Bloggin' Bisbee

Moving to my own domain

2006-09-13T13:08:00.001-07:00

The title implies several different meanings to me today.

But essentially, this post is to alert you that I now have my own domain, www.kathybisbee.com, where I've moved my blog.
I'll keep this one up, but you can now find my archives and my newest posts at:

my new blog site.

It's been fun here at blogger.com, but I like the flexibility and functions offered by Word Press.

-K

Courage, dear one

2006-08-30T23:37:00.001-07:00

Mark Twain has said, "Courage is not the absence of fear. It is acting in spite of it."

I've never seemed to lack courage to help other people. Issues, causes, people. It was easy to see that action needed to be taken and be an advocate for something I believed in.

But making changes in my own life has taken me much greater courage. We all get too comfortable sometimes and stop growing. I've been looking back at all the things I have overcome in my life and how much I've grown. I took some risks, allowed myself to be very vulnerable and in the process, I gained greater courage. I am still afraid of change at times. I still fear what I do not know. I sometimes worry about what will be.

Every day I remind myself to let go and let the Universe run the show. I have so much more to learn. Ongoing. For eternity. But I walk with courage, my head held high. I'm looking forward to opportunities to grow. These days, the light at the end of the tunnel has begun to shine with great brillance.

One reason I'm blogging about this is I have met many people of courage in the past two weeks...my girlfriends who are moms, juggling identity, ego, lack of sleep, love and motherhood...my dad following his dream, the activists I've met who are fighting for change here and all over the world. I'm modeling my moments after their good examples and find myself inspired by their life stories as they unfold before us.

Confession: The real reason I haven't blogged for over a week is that I discovered www.ourstory.com. It's amazing site where you can tell your digital stories and share them with friends. Easier than blogging, but similiar, you can add photos, video, tell your stories easily with timelines and private groups for friends, family or special projects. I'm going to set up one for my girlfriends and family to share more than they can in my blog comments or in email or elsewhere online. In the meantime, my stories there are public and you can check them out and post your own stories!

Very cool tool. Speaking of cool tools. Here's our new marketing campaign. It's been very fun to work on. It's still in teaser-mode, but we launch phase two of the campaign on Oct. 4th and tell you just who the "tweegles" are!

-K

Craigslist Non-Profit Boot Camp

2006-08-22T00:35:00.000-07:00

Why is it that the term "bootcamp" is being used for just about every workshop I've seen lately? It's definitely a meme in current circulation.

I'm in Berkeley, CA for a whirlwind day of networking with like-minded activists, non-profit administrators, technology people and generally amazing people doing great work to create social change, set up by the Craigslist Foundation.

I'm definitely on comfortable home turf here.

I'm mostly here because I serve on the board of the Santa Cruz Film Festival and we want to build our organzation. We're planning our own "bootcamp" for the Fest all about creating independent media and helping people tell their stories. It's also been great finding folks who are interested in the same kinds of social change mechanisms I am, like digital storytelling as a tool for creating understanding and breaking down walls, art as revolution and social networks for a more participatory democracy.

Here's some cool links I found today at the workshops. Their URL's are fairly self-explanatory. I visited them all and found them interesting. I'll write more later on some tips & tricks for non-profits.

Here's the WIKI for folks to post their notes from the day's events.

Smart Meme has useful worksheets on creating and sharing progessive stories
www.sourcewatch.org
www.grassrootsfundraising.org
www.democracyinaction.org
volunteerforchange.org
www.goodstorm.com
Community Change.org
CRM Tool for non-profits
Vtiger CRM/blog tool for non-profits
One Northwest.org
Radical Designs does tech apps/maps for non-profits
Aspiration Tech works with Radical Designs and did a great program on e-advocacy
cMarket does online auctions, but so does Shopsite, an inexpensive ecommerce program I have taught classes about and used for small business consulting.

A few others:

This guy Peter has a veggie bus that he shuttles people around in and will soon be a "pop", as he informed me that he and his wife were seven months pregnant. (he offered this up when I told him I worked for a "mom-n-pop")

Social Marketing Blog
Social Marketing Ideas for non-profits
Net Squared, a Tech Soup project, "remixes the Web for Social Change"

Wow. People are doing some amazing things in the world. Sunday at Solfest proved equally inspiring.

Time to get out and do something to create change. Anything.

Next post: what I am inspired to do...big and small.

-Kathy

The gratitude continues...

2006-08-14T23:44:00.000-07:00

My mom sent me these photos today. I'm feeling particularly close to her especially at this moment. It's nice. I look like her in this picture, don't you think?

I'm 3+ years old when this was taken in Virginia Beach. A cold summer, no doubt. Lucky for me, many many years later, I'm enjoying a beautiful summer in Santa Cruz.

What I'm grateful for (and I feel like I've been saying this a lot):

-a sweet, loving and handsome husband
-really great friends & deep, meaningful, long-lasting friendships with men and women
-a home in a beautiful spot of paradise (with cats I actually have grown to like, even tho' I'm a dog person)
-a strong connection with my family and ancestors
-passion and interests that keep me fired up
-an education that keeps expanding
-a job I enjoy
-opportunities every day to grow and learn
-Wallace Stegner's books
-live music and digital storytelling
-organic food, beaches, redwoods and the smell of salty water when the fog rolls in...

Me & Mom at Gettysburg

Enough of this. I'm trying to keep my posts shorter due to some advice I saw on a blog better than mine.

Special thoughts and prayers tonight to my dear friend David. May Ranger & Jake run together in the great woods of the sky.

-K

"I awoke this morning with devout thanksgiving for my friends, the old and the new."

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Mendocino & Home

2006-08-06T23:30:00.000-07:00

Alec and I took off for Caspar, CA this weekend for some shows and to hang with our friends, Lindsey and Sean. Lots of good laughs with them and much fun!

Camped by the ocean, got very little sleep but had yummy breakfasts, made s'mores at sunset with good folks around a campfire, did a few peaceful hours with Alec kayaking on the Big River through the woods and saw some good Butter shows.

I really am grateful for this summer. I've had some lovely weekends with friends and "family".

This was the view from the Mendocino Headlands, where we walked for a bit. Next time we'll take the kayak out on the ocean too.

Today we were at Hidden Villa in Los Altos. I worked the merch table...I love talking to people and engaging them. Just like tabling back in the day...I learn a lot asking questions and sharing what I know with them. Here's a few shots from the day.

I cracked up when I saw Kyle, Chris and Arin demonstrating how I dance. I'll post that video later this week It's pretty darn funny. I'll miss those kids! We had a great time last night playing cribbage during the set break.

Now, things shift a little more to the homefront. I'm turning my focus on graduate school goals for this year and putting some time into my Santa Cruz world. I feel like I've been out of town most of the summer and been able to reconnect with a lot of folks.

I'm looking forward to getting back into a routine and settling into late summer in Santa Cruz!

-K

No War on the people of CUBA!

2006-08-03T22:10:00.000-07:00

Che Guevara once said," I am not a liberator. Liberators do not exist. The people liberate themselves."

Unless you're the U.S. government.

It seems the U.S. is once again prepared to spend millions ($80 million!) to pay off "dissidents" in Cuba...towards the goal of a renewed war on Cuba. The long-anticipated end of the 45-year long divorce-that-went-bad between our government and Fidel Castro seems to be near...with Fidel's recent hospitalization and handing over of power to his brother, Raul.

Why does a democratic movement need for the U. S govt. to pay people to become dissidents? It's more about the U.S. gaining control over the island. This has been going on since 1898 since Cuba has long been a strategic military location in the Carribean.

I keep thinking about Hiltons and McDonalds along the Malecon. sigh. So much for the preservation of the incredible and unique culture, political struggle and resolve of Cuba. Tho' I have faith in the people of Cuba. Los Cubanos son muy fuerte!

George Bush and his administration are ready to move in on Cuba in the event of Fidel's demise. I find it unbelievable (tho' not surprising) that the US media is continuing to propagate the old lies about Cuba. I read reports this week that said there is "no freedom of religion" and "no elections at all" in Cuba or that "people can't say anything bad about Fidel in public". I have video footage exactly to the contrary of these lies spread by U.S. interests.

To read about my experiences in Cuba, check out my Web site here

Colbert's hilarious video about this week's events

I collected some links and other folks' opinions below. Let me know what you think!
Hasta la victoria siempre!

-K

In a statement released today, Congressman Jose Serrano (D-NY) said the following: “Should Fidel Castro ultimately be unable to continue to lead Cuba, we must leave the transition to the Cubans… The Cubans themselves must make decisions about their future, free of threats and intervention from abroad.”

--Conservative Peggy Noonan, former speech writer for Ronald Reagan, in the Wall Street Journal:

“Use the change of facts to announce a change of course. Declare the old way over. Declare a new U.S.-Cuban relationship, blow open the doors of commerce and human interaction, allow American investment and tourism, mix it up, reach out one by one and person by person to the people of Cuba.”

--Oswaldo Paya, a leading political dissident in Cuba, in an interview with Andres Oppenheimer of the Miami Herald:

“We're in a very complex, very tense situation. The U.S. message should be to ratify that there is no such thing as a U.S. threat on Cuba, that there is no intention to intervene. It should say, ‘Look, the Cuban process must be defined exclusively by the Cuban people.’”

--The Los Angeles Times editorial board:

“The administration should lift the travel ban (which is, regardless of what one thinks of Cuba, an unjustifiable restraint on the freedom of U.S. citizens). Restrictions on remittances back to the island also should be lifted, as should any limitations on agricultural trade.”

--Congressman Jim McGovern (D-MA) in the Boston Globe:

“The administration, while pretending to prepare for dealings with Cuba after Castro is gone, only confirms that this government does not have the contacts, the intelligence, or the relationships with key actors who will shape Cuba's immediate future… Those nations that have cultivated relationships across the Cuban spectrum will most likely play important roles in shaping a post-Castro society. The United States, unfortunately, with its transition-to-nowhere road map, is poised to remain on the sidelines.”

--Sarah Stephens, Freedom to Travel Campaign director, in the Huffington Post:

“Fifty years of regime change schemes and bullying has got us nowhere with Fidel’s Cuba. The Cuba that will emerge after Fidel deserves to see the better side of the US, and now is the time to show it.”

U.S. Links & Opinions on Cuba:

Transition to Nowhere" by US Representative Jim McGovern, Third District of Massachusetts
Cuba Central --good source for updates about Cuba and lifting the travel ban
"Real Life" in Cuba Web site
Latin American Working Group
Cuba solidarity
Pastors for Peace

Official Cuban Sites:
Granma, the official Cuban newspaper
Radio Habana

California on Fire

2006-07-30T19:38:00.000-07:00

It's Sunday evening and we have had a 15-hour drive today from the Columbia River Gorge in southern Washington to San Francisco. As we drove past Mt. Shasta, thick smoke filled the air. Apparently, fires are raging all over northen CA near the Oregon border.

It's just good to be heading home, smoky mountains and all.

The Adventure Bluegrass Festival was great...a weekend in a beautiful place, time to ride a bike, hang out and catch up with Tim and Jill and Riley, swim at the same spot a few times, pick blackberries, listen to folks play traditional music at their camps, hear some great live bluegrass on stage, get solid interviews and dance my butt off during the last set of this little tour. Very good show. Late night swimming in the river, hot tubbing and early morning music...a peaceful and restful ending to the trip here.

With Tim, Jill and Riley this weekend. Riley (age four) said the funniest thing. As I was pulling him around in his wagon, he asked where my "van" was (his parents have a VW van). When I told him I was staying in the bus where the band lives, he said, "So, you get to have a sleepover everynight with the band?" Then, he referred to me as "Kathy, she sleeps with the band." So cute, while completely inaccurate, of course!

Below: McCall, Idaho, taking a dip in the lake with Erik and Nat. I love swimming in rivers and lakes. I tried to do so every day of the this trip, but I only made seven of nine days! :-) Some were cold, others just right. All were refeshing and good for my soul, especially with the view of the mountains right before me.

And, back in Montana, a pretty shot of Gallatin Canyon, where I spent four wonderful days with Margot, Bill and Baby T.

And here's me with my dear friend, David, who I hadn't seen for seven years. He and I arranged a rendez-vous on the 84 near the Idaho-Oregon border. He was headed to the Northern Cascades for a backpacking trip. At 3 am on Friday am, we drove together for an hour, then crashed out a truck stop. At seven am, the next driver, Aaron, got up and I spent another 100 miles with David. Not enough time, for certain. Nonetheless, it's the connection that we have that brought us together again. He's inspiring to me and is such a good friend. I'm glad we're back in one another's lives. Again.

This journey has been a reflective one for me. Building upon the themes in my "transits of Saturn" entry, I'm feeling my limitations, redefining my friendships, considering my purpose and goals for the next years and how I want to spend my energy, especially those of special projects, like HBR, SCFF and grad school.

There's so much I want to do, and I am fortunate to have a lot of inherent energy. But I have such limited time and energy to really focus and get good at the things I need to complete and master. I need to continue to learn to go inward more.

Right now, I'm tired, it's been a long trip, and there's still some work to do here on the bus during the six more hours left with the band. Tomorrow, it's back to Santa Cruz and my life as I know it.

-K

On Tour

2006-07-27T16:35:00.000-07:00

Hello from Idaho.

I've spent a lovely week in Montana--four days around Bozeman (in Yellowstone Park, Gallatin River, Yellowstone River, Gallatin Canyon with the Zell's and last night in Missoula.) and now, we're in Idaho.

And, it's really hot. Even though it's nearly 7pm....coolness and darkness only come at 10pm.

Here's the pic from Gallatin Canyon.

A good, deep mutually-supportive friendship formed and tarot in a tipi by Margot soothed my soul...and she reminded me of things I needed to hear...A day on the river, whitewater rafting with the Hot Buttered Rum crew, revisiting the place near where I worked in Yellowstone, hanging with Baby-T and helping the Zell's with their marketing plan for Montana Whitewater all sandwiched into a purposeful four days.

I love helping small businesses, and Bill and Margot are great people to support. And, so that continues with HBR....here we are out on whitewater of the Gallatin River..it's a Class IV at times, tho' much of it is Class III.

There's a performance group playing at this little coffeeshop, which is about 100 miles north of Boise, called "Juxtapercussion"...five people playing percussion in a routine. HBR goes on after them, and then we drive to southern Washington for a weekend bluegrass festival. After that, it's back to S.F and home to my sweet Alec who I am missing very much on this trip.

Since I met up with the bus, it's been a whirlwind tour. I adjusted pretty quickly to their life on the road and the haphazard-yet-somehow simultaneously constant schedule. The previous four days were so different in comparison...more nature, deeper friendshps, a little quiet time alone and lots of outdoor beauty everywhere you turn. On tour, it's hot, late late nights of a bus filled with people, talking to lots of random strangers and sleeping in a hot bus.

Today at the lake here in McCall was great...I've been in the water (lake, river) at least five out of the six days here on vacation! Yay!

That's all for now...want to go listen to the drums!
Happy trails to you all.

-K

Visiting Memories

2006-07-20T19:18:00.000-07:00

As always, I'm running around doing a zillion things before my vacation. But I'm SO looking forward to it that it's worth it. Completely.

When I return, I begin my life in a new office, my ninth spot in three different buildings in 9 1/2 years of work at the same local company.

I'm off to Montana, Wyoming, Idaho and Washington for a week on a riding on a tour bus with a bluegrass band-meets-fun with old friends-meets my long-since-forgotten past tour. Along the way, I'll hook up with my good friends, David, Margot and Tim & Jill, do some singing, drumming, interviews on camera, river-rafting, videotaping of a local wedding and camping.

My past is the fact that 17 years ago, I worked as an assistant team leader on a trail crew in Maine. One of the best summers of my life. I brought then-puppy, Jake, out on the appalachian trail with me and worked hard for long and hot eight hour days. Then I slept on a ledge under in my tent and awoke each morning to Jake's nuzzle, muddy black coffee and stale bread. We were out on the trail for weeks at a time. (so, no showers and the inevitable subsequent dreadlocks.)

I raced my team's Suburban with a moose. (really, I did that.)

I've never been able to replicate the incredible physical shape I was in that summer. Our crew was chosen from the whole state to represent in Wyoming at Yellowstone National Park to work on fire-recovery. It was the summer after the big fires there in '88. It was an amazing experience, especially for a 20-year girl from Maine who'd never really seen the dramatic natural splendor of the West.

I'd never seen anything like Yellowstone, and I'd never camped in grizzly territory either.

I think that's about the right time period. Memories flood in when you see yourself in a picture from long ago. 1989. There's Jake as a puppy and the beauty of early autumn in Maine. I think it's up on the Swift river with my dad. Right before I flew us out to Wyoming for a year at UW. What a turbulent time period. My parent's divorce, my increasingly more permanent exile from Maine, a year of intense hardship and lot of stupid mistakes. I learned a lot there tho', and while there, I started considering a move to CA.

I started an underground newspaper called "Hole in the Ground" on the UW campus in response to a broadcast teacher telling me to cover the damn football game when I wanted to cover the AIDS crisis. He told me there was no AIDS crisis, because there were "no gay people in Wyoming". Dick Cheney was their rep. in Congress at the time and Laramie later became the setting for the hate crime annd death of Mathew Shepard (who was gay).

As I mentioned, it was the year after the fire in Yellowstone. Surreal. Ash on everything, then you'd spot a perky little purple flower a foot high in the middle of the blackened earth. Every night we'd stumble back into camp, near Canyon, and be covered with ash from head to toe. We'd draw tribal symbols on each other's bodies.

We rebuilt bridges out of trees we cut down in the forest, made a boardwalk up to Fairy Falls and created waterbars on countless trails that most tourists probably never walk upon. We went to the Sweet Pea Festival in Bozeman that summer and lounged in hot springs right next to the river near Gardiner. I felt so lucky. Tough, naive, becoming street smart and vulnearable all at once.

My Montana friend Margot, who I adore, but haven't seen for several years, will greet me tomorrow night at the little airport in Bozeman. I'll remember how I flew in there that summer of '89 and how much I've experienced and grown since then.

While I pack tonight, I'm dreaming of a peaceful repose, the books I'll read and an adventure to write in my blog about.

-K

B-side: Transiting Saturn in my First House

2006-07-16T16:59:00.000-07:00

Weekend pictures and then, Astrology....
Played tennis yesterday too. Perfect for a spaz like me. If we only had Kramer to be our ballboy!

I love the B-Side Players. I've been a fan since I first saw them, probably sometime around 1996? At the old Palookaville in Santa Cruz. Afro-Cuban-Salsa-Cumbia-Reggae meets San Diego-Tijuana hip hop with an amazing horn and percussion section and a sassy lead singer, Carlos. For some reason, until about a year and a half ago, I hadn't seen them for nearly eight years. But I've returned to seeing them at every local show since.

Elan opened for them--very Damian Marley sounding--reggae with a little dancehall/hip-hop mixed in. Loved it.

Maureen, Kathleen, Lisa, Kathy and Jennet!

B-Side Players in Action (7.15.06 at Moe's Alley, Santa Cruz, CA)

Carlos playing trumpet.

Will from a favorite local Brazilian band, Sambada is on the drums at the far right behind B-Sider's.

Astrology is an on-and-off passion of mine. I'm an amateur, but I do study it.

I discovered it in college while learning about psychology as part of my poli-sci/social-sci major. That may seem like an odd path to the sacred geometry. But I read a lot of Freud and Jung, both of whom were avid astrologers and brought the use of astrology's archetypes into their psychological research, academic theories and into individual treatments.

Hence, my stumbling across it. I can't help but be fascinated about people. Why they do things. Why I do...well, anything. As certain as it is a life-long process to interpret the latter, I subsequently also swim in the frequently murky soup of attempting to understand humankind.

I've been studying transits lately. Having experiencing a few major ones myself at the moment. (I felt them, then decided to look up what's going on.

Saturn is in my first house, my ascendent Leo lives there at 29 degrees (which means I express my Gemini sun self as a Leo with some major Virgo influences). I credit my interest in systems and computers to Virgo, predilection to communication from Gemini and the outwardliness of my self-expression (as witnessed in this blog) to Leo. All three have impacted my life with their deep dark shadows as much as their occasional radiant brillance.

During a Saturn transit, we all are working on our discipline, experiencing the hand of authority and feeling our limitations in certain areas. (btw, you're going through one too...right now. Saturn is in Leo, from July of 2005 through September 2007. So Saturn is having an impact on the matters of the house ruled by Leo in your natal chart--based on where it was when you were born.

See adze.com to figure that out. Plug in where/when you were born for a free natal chart.)

Mine happens to make it painful just to show up sometimes. I do it, but I'm constructing a new and better way to deal. Far beyond grinning and bearing it, I'm learning how to not take things personally, let go and just move on. Life's inherent trials just *are*. With or without my impact. I have absolutely nothing to do with it, good, bad, ugly. Sometimes life just happens even when I do my best to affect the outcome of it all.

So, I learn, I grow, I take a few steps backward to take three forward. Change is happening and deeper, more solid inner structure is inevitable if I just go with it, keep doing the hard work and surrender to however my path will proceed next!

"Saturn has its reasons for forcing us to slow down and stop what we're doing." And, then the next step becomes more clear.

Algebra is clearly a construct under the authority of Saturn. Perhaps by next September, I will have at long last conquered that demon of discipline.

Off to my polynomial fractions...

-K

Srawberry-Rhubarb Crisp Recipe

2006-07-09T20:50:00.000-07:00

I made this entry in my watercolor journal and this recipe today while listening to bluegrass music from the Internet. Somehow it seemed just perfect.
If you want to give it a try, here's the recipe, and a picture of my final outcome. It came out pretty good.

Srawberry-Rhubarb Crisp
4-5 cups Rhubarb; I strip some of stringy parts off while chopping it into 1/2' pieces.
3-3 1/2 cups strawberries (I eat a lot of them while making this, so you'll have to experiment a bit.)
1/2 cup agave (cactus sweetener)
1 cup flour
5 tbsp soy butter (or regular butter if you choose)
dash of nutmeg, allspice if you have it
1 tsp cinnamon
1 cup rolled oats

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375. Mix fruit in a big bowl. Let it sit in agave. I usually sprinkle a tiny bit of powdered sugar over it to for a suble (more perky than agave) sweetness. Mix the rest of the ingredients separately; start with the flour and oats, then mix in the butter and a little bit of extra agave into the dry mix.

Cover the top. That helps it cook better--put it in for 35-40 minutes until the fruit boils. Top should be brown and slightly crispy. Don't forget some vanilla ice-cream. It's really an essential part of the recipe.

A final thought on rhubarb. It is really good for healthy digestion, but be careful not to overdo it! (like three giant pieces at a time) 'Nuff said.

Next: Strawberry-Rhubarb jam!!

-K

2006-07-08T22:39:00.000-07:00

A Very Tiny step off the Grid

Watch the vlog

I stopped by Real Goods in Hopeland, CA on my way back from Emerald Earth last weekend. I picked up a car charger for my AA batteries, which I use a lot for my still camera, a crank light that charges my cell phone too, and a catalog to help me consider other ways to really get off the grid. This little vid clip is just my silly delight at my mini-cell phone charger than I crank to make energy. It's the small joys, I'm telling ya. -Kathy

Tags:

Crazy Ideas

2006-07-08T21:49:00.000-07:00

Here's the full-moon paddle group from my birthday! So great. Love you all!

Today I got some harebrained ideas. All inspired by my recent adventures.

One is that I want to buy this land next to my dad's place in Maine. It's crazy, I know. I live in California. Western Maine can get cold, is kinda boring and there's not a lot of live music. Unless you're into country, and my dad's community hotspot attracts a fair amount of locals playing that on a Friday or Saturday night all summer long.

Ok, well, I'm not moving there. But if it looks like the land is reasonably priced, I'd like to buy it and build a winterized house with natural materials. We can't do it in CA because we're not millionaires. But it'd be great to always have a place on the land in Maine, and an opportunity to create some local knowledge about green building up there. Not to mention a tax write-off for my trips home and a chance to see my Dad and my soul sister, Heather. (who happens to build and remodel green homes out on Peak's Island.)

I don't want to get ahead of myself here. So, for now, I'll just relay this flicker of a thought that somehow gained momentum today in my head and out loud to my dad. There's lots to research. Like whether we could even get a loan to buy it, or afford it at all.

On the getting off the grid topic, I stopped by Real Goods on the way back from the Emerald Earth community in Mendocino where Liz and Brent live and are building their house with strawbale and cob.

I saw this older fella at another counter, thinking it was the register. His arms were full and he looked tired. As I suggested he put his things on a chair by me, I noticed he was a familiar face. It was Wavy Gravy, the famous clown of the San Francisco 60's hippie scene.

I grinned at him and asked if he was going to summer camp in Laytonville, which is a short bit north of nearby Hopland. He said he'd just returned. His arms were full of bubble wands and toys. What a sweet man he is.

I laughed when I saw all the groovy stickers on his Camp Winnerainbow caravan, parked next to my Jetta in the lot. One sticker said "Don't push the clown" right next to the picture of the Dali Llama and a bunch of peace stickers. When I told some of my family that I'd met him, only my 90-year old grandmother knew of him. Same generation? I guess. She's pretty on top of world news, my grandma.

Check out the vlog post above for a little video about what I got...it's silly, as usual.

While I was at EE in one of their fine solar-paneled compostable restrooms, I read a bit of this great back-to-earth publication, Lehman's, "Products for Simple, Self-Sufficient Living". I'm pretty sure it's from Amish country. I found myself getting unusually enthusiastic about canning fruit and veggies. I wonder where that came from...maybe Maine is on my brain these days. I have been eating an absurd amount of blueberries and rhubarb.

Tomorrow I'm making strawberry-rhubarb crisp again. Mostly organic. Mostly vegan. Mostly sugar-free. Third time this summer. Yum.

It's been fairly easy to find here, though last week it was sold out at the market. I think the two other women I've met locally who make crisp or pie from it had gotten there first. This week, the farmer is saving me 2 lbs, so I guess I'm making it next weekend too. I'll have to post the recipe I come up with. I hate following strict recipes, so I just work it out by taste and look at a few to see what they call for. It usually works out better that way.

Rhubarb was a staple of my summer diet growing up. We froze it and made a lot of pies from it. It seemed to grow wild everywhere in Temple, Maine. In all my nearly 15 years of living in Northern CA, I swear I'd never noticed rhubarb before. Not even when I worked at the Farmer's Market in Santa Cruz selling avocados. What beauty we pass by and never stop to notice!

I'm hoping for a kayak or a hike tomorrow too. Can't believe I've rambled on so. My god. Back to the real world.
Oh, check out this sticker I got at Real Goods. I like it.

-K

A Love letter to Soup

2006-07-07T10:53:00.000-07:00

Love this of me and Alec at Soup. So fun!

Dear friends,

Some of you have been to a Soup event or you have heard about it
from me.

It's an all-volunteer community I've been involved with since its
inception. Together, we've raised over $100,000 for non-profit
beneficiaries and have held an annual event for 13 years, as well as
trips to Peru to do volunteer community work, Democracy Soup trips
to swing states and regular gatherings to keep people engaged.

We're currently planning an additional trip to El Salvador and an
action/education group around climate change.

I want to share my thoughts about this recent weekend at Soup 13,
and the passing of UCSC's Chancellor Denice Denton.

Much love and gratitude to each of you for your wonderful presence
in my life! -Kathy

----------------------------------
Dear friends,

As ever, I am grateful for every moment I spend at Soup with all of
you. Thank you.

Each year is different. Every Soup tastes unique. You bring that
special ingredient without which my soup would not have been complete!

As folks are sending me pictures, the visual connection to you all
and the land causes me to slip into soupy daydreams filled with
sunshine (Soup 13) and rain (Soup 12) and think about the many
changes in my life since my first soup many years ago. (What a baby
I was at that first soup! How much I still have to learn!) How
grateful I am for all I have learned, for the amazing growth and
for the acceptance and love I have found amongst all of you.

For me, Soup 13 seemed about looking back and being oh-so-grateful
for the path that got me here.

Venturing with my dog from the East coast, I arrived in CA with $20
to my name (no credit cards!) and a broken-down '77 Chevy Impala.
Had not even a couch to sleep on. I didn't know anyone. I became
fast friends with the thoughtful and articulate David Minkow at
shows who then introduced me to the Soup. You all shared your
networks, your beautiful spirits and your open hearts with me.

I think about the many times I have turned to so many of you for
support, a well- timed hug, motivation, love, political action, as
dance, drum and singing partners, for greater awareness, housing,
new opportunities to learn, professional help and so much more. You
are my community; a non-exclusive, open-hearted, new-school
paradigm alternative to the dying out old- boys network.

I realize too, the commitment that Soup requires of me. To give
openly, to get involved, to be vulnerable or to reach out to others
when I'd sometimes rather isolate myself, to surrender, to let go of
time and space, to love big, to think about what is possible, to
help welcome and match others to resources and each other, to keep
that connection with you throughout the year, to get up at Soup and
serve breakfast to your smiling faces after swimming at 6:30 am in
the pond
(both of which I loved--thanks Jim for the inspiration!), to become
an active participant in creation. I've never been a part of any
community as long as I have Soup*, not even during my travels with
the Dead that originally brought me out West. (*except my 14+ years
long relationship with sweet Alec!)

You may have heard that our UCSC Chancellor, Denice Denton committed
suicide this weekend during Pride in SF. She suffered from
depression and no one knew. Our sleepy little coastal community is
still in shock. Everything seemed fine.

Her passing illustrated an important
point to me. That it is SO critical for us to reach out to one
another, to accept that all of us feel a sadness sometimes (or lots)
even from just living in this sick culture, and that extending
ourselves to each other is something we can do every day. To lead
together towards a healthier, happier, more sustainable world.

Immediately upon hearing the news, I thought of Soup. One thing I
always notice at Soup is this: when people ask me how I am doing or
I ask them, it is always with intention, attention, feeling and
real connection.

Openness to hear the whole story, good or bad.
Willingness to listen deeply, share in one another's joys, pain and
struggles and offer support if it is needed. This is one tangible
daily act that we can take out into the world with us, one that our
world so desperately needs.

I am so grateful for all we have created, and continue to create
together. Soup gives me hope. You give me hope. The way I related to
others changed because of how each of you treat me and one another
at Soup. When I return, I am renewed to I spread my love around
without caution and listen to others more deeply. There lies the
beauty of the ripple.

Consider taking time today to really connect with someone, to reach
out and give them some soupy love. Your connection could change
their life like it has mine.

With much love and gratitude,
Kathy in Santa Cruz

-------------------------

"There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing
is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle." ~
Albert Einstein

Summer Adventure Pictures

2006-07-07T10:33:00.000-07:00

Hello,

I drew this of myself in my watercolor journal on Memorial Day weekend, the beginning of the summer adventures...a mini Hot Buttered Rum tour to Santa Barbara and Topanga Canyon.

This is my Gemini friend, Allie, and me for our annual birthday lunch! Allie serves on the board of directors for the SC Film Festival with me.

It’s been a busy summer so far. I’d seen a lot of music and been to several music festivals. So, fourth of July weekend was a pilgrimage to deepen friendships and relationships with myself and nature. Mendocino and Sonoma counties were the perfect setting for this quest.

Fourth of July pictures here
Soup, HBR and Olema pictures here

(below) Baby Goats at Emearld Earth near Boonville where my friends, Liz and Brent live. It was so great to see them!

Tim Bluhm, my new music crush...the lead singer of Mother Hips. He isn't quite as tall or as cute as Alec, but he comes fairly close!

2006-06-29T23:43:00.000-07:00

Snowboard lessons with my bro

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Jimmy, Alec and I at Kirkwood 2001 California is calling you, Jim! :-) love, sis

Tags:

In Orbit

2006-06-10T15:23:00.000-07:00

It's my 37th time around the Sun on Monday, June 12th.

I haven't blogged for a while. Life's busy. But good.

Now I'm at Vlogger Con in S. F. Yep, you heard that right. Geekin' it. I would be listening to bluegrass out in a field at a music festival on this sunny California day.

But I'm interested in this particular workshop on "Pimping out your WordPress or Blogger Blog" so that I can teach an eventual class on making blogs. Lots of CSS coding, definitely something I could pimp out. I still use HTML a lot, and it seems to work somewhat here at blogger. But it's limiting because it uses CSS and you have to stay within some set parameters.

And, there's a workshop coming up that's all about recording live music. Looking forward to that.
-K

2006-05-06T13:02:00.000-07:00

Santa Cruz Film Festival

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Opening night of the fifth annual Santa Cruz Film Fest on May 5th, 2006. The Festival runs through May 11th, featuring nearly a hundred movies from all over the world! www.santacruzfilmfestival.com -K

2006-05-02T00:07:00.000-07:00

March for Immigrant's Rights in Santa Cruz, CA

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Video clips from the May Day marches in Santa Cruz. For still pics, check out www.keepsantacruzweird.com/mayday/mayday.html. -Kathy

Rootin' in West Virgina

2006-04-29T13:54:00.000-07:00

I'm at an airport bar in Cleveland, OH. I've spent some time here before.

Last November, Continental flew out of my gate ten minutes before their flight time and I watched my plane take off from the terminal. I should've made them give me a free ticket for that.

But instead, lucky me, I got to spend a night in Cleveland at a Marriot next to the airport.

This time, I've fared much better. A great trip all around. A Dos Equis at my side and a full belly. Now I just have the second hour to wait for a connecting flight on to Minneapolis and then finally, to San Jose.

I'm looking forward to getting home, but it's been a great trip. I have numerous photos and video clips. This time I mostly just used my still camera for video because after using a 3CCD video cam, well, my old camera sucks.

Highlights on the path to reelin' in the deep rampy roots of my blood line...a play-by-play local tour by my Maine cousin Jim, UNDER the New River Gorge bridge, 851 feet of it....his gun collection, stories about snakes, seeing Mountain Stage's bluegrass and county at the Clay Center (see previous post for a short vlog), hearing my 90-year old grandmother and her sisters talk about old times and relatives, hearing about the Maine cousins too, getting a short road trip in with my dad and brother just before his 25th birthday, reading the Da Vinci Code, (finally) and shopping with my mom.

Oh, there's so much more, but this is the blog version. I guess this is more of an online journal than a blog. But, it works for me.

-K

2006-04-23T22:02:00.000-07:00

Mountain Stage in WV

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Del McCoury, Rob Thorn, and Diana Jones singing "Your cheatin' heart" together at the end of Mountain Stage's live radio performance at the Clay Center in Charleston, West Virginia. Just a short clip. -K

Tags: country, diana jones, bluegrass, west virgina, mountain stage, paul thorn, country music

2006-04-16T22:49:00.000-07:00

My last day of the season in Tahoe snowboarding started and ended with beautiful lighting across the bay area's green hills. My heaven-on-earth version of celebrating Easter weekend, I suppose.

Dan and I drove up at 5am from Santa Cruz and tried out Northstar, a very corporate ski resort that reminded me of Aspen, CO. At least there was a great terrain park, where we played all afternoon following an icy morning higher up on the mountain. The snow was much better mid-mountain and the features in the snowboard park proved entertaining.

I've had a lot of "yee-ha's" this year, in the trees, in some of the deepest powder I've seen in years, and on some great day and weekend-long trips with different friends. A good winter for certain, and for having access to all of that, I am very grateful.

From the 80, we cruised into the City and met up with my friend, Jonathan and his friend, Julie at Cuba Caribe and saw a really good dance performance about Cuba. Inspiring. I'm considering going to Cuba Camp this summer, or possibly in Hawaii in December where you dance, drum and learn chants all weekend! I am going to sign up for a Latin Dance class here in late June. The next best thing to getting back to the island, but that too is a possibility. I need drumming, dancing and more varied music in my life. While I love bluegrass, there's so much more I love to dance to, drum to and chant to. Ultimately, I want to be part of the music, not just an observer or part of the crew.

An American who moved to Cuba spoke today about the history of Cuban music. Great video clips of old and current musicians--I wish we could see and share the stuff he showed from Cuba; there's some incredible videography and music happening there right now. The rest of the world gets to check it out and we don't. So much for that bs about freedom and democracy here.

Off to visit family back east this Thursday! Pictures and new genealogy discoverys are sure to follow.

-Katfyssh

Detox not Botox

2006-02-21T11:47:00.000-08:00

With all the talk about bird flu and all of my family history with cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, strokes and heart disease, I figure I'm only genetically capable of somewhat loaded dice when it comes to my health future.

In 1989, I gave up red meat.

It's a a little surprising I think, because I grew up in Maine, hunting, learning to shoot a gun and having all kinds of daily outdoor and wildlife experiences.

Those days I was living in Wyoming, dating a boy whose father happend to be a Wyoming guide. Despite an impressive 100% male-created, wild game, delicious Thanskgiving dinner in Sheridan, Wyoming with his family, the drive north from Laramie exposed me, for the first time, to hundreds of cattle ranches. The slaughterhouses, the methane gases, and the the fact that 100 vegetarians can eat on the acre it takes to feed just one meat-eater all convinced me that cow-centered life had much too high a price.

Did you know that 50% of our water resources in the country go towards cattle ranching? That fact, along with mad cow disease, and that I'd never really consistently craved meat, made me give up red meat that year in Wyoming at age 20.

The next several years I continued to eat turkey and chicken. But in '92, I finally gave those up too. The idea of steroids and antibiotics and chickens living penned up in a factory farm made me sick. I had seen many chicken farms growing up in Maine and the smell alone was enough to make you not want to eat chicken, especially ones crowded together with their beaks cut off and being fed all kinds of chemicals.

Consequently, for the past 13 years, I've been living a semi-vegatarian life. Being from Maine, I could never give up some seafood, which I still eat a few times a week. But I am far healthier than I once was despite eating some amounts of vegetarian junk food.

So, why now, am I deciding to detox for 30 days? Why now am I giving up dairy, sugar and alcohol? Is is hard to be nearly vegan? Yes. a little. Mostly because restaurants have very few vegan and/or sugar-free options.

I really want to be consistently conscious of my health and what I put into my body. I figure trying this way of life for 30 days should give me an opportunity to see how my body reacts and ultimately how I make it the most happy and least susceptible to the fortune predicated by my genes. Luckily, I have a 90-year old grandmother and many reasons to believe I may have inherited good health from some hearty Maine and West Virginian stock.

The hardest part of attempting this has been getting rid of sugar. It's in EVERYTHING! I try really hard not to buy things that have even cane sugar, but sometimes it is hard. I have not been eating sugar or corn syrup or any refined sugars at all. Alcohol was the easiest part because I hardly drink anyway.

Although I am getting tired of explaining WHY I am not drinking when I go out to a bar or why I can't have a piece of the chocolate cake that my co-workers or friends are clearly enjoying. At least the bartender this weekend was cool and chalked it up to being the designated driver (which I was, and it was a damn good thing too). He gave me cranberry juice and filled up my water glass all night with lemons that made it look more like a drink, which was thoughtful at least.

I have not given up coffee, but I now drink it black or with vanilla soy milk. I gave up sugar in my coffee last February. I've been trying to eat as many all organic products as I can afford since I want to try to get rid of all the toxins--built up pesticides and other junk stuck in my system from years of abuse and unconcsious consumption. I've been putting flax seed on every salad and anything else that the tiny, nutty-flavored seeds taste good on.

Here's a sample day:

B'fast:

1 cup of oatmeal with banana and flax seed
cup of coffee with vanilla soy milk

Lunch

organic, natural peanut butter sandwich on whole wheat bread
celery
a tangerine
a Kombucha (cold) tea (a fermented mushroom tea with enzymes, probiotics and detoxifiers)
water and tea all afternoon

If still hungry, snack of soy yogurt, fruit leather or more celery or some unsalted nuts

Dinner

1 cup whole wheat rainbow pasta
with tomato and garlic marinara
1/2 cup soy ground meat
small butter lettuce salad with cherry tomatos with balsalmic vineagar dressing

water/tea
snack of a few walnuts or frozen blueberries before dinner.

Mostly I haven't really been hungry after dinner, which is good, 'cuz that's when I usually like to snack.

Anyway, that's what I've been up to...

Over and Out,
Katfyssh

2006-01-30T18:43:00.000-08:00

Pow Pow Boom Boom

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Snowboarding video from 2003

I had to move this off my server since I was getting so many hits. So, check it out here instead!

-K

Tags:

2006-01-22T17:11:00.000-08:00

Snowboarding in the Sierra Nevadas

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Nothing too crazy here. But yesterday we drove up to Tahoe and BACK.

....which IS crazy, but so worth the nine hours of driving for six hours of snowboarding in optimal conditions.

Powder in the trees made me giddy and now, so sore after my first day out on the mountain. But uplifted. Going again next weekend. Taking a party bus next time!

Check out this old snowboarding short I made from a powder day in the trees at Aspen, Co.

drop in, not out.

-K.

Tags:

2006-01-16T23:50:00.000-08:00

Firefly Tribute to Missy Baron

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Many fans of the Hot Buttered Rum String Band probably knew Missy Baron. She always had something fluffy on and a big-ass smile while she danced wildly at the front beaming up at the band

She passed away on Thursday in a car accident near Elko, Nevada en route to take care of her best friend's children. Her friend had recently died and Missy had decided to go support her extended family.

We'll miss you, Missy. Tonight we had a gathering to remember her. This is Evan, singing Hot Buttered Rum's song "Firefly" a favorite of Missy's.

rest in peace, friend. We love you.

-K.

Tags:

Goodbye to Maureen

2006-01-15T17:43:00.000-08:00

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My friend and fellow Gemini and "curly girl" just qualified for her Phd program!

She's off to Latin America to study participatory democracy and figure out how we can ignite our own so-called participatory democracy here in the States

This vid is a (raw-video) tribute to her send-off party in Santa Cruz, CA last night...

Salud y mucho suerte, Maureen!

We love you and will miss you. But you're doing great work!

love,

kathy

Tags:

Trusting the Process

2006-01-15T15:26:00.001-08:00

Hi. It's been an interesting week with lots of issues coming up around friendships, video, music, love and trusting the process.

I'm trying to get that it's ok to be naturally attracted to certain kinds of friends, and not to others. I don't need to feel bad that I can't physically or emotional be connected or reach out to everyone. I can only do my best, which means taking care of myself, loving open-heartedly with the people I feel most connected to and not feel guilty about the rest.

All I can do is love, forgive, be compassionate of my own self first, then others and just let go of all my ridiculous expectations of thinking I know what purpose we each have in one another's lives. We never know what is meant to be for us or others. But it all has some higher purpose, I know that.

And, I make mistakes and so does everyone else. I am learning how to be human every day and I don't have to prove anything. I just am. It's ok to let go and just be present. Everything will be as it needs to be.

This came up for me because a beautiful member of our HBR community died on Thursday in a car accident. Missy Baron. It made me question how short life is and how much I treasure my friendships and family. I'll miss her presence at shows and in my life. Tonight we'll go to a wake of sorts for her. I felt bad that I didn't connect with her more deeply and it's making me look at all the relationships I have and how I want to commit more time to nurturing the friendships I have with people I really enjoy and love and care about. Life is short. I don't want to waste another minute.

So, this huge tree almost fell on our house Friday night. It was a crazy wind storm that seemed to come from nowhere and it didn't really last that long. I felt like the universe brought it on so we could deal with something right then.

We did everything we could think of to figure out how to prevent it from crashing down into our house. It was scary,thinking that while we were sleeping it could crash right into our bedroom and deck. But I just prayed. Not something I do enough of really. But I tried to just remind myself to trust the process. Whatever happened was what needed to happen. Whether to teach us something, force us to deal with something, or maybe just learning to trust our gut or the process of waiting for things to happen.

And despite that night's crazy rain and wind, the tree stayed perched precariously over our house, but did not fall. The tree guys came out on a Saturday and hustled like lumberjacks up the tree, cutting it in giant sections that thumped loudly when they fell to the ground. I was grateful for the timing. And, felt good that I had let go of my fear, let the universe take care of things and I just trusted the process.

Faith that things will be as they need to be and that I can handle it with help from the universe when it happens is a powerful thing.

And with MLK day right around the corner, I am grateful to his legacy as well. It brings me hope and faith that a few commited people can change the world.

I saw Reverend Lucius Walker on Thursday night---incredible speaker---and will try to post a little of his talk if it came out ok. We're editing it for a community tv show on the humanitarian aid taken by Pastors for Peace to Cuba to challenge the blockade against Cuba.

Want to go this summer to Cuba with them? Let's go!

Peace,
Katfyssh

First Vlog

2006-01-11T23:35:00.000-08:00

I'm not really sure how the blip.tv vlog cross-posting works, so I'll just link to my first vlog.
It's the FCC hearing from July of 2004 in Monterey. Still very relevant today for media reform, and a good vid to test with for the first vlog.

Katfyssh.blip.tv

-KB

Macworld 2006

2006-01-10T19:36:00.000-08:00

Wow. I am a geek. Maybe more of a dork.

But today was very much like Christmas at Macworld in San Francisco. Cool toys. Lots of questions asked by me. A zillion things I wish I could buy now. I want a solar-powered battery charger for my cell and walkie-talkies. Oh, and a new G5 for editing. Guess I'll hold out til the credit cards are paid off a little more and 'til they have Intel processors. Now that the laptops and minis have 'em, it won't be long....

Now I'm sold on blogs and vlogging. finally. It's taken me some years to mull it over while visiting a million sites by other people exposing their lives. My dad has done it for the past year after he got tired of waiting for me to edit his code and maintain his Web site. One of my million side projects.

I guess in some ways I like to have more control over my content, and I am a bit of a perfectionist. I've never wanted to post my stuff, and if I did I figured I know how to put files up myself and just use HTML.

So, why blog now, you're wondering.

Well, I plan to do some video blogging. Also I need to use blogging as a teaching tool to show families and folks new to Web design that they don't actually need HTML, much to my old-school-coder dismay. It's just that things are easier now, so why make it harder on myself or them?

Of course, I'll still code, I'm sure. But there's too much I want to do in life and document and share with others to not use these great tools.

I'm looking forward to posting some great video clips too, of my experiences, other people's stories and more serious video and writing explorations.

I look forward to sharing with whomever it is that reads these things. Which, I guess, would at least be me. :-)

-KB