why. Your pet may be transporting the ticks into the house. Dip a thin rope into the eucalyptus oil and wrap in a bandana. Tie the bandana around your pet’s neck, refreshing the rope twice a week. Your pet will look fashionable and be protected at the same time! It is best not to tie the eucalyptus rope directly onto your pet’s skin as it may cause irritation. The spray bottle of eucalyptus and water may also be used to spray your pet’s coat before an outdoor romp in the grass or in the woods.

Wednesday, may 20, 2009 Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” -Marianne Williamson

Saturday, may 9, 2009 Battery Park City It is so nice to be back home after being up in the crowds today at Union Square. I LOVE the market there, but on Saturdays the crowds can be a little much. I think Battery Park is the best kept secret. Where else can you be right by both east side and west side subway lines, by so many parks and also the water? I've lived in Soho and Chelsea but this is my favorite place to live. It's amazing. When the rest of the city swelters in the summer, these is a nice breeze here too! photo copyright Jo Davidson

Monday, may 4, 2009 The Swine Flu Media Frenzy The Swine Flu Pandemic--is being broadcast around the clock. I am trying to figure out what is going here. Pull up a seat and get out the popcorn folks because this media frenzy is the movie of the year. This non stop coverage is completely out of proportion to the actual threat. I mean, think about it. This is not adding up at all. First we were told that deaths in Mexico were at 168. Now we are told that actually only 25 people have died. That is a tragedy. But that is far from being an international crisis. Is 25 a pandemic number? As of this morning, the number of cases worldwide is at 985, with 26 deaths. That is hardly pandemic. And why are we hearing about it as if if millions of people are dying? Why is the coverage so out of proportion to the actual threat? And why are people trying to scare us by saying we have no immunity to this? Obviously, the huge majority of people ARE recovering from this flu. Does anyone else think it is mass deception to go from telling us 168 people in Mexico died and now, oops, sorry, it was really 25 people. Now how did THAT get screwed up? What happened to all the thousands of deaths they were warning us about? Why the scary music, the panic and fear, the non stop around the clock coverage of something that has killed 26 people? Who s behind this fear and who benefits from it? I understand that the government wants to be cautious and that they are letting people know about this flu, they want to protect themselves in case there is a crisis in the future. But at the same time, do any of us really believe that this is the first virus that our government and medical community doesn't understand? Cancer killed over 565,000 people in the US in 2008 Aids killed 12,543 people in the US in 2005 In the US there are more than 40,000 who die each year from car accidents. Around 5.4 million deaths per year are caused by smoking. Somebody might want to mention that to Bazarre magazine, because recently I saw a big ad in their magazine promoting cigarettes. An "organic" brand of cigarettes, but nonetheless, cigarettes. About 30,000 people die per year from guns. Guns! 30,000 people! Why would our media and government be so tense about a new strain of flu that so far has killed 26 people, when there are already 35,000 deaths or more per year from the flu we already know about? And that is with the flu shots in place. Many people get flu shots. Most of the top alternative doctors Ive worked with do not recommend them. I'll tell you why I do not get them, even though yes, I had the seasonal flu a few months ago. I don't get the shots, because I already have an immune condition, and some of the ingredients in the shots include things like Ethylene Glycol- which is basically anti freeze, and Thimerosal- which is derived from mercury. Then there is the Phenol which is a carcinogenic agent, aluminum, and formaldehyde. Do I want these things in my body? I don't think so. In 1976 there was a huge media scare that they called the Swine Flu. They started to vaccinate people. Around 500 people developed a serious immune condition from the vaccines called Guillain Barr Syndrome. 25 died. I got an email from one guy today who had that vaccination back in 1976. He spent 3 months in the hospital because of it. I understand people's fears. I really do. We want to be safe. We want to be able to control what we want to control. We have a hard time with the unknown. The media gets it ratings by playing on people's fears. The bigger the fear, the bigger the rating. It is in their best interest to make sure this is a crisis and to make us we are very afraid of it. I can't say whether it will or won't be a crisis in the future, I don't know. But at this moment it certainly is not. The coverage is so far out of proportion to the threat. People fear the unknown, so that is the card the networks play. It's the terror and fear card. And it works. It also plays to the lowest common denominator. We don't build our immune systems by living in fear. We don't build a future by making choices out of fear. I like what the poet Rumi wrote, "Don't move the way fear makes you move." We all know the basics. There are no guarantees. But some of the basic are... Wash your hands often. Stay home when you have the flu or a cold. Eat good organic foods. Drink a lot of water. Meditate. Exercise. Oddly enough most people don't do those things. We know about them but don't do them. You know why the unknown doesnt scare me as much? It's because I live in the unknown every single day. For years I have had an auto immune condition triggered by lyme disease and M.E/ CFids Do I have a cure yet? No. Has it been devastating on many levels? Yes. Is lyme disease pandemic? In my opinion, YES. Go to www.Underourskin.com and you'll see a documentary that shows just how pandemic it is and what is happening. So now suddenly, I watch the news and hear about this virus that has killed 26 people and I am suppose to be scared? I am suppose to fear something that is unknown? Let me tell you, some new virus that the medical community doesn't know how to treat or cure, something they don't understand, is nothing new to me. President Barack Obama asked Congress for $1.5 billion in emergency funds to fight the new flu illness. Why do I get the feeling all that money will be going to pharmaceutical companies? Aren't they afterall, the ones who benefit most from this? Why isn't 1.5 billion being sent out to prevent and cure others illnesses that kill far more people than this flu strain have? Can you imagine if we spent that much money cleaning up chemicals? Getting them out of the food supply? Cleaning up the food we eat, our air, our water supply? We can do a lot of the right things, and having said that, it's also true that when it's time to go, it's time to go, and we don't know how long we have. None of us do. There are some things within our control and some things beyond our control. But living in fear, strips us of the life we have in this moment. We have to do the best with what we have, and live each day the best we can. If we REALLY care about health as a country, let's start at the foundation and get the chemicals out of our food, air and water. If it's not food, don't eat it! Read labels on everything you buy! As Hippocrates said, Let food be your medicine. It amazes me that so many people are so worried about swine flu and yet are feeding their kids pounds of sugar and junk food, fast food and eating processed chemical filled foods. These things do not belong in our bodies. Only food belongs in our bodies. Let me take one common food. Ice Cream. I'll give you a cool tip. Everyone likes ice cream! But have you ever read what is in certain brands of ice cream? I put frozen fruit through a champion juicer and drizzle some organic chocolate syrup on it. It tastes SO good. It tastes just like homemade ice cream! It's the best. Let's make organic vegetables the biggest parts of our diets. Let's stop buying meat from factory farms where the animals are fed antibiotics, or where animals who are sick and abused get slaughtered, and their meat is sold to us. Let's get endocrine disruptors out of cosmetics. Did you know that there are over 75,000 synthetic chemicals being used in everyday products? Even in baby products! Check out safecosmetics.com to find out what you can do to change this. Let's hear about the incredible herbal anti viral and anti bacterial herbs and products we can use to build our immune systems up. Wouldn't it be great if we heard about these things on the news? Why don't we? I am not against antibiotics and pharmaceutical drugs. I am against the overuse and abuse of them. When they are talked about as if they are always the only option, that does a disservice to all of us. Cleaning up our air, food supply and water as well as supporting our bodies with herbs and good food, are measures which could do far more to change the world than spending billions of dollars on pharmaceutical drugs which as it turns out, have massive side effects, and are showing up now in our water supply. Are pharmaceutical drugs the only way to stay healthy? Are they the only way to prevent disease? From 1998 to 2005 the FDA compiled reports that found that there were 90,000 incidents of dangerous side effects and deaths from prescription and over-the-counter medications. Now if anything is pandemic I would say THAT is pandemic. I want to share some of the products I use. Please consult your own doctor before doing or trying these things, or work with a naturopathic doctor who is familiar with natural methods of healing and boosting immune function. I am not a doctor and cannot legally give you medical advice for your specific situation, but I will tell you what is in my cabinet, and you can research, consult your doctor, and make your own decisions. A powerful anti viral anti bacteria support called Miracle Mineral. It only costs $20 and I definately have this in my medicine cabinet. http://www.themiraclemineralsupplement.com/ Here is what their website says: Over 60% of the AIDS victims that were treated in Uganda were well in 3 days, with 98% well within one month. More than 90% of the malaria victims were well in 4 to 8 hours. Dozens of other diseases were successfully treated and can be controlled with this new mineral supplement. It also works with colds, flu, pneumonia, sore throats, mouth sores, and even abscessed teeth I also have and use herbs such as Banderol and Takuna and others from https://www.nutramedix.com Colloidal Silver or Nano Silver Vitamin C in the buffered form by Allergy Research or from Liv on Labs, Grapefruit Seed Extract, I like liquid drops in water. Cat's Claw, which in many studies has been shown to boost the immune system, and some people use it to fight lyme and other things Vitamin D- many people are deficient and don't know it. I recently found out that I am, and now I take Vitamin D Garlic Organic Green Tea Vitamin E Fresh organic Apple Juice Fresh organic veggie juices Astragalus Root Drinking at least 8 glasses and possibly more, of water per day I use some remedies from healerswhoshare.com Lomatium dissectum root —One doctor I know says that Lomatium root has been used as an effective anti-viral and anti-bacterial remedy. This herb was used by the North American Indians as their most powerful herbal antibiotic. www.Lomatium.com I heard one health official on CNN say that nobody has immunity to this virus. That is simply a statement designed to scare you and me. If nobody has immunity, why is it that the huge majority of people who have gotten it, have recovered? Even the original boy from Mexico who got it IS recovering. And here is an over the top tidbit for you. Even though there has been no detection of this new virus in Egypt, last week the nation's leaders ordered all the pigs killed. The only ones to profit from this non stop coverage of the "swine flu pandemic" will be the pharmaceutical companies. Now we are hearing about how the government wants to order Tamiflu and how pharmaceutical companies are rushing to create vaccines for this so called pandemic. In 2007, Japan actually banned Tamiflu for children. There have been over 1800 adverse reports related to this drug. Also, Tamiflu does not cure the seasonal flu, it can only reduce the duration of flu symptoms by 1- 1/2 days. It is not a cure. In 2005, our government ordered 20 million doses of this stuff, which cost around $2 billion dollars. Imagine if $2 billion dollars had gone into preventative medicine! Since much of this stuff wasn't needed, (no surprise there), does it seem a coincidence that now they are trying to unload these massive quantities of drugs so they can still make a profit? Many people also say that Tamiflu is not a safe drug. Some of the serious side effects reported (I feel like a commercial without the happy music) have included self injury and confusion, nausea and vomiting, pain, dizziness, headaches, hallucinations, chest pain, speech problems, neuropsychiatric side effects, and even death. The FDA had reports of 12 pediatric deaths in Japan. I wonder why people in our government and media are not talking about the powerful anti bacterial and anti viral herbs that are on the market as well as lifestyle diet related ways to boost immune system and prevent disease. Are they even allowed to say anything about these things? Are they allowed to? How much influence do pharmaceutical companies actually have in this country? Something to think about. ------ p.s A new update, I have learned that Young Living Thieves oil is anti bacterial, anti fungal and anti viral. I have found it to be quite powerful. I am taking a few drops in a capsule, internally, daily!

Monday, apr 27, 2009 Clutter Busting "WHY questions are impossible to answer. You can't know everything that led you up to this moment. And even if you do come up with answers, they won't help you take care of this situation right now. The main thing is you're in pain. Let's take care of it. Let's see what we can let go of now so you can feel better." -Brooks Palmer **************************************************************** This week's episode is all about cleaning out internal and external clutter. I want to put out a challenge to you! I am going to get rid of 5 things this coming week that I no longer love, use or need. Would you like to take the clutter challenge? Email me at Jodavidson@mac.com We will either: 1. Recycle 2. Give Away to a friend 3. Sell 4. Donate to an organization Just 5 things to start, and even more if you feel inspired. Let's do this! Peace, Jo jodavidson@mac.com http://www.Zentertainment.org Episode #53 http://www.Zentertainment.org About Brooks Palmer- In his eight years of Clutter Busting in Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York City, Brooks has learned first-hand about the intense emotional connection most people have with material possessions, and has consistently found that internal clutter must be addressed before external clutter can be discarded. Since 2000, Brooks has been helping people through this process. http://www.clutterbusting.com For Clutter Busting Tips, go to: http://www.clutterbusting.com/Site/Clutter_Busting_Tips.html To Hear this great episode featuring Brooks Palmer, author of Clutter Busting, go to http://www.Zentertainment.org *Inspiration for your Life * The person who moves a mountain begins by carrying small stones. - Chinese Proverb

Tuesday, apr 14, 2009 Inspiration "When we give in the world what we want the most, we heal the broken part inside of us" -Eve Ensler This video was so wonderful and it almost made me cry. Eve Ensler, Finding Happiness in Body and Soul http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/eve_ensler_on_happiness_in_body_and_soul.html

Wednesday, apr 1, 2009 Rainy Spring Day It's a rainy cold spring day today. I am dreaming of Turks & Caicos. I went there a few years ago with one of my sisters. The water was absolutely amazing!

Wednesday, mar 11, 2009 Time Out These are some funny notes that were sent to schools when kids were sick. They are true, I am told. "Dear School: Please excuse John from being absent on Jan. 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, and also 33." "Please excuse Dianne from being absent yesterday. She was in bed with gramps." "Please excuse Johnnie for being. It was his father's fault." "Chris will not be in school because he has an acre in his side." "John has been absent because he had two teeth taken off his face." "Excuse Gloria. She has been under the doctor." "Lillie was absent from school yesterday because she had a going over." "My son is under the doctor's care and should not take fizical ed. Please execute him." "Carlos was absent yesterday because he was playing football. He was hit in the growing part." "My daughter was absent yesterday because she was tired. She spent this weekend with the Marines." "Please excuse Joyce from P.E. for a few days. Yesterday she fell off a tree and misplaced her hip." "Please excuse Ray Friday from school. He has very loose vowels." "Maryann was absent Dec. 11-16, because she had a fever, sore throat, headache, and upset stomach. Her sister was also sick, fever and sore throat, her brother had a low-grade fever. There must be the flu going around, her father even got hot last night." "George was absent yesterday because he had a stomach." "Ralph was absent yesterday because he had a sore trout." "Please excuse Sara for being absent. She was sick and I had her shot." "Please excuse Lupe. She is having problems with her ovals." "Please excuse Pedro from being absent yesterday. He had Diah (*crossed out*), diahoah (*crossed out*), dyah (*crossed out*), the shits."

Thursday, jan 22, 2009 A violinist A Violinist in the Metro A man stood in a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it was a cold January morning. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, because it was rush hour, 1097 people passed him, most of them on their way to work. Three minutes went by and a middle aged man noticed that a musician was playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried up to meet his schedule. A minute later, the violinist received his first dollar tip: a woman threw the money in the till and without stopping continued to walk. A few minutes later, someone leaned against the wall to listen to him, but the man looked at his watch and started to walk again. Clearly he was late for work. The one who paid the most attention was a 3 year old boy. His mother tagged him along, hurried but the kid stopped to look at the violinist. Finally the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. All the parents, without exception, forced them to move on. In the 45 minutes the musician played, only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money but continued to walk their normal pace. He collected $32 and 17 cents. (Yes, some people gave pennies.) When he finished playing and sil ence took over, no one noticed. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition. No one knew, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the best musicians in the world. He played some of the most intricate pieces ever written with a violin worth 3.5 million dollars. Two days before his playing in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out at a theater in Boston where the seats average $100. This is a real story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and priorities of people. The outlines were: In a common- place environment at an inappropriate hour: Do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize the talent in an unexpected context? One conclusion from this experience could be: If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing the best music ever written, how many other things are we missing?

Friday, jan 9, 2009 MAKEUP MAKEUP AND MORE MAKEUP! Today a friend of mine sent me a link to a bunch of cool makeup products on sale. The colors looked really fun, and the prices were cheap. I want to buy some of this! This line of makeup is called E.L.F. Makeup. I thought I would check out the E.L.F. makeup ingredients, because they looked pretty cool! Cheap too! Guess what? I found toxic ingredients everywhere in this stuff. Mmm. It made me think twice. Ok, it's not that I am perfect. I still get my hair highlighted once in awhile, and sometimes I use "regular" mascara and eye shadow. But I also have alot of healthier things I use. Do I really need to be adding to the toxic load right now? There were one or two things by E.L.F. that did not seem horrible in the ingredients department, but most products were full of things I could do without. What's a girl to do?! You know, sometimes you wonder, c'mon, is it really THAT bad? According to sites like http://www.safecosmetics.org/ and http://www.pureprevention.org/act.php it IS that bad. Many household items contain cancer containing chemicals. At pureprevention.org they are starting a campaign to help the fight against breast cancer. This means cleaning out the toxic chemicals from our household cleaning products and makeup. Did you know that most of the products added to makeup could not be legally added to food? And yet through our skin, we absorb them like food. What we put onto our skin is absorbed into our bodies. Think of things like the nicotine patch. Hormone patches. Birth Control Patches. Here are just some of the ingredients in the E.L.F Makeup Line: Hypershine Gloss: (Remember this goes on your lips, so you are eating it. Imagine ordering this for lunch.)? Paraffinium Liquidum (Mineral Oil), Polyisobutene, Silica, Fragrance(Aroma), Methylparaben, Propylparaben, Titanium Dioxide(CI 77891), BHT, Iron Oxides (CI 77491 , CI 77492 , CI 77499), Manganese Violet (CI 77742), Mica (CI 77019), Red No.6 Lake (CI 15850), Red No.7 Lake (CI 15850), Red No.28 Lake (CI 45410), Blue No.1 Lake (CI 42090), Yellow No.5 Lake (CI 19140), Yellow No.6 Lake (CI 15985) Luscious Liquid Lipstick Paraffinum Liquidum, Polybutene, Silica, Synthetic Beeswax Fragrance, Methylparaben, Propylparaben, Iron Oxides(CI 77499), Red No. 7 Calcium Lake(CI 15850:1), Red No. 6 Barium Lake(CI 15850:2), Blue No.1 Aluminum Lake(CI 42090:2), Red No.40 Aluminum Lake(CI 16035), Red No.27 Aluminum Lake(CI 45410:2). They said in the literature that the Shimmering Facial Whip is packed with Vitamins B, C and E. We all love Vitamins B, C and E! Sounds good to me! Here are the actual ingredients: Aqua (Water), Cetyl Alcohol, Propylene Glycol, Glyceryl Stearate, Stearate Acid, Paraffinium Liquidum (Mineral Oil), Glycerin, Carbomer, Tocopheryl Acetate, Triethanolamine, Disodium EDTA, Methylparaben, Propylparaben, Fragrance(Aroma), Diazolidinyl Urea, Iron Oxides (CI 77491 , CI 77492 , CI 77499), Manganese Violet (CI 77742), Mica (CI 77019), Red No.33 Lake (CI 17200), Blue No.1 (CI 42090), Yellow No.5 Lake (CI 19140), Titanium Dioxide (CI 77491), Red No.40 Lake (CI 16035) I believe that the rise in cancers and auto immune conditions is connected to the fact that there are over 75,000 synthetic chemicals being used in everyday products. So what are some better choices that actually work and smell good too? This is a list of some of the products I like: I love The Desert Essence Red Grape Shampoo and Conditioner. http://www.desertessence.com/hair-care/shampoo/italian-red-grape-shampoo-antioxidant-uv-filters I love the Jakare Natural Cleansers and mud masks http://www.jakare.com/ Weleda products http://usa.weleda.com/index.aspx For healthy nails I like Jason Tea Tree Nail Saver http://www.jason-natural.com/products/tea_tree.php Dr Hauschka products http://www.drhauschka.com/ Sometimes I also use Aveda makeup http://www.aveda.com I like some of the products here: http://www.alaffia.com And here: http://www.natures-gate.com/ For a list of many common products and their safety numbers, check out: http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/wordsearch.php?query=elf Go for the lowest number! The 7-10 category is a very high hazard. For the best products, look for a zero! Click the link below and many zero products will come up. Click Here

Monday, jan 5, 2009 Happy New Year! Although this is not new, I still get chills every time I see this! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1k08yxu57NA

Tuesday, dec 16, 2008 Untangling Knots Today my headphones were all tangled up. I had them hooked into the side of my computer and was trying to listen to something. I kept pulling on the line, making it tighter, rather than stopping to slowly untangle the knots. I mean, untangling knots is one of those irritating things in life that makes me feel like I am wasting time. And it takes so darn long. Ok maybe it's not that long. But it is so repetitive, so mundane, and my patience wears thin within seconds! I literally feel like I am jumping out of my skin when I have to stop and untangle a knot. It makes me feel like screaming AHHHHHHH! Finally the cord was so tangled it would not reach my ear at all. I was forced to stop and deal with it. I untangled the stupid knots. Then I was almost done, but thought, "Oh this is good enough. It will reach now." Then I started laughing. Isn't life like this? We never want to take the time to untangle the knots. We just keep twisting and pulling tighter until one day we realize the knot is so huge that what we have in our hands no longer works. And then when we untie it, make it straight again, sometimes we do just enough for it to work, rather than finishing the whole thing. Why is just enough, ok? Because we are impatient, because we don't feel like it, because we want what we want when we want it, because we think it doesn't matter. Because AHHHHHH there is that scream again. That child yelling, "I don't want to clean my room!" Today I am going to untangle knots. Everywhere I see them. And even though my body cringes at the thought of it, the thought of doing this boring seemingly worthless task, I will know somewhere inside that it is a symbol, and I am taking a step in the direction of untying myself. I will not wait. I will not procrastinate. The time is now.

Monday, dec 8, 2008 The Build it quick mentality The other day I was going through old boxes full of things I had not seen in years. In the mid 90s I was very young, and took a trip to England with two women in their fifties who I barely knew. Their names were Sally and Terri. We spent a week in the Cotswolds, a week in London, and then Sally had to leave. During our third week, Terri and I spent 7 nights going up and down the Thames River while living on a houseboat. I just found some diaries from that trip. I have always loved beautiful old architecture. One day I was talking to an attendant at Westminster Abbey. He said to me, "In the old days, man & God worked together to build buildings, because it wasn't a "do it quick" mentality. Buildings could take hundreds of years. Then, they had character. Now man makes buildings without God. Just sets 'em up quick. And the reflection of man without God is seen in the blank black windows staring back." What wise words that man spoke. Perhaps this is true of other things we build and create too. How easy it is to go for the "build it quick" mentality. My husband Tommy always tells me that when he cooks, the secret is to go slowly, don't rush it. I tend to rush it. His meals are heavenly.

Saturday, dec 6, 2008 The Art of Floating

Thursday, dec 4, 2008 The Iguana Whisperer This is a picture of one of my new boyfriends. I was in St Thomas last week. I started talking to the Iguanas. As if my life is not already strange enough. My nieces got there a day ahead of me. They said that one iguana had chased them and they were scared of it. I had to admit, they were pretty creepy looking. I said, "Let's talk to it. They can hear us." I was fully aware that I sounded totally crazy to the average person. Or at the least, amusing. So there I was telling one iguana "I think you're really cool," (stroking the male ego never hurts) and then I asked "Can we share your cove for a week?" They did not bother us after that. One day I was lying on my chair on the sand, daydreaming in an area apart from where the iguanas usually would hang out. There were 3 of them. I fell half asleep and was daydreaming that 3 Iguanas actually came up all around me and we were hanging out together. And how weird it was. Suddenly I felt these claws on my ankle. One of them had actually come over and was up on top of me! I jumped a little and he jumped down. Mmm. I did not tell my little nieces about it because it would have freaked them out totally. I mean, it freaked me out too! I had a few scratches on my ankle, nothing big, more like something you get when you play with a cat. At that point I realized it was time to change course. Ok buddy, I want to be friends, but let's keep just a little more distance between us, huh? The rest of the week was fine. We lived together and kept space between us. Then it was time to leave. Of course I was sad, because the islands are very good for me and I feel better there. I didn't want to go. I packed everything and had one last pair of shorts draped over a chair way up on the patio by the sliding glass door to the back of the house. I went out to get the shorts, and wouldn't you know, the Iguana had come up onto the patio, climbed on top of the patio chair, and was sitting right on top of my shorts refusing to let me leave. I laughed. One of the other adults grabbed a camera. I mean, this is just not NORMAL. My new nickname is "The Iguana Whisperer."

Friday, nov 14, 2008 Growing into myself One of the great things about a regular radio show is that who you were a year or two years ago is gone. Poof. You've evolved and changed, and you aren't stuck revisiting old (even if edited) versions of you. Not so with a podcast, a book, a song, a blog or even a video on You Tube. It's all out there. Pride is the fuel that often keeps everyone only wanting to show people their airbrushed selves, their finished products. To put out something that is a work in progress or to publicly document a time, or a moment, takes courage. I mean, what if, God forbid, you look stupid? Isn't that the one big fear everybody has? How many projects, dreams or talents have never been developed because of that fear? There are times for me when I listen back to a past podcast, an old song, whatever it is, and it's not fun hearing my own voice. It is sort of like......well, visiting old diaries. You know, those things that pile up in storage units, on shelves and in drawers? Those things that document what you were struggling with at the time? Or what you thought mattered? Those things that just show you a tiny little piece of who you were? Diaries, journals, essays, those things you open up and read all the while trying not to faint at what you discover, as you find yourself asking WHO WAS THAT GIRL? AND WHAT WAS SHE THINKING? How wonderful it must be for people who are not writers. They get to live in this incredible illusion that things have not changed all that much, that they are basically the same as they were two years ago, 5 years ago or even 20 years ago. Oh but hear a song you wrote six years ago, a blog you wrote a year ago, a podcast aired two years ago, and you cannot deny the waves of change. It's so obvious, and even sometimes embarrassing. Since there is no chance of me being perfect, I don't really have to worry about it. I just need to let go of my desire or expectation of it and be OK with doing my best in each moment. It started out innocently enough. I talked to a friend on the phone and she mentioned she wanted to catch up on a few of my shows. I went to the site here and then glanced back through some of my photos in the gallery section. I am happy with my photography work, and it continues to be a lifeline for me. Then I went to the show page and looked through the many fantastic guests I have had the pleasure of talking to and interviewing. I listened to about 30 seconds of one of my first episodes. I was totally shocked at how different I sound now. I turned it off because I suddenly had this running commentary in my head. Hearing things like, "Why did I say that. Why did I talk that way. Why did my voice sound like that. Why did I ask or not ask that question. Yuck. Yay. Great job. Bad job. etc etc etc" On and on the voices went. I think voices like that are the ego trying to protect us from humiliation. They really are just doing their job. But if we are not careful, those voices can hold us back, keep us from taking risks or going forward or attempting anything at all. I think that hearing those voices is a sign that we are doing something right. It means we are brave enough to take risks, and to work on growing into who we can be. You never experience that feeling of failure unless you are attempting to do something brave. So at least know that if like me, you have heard those voices, it is a good sign and means you are courageous. This picture of me was taken on one of the bravest nights of my life. Only a few people know the back story on that, but maybe some day I will share it. Whatever I do in my life, if I let you hear me sounding vulnerable, if I let you see the side of me that is not dressed up, the side with messy hair and crumpled clothes, if I let you hear my process, my development, or even my failures, if I dare to be transparent, will you still love me? And if my journey is documented and I look back on where I have been, can I still love myself? Really, doesn't everything boil down to that?

Thursday, nov 13, 2008 “I know I'm searching for something Something so undefined That it can only be seen By the eyes of the blind In the middle of the night.” - Billy Joel

Thursday, nov 6, 2008 Body Language and Politics What do you think of body language? Does it tell us anything? Do we make too much out of it or not enough? There are some interesting pictures of John and Cindy McCain and Barack and Michelle Obama. I do believe that body language tells us alot about each other and ourselves and our own relationships (even when we don't want it to). But ..........it can also depend on what we are thinking at the time. If you are upset or distracted and your body language is not especially loving with your partner, it might have nothing to do with whether you love them or not, it might simply mean you are upset or distracted about something else! On the other hand, body language is very revealing when there are patterns that keep getting repeated. That's the key. Patterns. You can see some pictures at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/16/post-debate-pda-the-final_n_135423.html You can read more about this in an article called Relationship Politics by Kathyln and Gay Hendricks http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kathlyn-and-gay-hendricks/relationship-politics-bod_b_137042.html Fascinating. What do you think? I watched a few more videos this morning showing the very moment when Obama was named as being our next President. I got chills. I don't know if we even grasp yet how historic this is. This is a chance for us to heal the wounds of the past and unite our nation. I feel so grateful that enough people pulled together to make this happen. It is a very hard time for anyone to be elected into office. I am under no illusions about how challenging it will be for him on all levels. Nor do I expect him to go sweeping in and change everything overnight. It takes years to change things sometimes. We all know that just from our own lives. But hey like one of the doctors I know said to me once- it's like an ax you swing at a tree. The tree might not come down right away, but it will in time if you keep going at it. Maybe that's how it is in life. So don't give up! If you want to do something to help heal the world and heal yourself, keep believing it is possible even against all odds! There are so many problems to be solved, things to fix, all across the board. I am not sure how much can be changed in 4 years, and yet I believe that alot can be changed for the better. I don't think McCain lost because of Bush. I think McCain lost because of McCain. He lost because he conducted such a dishonorable campaign filled with the most unbelievable lies and hatred which spread across the country inflaming the racism and hatred in the most fear filled minds. Just by getting elected, Obama has done more positive things to enhance our international reputation than Bush did in the entire time he was in office. The most amazing and inspiring speech I heard from McCain was his concession speech. I was actually touched by it. Why didn't he conduct his campaign with that same degree of honor and respect? Why didn't he choose a vice president to run with him who is extremely intelligent and qualified? What was he thinking and how could we have trusted him in light of his choices? I was listening to and watching various online videos this morning. I don't have a tv, so I get all my news online. Larry King had some different people on his show the other night with Obama reactions. You can see the show at: http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/politics/2008/11/06/lkl.obama.long.cnn Lastly, although she was not on Larry King, she is a star in my book. One of my dear grandmothers (both are still living), said to me yesterday, "Jody be proud of your old grandma. She is 87 years old and has voted Republican her whole life, but she voted for Obama."

Tuesday, nov 4, 2008 ! YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES!!

Monday, nov 3, 2008 SLICE! Last week I had an appointment on the upper east side. Then I had to get to UPS. A guy told me that there was an office around 85th and Second Ave. Somehow I missed it. So I ended up heading to another one about 10 blocks south. It was cold, rainy and windy. Not the best day to be wandering around in. But I was feeling pretty good that day and was grateful! On the way to the UPS office (after I missed the first one), I stumbled into the best little pizza place. It is called SLICE. They use natural, organic ingredients and you can get pizzas with lots of veggies or the traditional cheese and tomato pizza. They also have organic green salads. The pizza was AMAZING. Seriously. If you are in the city, make sure to visit them at www.sliceperfect.com 1413 2nd Ave New York, NY 10021 Phone: 212 249 4353 If I had not gotten lost, I would have never discovered my new favorite restaurant. The moral of the story is that sometimes we think we're lost, but we're right where we are suppose to be.

Tuesday, oct 28, 2008 Robert F Kennedy Jr Speaks out on clean water, air and the environment To hear the inspiring Robert F Kennedy Jr, go to episode #38 of Zentertainment Talk Radio on the "Hear the Show" page! You'll love this episode! Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is credited with leading the fight to protect New York City's water supply, but his reputation as a resolute defender of the environment stems from a litany of successful legal actions. The list includes winning numerous settlements for Riverkeeper, prosecuting governments and companies for polluting the Hudson River and Long Island Sound, arguing cases to expand citizen access to the shoreline, and suing treatment plants to force compliance with the Clean Water Act. Mr. Kennedy acts as Chief Prosecuting Attorney for Riverkeeper. He also serves as Senior Attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council and as President of the Waterkeeper Alliance. At Pace University School of Law, he is a Clinical Professor and Supervising Attorney at the Environmental Litigation Clinic in White Plains, New York. Earlier in his career Mr. Kennedy served as Assistant District Attorney in New York City. http://www.robertfkennedyjr.com/ I was listening back to his show episode on this site. In these economic times, I think this quote of his applies even more. "In 100% of situations, good environmental policy is IDENTICAL to good economic policy." To find out where your candidates stand on environmental issues, go to CandidAnswers.org

Sunday, oct 26, 2008 It was one of those perfect English autumnal days which occur more frequently in memory than in life. ~P.D. James

Tuesday, oct 21, 2008 Buying Organic You love to support local organic farms or at least farms in the United States. Like me, you probably have shopped many times at Whole Foods. They have some great products there. You know that pesticides are dangerous. (And yes you get annoyed that Whole Foods carries a large selection of non organic produce that has been grown with dangerous chemicals). But here is something you might not know. You have perhaps seen or bought the Whole Foods 365 brand of organic frozen vegetables from Whole Foods. You find them in bags in the freezer section. You would assume that the "Whole Foods organic CALIFORNIA blend of CAULIFLOWER, CARROTS, AND BROCCOLI is from California, right? After all, on the front it says it is a California blend. But take a closer look. In fine print on the back, the label reads- A PRODUCT OF..... CHINA. Yes you heard it right, China. The Whole foods organic California blend is grown and shipped from CHINA. This is deceptive advertising. They should put GROWN AND SHIPPED FROM CHINA on the front! Not only are the standards different in China, but supporting all the fuel it takes to get these products here takes away from the benefit. It's time to buy local produce and support American farmers! We do not want our organic produce coming from China! And we all deserve honest packaging so we know what we are buying. Make sure to read the fine print.... On this issue, I give a big THUMBS DOWN to Whole Foods. p.s The frozen fruits from their brand come from Chile Look for brands from American farmers!

Sunday, oct 19, 2008 Autumn in Ohio I spent a few weeks in Ohio. Just got back to the NJ shore a few days ago and am heading to NYC tomorrow most likely. I love this time of year when the leaves change- jo

Tuesday, oct 14, 2008 An Experiment This is so interesting. Watch this video, now focus really hard only on the white shirts and see how many people in white shirts throw balls. Count the number of times they throw. There is a gender difference in attention to detail- but I won't say which gender, and it might not be what you think. Remember focus just on the people wearing white shirts and how many times they throw a ball. http://www.endfatigue.com/media_downloads/videos/perception.wm

Sunday, oct 12, 2008 October 12, 2008 OP-ED COLUMNIST The Terrorist Barack Hussein Obama By FRANK RICH IF you think way back to the start of this marathon campaign, back when it seemed preposterous that any black man could be a serious presidential contender, then you remember the biggest fear about Barack Obama: a crazy person might take a shot at him. Some voters told reporters that they didn't want Obama to run, let alone win, should his very presence unleash the demons who have stalked America from Lincoln to King. After consultation with Congress, Michael Chertoff, the homeland security secretary, gave Obama a Secret Service detail earlier than any presidential candidate in our history — in May 2007, some eight months before the first Democratic primaries. "I've got the best protection in the world, so stop worrying," Obama reassured his supporters. Eventually the country got conditioned to his appearing in large arenas without incident (though I confess that the first loud burst of fireworks at the end of his convention stadium speech gave me a start). In America, nothing does succeed like success. The fear receded. Until now. At McCain-Palin rallies, the raucous and insistent cries of "Treason!" and "Terrorist!" and "Kill him!" and "Off with his head!" as well as the uninhibited slinging of racial epithets, are actually something new in a campaign that has seen almost every conceivable twist. They are alarms. Doing nothing is not an option. All's fair in politics. John McCain and Sarah Palin have every right to bring up William Ayers, even if his connection to Obama is minor, even if Ayers's Weather Underground history dates back to Obama's childhood, even if establishment Republicans and Democrats alike have collaborated with the present-day Ayers in educational reform. But it's not just the old Joe McCarthyesque guilt-by-association game, however spurious, that's going on here. Don't for an instant believe the many mindlessly "even-handed" journalists who keep saying that the McCain campaign's use of Ayers is the moral or political equivalent of the Obama campaign's hammering on Charles Keating. What makes them different, and what has pumped up the Weimar-like rage at McCain-Palin rallies, is the violent escalation in rhetoric, especially (though not exclusively) by Palin. Obama "launched his political career in the living room of a domestic terrorist." He is "palling around with terrorists" (note the plural noun). Obama is "not a man who sees America the way you and I see America." Wielding a wildly out-of-context Obama quote, Palin slurs him as an enemy of American troops. By the time McCain asks the crowd "Who is the real Barack Obama?" it's no surprise that someone cries out "Terrorist!" The rhetorical conflation of Obama with terrorism is complete. It is stoked further by the repeated invocation of Obama's middle name by surrogates introducing McCain and Palin at these rallies. This sleight of hand at once synchronizes with the poisonous Obama-is-a-Muslim e-mail blasts and shifts the brand of terrorism from Ayers's Vietnam-era variety to the radical Islamic threats of today. That's a far cry from simply accusing Obama of being a guilty-by-association radical leftist. Obama is being branded as a potential killer and an accessory to past attempts at murder. "Barack Obama's friend tried to kill my family" was how a McCain press release last week packaged the remembrance of a Weather Underground incident from 1970 — when Obama was 8. We all know what punishment fits the crime of murder, or even potential murder, if the security of post-9/11 America is at stake. We all know how self-appointed "patriotic" martyrs always justify taking the law into their own hands. Obama can hardly be held accountable for Ayers's behavior 40 years ago, but at least McCain and Palin can try to take some responsibility for the behavior of their own supporters in 2008. What's troubling here is not only the candidates' loose inflammatory talk but also their refusal to step in promptly and strongly when someone responds to it with bloodthirsty threats in a crowded arena. Joe Biden had it exactly right when he expressed concern last week that "a leading American politician who might be vice president of the United States would not just stop midsentence and turn and condemn that." To stay silent is to pour gas on the fires. It wasn't always thus with McCain. In February he loudly disassociated himself from a speaker who brayed "Barack Hussein Obama" when introducing him at a rally in Ohio. Now McCain either backpedals with tardy, pro forma expressions of respect for his opponent or lets second-tier campaign underlings release boilerplate disavowals after ugly incidents like the chilling Jim Crow-era flashback last week when a Florida sheriff ranted about "Barack Hussein Obama" at a Palin rally while in full uniform. From the start, there have always been two separate but equal questions about race in this election. Is there still enough racism in America to prevent a black man from being elected president no matter what? And, will Republicans play the race card? The jury is out on the first question until Nov. 4. But we now have the unambiguous answer to the second: Yes. McCain, who is no racist, turned to this desperate strategy only as Obama started to pull ahead. The tone was set at the Republican convention, with Rudy Giuliani's mocking dismissal of Obama as an "only in America" affirmative-action baby. We also learned then that the McCain campaign had recruited as a Palin handler none other than Tucker Eskew, the South Carolina consultant who had worked for George W. Bush in the notorious 2000 G.O.P. primary battle where the McCains and their adopted Bangladeshi daughter were slimed by vicious racist rumors. No less disconcerting was a still-unexplained passage of Palin's convention speech: Her use of an unattributed quote praising small-town America (as opposed to, say, Chicago and its community organizers) from Westbrook Pegler, the mid-century Hearst columnist famous for his anti-Semitism, racism and violent rhetorical excess. After an assassin tried to kill F.D.R. at a Florida rally and murdered Chicago's mayor instead in 1933, Pegler wrote that it was "regrettable that Giuseppe Zangara shot the wrong man." In the '60s, Pegler had a wish for Bobby Kennedy: "Some white patriot of the Southern tier will spatter his spoonful of brains in public premises before the snow falls." This is the writer who found his way into a speech by a potential vice president at a national political convention. It's astonishing there's been no demand for a public accounting from the McCain campaign. Imagine if Obama had quoted a Black Panther or Louis Farrakhan — or William Ayers — in Denver. The operatives who would have Palin quote Pegler have been at it ever since. A key indicator came two weeks after the convention, when the McCain campaign ran its first ad tying Obama to the mortgage giant Fannie Mae. Rather than make its case by using a legitimate link between Fannie and Obama (or other Democratic leaders), the McCain forces chose a former Fannie executive who had no real tie to Obama or his campaign but did have a black face that could dominate the ad's visuals. There are no black faces high in the McCain hierarchy to object to these tactics. There hasn't been a single black Republican governor, senator or House member in six years. This is a campaign where Palin can repeatedly declare that Alaska is "a microcosm of America" without anyone even wondering how that might be so for a state whose tiny black and Hispanic populations are each roughly one-third the national average. There are indeed so few people of color at McCain events that a black senior writer from The Tallahassee Democrat was mistakenly ejected by the Secret Service from a campaign rally in Panama City in August, even though he was standing with other reporters and showed his credentials. His only apparent infraction was to look glaringly out of place. Could the old racial politics still be determinative? I've long been skeptical of the incessant press prognostications (and liberal panic) that this election will be decided by racist white men in the Rust Belt. Now even the dimmest bloviators have figured out that Americans are riveted by the color green, not black — as in money, not energy. Voters are looking for a leader who might help rescue them, not a reckless gambler whose lurching responses to the economic meltdown (a campaign "suspension," a mortgage-buyout stunt that changes daily) are as unhinged as his wanderings around the debate stage. To see how fast the tide is moving, just look at North Carolina. On July 4 this year — the day that the godfather of modern G.O.P. racial politics, Jesse Helms, died — The Charlotte Observer reported that strategists of both parties agreed Obama's chances to win the state fell "between slim and none." Today, as Charlotte reels from the implosion of Wachovia, the McCain-Obama race is a dead heat in North Carolina and Helms's Republican successor in the Senate, Elizabeth Dole, is looking like a goner. But we're not at Election Day yet, and if voters are to have their final say, both America and Obama have to get there safely. The McCain campaign has crossed the line between tough negative campaigning and inciting vigilantism, and each day the mob howls louder. The onus is on the man who says he puts his country first to call off the dogs, pit bulls and otherwise.

Wednesday, oct 1, 2008 Clean Energy Hey all! If you care about the environment and clean energy, about getting off of our addiction to oil, check this out- This is from an article by Joseph Romm which you can find at: http://www.salon.com/env/feature/2008/09/20/john_mccain_environment/index.html "McCain has a two-decade history in Washington of consistently opposing all efforts to shift our economy to clean energy. The facts are clear. All you have to do is look at his voting record. It reveals that McCain has long been one of the strongest opponents of clean energy in Congress, with a record matching that of James Inhofe, the most hardcore global-warming denier in the Senate, who comes from the heart of the oil patch in Oklahoma. Recently the Associated Press noted that "McCain has not shown up for eight Senate votes last year and this year to extend [renewable energy] tax credits, which expire at the end of this year. The last such vote was July 30." Yet at an Aspen Institute meeting in August, when McCain was asked about those missed votes, he simply lied to the audience. "I have a long record of that support of alternate energy," McCain said. "I come from a state where we have sunshine 360 days a year ... I've always been for all of those and I have not missed any crucial vote." In fact, on Dec. 13, 2007, the Senate was considering a bill to spend $13 billion on renewable power over five years. The cloture vote to allow the amendment to be brought to the Senate floor required 60 votes; it received 59 for, 40 against, and one senator absent. Yes, you guessed it: No McCain. A spokesman later said he would have voted to block the bill. Again, in February, the Senate tried to include in a stimulus package an extension of the renewable tax credit, plus nearly $3 billion more for alternate energy. The cloture vote again failed 59-40-1. And again, McCain's absence didn't kill an unpopular alternative energy bill -- it stopped a popular bill from even coming to a vote. Yet McCain continues to insist: "I have not missed any crucial vote." He would seem to be either a practiced liar who can fake sincerity, a pathological liar who believes his lies, or a man with simply no memory of key events several months earlier. As for McCain's "long record of that support of alternate energy," consider the votes on renewable energy funding and a federal "renewable portfolio standard" (RPS) that he did show up for this decade: Tax credits for clean energy R&D (2001) Require a 20 percent RPS where utilities buy 20 percent clean energy ('02) Reduce 20 percent RPS requirement ('02) Waive 20 percent RPS if utilities balk ('02) Increase clean energy R&D funding ('05) Clean energy incentives ('05) An RPS to require utilities [to] buy some clean energy ('05) Tax oil companies windfall profits to fund clean energy ('05) In every case, McCain voted against renewables, as did Sen. "Global warming is 'the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people'" Inhofe. On the Energy Policy Act of 2005, the biggest congressional effort to push alternative energy in more than a decade, McCain voted against it along with just 11 other senators. Even Inhofe voted for it. Why does McCain consistently vote against renewable energy, even though he comes from a state that has enough solar energy to power the entire country, a state rich in renewable-power entrepreneurs? Other than the fact that conservatives have a long track record of opposing renewable energy, McCain is technologically out of touch. When few in the media were paying attention to his campaign last December, McCain said that "the truly clean technologies don't work." He claimed that "most every expert that I know says that if you maximize [renewables] in every possible way," the contribution they would make is "very small." This quote reveals what a narrow circle of experts McCain relies on. Just what we need, another president in a bubble. And one that is unable to hear the truth, even when it is presented to him by another hardcore conservative. After T. Boone Pickens explained to McCain in person this summer that we could get 20 percent of our electricity from wind in one decade, McCain said he disagreed with Pickens, and that renewable energy can't meet much of the demand required over the next 20 years. Even the Bush administration's own Energy Department said we could get most of our electricity growth over the next two decades from wind power alone. OK, McCain thinks renewables "don't work." What about fuel-efficient vehicles? McCain responded to a Science Debate 2008 question on global warming: "I have long supported CAFE standards -- the mileage requirements that automobile manufacturers' cars must meet." That statement is somewhere between a lie and self-deception. The standards were in place before he got to the Senate, so his "support" was meaningless. In his entire 24 years in Congress, McCain had precisely one opportunity to vote for a serious bipartisan compromise on a major increase in CAFE standards. That was the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, which required a 40 percent increase in fuel economy standards by 2020. This was the first time fuel economy standards were substantially changed since the 1970s. McCain didn't bother to show up. Back in 2003, a measure was introduced to improve the government system for testing fuel economy, which was notoriously unreliable and well known to overstate the actual fuel economy of cars. McCain and Inhofe voted against it. What about energy efficiency and conservation? In 2002, the Senate voted to drop a measure encouraging the efficient generation of electricity. McCain and Inhofe were among those who voted to drop it. Another 2002 vote on weakening appliance-efficiency requirements passed by a mere 52-47. McCain and Inhofe both voted to weaken the requirements. This summer, McCain had the audacity to mock Barack Obama for talking about energy efficiency measures, like inflating one's tires, even though those measures would save more than 10 times as much oil as ending the moratorium on coastal drilling would. What about McCain's support for the environment in general? Back in 1996, McCain wrote a New York Times Op-Ed titled "Nature Is Not a Liberal Plot" that laid out his vision of a green(washed) Republican Party. It touted his work with Morris Udall, the former Democratic congressman from Arizona, to safeguard Arizona wild lands, including the Grand Canyon. But the Op-Ed also explained the importance of maintaining and improving the Clean Air Act, Superfund, the Clean Water Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act. McCain wrote, "Our nation's continued prosperity hinges on our ability to solve environmental problems and sustain the natural resources on which we all depend." And yet in 1994, McCain had voted to let coal states bypass the Clean Water Act. In 1996, he voted against increased EPA funding to clean up Superfund toxic-waste sites, where he was joined by Inhofe but opposed by most of his fellow Republicans. Again, in 1996, he voted with Inhofe to gut nuclear waste disposal laws. In 2003, he voted with Inhofe against requiring polluters to pay for cleanup of Superfund waste sites. When you add in McCain's legislative efforts to cut funding for the most energy-efficient form of national travel -- passenger rail -- you find that McCain has voted against clean energy and the environment -- or said he would have done so -- more than 50 times since the early 1990s. And McCain has voted with the Oklahoma oilman and global-warming denier a remarkable 42 out of 44 times. But what about McCain's support for action on global warming? True, he and Sen. Joe Lieberman introduced a global warming bill several years ago that would have put in place a mandatory cap on emissions and then set up a trading system to establish a price for carbon. But even those bills contained not a single substantive policy to promote energy efficiency and conservation. And since beginning his recent run for office, McCain has moved farther away from a serious position on the issue. He now says his carbon emissions cap is not "mandatory." He never even mentioned global warming or climate change once in his big convention speech, laying out his top priorities for the nation, and he chose a running mate who questions whether global warming is the result of human action. How committed to the environment does that sound?

Tuesday, sep 23, 2008 Food for Thought I heard about some energy drink called FSR that supposedly boosts energy levels. Considering that there are many reason for fatigue and you have to get to the true root of those reasons, there is no energy drink that is a one size fits all answer. But I decided to look it up, especially since Lance Armstrong's picture is on the advertising. Surely if he is promoting it, it would be healthy, right? Take a look. The Low Cal Wild Berry FRS drink includes some vitamins. But it also includes things like: Sucralose, "Natural" Lemon Flavor, Red #40, "Natural" berry flavor, "Natural" blueberry flavor, caffeine. The Powdered Orange Drink: Polydextrose, Natural and Artificial Flavors, Caffeine, Sucralose, Yellow #6 Soft Chews: The first three ingredients are: Sugar, Corn Syrup, & Natural & Artificial Flavors! They also include mono and diglycerides, caffeine, and sucralose, (Which is another name for the artificial sweetener called Splenda), and yellow #6. Why is he partnering up with this company? I wish I could ask him why he is letting them use his name and face while claiming that these drinks are health drinks. Just because you add a few vitamins to a bunch of chemicals, doesn't mean you now have a healthy choice on your hands. Let's at least be straight with people. C'mon Lance....!

Saturday, sep 20, 2008 Amish Barn I just found this picture that I took a year ago. It was taken in Holmes County, Ohio, otherwise known as "Amish Country." This picture gives you a glimpse into a whole other way of living....

Friday, sep 19, 2008 "The Sea, Once it casts its spell holds one in its net of wonder forever." Author: Jacques Cousteau "The waves of the sea Help me get back to me." Author: Jill Davis The cure for anything is salt water - sweat, tears, or the sea. ~Isak Dinesen He that will learn to pray, let him go to sea. ~George Herbert

Wednesday, sep 17, 2008 White Privilege This brilliant article moved me so deeply. Please share this with your friends! ******************************* This is Your Nation on White Privilege by Tim Wise September 13, 2008 For those who still can't grasp the concept of white privilege, or who are constantly looking for some easy-to-understand examples of it, perhaps this list will help. . White privilege is when you can get pregnant at seventeen like Bristol Palin and everyone is quick to insist that your life and that of your family is a personal matter, and that no one has a right to judge you or your parents, because "every family has challenges," even as black and Latino families with similar "challenges" are regularly typified as irresponsible, pathological and arbiters of social decay. . White privilege is when you can call yourself a "fuckin' redneck," like Bristol Palin"s boyfriend does, and talk about how if anyone messes with you, you'll "kick their fuckin' ass," and talk about how you like to "shoot shit" for fun, and still be viewed as a responsible, all-American boy (and a great son-in-law to be) rather than a thug. . White privilege is when you can attend four different colleges in six years like Sarah Palin did (one of which you basically failed out of, then returned to after making up some coursework at a community college), and no one questions your intelligence or commitment to achievement, whereas a person of color who did this would be viewed as unfit for college, and probably someone who only got in in the first place because of affirmative action. . White privilege is when you can claim that being mayor of a town smaller than most medium-sized colleges, and then Governor of a state with about the same number of people as the lower fifth of the island of Manhattan, makes you ready to potentially be president, and people don't all piss on themselves with laughter, while being a black U.S. Senator, two-term state Senator, and constitutional law scholar, means you're "untested." . White privilege is being able to say that you support the words "under God" in the pledge of allegiance because "if it was good enough for the founding fathers, it's good enough for me," and not be immediately disqualified from holding office--since, after all, the pledge was written in the late 1800s and the "under God" part wasn"t added until the 1950s--while believing that reading accused criminals and terrorists their rights (because, ya know, the Constitution, which you used to teach at a prestigious law school requires it), is a dangerous and silly idea only supported by mushy liberals. . White privilege is being able to be a gun enthusiast and not make people immediately scared of you. White privilege is being able to have a husband who was a member of an extremist political party that wants your state to secede from the Union, and whose motto was "Alaska first," and no one questions your patriotism or that of your family, while if you're black and your spouse merely fails to come to a 9/11 memorial so she can be home with her kids on the first day of school, people immediately think she"s being disrespectful. . White privilege is being able to make fun of community organizers and the work they do--like, among other things, fight for the right of women to vote, or for civil rights, or the 8-hour workday, or an end to child labor--and people think you're being pithy and tough, but if you merely question the experience of a small town mayor and 18-month governor with no foreign policy expertise beyond a class she took in college--you're somehow being mean, or even sexist. . White privilege is being able to convince white women who don't even agree with you on any substantive issue to vote for you and your running mate anyway, because all of a sudden your presence on the ticket has inspired confidence in these same white women, and made them give your party a "second look." . White privilege is being able to fire people who didn't support your political campaigns and not be accused of abusing your power or being a typical politician who engages in favoritism, while being black and merely knowing some folks from the old-line political machines in Chicago means you must be corrupt. . White privilege is being able to attend churches over the years whose pastors say that people who voted for John Kerry or merely criticize George W. Bush are going to Hell, and that the U.S. is an explicitly Christian nation and the job of Christians is to bring Christian theological principles into government, and who bring in speakers who say the conflict in the Middle East is God"s punishment on Jews for rejecting Jesus, and everyone can still think you're just a good church-going Christian, but if you're black and friends with a black pastor who has noted (as have Colin Powell and the U.S. Department of Defense) that terrorist attacks are often the result of U.S. foreign policy and who talks about the history of racism and its effect on black people, you're an extremist who probably hates America. . White privilege is not knowing what the Bush Doctrine is when asked by a reporter, and then people get angry at the reporter for asking you such a "trick question," while being black and merely refusing to give one-word answers to the queries of Bill O"Reilly means you're dodging the question, or trying to seem overly intellectual and nuanced. . White privilege is being able to claim your experience as a POW has anything at all to do with your fitness for president, while being black and experiencing racism is, as Sarah Palin has referred to it a "light" burden. . And finally, white privilege is the only thing that could possibly allow someone to become president when he has voted with George W. Bush 90 percent of the time, even as unemployment is skyrocketing, people are losing their homes, inflation is rising, and the U.S. is increasingly isolated from world opinion, just because white voters aren"t sure about that whole "change" thing. Ya know, it's just too vague and ill-defined, unlike, say, four more years of the same, which is very concrete and certain. . White privilege is, in short, the problem! Do you agree? https://donate.barackobama.com/page/content/splashsignupcky/

Tuesday, sep 16, 2008 Finding my Way It was a hard day. Feeling the side effects of a treatment I did to help my body fight lyme disease. I sat on the beach. Awhile later I saw that there was a crab on the sand. I walked over to some fisherman who were close by. They asked me if I wanted it. I said, "no. I want to let him be." He seemed to be stuck in the sand. He crawled towards the water, then stopped. A seagull came by and took a jab at him, and then flew away when the crab fought back. Yeah! Fight back! A wave came up and the crab made progress, getting some help and a push into the water! But then that same wave threw the crab back up onto the sand. Now he was far away from the water and worse off than when he started. Not only that, the force of the wave made him land upside down. I watched his legs in the air, waving as he tried to turn himself over without success. I stood by him to protect him from other seagulls who had their eyes on him. The fisherman packed up and left for the day. Then two girls came by. We chatted a minute about the crab's predicament. One of the girls grabbed a glass bottle that had washed up on the shore. She used it to push him towards the water. He couldn't go as fast as she could push. Just then, two seagulls appeared very close by. One was missing a leg, and the other one was limping. One of the girls said, "What is this, the gimp section? Yeah. Me battling an ongoing illness, 2 wounded seagulls and a stranded crab all within the space of about 40 feet. The girls kept trying to help the crab into the water by pushing it with the bottle, but every time the crab seemed to make progress, again and again a wave would dump him back onto land upside down far from the water he was trying to get back to. "I can relate." I thought to myself. Another girl stopped by to watch the action. I said to her, "I guess we can control our effort, but not always the outcome." She said, "how true." The girls were getting restless. Their gentle pushing wasn't saving this crab. Then as people often do, they began to cast blame. One girl yelled out, "Hey buddy, God helps those who help themselves!" As if the crab wasn't doing everything he could do to get back in that water. Well, the girls eventually gave up and walked away. I sat down in the sand. Please God save him! Beneath that prayer was, please God save me! Just then the one legged seagull came over. Oh no... Maybe the seagull needed this crab as food for his own survival. Who was I to interfere with nature? But I still wanted this crab to live. The seagull got very close, inches away, and then miraculously flew away. I was relieved, but still felt uncertain and sad. A few minutes passed, and a woman came over. She had been watching the scene unfold from a distance. She had seen the other girls try to save the crab with the glass bottle. But this woman didn't waste time gently pushing the crab in the right direction. And she didn't yell at it for not working hard enough. What did she do? She took off her shoe, carefully scooped the crab in it, and carried it out into the deep water. She set it free. - jo

Thursday, sep 11, 2008 Remembering 9-11 I live just a few short blocks from Ground Zero. My husband took this picture today, near where we live. On this day, I feel so much sadness and am flooded with memories. I wanted to take some time to write about them. 7 Years ago today. I was living in another neighborhood called Soho which is north of Battery Park but still downtown. I had the most amazing view of the world trade center from my window. I use to love looking at it at night. It was September 8 2001, and my husband was out of town. Our cat who we loved was very sick. She was panting and breathless, peeing on herself, had a fever. I knew I had to have her put to sleep. We had tried to save her before, but this time she was too ill. I cried for hours, talking to her and petting her. Then the vet came to our house and he put her to sleep right there in my studio room, beneath a window with a beautiful view of the world trade center. My husband was as upset as I was. But he was not there when she died. He was traveling for business, and was on a flight from San Francisco to Phoenix. We loved her. I had no idea that the loss of a pet could be so traumatic. I was such a mess from it. Looking back, she was very sick, and I think she knew she didn't want to be around for what was to come. 3 days later I was asleep in bed when suddenly I heard a loud BOOM. Then a woman screamed. It woke me up, and my heart was racing, pounding, which was unusual. You know how sometimes your body knows something before you know it? My first thought was that a car on West Broadway had hit a person. I knew something was wrong. I grabbed some clothes and got dressed, and went out onto the street. When I looked up, a section of one of the towers was on fire. I ran back into the building and got my neighbor. She came over and we watched from my window. How did this happen? How many people were in there on those floors at this hour? We also kept questioning why it was taking so long for anything to be done about the fire. We even took a video of it for a few minutes. We did not know what was happening. Were helicopters even equipped to deal with putting out a fire like this? We thought it had been some freak accident. What we did not know until later was that Flight 11, an American airlines Boeing 67 plane traveling from Boston to LA. had been hijacked and crashed into the north tower. It seemed like an hour went by, which is strange, because it was only 18 minutes later, 9:03AM when suddenly a huge jet crashed into tower 2. WHAT?????????? There was such a loud BANG. Flames went into the air. Within 15 minutes, all NYC airports were shut down, and the bridges and tunnels were all closed. United Airlines Flight 175 had crashed into tower 2. A plane that was also headed to LA from Boston. But at that time, we knew nothing of those details. It was just chaos. I went back and forth between being outside on the street and being in the apartment. I still did not have a tv on and had no idea the whole nation and world was watching this. Which shows my state of mind at that time. I wish I could remember the sequence of events in the right order. I don't. Of course I had no idea another plane was also headed for the Pentagon. Did I get ahold of my husband in LA who was asleep and 3 hours behind EST? I don't think so. I don't remember. I did get through to my mom a few quick times I think. She was trying to calm me down. I got ahold of a friend of mine who is a reporter and was telling him what was happening, but I was so panicked that I don't think we talked long. I remember standing looking at the burning towers, with huge clouds of yellow and grey stuff blanketing the sky. It was terrible. Then all of the sudden one part of the tower started to cave in and before we knew it, they had both collapsed and just imploded. There were so many people screaming on the street. I remember.... Blur. Then, quiet. Pin drop quiet. Stunned silence. It was eerie. I start crying as I sit here typing this. I remember being on the roof with my neighbor Chris. I still had not turned on the tv. We were stunned. The smoke was everywhere. The towers were gone. The city felt like one big gaping wound. I had a few friends who were able to get to me. When they came, we turned on the tv for the first time. There was so much adrenaline in the air. I can't even explain it. It was the same sort of adrenaline that had been in the air when I went through the 1994 earthquake in California. I thought I was going to die then. But that's another story. It seemed strange watching the news on tv. I was there. It didn't look the same on the screen. We didn't have much food in the house, and anyone who is familiar with Soho knows that not much opens until noon. But there was a deli around the corner. My friends and I went over to try and get some basics. The lines were really long. There were a few people covered in grey soot who had been closer to the towers. The air was so highly charged. What I remember in the days to come is scattered and blurry. I remember walking around like a zombie. I remember how scary it felt to be alone. Nobody was able to get below Houston Street without an ID proving they lived there. The street was barricaded off and cops stayed there checking IDs. I remember that it felt and looked like a war zone. I remember all the tank trucks lined up on Houston street to head down to the world trade center. I remember the ambulances that had no bodies to bring back. The stores all being closed. It was a ghost town and I remember how unnerving the quiet was in a city that never sleeps. I remember feeling like I was living in a funeral 24 hours a day. I remember all the signs and photos posted everywhere, covering street posts and walls and gated fences and buildings, people looking for loved ones. I remember the smell in the air which lasted for so many months, the smell of toxic metals and debris and only God knows what, making you have to cover your face just to walk down the street. I remember the EPA saying the air was safe. I remember crying alot. I remember people walking barefoot trying to get home and get to the Brooklyn Bridge immediately after the attacks. I remember the first anniversary of the attacks when I hosted a concert through www.Septemberconcert.org. I gathered a group of other artists and we did a 6 hour show, each taking turns playing. We were so exhausted and spent, and none of us knew how we would get through it. In some ways, that day was even harder, as it reopened a wound that had not healed. But we found that by coming together we could share our stories and our pain and share our hope. I remember the ceremonies honoring those who lost their lives and the tears we all cried. I remember how fatigued I felt from the immune illness I had as well as the added emotional grief I was feeling. I remember someone who lived in another state not understanding why I was so traumatized on that first anniversary. Why I could not stop crying. I did not fully understand it either. I felt all the energy surrounding me in the city, the energy of loss and grief. He said, "Why are you so upset? Did you know someone who died?" I remember soon after the attacks when all the subways downtown were shut down and how hard that was. How isolating. I remember walking all the way to 14th St to get a subway and heading up to Central Park and feeling like I had entered another country as I sat there watching people walk dogs, rollerblade and sit outside. I remember how loud it was uptown where the cabs were running, the subways were running. And how eerie and traumatic everything felt downtown. I remember my husband yelling at me from Los Angeles to get the hell out of there and go to his sister's in CT. I remember saying I can't leave, I can't leave.....and feeling unable to move. Then I did end up getting myself to Grand Central and taking a train. I felt like other people couldn't understand it. They were in shock and yet were far enough away that they also had some normalcy in their lives. Seeing the whole thing go down on tv versus being there in person was the difference between mars and earth. And then as hard as it was for me going through all of it and living in the middle of it geographically, I did not lose anyone I loved in those towers. How HARD WOULD THAT BE? I remember someone emailing me from Kansas, concerned about my soul and that I was saved, saying how events like this put things into perspective. You want to know perspective? Perspective is that our President George Bush sat in an elementary school and read books to kids while our country was being attacked. Perspective is that the same people who voted for him because they liked him rather than because he was qualifed, are now going to vote for McCain/ Palin because they like Palin's personality rather than that she is qualified. And don't get me started on McCain. Seriously. Let's look at these timelines. It was at 8:19: that Betty Ong, a flight attendant on Flight 11 alerted American Airlines via an airphone, "“The cockpit is not answering, somebody’s stabbed in business class—and I think there’s Mace—that we can’t breathe—I don’t know, I think we’re getting hijacked.” She then tells of the stabbings of two flight attendants. 8:34: A third transmission from Flight 11: "Nobody move please. We are going back to the airport. Don't try to make any stupid moves." Boston Center contacts Otis Air National Guard Base at Cape Cod through the FAA's Cape Cod facility, on the hijacking of Flight 11. 8:37: Flight 175 confirmed sighting of hijacked Flight 11 to flight controllers. (You would think by now the President of the United States would be on alert)... Then at 8:44: Flight attendant Amy Sweeney, aboard Flight 11, reports by telephone to American Airlines Flight Services Office in Boston, "Something is wrong. We are in a rapid descent... we are all over the place." A minute later, she is asked to describe what she sees out the window. She responds, "I see the water. I see the buildings. I see buildings..." After a short pause, she reports, "We are flying low. We are flying very, very low. We are flying way too low." Seconds later she says slowly, "Oh my God...OH MY GOD!" The call ends with a burst of very loud, sustained static. 8:52: A flight attendant aboard Flight 175 calls a United Airlines office in San Francisco, reporting that the flight had been hijacked, both pilots had been killed, a flight attendant had been stabbed, and the hijackers were probably flying the plane. One plane has crashed into the world trade center, and another has been hijacked. You would think that President Bush might have considered that maybe this wasn't a good time to be reading books? Well the rest is history. We all know what happened. The months went by, we all breathed some pretty toxic stuff for a long time. The grief was palpable and there was no relief from it day or night. My husband came home, we missed our cat, we cried for the thousands of people who had lost their lives or lost loved ones in this horrible tragedy. We tried to go on with life. The dust cleared from my building's entry way and settled somewhere in its 100 year old walls, only to be dug up again in improper construction tear downs. I got REALLY sick. The EPA said the air was safe, we couldn't breathe without choking on it, our President got us into a war with a nation that had nothing to do with 9-11, and 4 months later my aunt died from ALS. So here we are. And here I am. If there is ever a time in our country when we need true change, it is now. I want a leader who inspires me. I want a leader who is about changing some of the policies we have had these 8 years, rather than agreeing with what he have had. I want someone who does not run on creating fear and terror to justify poor choices. I think of that quote by the poet RUMI, "don't move the way fear makes you move..." Many people voted for Bush because of the brilliant strategies of Karl Rove, spin expert to the dumbed down masses. Rove praises Palin's experience in being the mayor of small town Wasilla, yet he is also on record as having previously trashed Virginia Governor and former Richmond Mayor, Tim Kaine saying, "He was mayor of the 105th largest city in America. And again, with all due respect to Richmond, Virginia, it’s smaller than Chula Vista, California; Aurora, Colorado; Mesa or Gilbert, Arizona; north Las Vegas or Henderson, Nevada. It’s not a big town. " Let's see here- Richmond, Virginia population 1.1 million Wasilla, Alaska, approximately 7025.. But do we really want to support a right wing extremist as vice president who has no foreign policy experience or insights, a woman who believes global warming is not caused by human behavior, whose church believes that the state of Alaska will be a shelter in the end times for Christians? Does this sound like someone with the experience, intelligence and education to be the vice president and help direct our country? Hardly. Lastly, as I reflect upon the past 8 years, I know many people who voted for Bush but now say he was a disappointment. According to the Congressional Quarterly's assessment of McCain's voting record, in 2007 McCain voted in line with the President Bush's position 95 percent of the time – the highest percentage rate for McCain since Bush took office. Listen. Think.

Tuesday, sep 9, 2008 Politics 8 Years ago, I watched the election process and felt these burning sensations in my gut that Americans were choosing the wrong president. I cried when Bush was voted in. Everything in my whole being shouted, THIS IS THE WRONG DIRECTION. I wasn't the only one who felt that way. But we were right. Now I am feeling those same feelings all over again as I watch McCain/ Palin. Barack Obama inspires me. He hits the issues hard. I am not naive enough to think that any one president can make every change happen that they would like to, nor am I foolish enough to think any President will make all the right decisions. But I believe he is on the right track. When he talks about change, when he addresses issues, I feel inspired. I was as shocked as everyone else when McCain chose Sarah Palin to be his vice president. After watching the Republican convention which was very light on the issues and heavy on personality, I felt even stronger about my decision to vote for Barack Obama. From what I have seen and heard, McCain's policies are more of Bush/Cheney land. Sarah Palin's views are far too extreme, and her experience is far too limited for her to be "a heartbeat away from being the President." She is charming, interesting, she seems tough and manipulative. I love her sass. That appeals to me. She has a rebellious streak. She is trying to carve out this image of herself as frontier woman meets hockey mom. While she may be many of those things, and while I like some things about her, she is most definately not qualified to be in the White House. Her religious connection are pretty extreme. This is some information on the church she attended until 2002. http://www. talk2action. org/story/2008/9/5/03830/11602/Front_Page/Palin_s_Churches_and_the_Third_Wave She asked people at Wasilla Assembly of God to pray about building a gas pipeline through Alaska."I think God's will has to be done in unifying people and companies to get that gas line built, so pray for that," she said. "Currently, two large natural gas pipelines are under consideration for development in the Arctic region: a Mackenzie Delta pipeline in Canada and an Alaska pipeline, both of which are large, expensive construction projects. It is expected that 6 years will be required to permit, license, design, construct, and open the Mackenzie pipeline and 9 years will be required to do the same for the Alaska pipeline. A number of factors could delay completion of the projects beyond 2030, however, including: higher than- expected construction costs that would make the pipelines unprofitable throughout the projection period; higher-than-expected State and Provincial taxes and royalties on natural gas production; environmental concerns requiring expensive remediation; delays in regulatory approval and permitting; and difficulties in addressing the concerns of native peoples whose lands are crossed by the pipelines. Accordingly, the limited natural gas supply case assumes that neither pipeline will be opened before 2030." To read more of that article on the pipeline go to: http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/aeo/otheranalysis/aeo_2008analysispapers/legslng.html Barack Obama proposed taxing the record multi billion dollar profits of oil companies and using some of that money to pay for a $1000 middle class tax cut that would go to 95% of families. Is drilling a REAL solution? No. Barack Obama wants to invest money into energy efficient cars. This is one small simple thing, but as we all know, the small simple things make big differences. He says that if everybody would inflate their tires to the proper levels, we would save more oil than John McCain would get from drilling. Then the Republicans make fun of a step that every expert says would absolutely reduce our oil consumption by 3-4%. It's like these guys take pride in being ignorant! They think it's funny that they are making fun of something that is actually true. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akjXqfvLu28 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8fkbEuCQss Sarah Palin does not believe that in cases of rape or incest, a woman has the right to choose. That is horrific. And while she has that belief based on the belief that murder is wrong, she has no problem with killing innocent animals in cruel ways or going to war in which thousands of innocent people are murdered. In fact, ask her about Iraq and she sounds like she has no idea of what to do about the situation. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGPFPBmzRrQ http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2008/08/sarah_palin_on_iraq.html It is shocking that some people will vote for her on the abortion issue alone, when that issue has already been decided. Women do have the choice. When McCain ran for office in 2000 and his character was brutally attacked by the Republican party, he said: "Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell and a few leaders of the pro-life movement call me an unacceptable presidential candidate. Why? Because I don’t pander to them... We embrace the fine members of the religious conservative community. But that does not mean that we will pander to their self-appointed leaders. [These leaders] are corrupting influences on religion and politics. They shame our faith, our party and our country. Neither party should be defined by pandering to the outer reaches of American politics and the agents of intolerance whether they be Louis Farrakhan or Al Sharpton on the left, or Robertson or Falwell on the right." Source: Speech in Virginia Beach, VA Feb 28, 2000 So isn't it interesting that now he is doing the very thing he spoke against. Where is the real John McCain? As for taxes, According to the non partisan Tax Policy Center’s computations, “under Mr. Obama’s plan, the middle of the middle class, or those earning $37,595 to $66,354, would see taxes cut by $1,042 a year. Under Mr. McCain’s plan, taxes for people in that category would also fall, but by $319; the largest chunk of the benefits would go to those making $2.8 million a year or more.” [New York Times, 6/13/08]

Tuesday, aug 19, 2008 Juice Pens Thirsty Paper! Today I talked to best selling author and artist SARK. We talked about her amazing new book called JUICY PENS, THIRSTY PAPER. I will be airing our conversation next week! Her website is www.Planetsark.com My cat Sabrina went nuts the whole time Sark and I talked on the phone. She must have been feeling the good energy. She kept rubbing up against me and climbing all over the wires and gear I was using to record. She never does that! Then she started meowing. GEESH! Of course now that the interview is over, Sabrina is sleeping on the bed. I think that telling our stories is one of the brave things we do in this life. What will people think of me if I tell my story? Will they criticize me or judge me? Do I dare to believe I have something worth telling! Will I remember the details clearly and be able to put my story into words that make sense? Will I regret sharing my stories? What if I keep changing my mind about what sort of story I want to write? What if it is not very good? Do you recognize any of these questions? I once met a guy who wanted to write songs. He was a musician and a very talented one. But he was afraid to write an entire song (both lyrics and music). He said he didn't want it to suck! Too much was on the line for him. I think that pride truly comes before a downfall. That is why brave people put aside pride. (Or dare to try in spite of pride). We KNOW we are going to fall if we keep trying to do new things! The more we practice, the better we get. I have had my share of humiliations. bad performances, poor choices and etc etc. That's for sure! So I speak from experience. I keep trying new things anyway. We all need encouragement during our creative process. The person I go to is my husband Tommy. I know he has my best interest in mind. There has never been any jealousy or competition between us, and we love each other and trust each other. Everyone needs at least one person to share their art-in-progress with! One time Sark went to her guestbook online, hoping to find some encouragement. Instead, she saw a note from someone named Jenny. It said, "SARK. I think you are a fake. I've sold all your books back to the half price book store." How do you feel when someone writes something or says something like that? Well, obviously this comment had nothing to do with Sark and everything to do with the girl who wrote it. But why is that so hard for us to see that when we are on the receiving end of mean comments like this? How do your stories and poems and songs help you heal? Or help you have fun!? Alot of the things I write are not ever meant to be published. They are just for me. That gives me the room to explore how I am really feeling and what I think. Since my feelings and thoughts change all the time, I don't like other people to read them and think of them as being set in stone! We are all in a process. Sometimes I listen back to these shows, read past journal entries, or listen to past songs I have written, and I think UGH! Why did I do/say/think/write THAT?? Have you ever felt that way? I am glad YouTube wasn't around when I was starting out. If everybody is filmed when they are practicing, nobody has time to develop! And don't get me started on American Idol. How many young artists on there have been shot down before they had time to grow and bloom? It is wrong! Here is a simple exercise for you from Sark's new book. She wrote some phrases to spark your imagination. Take some of these phrases and write a poem or short story around them. Don't overanalyze it or get too critical of yourself. This is not about presenting something "polished." This is just about writing. Phrases to choose from: Misplaced Enthusiasm Blank Paper Fast Turtle Night of Ecstasy Lost Conditional Love Intense Request Grief Lesson Open Door There are others too! Buy her new book and go to page 84 to read them! Now write a poem or short story around one or more of these phrases BEFORE reading on... --------- Ok, are you back? Did you write something? It feels good to write doesn't it? What were some of your poems and stories using the phrases SARK suggested? Here are a few of the things I wrote: Intense Request He had a day planned with his family for his brother's birthday in New Jersey. He had an afternoon planned with friends at the ball game in Philadelphia. He had a meeting planned for the morning in NYC. He had many plans. So did she. But the illness has obliterated life as they knew it. She could not walk or lift her head off of the bed without his help. He cancelled his plans and he stayed with her. ©2008 Jo Davidson ------------- Fast Turtle He kept trying to take shortcuts or at the very least speed it up a little. But every time he took a shortcut he ran into a detour. He learned that sometimes one small step every single day is faster than a sprint. Then he stopped comparing himself to others. He said, "You really can't tell for sure who is where until the finish line anyway." ©Jo Davidson ------------------ Blank Paper I always stare at it. It could be a song, a poem, a prayer or an entire novel. It could end up in a box, in a fire, flushed down the toilet, or erased. It could be cherished in a hope chest for years to come. I stare and wonder what I will do with it. Sometimes just considering the possibilities gives me a thrill. And then I begin. Other times, I fear doing anything at all lest I ruin its beauty. ©2008 Jo Davidson ---------------------------- Lost She keeps running into things blanking out and falling when she walks. She has one foot in this world and one foot in the world beyond. She searches and prays for her lighthouse. Then one day she catches a glimpse of its shadow. She stretches out her arms and walks toward that dim light. Her vision keeps blurring and she wonders if she is walking towards it at all or if it is just another dream. ©Jo Davidson 2008 ------------------- An Open Door A warm summer breeze drifts through the windows like a hum The ceiling fans twirl and she hears the sounds of her fingers tapping the computer keys She see a world out there beyond the sheer curtains. She searches for an open door. ©2008 jo Davidson ------------ See how phrases can spark the imagination? To find out more about JUICE PENS THIRSTY PAPER, go to www.Planetsark.com Quote for the Day: "When I feel hopelessness, I will know it as illusion." -SARK

Tuesday, aug 19, 2008 Butterflies What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a butterfly. ~Richard Bach Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is always just beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you. ~Nathaniel Hawthorne We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty. ~Maya Angelou The fluttering of a butterfly's wings can effect climate changes on the other side of the planet. ~Paul Erlich Once I read a story about a butterfly in the subway, and today, I saw one. It got on at 42nd, and off at 59th, where, I assume it was going to Bloomingdales to buy a hat that will turn out to be a mistake - as almost all hats are. ~Nikolaus Laszlo, Nora Ephron, and Delia Ephron, You've Got Mail I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly dreaming I am a man. ~Chuang Tzu

Wednesday, aug 13, 2008 Anyway ANYWAY People are unreasonable, illogical and self-centered. Love them anyway! If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Do good anyway! If you are successful, you will win false friends and enemies. Succeed anyway! The good you do will be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway! Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable. Be honest and frank anyway! What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. Build anyway! People really need help but may attack you if you help them. Help them anyway! Give the world the best you have and you’ll get kicked in the teeth. Give the world the best you’ve got anyway! Written by: Mother Teresa

Friday, aug 8, 2008 Puzzle Time Some people love putting puzzles together. I have never been one of those people. Let's just be clear about that right now! But life brought me one anyway in the form of a complex illness. So I have had to put on my puzzle hat every day and go at it. My parents love puzzles. One year at Christmas they sat there with a HUGE complicated puzzle that had tiny pieces that all looked the same. It drove even them crazy. But for some reason they wanted to solve it anyway. One of my friends has parents who love puzzles so much, they have a designated table for them. These are some things I have learned about puzzles from watching my parents: 1. Just when you think you are making progress, the dog will come along and knock the whole thing on the floor. 2. When you feel like quitting, quit for the day, but don't quit forever. 3. Some puzzles take a day, some a week, some a month, and some even take years. 4. Sometimes a piece looks like the right one even when it's not. 5. If it is so hard that you can only work on one piece a day, work on the one piece. 6. Sometimes you find the right puzzle piece when you are no longer looking so hard. 7. Sometimes you have to look really hard. 8. A few people working on one puzzle make it easier. It's also more fun. 9. When you get tired of searching, take a break. 10. Don't give up no matter how impossible it seems. 11. Keep your eye on the big picture so you know what you want it to look like when it's done. 12. Sometimes shapes will guide you. Another day colors might guide you. Experiment and be flexible in your approach. 13. Cursing at inanimate objects usually doesn't help. (I learned this one from somebody else. My parents never curse). 14. If you stay up all hours of the night working on your puzzle, you will be tired the next day. 15. There will be days when you slowly go through every single puzzle piece in the box and the right fit just doesn't exist. It will make no sense. 16. If you find the right piece but put it in upside down, you'll think it's wrong. So always try each piece in a few different directions. 17. Figuring it out could become an obsession. 18. Try to set up a special area of the house for the puzzle, so the pieces are not everywhere. Stay focused. 19. There will always be another puzzle. When you have a choice, pick up an easier one! When you don't, do the best you can! 20. Once you get the puzzle together and it looks beautiful and is finished- it eventually all goes back in the box again! ©Jo Davidson www.Zentertainment.org

Thursday, aug 7, 2008 Amazing how Things Change I found this list somewhere. I can't remember where I stumbled upon it. But how things have changed in a short 100 years! Is this stuff all really true? In 1908- The average life expectancy in the U.S. Was 47 years old. Only 14 percent of the homes in the U.S. Had a bathtub. Only 8 percent of the homes had a telephone. A three-minute call from Denver to New York City cost eleven dollars. There were only 8,000 cars in the U.S. , and only 144 miles of paved roads. The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph. Alabama, Mississippi, Iowa, and Tennessee were each more heavily populated than California With a mere 1.4 million people, California was only the 21st most populous state in the Union . The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower. The average wage in the U.S. Was 22 Cents per hour. The average U.S. Worker made between $200 and $400 per year . A competent accountant could expect to earn $2000 per year, A dentist made $2,500 per year, A veterinarian $1,500 per year, and a mechanical engineer about $5,000 per year. More than 95 percent of all births in the U.S. Took place at HOME. Ninety percent of all U.S. Doctors had NO COLLEGE EDUCATION! Instead, they attended so-called medical schools, many of which Were condemned in the press AND the government as "substandard." Sugar cost four cents a pound. Eggs were fourteen cents a dozen. Coffee was fifteen cents a pound. Most women only washed their hair once a month, and used Borax or egg yolks for shampoo. Canada passed a law that prohibited poor people from entering into their country for any reason. Five leading causes of death in the U.S. were: 1. Pneumonia and influenza 2. Tuberculosis 3. Diarrhea 4. Heart disease 5. Stroke The American flag had 45 stars. Arizona, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Hawaii, and Alaska hadn't been admitted to the Union yet. The population of Las Vegas , Nevada , was only 30!!!! Crossword puzzles, canned beer, and ice tea Hadn't been invented yet. There was no Mother's Day or Father's Day. Two out of every 10 U.S. Adults couldn't read or write. Only 6 percent of all Americans had graduated from high school. Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available over the counter at the local corner drugstores. Back then pharmacists Said, "Heroin clears the complexion, gives buoyancy to the mind, Regulates the stomach and bowels, and is, in fact, a perfect guardian of health." There were about 230 reported Murders in the ENTIRE U.S.A. !

Monday, aug 4, 2008 Old Souls

Wednesday, jul 30, 2008 today...

Tuesday, jul 29, 2008

Monday, jul 28, 2008 Funny- Girls night out Two women friends had gone out for a Girls Night Out, and had been decidedly over-enthusiastic on the cocktails. Incredibly drunk and walking home they suddenly realized they both needed to pee. They were very near a graveyard and one of them suggested they do their business behind a headstone or something. The first woman had nothing to wipe with so she took off her panties, used them and threw them away. Her friend however was wearing an expensive underwear set and didn't want to ruin hers, but was lucky enough to salvage a large ribbon from a wreath that was on a grave and proceeded to wipe herself with it. After finishing, they made their way home. The next day the first woman's husband phones the other husband and said, "These damn girls nights out have got to stop. My wife came home last night without her panties." "That's nothing," said the other. "Mine came back with a sympathy card stuck between the cheeks of her butt that said, 'From all of us at the Fire Station, We'll never forget you!' ---------------------------------- Mental Release A man who had been in a mental home for some years finally seemed to have improved to the point where it was thought he might be released. The head of the institution, in a fit of commendable caution, decided, however, to interview him first. "Tell me," said he, "if we release you, as we are considering doing, what do you intend to do with your life?' The inmate said, "It would be wonderful to get back to real life and if I do, I will certainly refrain from making my former mistake. I was a nuclear physicist, you know, and it was the stress of my work in weapons research that helped put me here. If I am released, I shall confine myself to work in pure theory, where I trust the situation will be less difficult and stressful." "Marvelous," said the head of the institution. "Or else," ruminated the inmate. "I might teach. There is something to be said for spending one's life in bringing up a new generation of scientists." "Absolutely," said the head. "Then again, I might write. There is considerable need for books on science for the general public. Or I might even write a novel based on my experiences in this fine institution." "An interesting possibility," said the head. "And finally, if none of these things appeals to me, I can always continue to be a teakettle." -------------------------------------- Dear Mum and Dad, It has now been three months since I left for college. I have been remiss in writing this and I am very sorry for my thoughtlessness in not having written before. I will bring you up to date now, but, before you read on, please sit down. YOU ARE NOT TO READ ANY FURTHER UNLESS YOU ARE SITTING DOWN, OKAY? Well then, I am getting along pretty well now. The skull fracture, and the concussion I got when I jumped out of the window of my dormitory when it caught fire shortly after my arrival, are pretty well healed now. Fortunately, the fire in the dormitory and my jump, were witnessed by an attendant at the gas station near the dorm. He was the one who called the fire department and the ambulance. He also visited me at the hospital, and since I had nowhere to live because of the burned out dormitory, he was kind enough to invite me to share his apartment with him and his three buddies. It's really a basement room, but it's kinda cute. He is a very fine boy and we have fallen deeply in love and are planning to be married. We haven't set the exact date yet, but it will be before my pregnancy begins to show. Yes, Mum and Dad I am pregnant. I know how much you are looking forward to being grandparents! I know you will welcome the baby and give it the love, devotion and tender care you gave me when I was a child. The reason for the delay in our marriage is that my boyfriend has some minor infection which prevents us from passing our pre-marital blood tests, and I carelessly caught it from him. This will soon clear up with the penicillin injections I am having daily. I know you will welcome him into our family with open arms. He is kind and, although not well educated, he is ambitious. Although he is of a different race and religion from us,I know your often expressed tolerance will not permit you to be bothered by the fact that his skin color is different from ours. I am sure you will love him as I do. His family background is good, too, for I am told that his father is an important weapons dealer in the village in Africa from which he came. Now that I have brought you up to date, I want to tell you that there was no dormitory fire, I did not have a concussion or skull fracture. I was not in the hospital,I am not pregnant and I am not engaged. I do not have syphilis and there is no man in my life. However, I got a 'D' in History and an 'F' in Science, and I want you to see those marks in the proper perspective. Your Loving Daughter

Sunday, jul 27, 2008 Angel Oak This is Angel Oak. She is over 1400 years old. Imagine that. She lives in John's Island, South Carolina. She is one of the oldest living things east of the Mississippi River, and her canopy provides 17,000 square feet of shade. She has survived earthquakes, floods, hurricanes and human interference. She has witnessed slavery, abuse, hatred, love, war, peace and the ever changing progress (or lack of) in human development. She has heard people's secrets, fears, worries and absorbed their happiness and faith. She has lived through changing belief systems, changing cultures and shifts. She makes me wonder about this business of being human. What would it have been like to have lived 100 years ago, 200, 500, or even 1400? What were the views, beliefs, and lifestyles of the people in this area at that time? Were the native Americans dancing and hunting, weaving and working under her shade? She has seen so much. She has seen people set in their ways and beliefs, unaware of the vast nature of the universe. She has laughed, sighed and shaken her tree branches in the wind. She thinks to herself, why do these people make war rather than peace? Religions come and go, but one thing stands- Love your neighbor as you love yourself. Many of the world's problems stem from not doing this one thing. Doing this one thing would end all war. It would end all intolerance. It would change the entire world. She wonders when we will all get it. She embraces the healers who have long connected to the earth with its roots and plants for healing. She opens her arms and says- listen...I know the way---- and then she leads the way to life. Oxygen. I met her in June. I stood under her branches and wanted to take a century long nap.

Saturday, jul 26, 2008 Red This flower was in a preacher's garden-and of all the flowers I have ever photographed, I think it is the most sexual flower photo. I think God has a sense of humor.

Tuesday, jul 8, 2008 Why I Won't Use "Energy Saving" Light Bulbs Why I Won’t Use "Energy Saving" Light Bulbs Everyone from Al Gore to "green living" sites are promoting these compact fluorescent bulbs to save energy and money in the long run. Maybe you have some in your home already. I will not use them and here is why: -Did you know that these bulbs contain toxic mercury? Mercury is in so many products today, but it is very dangerous, and is a huge part of many devastating illnesses that people are facing. Personally, I do not want mercury to be in my home, especially in something that can easily break! -If your cat knocks over the lamp, or your child or baby knocks over the lamp, or there is an earthquake and a bulb breaks, do you realize that there are strict guidelines on what to do to protect yourself? If one of these light bulbs breaks, evacuate the room immediately. Open a window. Do not step on any of the glass or the mercury itself. Stay OUT of the room for at least 15 minutes. Shut off ALL central a/c and heating systems. NEVER vacuum up the broken glass or what is around it. If you do, you will spread toxic mercury around your home! NEVER use a broom to clean up the spill. Never pour mercury down the drain. If your clothing comes into contact with the mercury, do NOT wash it in a washing machine. You must discard the clothing. This is the same for bedding, curtains, etc. You must throw it out if it comes into direct contact with the mercury. After 15 minutes, or when you re enter the room, put on rubber gloves and use a stiff piece of cardboard or paper to sweep everything up. Use sticky duct tape to get up small fragments. Put it into a glass jar such as a canning jar. Wipe down the area with damp towels while still wearing gloves. Put everything that has come in touch with the mercury, into this jar and seal the lid. Do NOT inhale any of the dust Do NOT put this glass jar in a household bin to throw out, Instead, take it to a counsel dump/recycling center in your area and put it where they put the batteries. Wash your hands and face If this spill happens in carpet or on a rug, you might consider throwing it out, or at least that section. If AFTER doing all of this, you need to vacuum the area at some point, make sure the a/c and heating systems are turned off in your home. Keep a window opened while you vacuum. When you finish, you must dispose of the vacuum bag in a sealed plastic bag. Wow. All because of a broken light bulb. How many people know that these bulbs are so dangerous? How many people will dispose of the mercury correctly? According to the EPA, "Nationwide, over 670 million mercury-containing bulbs are discarded each year. Most of these bulbs are still discarded with municipal solid waste that is ultimately landfilled or incinerated. These disposal methods can lead to a release of elemental mercury into the environment through breakage and leakage and ultimately contaminate the food chain." The EPA says this, and yet they somehow rationalize that using these bulbs is better because they use less energy. There are NO warnings on many of the the labels of these products, and the ones with warnings are in small print. You are not likely to read instructions on how to dispose of the toxic mercury if one breaks. To add insult to injury, our government is in the process of trying to make it a REQUIREMENT that we all use these mercury filled bulbs, and ONLY these bulbs. We will be required to put a toxic, easily breakable substance into our homes. And where will have to buy these wonderful products? You guessed it. They will all be made in ONLY one place...where else....China! Thank you America! That's my ten cents, And for once, I agree with a Republican- http://youtube.com/watch?v=e-LOtKIIKcg Peace, Jo

Saturday, jun 28, 2008 Beautiful Waterfalls in NYC New York City Waterfalls Olafur Eliasson is a Danish-Icelandic artist. In his first public art project, he has created four waterfalls that range from 90-120 feet in height. Altogether, 108 people including scientists, environmentalists, engineers and more, were part of making this possible. You can see the waterfalls in various parts of the city from June 26-Oct 13 2008 Check out the waterfall at Pier 35, north of the Manhattan Bridge, the waterfall in Brooklyn at the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge, a waterfall between pier 4 and 5 near the Brooklyn Heights Promenade, and a fourth on the north shore of Governor's Island. I took a picture of the waterfall on Governor's Island. It was just published in the ArtBeat Section of the NY TIMES. I told them this was the view from my apartment (From my windows, I see Governor's Island, which you see from Battery Park and the Financial District) Had I known they were going to print my description, I might have written something more professional than "The view from my apartment.!" But hey, this is cool- check this out. I'm the second photo down.... http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/27/new-york-city-waterfalls-reader-photos/

Wednesday, jun 25, 2008 The Secret "The Secret" (A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing) copyright Jo Davidson "Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses and Jesus were not only prosperity teachers, but also millionaires themselves, with more affluent lifestyles than many present-day millionaires could conceive of." -The Secret You are all power. You are all wisdom. You are all intelligence. You are perfection. You are magnificence. You are the creator, and you are creating the creation of You on this planet." -The Secret I have alot of concerns and questions about this movie and book that has been circulating and given a HUGE boost by Oprah. It is full of many wonderful ideas and truths which work. But when you read things like the quotes above, you know that this is not a spiritually sound book or movie. The good things that The Secret offers can be found in other texts. For those people who have never heard of these positive thinking techniques that are offered in the book, some of them are exciting to discover. The problem is that like a wolf in sheep's clothing, the good stuff is mixed in with a whole lot of deception. As long as human beings have lived, we have been trying to explain suffering. We strive to give meaning to it, interpret it, get rid of it by all means, and then when it doesn't seem to go away, we cast blame. Who do we blame? Ourselves. Others. Circumstances beyond our control. Some say that everything is in our control. In a nutshell, this is the message of the movie THE SECRET. If you were raped, molested, have been through a war, have lost a job, are a child starving in poverty, or been given a diagnosis of an illness, you have created it. Always. This is the flawed foundation upon which this movie's thoughts are built. This longing to rid ourselves of suffering has been going on forever. We all want to feel good. Why do so many magazines sell over and over again when they are basically recycling the same articles? It is because the headlines start with "The Secret"….to weight loss, to great sex, to sleeping better, to being happy, to a more fulfilling career, to making more time for ourselves, and the list goes on. We rarely learn anything we don't already know, yet we keep buying magazines. The real problem is that we don't do what we already know how to do. Do you want to lose weight? As a wise 92 year old friend of mine recently announced, "Eat less and exercise everyday!" But I bet that won't sell magazines or books! A few years ago, I picked up a copy of a book by Esther and Jerry Hicks called "Ask and It Is Given." I became fascinated by their ideas of using emotions to heal. At first, I loved the book. In "Ask and It is Given," they claim that negative emotions always attract negative experiences, and higher ones which are positive, always attract positive experiences. There is some truth to this. If a woman is always complaining about how she wants to be with a man but they are all horrible, she probably doesn't have a very good chance of finding one. (She also won't be attracting friends like me who happen to love men, and would gladly hook her up on dates). If somebody believes that something is impossible for them, then it most likely will be. If someone believes something is possible, then they have a shot at it! And when we feel happy, we feel more confident, more alive, and more able to draw happy experiences into our lives. We also attract others into our lives who bring us joy as we do them. On the other side of the coin, sometimes we mistake charisma for character. This is a huge problem in our society today. Not only that, it is easy to mistake true suffering as a failure. For example, this "I can do anything, achieve anything, move any mountain sort of girl" somehow ended up facing two very challenging and devastating illnesses for 13 years. Cfids and Lyme. Both. Social life? Gone. Career? Put on hold. Daily activities? Almost zero. Hope? Hanging by a thread. My life became about surviving each day while I desperately searched for a cure. Right in the middle of the years when I had hoped to be building a career and starting a family, I was going through something I had never imagined, never thought into existence, never daydreamed about or wanted. Along the way I faced huge amounts of judgements, ignorance and endured harsh comments from people I knew to total strangers. But the longer this went on and the more I tried to cure my condition without success, the more I began to wonder; just what if this thing called illness- this thing that is supposedly some great failure of thinking, is actually a path that only the bravest, strongest souls take on? What if it is the people judging who are the ones who are weak? I remember one day a few years ago when I was in an especially grueling few months of insomnia. I also had very severe symptoms of extreme debilitating fatigue levels, brain fog, body pain, numbness and tingling, vertigo, strange headaches, blurry vision, shortness of breath, memory loss, and I was totally unable to even shower and blow dry my hair without landing in bed. I was doing my best. But the truth is, I felt like I was dying, and I think I was. I had several experiences of feeling like I was passing....and those were especially scary and sad times for me. I wanted with everything in me to live! To truly live! I just knew it wasn't my time to go. I kept telling myself, this too shall pass, and I kept focusing on my breathing. It was during this time that I had gathered every ounce of will power within me to stay afloat, when one day a "psychic" told me that I needed "the secret" more than anyone she knew. I felt like I had been slapped and kicked in the gut. Instead of applauding my courage, my strength, and encouraging me, this person chose to judge an experience that she herself had never experienced or survived. In the world of the so called law of attraction, illness is thought to be a massive failure. But it is not a failure. There is a gift in illness. It is that it develops in the one suffering, a new capacity for compassion. Long term, kick in the ass, devastating illness cures arrogance, spiritual or otherwise. It keeps us humble. I am actually very grateful for some of the lessons illness has given me, even as I have long been ready to be healed. I would never say to others many of the things that have been said to me. It makes me very happy that my heart and soul have been softened and molded in such a way that now I can help others more. I wish I would have come to this understanding through another path! I have a million questions for myself. Truthfully, there could be partial truths buried in all my questions, and yet not one contains the whole truth or explains this thing. I could spend years analyzing myself and still come up short. I learn what I can and then leave some things in the realm of mystery. I have judged myself enough and then some. But maybe cures are not always about the will, the ego, the right thoughts or feelings. Maybe we have to let go of our upside down world and its stories of what it means to be a hero. In our culture we honor the hero as being the one who overcomes, cures, forges onwards, gets up when the going gets tough, keeps working, lets nothing get in her way or stop her. But I wonder if maybe the hero is also the one who lives with a difficult reality with grace and still manages to love, have faith, hope and belief in her heart in something bigger, even with incredible limitations. This path might be the hardest one of all to walk. Can we leave room for both experiences to be considered successes? Can I? "Ask & It is Given" which is the basis of "The Secret," makes judgements. Good. Bad. Right. Wrong. Positive. Negative. Up. Down. Enlightened. Unaware. Dark. Light. It actually makes people think they should block out certain emotions because they are not the "right" ones. But in doing so, many people can get depressed. As I read this book, I began to strive to feel only my "higher" emotions. I began to think that anger, grief, fear, or despair were negative emotions that had little value in the life of someone who was happy, healthy and "evolved." I spent many nights before bed transcribing paragraphs from the book so that they would sink in. I felt uplifted and inspired. Most of all, I had that wonderful sense that I could be in control. Who wouldn't want that? And I certainly did not want to be doing or thinking anything that would prevent my healing. As I began to believe what I was reading, I also began to wrap myself up in a tidy if somewhat judgmental blanket of "I create everything that is in my reality." I was determined to take the driver's seat, and change my reality. This felt pretty darn good! I can make anything happen! Yes! There was however, a blaring red flag. Not only did Esther Hicks claim to be channeling "Abraham," but as I absorbed this book's message, I sensed myself disowning the "darker" aspects of myself and my contradictions, or feelings that might embarrass me. I also couldn't help but note that I began to judge others who were suffering even as I myself still was in the throws of an illness! I began to feel that somehow I was becoming more enlightened than others. I was going to come through and conquer all, through the power of my thinking! Oh the pride of it all! I saw myself becoming so spiritually evolved. Just as feeling inferior and feeling superior both stem from a fragile ego determined to claim its importance, so spiritual pride is just as false an illusion as having no belief at all. So what does it actually mean to become enlightened? What does spirituality look like without pride? Is it even spirituality once pride is a part of it? I began to realize that this whole notion of telling ourselves that some emotions are bad while others are good is false. Even Jesus felt anger and grief! ALL of our emotions are a part of our healing. They all have a place and a purpose for us. Imagine all of the wonderful art and music that would not exist if artists only created when they felt happy! There might be very little art in the world today! Without fear there would be no such thing as courage. Many times anger has helped me create boundaries. Expressing grief helps me to heal and even tears actually release toxins. There are no negative emotions. There are only stuck emotions. Anger, fear and sadness are not a problem unless those are the predominant emotions that fuel our lives. And truthfully, like the beauty of spring after a long winter, it is fear that makes courage all the stronger and sadness that makes joy so delicious! I decided to take the few good things I learned from this book by Esther and Jerry Hicks and throw out all the rest. I certainly don't believe that they were or are channeling Abraham. You have to be kidding me. A few months after working with the book "Ask & It Is Given," I picked up a copy of a movie called "The Secret." This was a few years ago, long before the media circus began to swirl around it. This movie was circulating underground among the new age thought and metaphysical circles. After shelling out over $30 for a DVD, I was expecting a fast paced movie dripping with "Da Vinci Code like scenes" such as the ones the movie's trailer suggested. I had no idea that the movie would basically be a collection of interviews touting the exact same principles I had read in "Ask & It is Given." In one of the first scenes, there was a huge "genie in the sky" saying "YOUR WISH IS MY COMMAND." This ego based spiritually is at the root of this movie and book. I always thought my prayers should be more along the lines of Thy will be done, rather than My will be done. But "The Secret" is all about my will. That is one of its huge flaws. Bob Proctor said, "We can dictate exactly what we want to come into our life. And with absolute certainty, it will come into our life." Wow. There are things I can control and things I can't. I don't make the sun set and rise, the stars shine, the ocean tides go in and out. I am not the one that makes the flowers grow and bloom, the lightening strike, the rain fall. I decided to take a closer look at "we can dictate exactly what we want to come into our life. And with absolute certainty, it will come into our life." Personally, I am grateful that not every single thing I have dictated has come into my life. Think of what chaos it would be if everything we each "dictated" happened! How would that work exactly if two opposing baseball teams each dictated that they were going to win the game? What would it be like if 1000 songwriters each dictated that they wanted to win the grand prize in a songwriting contest? What if two people entered a parking lot and each one dictated that they wanted the one parking spot available? Who gets it? The one with a stronger vibration for channeling God's, I mean, the genie's magic wand? In the secret, I heard Joe Vitale selling the theory that "everything that's in your life, including the things you're complaining about, you've attracted." We can change ALOT by what we focus or don't focus on. I know that is true, for sure! But it is not quite a simple as Joe's statement. Whatever works for us, we must be very discerning when it comes to where we get our inspiration and guidance from. Personally, I do not want to get my spirituality and my purpose from a man who has gone from being homeless to bragging about owning 300 luxury cars. I once spent a week in the slums of Haiti, and what passes off as enlightenment in America is often nothing more than gross materialism. If we believe that we can command a genie in the sky to do our wishes, then how can we explain the Holocaust? I am sure many people prayed and believed the war would end sooner rather than later. So many wonderful faith filled people suffered unspeakable things. I think of the poor children who were victims of the medical experiments. It's beyond my comprehension. Surely the creators of the secret don't believe that everyone who suffered including the children, somehow suffered because they didn't have enough faith or think the right thoughts? This line of thinking is what makes the movie's message cruel and inhumane. No spiritually grounded person could support this movie in its entire message. Can we say that a person who was killed in Rwanda and raped in Darfur attracted it? That each little girl or boy who has been molested has attracted it? Every child who has cancer has attracted it? There are some truths that one doesn't hear in this movie or read in this book. Things such as... We can attract material things into our lives without being particularly spiritual. Miracles and healings happen to people who deserve them as well as those who don't. This is called grace. Like attracts like. Opposites also attract, and they actually need each other for the other to exist. Dark. Light. Day. Night. Open. Closed. Fear. Courage. Up. Down. Maybe we need to let go of the idea of "the opposite." Maybe that opposite is in us, too. I use vision Maps regularly. They mention them in THE SECRET as well as other books. This is one of the best things I learned from these teachings on the law of attraction. I collect random words and images that I am drawn to, and glue them onto poster boards and place them where I see them everyday. It has made me very aware of the power of advertising! Just seeing these images on a poster board keeps them in the front of my mind and somehow creates in me a strong desire, a current, a flow towards manifesting these things so that they show up in my life. Vision maps are very powerful tools! I use to put the images in notebooks, but I have found they are even more powerful when placed on a large poster board. Many things have come true in my life from what I have put onto these maps. Beach scenes not only preceded my week long vacation to a Caribbean island, but a move to a waterfront property CT for a year. Now I have left CT and I have two more beach vacations this summer, a new beach house apartment in NJ and a NYC apartment with water views! So it has been water water everywhere, and I love it. However, what I did NOT ask for was to get lyme disease (again) in the oh so beautiful CT location that I spent last year in. Sometime we control what happens to us, and sometimes we can only do our best to figure out how to respond to what happens to us. I would like to propose a whole new way of doing vision maps. Instead of making vision maps full of mansions and jewelry and fancy cars and boats, how about making vision maps that show us how we might connect to others and be of service? This is what ultimately gives our lives meaning. When we invest in treasure that the world cannot destroy, then we are truly rich. As a child in church, I remember hearing that one of the best ways to pray was to start by thanking God for our blessings before making our requests. That gratitude brings a balance to our hearts and minds and bodies. Gratitude is something we can do even through trials and life challenges. Through anger and grief, confusion and tears, through joy and clarity, laughter and smiles, gratitude is what opens up a space for blessings and joy to flow in. Notice I used the word THROUGH. I believe that gratitude is like a raft, a life boat in a stormy sea. It might not make the storm go away, but it might keep you alive until the waters get calm again. Of course we always want to be on the mountain top of life, but as Arthur Caliandro once told me, "It is in the valleys where we grow." (Arthur Caliandro is the former senior pastor of Marble Collegiate Church in NYC, successor to Norman Vincent Peale). There are times when our intentions and our vision maps might manifest but not be for the greater good. On the far end of the scale, I am sure Hitler intended to massacre millions of Jews. I am sure that Osama Bin Laden intended to fly planes into the twin towers. I witnessed that act of intention with my own eyes from my window in NYC. Just because someone sets an intention and makes it come true does not mean that they are "enlightened." So we should be careful of following teachers just because they have been able to manifest their wishes onto the world. This does not prove that they are leaders worth following. Not every single thing from my maps have come true. This teaches me that I do not know everything. (As if I needed a reminder). This also shows me that if I become too attached to the things I want, I am not living fully now with what I already have. I have become aware that there is no end to my wish list. The funny thing about desire is that it usually creates more desire. Have you ever noticed that a newspaper is much more interesting when someone else is reading it next to you? Sometimes I get the things I wished for and find out they aren't all I thought they would be! Can we feel complete in this moment right here and now? Complete with all the messiness and imperfections of life? It is much easier to chase after something else that we think will give us the high we need to feel good. The entire advertising business is based upon the concept that we will be happier and more complete if only we buy whatever product is being advertised. A wise friend of mine who is a world reknowned doctor referred to the teachings from the secret as "psychological malpractice." The makers of "the secret" actually claim that the secret has been discovered, coveted, suppressed, hidden, lost and recovered. According to them, the secret has been hunted down, stolen and bought for vast sums of money. They say that for the first time in history these ideas are are presented in one place. (I guess the Bible didn't quite make the grade.) Don't believe them. These are all lies that they are telling. We are told that this so called secret to success was practiced by some of the greatest people who ever lived such as Plato, Einstein, Beethoven, Lincoln, Newton and others. But these men, just like me, just like you, had a mixed bag of human emotions to deal with. The very mixed bag that "The Secret" condemns. "I am now the most miserable man living. If what I feel were equally distributed to the whole human family, there would not be one cheerful face on the earth. Whether I shall ever be better I can not tell; I awfully forebode I shall not. To remain as I am is impossible; I must die or be better, it appears to me.: -Abraham Lincoln, Jan 23 1841 in a letter to John T Stuart, his first law partner In 1802 Beethoven suffered severely from depression brought on by the realization that he was losing his hearing. "As for me," Beethoven wrote, "I am in despair so often and would like to end my life." From one website, I learned that Newton often wrote for 18-19 hours a day, even ignoring meals and sleep. From another I learned that: "At the age of 50, he had a nervous breakdown brought on by depression and paranoia." And what about Einstein? Albert Einstein married a brilliant mathematician named Mileva Maric. In a time when women were not given choices and opportunities in education, she participated in her husbands' scientific work and is now deemed co-creator of his theory of relativity. Einstein worked obsessively, and sometime later began an affair with his cousin Elsa. He eventually divorced his first wife Mileva, leaving her with their two sons. She had a nervous breakdown. One winter Einstein got very sick and thought he had cancer, then a gall bladder problem. He was on his back for months. He moved into an apartment across from Elsa and her daughters. Then he temporarily decided he wanted to marry one of Elsa's daughters, named Ilse. (Can anyone say Woody Allen?) Ilse was not attracted to him and saw him as a father. In the end, he married his cousin Elsa in 1919 and he had many affairs during their marriage. She died in 1936. When Mileva died, at the age of 73, she was penniless, and her grave was unmarked. "I can love humanity, but when it comes to close relationships, I'm a horse for single harness. I failed twice, rather disgracefully." As for marriage: "An unsuccessful attempt to make something lasting out of an incident. All marriages are dangerous." -Albert Einstein--- I find it unbelievable that the movie touts these people as having lived the secret and at the same time condemns the type of thinking and behaviour that they all struggled with from time to time. WHY is nobody calling Rhonda Burns on this? She wrote the book, how could she get this so wrong? Yes these people were brilliant. They did great things. But they lived very real and very messy lives, like we all do if we are honest. Why are leaders like Oprah, ignoring the inconsistencies and the lies in this book and movie? I wonder if Jesus would have thought that spiritual people should never feel despair when while in a garden, he plunged into agonizing sorrow and prayed "This sorrow is crushing my life out." I wonder if Buddha would have thought that through his low energy field vibrations he had attracted the food poisoning that killed him. If very single prophet and saint to ever live (operating on the highest levels of consciousness) has died of something eventually, then why would we assume we are immortal? Why do we think that we can ever attain perfection in our lives if only we think the right thoughts or feel the right things? And what exactly IS perfection? If this is the only goal we have, then we, all of us, fall short. How about appreciating life's perfect moments in all their beauty, rather than thinking that every moment must be one in which we are filled with ecstasy and bliss? Is this moment, now, ever enough? Perhaps the secret to surviving any life challenge is in focusing on what we are grateful for even amidst the thorns. It is also letting ourselves cry when they cut us. If I block out my tears, I also block out my joy. The real source of our strength, happiness and our true purpose cannot be found in ourselves alone or even in manifesting every desire we have. And it is certainly not found in shutting down half of our emotions in order to only feel some of them. Our true happiness is found in our connection to the Divine whether we are in the shadows and valleys or standing on top of the mountain. Sometimes we just have to hang on for the ride and remember that this too shall pass. Whatever it is, it always does eventually. I was deeply disappointed when Oprah did her first show promoting this movie which brought it into the mainstream. One of the speakers said that when asked how we are, we should always answer "FANTASTIC!" But what if we don't feel fantastic? Is it ever permissible to just reply, "Ok?" After-all, if we are always pretending to be on 10, we don't have anywhere to go when we really DO feel fantastic. I can hardly imagine Jesus dying on the cross with nails in his hands and feet saying "I feel fantastic!" If I call up a friend who has the flu, I doubt they are going to say they feel fantastic! I have learned alot from the Secret and also from Ask & It is Given. I learned about putting more of my thoughts on what I want to create than on what I want to make go away. This has helped me at times alot. But I also learned that when we think we control every single thing, we become addicted to being in control. When we let go and honor the mysteries of life, we have space for compassion and kindness and for embracing our imperfections as part of our beautiful selves. We also find it easier to accept other people's weaknesses once we are aware of our own. Speaking of thoughts, I am not even sure that the way to God is through my thoughts and my thinking. It might be more through my feeling, my spirit, through some mysterious door that doesn't make sense to my intellect. The world is full of people spouting off their programs and formulas. Frankly, I have had it with these people. They might look spiritual and sound spiritual. They might look like they have it together, but if they are promoting this movie or book as the big answer to how to live a happy life, beware! We are all thirsty, and many people will buy into whatever they think will fill their emptiness. This is the drink of the moment. But there is another root where the true water comes from The Secret is full of imperfections just like all of us. We all seem to get some things right, and some things wrong. So we keep learning. True spirituality goes beyond the grasping of the ego, and I heard a lot of ego in this movie and book. There is a place and a space inside all of us where we can be free right here and now, even in this strange paradox of embracing suffering and happiness at times, simultaneously. There is no perfection, just perfect moments and the journey. The goal is not that we never become discouraged. The goal is that we take those times of feeling discouraged and utterly broken by life, and in them, allow our courage and strengths to shine through. What we focus on does indeed expand. On the flip side, sometimes things show up when we were not thinking about them at all. And there have also been many fleeting thoughts and daydreams I have had in my life that have NEVER become reality! Thank God there is a bigger plan beyond me and my thoughts, beyond my ego thinking mind.We are not failures or somehow less enlightened when we suffer as we face challenges that test us beyond what we ever imagined we could bear.We are strong when we respond with courage rather than blame, and openness to learning rather than arrogance in having all the answers. Those who go through major challenges and illnesses are sometimes meant to go through these things in order to emerge as great healers. To say that these initiation periods are failures, is to dishonor the soul journey of individuals who are bravely forgiving paths through a wilderness that most others might never survive. The kingdom of God might be within me, but it is also bigger than me and outside of me, in the same way that the songs I write are a part of my life force and energy and yet are not all of me. I am not God. I was created by God. This is my belief. We are here to love ourselves and love others. It is in appreciating all of our emotions, (contradictions and all), staying connected to gratitude, and embracing rather than trying to solve this great thing called mystery that we develop maturity. Perhaps suffering is not always meant to be understood. Perhaps it is the journey itself of seeking to understand, that is this beautiful thing called life.

Monday, jun 23, 2008 The Moon & Me Tonite I had a talk with the moon. I told her that I hate how I look when I am covered in clouds. She told me that she has different sides of her too, “and anyway, people usually see what they want to see.” She slid into the night clouds and shadows like she was slipping into a silky nightgown. I watched her disappear. When she came back, she was in a playful mood. She told me I was beautiful. She said, “You are seductive, and intriguing.” Then she added, “You stimulate, you sharpen, you seduce, you kill, you penetrate, you touch, you provide enigmas and intrigues, an odd form of tantalizing, and much more………… I told her she had a way with words. I asked her, "How do you feel when you are behind clouds, spending hours every day invisible to most people?" I asked her how it felt to be invisible. She told me that the darkness gets a bad rap. She said, How do you know that I am not secretly making love to the stars when noone can see us?” Then she winked. I was jealous. I loved the idea of touching a star, twinkling with it in a mysterious dance, veiled and unveiled. She became thoughtful, and she said, “I am still who I am even when you cannot see me. Just as the stars still shine even when nobody can see them shining. It is not being noticed that makes us beautiful. It is being who we are that makes us beautiful." I suddenly felt sad. How sad to be beautiful and not appreciated! She sensed my feelings, and said, “Think of how sad the creator of the universe feels when everyday her masterpieces go unnoticed! All of the gorgeous sunrises and sunsets she paints, the plants, the sea, the earth and sky, the mountains and forests, the miracle of birth and death and living…Think how the great creator must feel- giving the show of the universe and yet people are busy on cell phones and computers and in their lives, whining and complaining and worrying. They are missing it! Each painting comes only once, and every one is numbered, a limited edition! When will they stop and gasp in wonder at what surrounds them?” I decided she was not only beautiful, but smart. Then I was thinking about what she said. How does the creator respond to our neglect but to keep creating and keep loving! What a response! I doubt I could do so without a few grudges along the way. I decided to start noticing all the beauty around me. To not take the show for granted. I felt better when I saw my place in things, and how small I am in this vast universe. It comforted me and reduced my problems from mountains into crumbs. She saw that the darkness scared me. She told me never to fear darkness, for true beauty shines there. I had not thought of that. I could not take my eyes off of her. I took her picture over 200 times while she posed. She had so many looks! She was a chameleon changing form, mood, color, in the blink of an eye. She drew me in, and I loved never knowing what to expect. Her reflection bounced off of the water, and I fell in love with her. She made me come alive. She didn’t tell me to feel anything in particular. She just said, “Feel.” Then she blew a kiss towards me, and the salty summer night air dropped it on my lips. I could taste it.

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