May we be free of torture, may there be peace in hearts and minds

[Recent Entries][Archive][Friends][User Info]

Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in the "ladycatherina" journal:

July 29th, 2010
11:19 am [Link]	Song to share - It's the Climb Everyone, I've come across a great version of Miley Cyrus' It's the Climb - sung by a young woman with hope and energy! http://ksolo.myspace.com/actions/showSongProfile.do?rid=2315896&sid=30022&uid=12711574 (8 comments \| Leave a comment)
July 6th, 2010
05:26 pm [Link]	You're invited to Synchronized Chaos Magazine's reception, July 30th from 5-10 pm at Muddy Waters All are invited to Synchronized Chaos Magazine’s semiannual reception, held this time at San Francisco’s Muddy Waters Cafe, 521 Valencia Street, Friday July 30th, drop-in from 5 to 10 pm. Walking distance from the 16th and Mission BART. Come network and meet our writers and artists and cultural creatives! All are invited, this event’s open to the public and welcomes people of all ages and interests. Think of it as a career networking event, social gathering, art and writing reception, singles’ event, couples’ night out, all at the same time! Muddy Waters is a friendly, laid-back coffeehouse with snacks, coffee drinks of all varieties, and no need to dress up Yuppies, hippies, and students and normal folks all welcome, come on out and network and chill and meet some of the artists and writers of Synchronized Chaos Magazine! Please comment if you’re interested in carpooling or need a ride, or if there’s anything else we can do to help you get here as we would be excited and honored to see all of you! And the Mission is not that dangerous at night…I know plenty of people, including plenty of women, who feel very comfortable here. There will be a large crowd in a well-lighted atmosphere. Link to the coffeehouse, reception is at the FIRST listed address: http://www.muddywaterscoffeehouse.com/locations.htm By the way, this is a drop-in event, no need for anyone but me to worry about showing up on time or leaving early…and artists and writers, please feel free to bring stories, business cards, small copies of your artwork, etc. Hope to see everyone! (1 comment \| Leave a comment)
June 26th, 2010
06:40 pm [Link]	Blog article on women in philosophy, great read! http://originalwavelength.blogspot.com/2009/08/are-women-philosophers-any-good.html - article on many competent philosophers, discussion of the nature and definition of philosophy. Not strictly feminist, discusses the field itself and how philosophy works. Great read! (Leave a comment)
June 25th, 2010
03:55 pm [Link]	More compiled Theano's Day posts, comment with a link to yours! Theresa Ramseyer’s post on Heloise, Hildegard, and Mary Wollstonecraft: http://controls-lady.insanejournal.com/2606.html Sarah Melton’s post on intellectual and political activist Simone Weil: http://www.facebook.com/notes/sarah-melton/women-in-philosophy-simone-weil/439058716084 Amar Chaudhary’s post on Theano, Anna Maria von Schurman, and Mary Wollstonecraft: http://www.ptank.com/blog/2010/06/theanos-day/ University webpage on women in logic and mathematics: http://jwilson.coe.uga.edu/emt668/EMAT6680.Folders/Dickerson/women/women.html (2 comments \| Leave a comment)
June 23rd, 2010
02:06 am [Link]	Theano's Day 2010: St. Brigid of Ireland, Poetess Mary Finch, Lady Julian of Norwich, Theano herself Today, June 24th, marks Theano's Day, the international day to blog in honor of a favorite female philosopher or thinker. This year I'm celebrating women with very humane, gentle sensibilities and social consciences, along with intellectual capabilities. First off, there's Ireland's second patron saint, Brigid, a nun, artist, writer, and leader known for helping develop the historically more balanced, more gentle and egalitarian Celtic Christian theology. Brigid chose the contemplative religious life after realizing she felt a calling to help the local poor and sick, which she started by giving away her and her father's possessions, including his valuable jewel-encrusted sword. Throughout her life, she organized efforts to care for the sick, educate children, and build and develop the nunnery. Ireland's pre-Christian past also involves a goddess named Brigid, and some historians observe commonalities among the saint and the goddess' lives and interests. Brigid the goddess serves as patron of wisdom, learning, writing, poetry, motherhood, and children - and is known for compassion towards the poor and sick. She taught people how to raise cattle and forge iron tools, while defending the rights of women, including single mothers and their children. Links to the story of Goddess Brigid and St. Brigid: http://www.goddessgift.com/goddess-myths/goddess-brigid.htm http://www.monasticireland.com/storiesofsaints/brigid.htm Then, there's the English theologian and poet Anne Kingsmill Finch, born in 1661 and highly educated in literature, history, and the classics. Known for her humor, wit, and energy, Finch satirized social customs which she felt overly restricted or protected women. She also expressed her love for her husband, her religious faith, and her struggle to overcome serious depression, while earning scores of admirers, including Alexander Pope and Jonathan Swift. University of Pennsylvania's Women Writers page for Anne Finch, complete with samples of her poems: http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/finch/finch-anne.html And, there's Julian of Norwich, an anchoress (a nun choosing to almost totally isolate herself from society to meditate and pray) who developed a kind of Christian theology which focused more on living out a response to God's love than on following rules for their own sake. She spoke often of divine love and welcome for all living beings, not just those of any one particular faith or culture, and emphasized learning from mistakes rather than strict penitence. Her book, Revelations of Divine Love, is the first published English-language book known to be written by a woman. Lady Julian of Norwich said, famously, and in the midst of the Black Death, "All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well." Article on Lady Julian's spirituality and how to reconcile 'all shall be well' with the world's obvious suffering: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3885/is_200104/ai_n8931020/ Finally, we come to Theano herself, Pythagoras' wife and the mother of his five children. She wrote extensively on intellectual topics, such as geometry, mathematical proportion in art, and literary critiques of books and treatises. And, she could transition well from practical life to high-minded academia and back again - she also wrote much about raising children and managing a household and treating servants with respect and professionalism. Link to a short biography of Theano and the Pythagorean School: http://www.women-philosophers.com/Theano.html As an extra treat, here's a list of thirty great books for and about girls, courtesy of Care2.com: http://www.care2.com/causes/womens-rights/blog/30-great-books-for-girls-8-14/ (3 comments \| Leave a comment)
June 14th, 2010
02:05 pm [Link]	Spontaneous Grace and other poetry At this moment I experience the desire for spontaneous grace. For the rain that holds off till ten minutes after your hike, for the extra five minutes a friend waits until your arrival, for the extra twenty miles your car somehow runs until the gas station. For the soft edges on the too-metallic recliner, for the last three rays of the sunset, for the directions you look up at the one coffeehouse where the public computer actually gets Wi-Fi. For the reason why some businesspeople stop and give change to a strange homeless person, for the reason why a receptionist smiles and lets you in too near closing time, for the reason why people share words of support and a few bucks to folks online without asking for proof first. For the mirror kind enough to break and shift your image in all the right ways, for the dandelion in the cracks that escapes the neighbor's weed-whacker, for the train that waits for you. For the traffic cop who winks - just once - at the jaywalkers or the driver ten or fifteen miles over the limit, for the single parent whose garage sale customers tell him/her to keep the change, for the time your housemate who loves angry talk radio actually switches on music. For the gleam of a rainbow in the soapscum on your dishes, for the time when your Mom actually doesn't open her mouth when there are still dirty dishes in your room, for the reason I still do favors for a friend everyone says could do more for herself. For home, for love and memories, for the grace notes at the end of the symphony. For the extras which get and keep us up in the morning. -- After the concept of 'Spontaneous Prose,' and dedicated to Jack Kerouac, Neal Cassady, Edie Kerouac, Gary Snyder, and Diane Di Prima. Two for Caffe La Boheme, the Mission eatery where we host our San Francisco writing group: I chalk the words magenta faux cursive grass-green faux monumental menu replete with offerings mortadella panini rotini middle eastern parmesan seitan blushing slushing muffin for crowded scattered eaters chess and Pellegrino pigtails, glasses, and Mommy's laptop hipster boots, beard, and show tickets Tomorrow, march to revolution rehearse for tango production dust up for school library function but tonight - sample a muffin. Haiku for the paintings on the wall: Pale mistresses fade darting to a distant star thin satin goodbyes. (2 comments \| Leave a comment)
June 10th, 2010
02:57 pm [Link]	Please comment on some interesting art! Everyone, a friend of mine's teenagers are making some spectacular art on http://www.ratemydrawings.com/user/santacruiser/ and http://www.ratemydrawings.com/user/savetheseals/ - would love it if people would sign up to leave them ratings and little comments of encouragement! (Leave a comment)
02:03 pm [Link]	Distraction for those of you going through hard times...morning dew June 10, 2010 A Magical Potion Morning Dew The world awakens each day from its nightly slumber, transformed by a sparkling layer of morning dew on the grass. The world awakens each day from its nightly slumber, transformed by a sparkling layer of morning dew on the grass, on flower petals and leaves, on cars and car windows. These glistening droplets last only a little while, an integral part of what imbues the early morning with its aura of magic. If we sleep too late, we miss the magnificent display of sunlight playing upon an infinite amount of tiny crystal balls. To step onto the dew-covered grass is to anoint our feet with a form of water that comes only once a day for a short time, a rarefied gift of the night air that will soon evaporate in the full light of the sun. If we inhale slowly and consciously enough, it is almost as if we are drinking in this magical elixir formed in the boundary between darkness and light. In one myth, morning dew is believed to be tears from heaven, and in another, the droplets are poured from the vessel of the goddess of dawn. When we see the earth draped with these shimmering drops, it is easy to imagine fairies bathing in the water, or a sky god weeping from a longing to be closer to his beloved earth goddess. Seeing the sparkling beauty of the earth emerging from darkness, we may understand this longing in terms of our own gratitude; how blessed we are to be here. Perhaps heaven really does long to be here on earth, and perhaps that is why we are here as conduits between the divine and the earthbound. As we drink the morning dew in with our eyes, our skin, our breath, it is easy to imagine that it really is a magical potion, a gift from heaven, a reminder of our true purpose, and a daily opportunity to be transformed. (Leave a comment)
June 7th, 2010
06:17 pm [Link]	Synchronized Chaos Magazine hosts Theano's Day, international day to blog about women in philosophy Everyone, Synchronized Chaos Magazine and I invite everyone to join our international blogging day, Theano's Day, Thursday, June 24th, where we write to celebrate women in philosophy! Link to the Facebook group for Theano's Day: http://www.facebook.com/?tid=1487709399306&sk=messages#!/group.php?gid=74564828672&v=info Greek mathematician and philosopher Pythagoras' wife Theano was a scholar and intellectual in her own right. Along with helping him raise five children, she put together writings on mathematics, art, beauty, philosophy, and child raising. She is credited with developing the Golden Mean, a crucial idea in aesthetic theory. By participating on Theano's Day, you honor and celebrate important women by creating a blog post on June 24th concerning a female philosopher whom you admire, or who intrigues you. As with Ada Lovelace Day, spotlighting women's contributions to technology, the woman you select may be from any nation, culture, or time period, living or dead...and you may blog in any style or format, using any software in any language. I selected Theano as a mascot as she represents a work/life balance, an apparently decent and loving wife and mother as well as a scholar and professional. Throughout history and on average women have worked very hard in the background keeping things going by raising children, cooking, maintaining households, helping to earn a living through day-jobs...all very respectable activities. And many have made contributions to philosophy or other fields which may have been overlooked because the women are primarily known for work they have done in their other roles. So Theano's Day celebrates the philosophical contributions of women and attempts to bring their ideas out in the open to help inform modern society. You may define 'philosopher' as you choose - someone need not have specialized in the field to be discussed in a blog for Theano's Day. For example, a female novelist, businesswoman, teacher, politician, nun, homemaker may have created a philosophical outlook worth discussing that is apparent through the values that come out through her work in other fields. Some women to start with if you need help thinking of someone: Hypatia of Alexandria (mathematician and scholar), St. Catherine (mystic and humanitarian), Sor Juana (Mexican nun and intellectual) and Florence Nightingale and Jane Austen, each of whom developed a worldview and philosophy through their writings on various subjects. We encourage as many people as possible from around the world to participate this June 24th. Please make your blogpost public and send us the link so we can read each other's writing! Also, please pass on the word about Theano's Day! (7 comments \| Leave a comment)
June 4th, 2010
02:19 am [Link]	From chorus_of_chaos - a chance to donate to help some stray kittens! This post is being edited to sit at the top of my journal for a while, it was originally written May 27, 2010 and will be updated as events progress. I figured this would make it easier for people to find and point to and track if you so desire. Long story short, I got involved in this because two tortoiseshell female kittens (roughly six to eight weeks old at the time?) got into the ductwork of my house in the winter and took up residence. I pulled a grate up in the bathroom and provided them food and water, but couldn't capture them and take them in because the roads here get impassable in winter sometimes. I had no idea female cats went into heat as young as five or six months, so was quite alarmed when I noticed them getting pudgy, and a few weeks ago they both had litters in my bathroom. (one of them will interact with on a small level, but is still rather wild. The other wants nothing to do with me.) So....I am trying to get the mothers and their children spayed/neutered (spuetered) and find homes for the kittens as I'm actively working with them to domesticate them. The mamas however, will never really be "pets", sadly, they were on their own for way to long. A meeting was set up by a lively lady named Marian who lives not to far from the complex I live in regarding what to do about the feral cats. She is very active working with a group called S.P.O.T.S. Here is what I found out at the meeting and what a few of us here in my housing area have decided to do. Apparently what I was told about the local humane shelter or whatever it is was wrong. They will NOT take in any cats, not even kittens. They do have some sort of reduced fare for shots/spaying but you have to take the cat back. Marian has something set up with a vet out in Cloverdale where she can bring in cats and they will give them their rabies shot (law says they have to have a rabies shot for the vet to do ANYTHING) and will spay/nueter (speuter) for a nominal fee, I think 25 dollars total, shot, surgery and recovery for a couple of days. They operate on the trap/speuter/return concept. A feral cat really can't be turned into a house pet no matter how much you really wish you could. Basically, we will be bringing the cats back to this area, certain people will set out food for them and provide small shelters (old dog houses, etc) for the cats to stay in, and just kind of keep an eye on them. Trying to domesticate them just results in a lot of heartbreak and often a cat that will become so terrifed it will injure itself trying to get back out to the wild and what it knows. The eight kittens I have in my home however I REALLY do want to try and find homes for. I can't see putting them out at eight weeks and just speutered. I am disabled however and minimal income which really doesn't even support me, I get assistance from my family. I will keep them until they are at least roughly six months old (not sure how I'm going to feed them but I can probably get a couple of the other people here involved in helping me out there, we can buy a huge bag of feed from the tractor supply company) and anyone I haven't been able to find a home for I will gradually introduce back to the outdoor living thing. I really don't want to do that, if there was any way I could keep them...but I live in a tiny three room modular house, my garage has more space than my house...and financally I can't afford the food and cat litter. There are something close to 130+ ferals here in the very small homeowners association I live in. A few of us are going to be trying to catch them and turn them over to this lady to get them spayed and then re-release them, I suggested she get a homeowner to sponser her giving a speech at the next POA meeting outlining this plan and request donations and for people to set up the traps she will proved. I told her though, dear god, don't get into talking about COMPASSION for these animals, no one here will care, they'd rather trap them and DROWN them or shoot them. Talk about the BENEFITS it will provide them. Pest control without increasing cat numbers, that within a couple of years the cat population will dwindle to very few, outline the rabbit math of how cats go into heat every six months and with an average of four kittens and there usually being mostly female adds up to a lot of cats very rapidly plus the danger of rabies, the fact that lot of the homes here are trailers or modular homes and cats get under them and tear up the insulation and duct work, they poo in people's flower beds, etc etc etc so reducing the population in this manner STILL gives us protection from mice, rats, voles etc but since a feral cats life span is only a few years usually, it will rapidly reduce the population to a reasonable number! I have no way to contribute money, but told her I would post here and other locations and boost the signal and try to find folks who won't mind sending in five bucks here, 10 bucks there...whatever they can. ( Read more... ) (Leave a comment)
May 18th, 2010
12:12 pm [Link]	Random thoughts, real update coming soon! Thursday is Katy Hughes' 18th bday. She's a talented photographer, writer, and sketch artist who lives in her car with her mother in San Jose as a result of various life struggles. Please drop her birthday wishes and love on Facebook under her name or to P.O. Box 111525, Campbell, CA 95011. Yes I know about and have read the PNN site with the critical/watchful comments but Katy could still use encouragement and support. I sure did myself at 18 ;) Alma Desnuda was amazing last night at Yoshi's...check them out online if you can, they're on Myspace and worth it. Simon and Garfunkel on a doubleshot mocha latte ;) They're going on tour this summer all over the US and playing for free at nursing homes and schools and then heading off to Burning Man! Access Magazine's out, love the design and the articles on the environment...and visited the Hayward and Castro Valley studios this weekend, lots of glassware and some woodworking. (3 comments \| Leave a comment)
April 30th, 2010
06:23 pm [Link]	Europe update and other matters Quick highlights from our trip to Europe: * Shakespeare and Co. Bookstore and the local writers' group currently, successfully, meeting there. Each local French bookstore, proudly offering authors in the original French - even the tourist-traps along the Seine sold Toynbee, Sartre and de Tocqueville. * Evening concert at St. Martin in the Fields of Baroque favorites, including Vivaldi's Four Seasons and Pachelbel's Canon. The extremely lifelike statue of an infant outside to symbolize the Incarnation. * Les Miserables...and then touring Victor Hugo's home afterwards. * Haworth, and losing sight of the official literary highlights trail, and wandering Wuthering Heights (the actual name of the region!) to find black-heather hills with a view of a reservoir and sheep pasture. Probably more what Heathcliff and Cathy would have done, going off trail ;) * The Paris Opera House and Notre Dame tours...how Notre Dame took 200+ years to build, when lifespans were maybe 50-60 at most. The Lady and Unicorn tapestries in the Cluny museum. * People on the plane and trains with all types of interesting nonprofit and educational backgrounds. The Mouftard neighborhood and its farmers' market...and the little vignettes about Oscar Wilde and Hemingway. More updates and photos coming soon...also, this article from care2.com defending the usefulness of online petitions, http://www.care2.com/causes/trailblazers/blog/slacktivism-why-snopes-got-it-wrong-about-internet-petitions/ posted for everyone here to discuss! Also, if you'd like to further the mission of Synchronized Chaos Magazine, we're asking people to consider supporting (donating OR publicizing/volunteering) these two international organizations we've endorsed for some time, working with Ugandans and Sudanese to further art and culture and literacy/education: http://synchchaos.com/?p=1959 (Leave a comment)
April 15th, 2010
04:47 pm [Link]	Reposted, request for help for tapati Passing on a request for help from tapati, a friend of a friend who's sick and very creative and interesting, and could use some help now. I have happily passed on donation information for others who are chronically ill while struggling to figure out which beans to cook today and adding a scrap of vegetable that I have left in a vain attempt to make it more interesting. I have urged people to contribute towards getting medication for others while my own medications go unfilled. I have watched as my husband goes every day to a stressful job that he hates in order to support both of us in an area where two incomes don't go that far anymore. There are medical expenses I haven't even tried to tackle with the little we have left after rent and food and basic meds. I need a new CPAP mask and hose, for example. I need special orthopedic shoes for walking because with fluid retention I no longer fit into normal shoes--they aren't high enough even if I buy a size too large. Doctors are always recommending things I should get in addition to my medications or urging physical therapy, always things I can't afford--even with health insurance. I've had to examine why I'm so quick to scrape up five bucks to donate to another chronically ill person while not ever asking for anything to meet my needs. I suspect it's a combination of low self esteem and a working class bias against asking for handouts. On the other hand, I have provided free previews of the rough draft of my memoir here, and if you were entertained by it and moved to donate, perhaps I can think of it as payment for being entertained. :) I left the button set to allow you to enter the amount you feel that you can spare, and if you can't spare cash well wishes and prayers are also greatly appreciated. I have donated as low as five dollars, as I said, so no need to be embarrassed by a small amount! No one else will know. :) Bless you for reading this and considering helping. I know many of us are in a hard place right now. If you'd like to pass on the link to this entry, please feel free and thank you! (PayPal donation button is in her LiveJournal, tapati on the first entry.) (Leave a comment)
April 14th, 2010
04:20 pm [Link]	Quake in Tibet, thousands dead, please assist survivors Quake in Tibet. Please help. Donate here: http://tibetanvillageproject.org/ (Please RT and repost) Almost four thousand dead and counting, more thousands injured. Help assist survivors regardless of politics. Blog post from Tibetans in the area - http://www.highpeakspureearth.com/2010/04/earthquake-in-tibet-initial-reactions.html Heard about this from the International Campaign for Tibet, http://www.ict.org (2 comments \| Leave a comment)
April 10th, 2010
06:43 pm [Link]	John Culp's Poetry Poetry from John Culp, aspiring poet and member of our Castro Valley writers' group: Hello, Last meeting I wrote: Trespass windows for Truth. Invade with meaning and tooth. Tear my veil of laden sediment. Answer the letters I have sent. Last Saturday I wrote: If with complaint is no solution, words can friend with noise pollution, but where too poised and never spake, silent forms a crust on lake. Frozen quiet darkens. Laws beyond that stop all that is said, that the lake itself might waken the dead. Here is spun for a pleasure or fun. First ice breach is Freedom of Speech. Then view the lake for all of our sake. Thanks, Jon (3 comments \| Leave a comment)
06:40 pm [Link]	Freelance paid poetry markets Blog post available in its entirety at the wonderful website http://www.freelancewritinggigs.com - here’s the link: http://www.freelancewritinggigs.com/2010/01/21-poetry-markets/ 21 Poetry Markets Agni - Pays $20 – $150. Contact for guidelines. Alaska Quarterly Review - Pays $10 – $50. Contact for guidelines Antigonish Review - Pays $30/page. Please see online guidelines. Antioch Review – Pays $15/page. Online guidelines. Arc – Canada’s National Poetry Magazine – Pays $15/page. Black Warrior Review - Pays up to $75. Contact for full guidelines. Boulevard Magazine – Pays $25 – $250. Online guidelines. Clean Sheets -Pays .03/word (erotica) The Capilano Review – Pays $50 – $200. Online guidelines. Dreams and Nightmares – Pays $10. Online guidelines. Electric Velicipede: Pays $15 for poems under 100 lines. Online guidelines. Grain Literary Magazine - Pays $40 – $70 – See online guidelines for more details. Chatahochee Review - Pays $50. Online guidelines/ Island – Pays $60. Online Guidelines Leading Edge – Pays $10. Snail mail submissions only. Online guidelines. New Myths – $15. per poem. Online guidelines. Orion Society – Pays $100/poem. Contact for guidelines. The Pedestal Magazine – Pays $40. Online guidelines. Ploughshares – Pays $25 – $250. Online guidelines. Poetry - Pays $150/page. Online guidelines. Three Penny Review – $100/poem. Snail mail submissions only. Online guidelines. (Leave a comment)
06:39 pm [Link]	Freelance writing gigs...from Deborah Ng of www.freelancewritinggigs.com May 2010 be the year you prosper and profit! Unless linked to full guidelines, please contact the publication directly for complete guidelines before querying. Also, before querying, please take the time to read through several back issues to familiarize yourself with the magazine’s tone and style and to ensure you’re a good fit. One of the biggest pet peeve of magazine editors are blind queries where the writer knows nothing about the market. Because buying all those past issues isn’t very cost-effective, I usually browse back copies at the library. 40 MORE Freelance Writing Markets Paying $100 or More AAA Living – Pays $150 – $1800/assigned article American Kennel Club Gazzette – Pays $300 – $500 per article. Scroll down for email address to request guidelines. America’s Civil War – Pays $300+. Art Calendar – Pays $250. Astronomy – Pays $100 – $1000 Auto Pilot Magazine - Pays $100. Contact for guidelines. Baby Talk Magazine - Pays $500 – $2,000. Query by mail to 530 5th Avenue, NY NY 10036 and be sure to include a SASE. Bee Culture – Pays $100 – $250 Bike Magazine – Pays .50/word. Follow contact info for guidelines. Blade Magazine – Pays $200 – $300. Contact for current guidelines. Bridal Guide – Pays 50/word. I’d query for more comprehensive guidelines. Broken Pencil – Pays up to $100 – $400. Business Traveler - Pays .50/word. Contact for guidelines. Car & Driver – Pays $750 – $3,000 per article. Send email to editors@caranddriver.com Chidren’s Advocate – Pays $225 -$450. Contact for guidelines. Chile Pepper – Pays $600. Contact for current guidelines. Credit Today - Pays $200 – $1400. Dance Teacher - Pays $100 – $300. Try emailing jtu@dancemedia.com to request guidelines. Discovery Channel Online - Pays $1/word. Dog Fancy – Pays .40/word International Living – Pays $100 – $500 Family Fun – Pays $1.25/word. Family Motor Coaching Magazine - Pays $100 – $500. Contact for guidelines Her Sports - Pays $200 – $600 per assigned article. Kitchen and Bath Design News – Pays $200 – $650. Contact for current guidelines. Laptop Magazine – Pays $150 – $1250. Contact for guidelines. The Meeting Professional - Pays .50 – .75/word for assigned articles. Minnesota Conservation Volunteer - .50/word. National Parks Magazine – Pays $1300 for features and travel articles. The Network Journal – Pays $150 – $200. Pitch career articles or articles related to business. New York Spirit – Pays $150 Northwest Travel - Pays $100 – $500 On Wall Street – Pays $1/word. Contact for guidelines. Persimmon Hill – Pays $150 – $300 Robb Report - Pays $1.oo/word. Romantic Homes – Pays $500. Contact for guidelines. Snafu Designs – Greeting card market. Pays $100/idea. Guidelines at info@snafuguidelines. This Old House – Pays $1 per word. I’m not sure how old these online guidelines are as they’re from another site, so I’d contact for fresh guidelines. Threads - Pays $150/page. Contact for current guidelines. Wine Enthusiast – query by sending email to tmoriarity@wineenthusiast.com – Pays $750 – $2000 (Leave a comment)
April 6th, 2010
11:15 pm [Link]	Tony Du Shane, Solo Sundays, Kristie, Writers' Groups, Networking events All four local writers' groups are up and running - including the new one in San Rafael, which is at a coffeeshop I found on Yelp that's a nice place but with a slightly different vibe than I expected. I thought it'd be showy/fancy/organic in that area, but it's more laid back with green diner chairs and a big fridge full of Cokes in the middle. Attracted a few nice people though, including a guy who goes to Burning Man and whose sister wrote a children's book to illustrate the lyrics to Monkey and the Engineer. Went with the San Jose writers to join the First Friday art walk last week - forgot somehow that I'd scheduled it on Good Friday...that and the rain brought out a small turnout. I admire Works Gallery especially for the quality of the art and the ICA Print Center for the intellectual artist's statements. Met a woman from http://www.artshiftsanjose.com who said the magazine's looking for writers on any aspect of the South Bay art scene...email editor@artshiftsanjose.com if you're interested. Kristian's family has three new baby kittens...saved from their trash compactor hideout, now they're maybe a month old. He's also looking into working with installing solar panels and I gave him my mother's guide to government jobs. Last week also dropped by Last Gasp Publishing's 40th anniversary celebration. Diane Di Prima, Michelle Tea, and others gave live performances of their writing. I received Lauralee Summer's memoir, Learning Joy from Dogs without Collars (the girl who grew up occasionally homeless with her creative but eccentric mother, who traveled the US and stayed in shelters...and eventually became a serious wrestler and attended Harvard while developing a writing career) in the mail and sent it off to Katy and Liz Hughes with a little cash - and said I believed in them, that they could get jobs and get into school and do better in life, and would be cheering for them and would send them my autographed Diane di Prima memoir to celebrate with them once they found work. Went to a NCSWA science writers' dinner, learned about restoration efforts for the Monterey Bay ecosystem. The head of the biology department at SFSU invited Synchronized Chaos Magazine to come cover their May conference on genomics and genetics and better targeted cancer therapy...we're also reviewing a San Jose Opera performance of La Rondine and writing on makeup and hairstyle artists for a SF Fashion Week benefit, where they're inviting people to submit poems defining beauty on their own terms. Went to a networking event for young nonprofit professionals - some good organizations represented, lots of folks from this legal aid group, and others from an international literacy society which is hiring (but only finance and HR professionals) - Room to Read, which I'd love to work for if I could. Also another event on nonprofit marketing that was at the Castro Valley Library. Wrote on some interesting women for Ada Lovelace Day, also finished my consent forms for my thesis, now the ball's in my professor's court to take an online training class. For St. Patrick's day had one of my famous three hour BART and bus commutes, heading into San Jose for a magazine meeting and then to SF at night for a Lincart reception, celebrating "St. Patty's Day Around the World with a Brazilian Artist." Ran into a bunch of people who'd come visit UC Davis once and we'd chatted in their vans outside an art gallery...they totally remembered me, and I remembered them telling them they were from SF, I just didn't make the Lincart connection for awhile, and they actually got Davis mixed up somehow with Sacramento. Did get to enjoy a Guinness in San Jose though and met a professional violinist at the bar who was younger than I am. Judged the Hayward Poetry Slam, great crowd of 60+ people, excited to foster the development of an emerging art scene! Bananaritis also went well, plenty of energy and potential for a MFA thesis student project. UC Berkeley hosted a day on women in leadership...attended a seminar on negotiating and another on nonprofit careers, where I was very inspired by a woman talking about her organization defending the legal rights of refugees to work and earn money in their new countries. Kristie's dealing with stuff in her life again and I'm trying to help as much as I can...what she needs is a Hella Pretty Army, like goodbadgirl! I wonder how you can build such a group for someone with a lesser known disorder which affects her personality...but this is a team effort, more than I can handle on my own, as her family realized about themselves years ago (when they abandoned her to me and other non-blood relatives) and I'd like to get more of an infrastructure of support for her, especially as I'm leaving for Europe next week and will be gone for two weeks. She knows now, I told her on Monday, and she called me crying and freaking out saying she couldn't handle me being gone and having to deal with strange social workers. And yes, she's more important than Europe...but the trip's a gift from family I'm living with at the moment who don't allow me to care for Kristie as they think she's taking advantage of me and it's "their house, their rules." Everyone's struggling now, JobSeekers is getting bigger and last weekend at the theater for Solo Sundays, http://www.stagewerx.org/index.html#solo) Bruce Pachtman (who produced and emceed that show) came out between performers and tossed Tootsie Pops to people like a high school youth pastor, then came onstage and said that now he had our attention and an empty bucket. And we should know that 100,000 arts nonprofits had to shut their doors for financial reasons last year in california and he was worried, so to keep the theater around, he'd appreciate us putting some change in there on the way out. I wanted to give something actually as it was a fairly good show and Bruce and the actors did quite a good job, someone even stood up to thank him, and I've seen how this experience of performing can transform people's lives. But I had no change left, only Chapstick, which I gave to a homeless lady with a dog outside the theater, and she was a published novelist! We ended up comparing favorite books and chatting for quite awhile. All kinds of people read about the show, even people in our writing group in San Jose who have much less money than the Solo Sundays crowd, and they said how sorry they were the theater had to resort to that...my father, who used to fix planes and haul food out of freezers for a living, said he'd like to show Bruce and all the other artsy folks I knew in SF the 100,000 laid off assembly line workers in the East Bay now moving back in with parents or sleeping in shelters. He said they might not be funny or artsy but they were hurting worse from the recession than the artists who should know to expect it. I get his point, and I get the theater people's point....hard to know what to do or where to give. Our magazine gets that issue too - people think Synchronized Chaos should do all this international and local philanthropy, and we do and we want to, but do we give to Haiti or very poor developing countries, or do we give to larger arts groups doing work we like or helping people we know and work with? What about our own contributors? We publish folks who live in their cars and who stay in shelters and who are on disability...maybe do something nice for our own writers and artists? I guess it's all about the heart and the intention and whatever we can do at any time. Anyway...I'll be gone from April 11 to the 25th, will check comments though. Just heard author Tony DuShane (Teenage Jesus Jerk) speak and he said blogposts should be revised and polished...too late for this one. (7 comments \| Leave a comment)
March 26th, 2010
04:11 pm [Link]	Hayward Poetry Slam THIS Saturday, the 27th, 2:30 at the Hayward Main Library This Saturday, March 27th, is the Poetry Slam at the Hayward Public Library. 835 C Street, 2:30 pm. All welcome, I'm serving as a judge! (1 comment \| Leave a comment)
March 25th, 2010
12:15 am [Link]	Fourth draft of the story on social networking helping the homeless family Katy Hughes has always loved to draw and paint, and carries her sketchbook with her most places she goes. Just sixteen when she and her mother lost their apartment and moved into their Oldsmobile, Katy Hughes started selling artwork online to raise cash for food. Her drawing, along with creative writing and volunteering at her local Campbell library, help keep her sane while she and her mother, Elizabeth Hughes, look for work and continue to endure homelessness. Katy chronicles her experiences through a Blogspot blog, also sharing photography and art from her sketchbook.(destinationanywherebuthere.blogspot.com) ( Read more... ) (4 comments \| Leave a comment)

[<< Previous 20 entries]