App for locating offenders
For those of you living in the USA who want to protect your children this looks like it might be a useful tool for your iphone or ipad.
Offender Locator By ThinAir Wireless
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/offender-locator/id317435796?mt=8
Guard a Silver Sixpence
This insightful book was written by an inspiring, powerful and lovely women called Felicity Davis. The book documents a personal journey as she set out to find why her nan's (grandmother's) behavior had been so vicious, domineering and cruel. She uncovers a pattern of abuse which, was handed down through the generations …
"In 1903, in the British mining town of Barnsley, a brutalised wife called Emily Swann lashed out at her violent husband. Her actions brought tragedy and scandal in their wake. Her children were shamed, her family broken apart.
Over one hundred years later her great-granddaughter Felicity, also a victim of physical and psychological abuse, set out to uncover the secret history of her family in the hope it would heal the scars of her own childhood.
As Felicity discovered more about her mum and nan, and was led back to Emily herself, she came to see how all these women had all been caught in a damaging cycle, endlessly repeating the mistakes of the past. And she knew that she, at last, had the power to break free.
Guard a Silver Sixpence is the heartwarming story of an inspirational woman who learned that anything is possible if you can lay the past to rest".
Source: http://davisfelicity.blog.com/guard-a-silver-sixpence-book/
Buy a copy form Amazon.
Creating a family of choice
I believe it can be very healing for women who have been abused by family member(s) as a child or teenager to create a 'family of choice' as an adult.
Being abused in your own home as a child can create deep patterns of mistrust and a host of complicated feelings surrounding family of origin. Rebuilding trust in your own ability to create a safe space for yourself as an adult can be helped by creating a 'family of choice'. This might develop naturally as you meet friends you can confide in and feel safe and nurtured by. However, family creation can also be found through alternative lifestyles (alternative to a traditional nuclear family or marriage). With this idea in mind I have shared with my readers in the links page, details of a comprehensive resource for finding Intentional Communities and Coops.
"Communities Directory: A Comprehensive Guide to Intentional Communities and Cooperative Living" (2010) published by the Fellowship for Intentional Community
The Feminist Majority Foundation USA
The Feminist Majority Foundation USA are holding a 'No More Excuses' campaign
They want to change the definition of rape in the USA. They urge you to take action.
TAKE ACTION - you can make a difference
- Email a Letter - Ask the FBI to change their outdated definition of rape
- Email a Letter -Tell the Chiefs of Police association that you care about this issue
- Find out whether there is a backlog in your community & then tell us!
- Tell a friend about the RAPE is RAPE: No More Excuses Campaign
To find out more click on the link below:
http://www.feminist.org/nomoreexcuses/index.asp
We'Moon Anthology Blog Tour
Interview of Jenny Weston
This interview forms a part of the "We'Moon Anthology Blog Tour." We'Moon has just published a 30-year anniversary anthology titled 'In the Spirit of We'Moon, Celebrating 30 Years, An Anthology of We'Moon Art and Writing'. http://wemoon.ws/ This anthology includes the work of many of the artists and authors who have contributed to their internationally acclaimed lunar calendar datebook for the last three decades.
They have invited contributors who have our own blogs to interview each other and then post these interviews on the blogs, which will be linked to We'Moon's Facebook page.
http://www.facebook.com/wemoon
I Susa Silvermarie www.SusaSilvermarie.com am honored to interview We'Moon contributor Jenny Weston from North Yorkshire, England and author of the site: www.healingmeditations.co.uk
Susa
Your site is called 'Nourishment for Difficult Times', and I understand that your focus is on helping women heal from gender-based violence. Please tell us more about the work you do with and for women survivors.
Jenny
The 'Nourishment for Difficult Times' website is a free service for all women survivors. The site contains a series of meditations and healing techniques designed to soothe, heal and nourish the soul. It also includes techniques to transform pain and hurt into empowerment and to challenge old patterns of behavior, which can hold women back, patterns learnt from surviving in an abusive environment. Some of these patterns might be; not telling anyone the whole painful truth, or being afraid to be assertive or being gripped by overwhelming fear in certain situations. Challenging these learnt patterns is not easy but the website shows effective ways of how women can heal.
In addition to my online services, I work as a therapist with women both individually and in groups. I specialize in recovery work and in facilitating women who want to deepen their healing, meditation and other spiritual practices.
Susa
Will you tell us about the healing cards you have created for women?
Jenny
Yes, I am excited about these cards and I would like to find a publisher who is excited about publishing and promoting them.
I have created two sets of cards for women who have been abused. One set is for helping women understanding feelings in more depth, by helping them identify the feeling themselves. Often women survivors are confused about their feelings as their abuse memories lead them to feel so many different powerful emotions at once. Overwhelmed is how they often feel, and so these cards are specially designed to aid in unraveling strong mixed emotions to help women identify what each feeling is.
The other set of cards I have created are for young women who are exploring relationships with men. I have worked with young women for many years and see them making the same mistakes whilst choosing a male partner over and over again. This card set teaches what to look out for in terms of recognizing dysfunction so that a healthy relationship can be created. The cards are designed to coach them not only to spot negative traits, but to see the positive traits in the partners they chose.
"The aim of the relationship cards is to be a beacon to help you navigate the intense and deep waters of romance and lust. They will help you to decide if he is the one to get serious about or throw back into the pond. Each card explores different aspects of a relationship to help you assess if you will enjoy each other's company happily long term or not. Remember all relationships can be a training ground to develop your own relationship skills. You will find as you personally grow and change that your needs in a relationship change".
(J.S.J. Weston, 2010)
Susa
You have some wonderful ideas about helping women internationally.
Could you talk about that?
Jenny
Attending a workshop is a more cost effective way to access therapy. My aim is to teach workshops not only in the UK (as I have done for many years) but to also help women all over the world.
Often, women who have been abused as children find themselves isolated by their pain and shame. A workshop environment however, shows women that they are not alone in their recovery process and can act as a catalyst for deep and lasting healing.
It can also be a great starting place for women who want to create their own support group. My website has a lot of information about how to set up and run a group-led support.
I also want to teach techniques to rape survivor organizations in Africa (D.R. Congo and Rwanda) via Skype or video conferencing. It is important to me that women who have endured systematic rape as a weapon of control have support. Teaching techniques to workers in organizations in Africa can bypass the problem of Internet access in Africa.
Susa
I found your recorded audio meditations to be a wonderful way to use your site. Your voice quality soothes, your pacing is gentle, and your cadence is graceful.
Jenny
Thank you. I have taught guided meditation for many years and I know what a powerful transformational technique it is.
It was important to me to have a series of audio meditations on the site for women to use free of charge. I view the free part as my gift to all women to help them during the difficult times during recovery.
I am currently developing a range of new audio meditations for my website specifically created for women healing from abuse. I aim to make these further recordings affordable as part of my ongoing commitment to women's healing.
Susa
Your 'Breathing Meditations' collect some golden techniques all onto one page. Can you say more about how you came to collect and write these healing-with-the-breath methods?
Jenny
I have worked as a therapist and personally been meditating for twenty two years and I know how powerful breath work is. Breathing deeply and letting feelings wheal up and pass on is a very powerful therapeutic tool. It can effectively aid in releasing deeply held past painful feelings and chronic muscular tension. Moving feelings on in this way can change lives from being painful to powerful, and from being angry to being calm. I work this way a lot with clients and often it can be easier to work with a therapist or support group at first even if to just counteract the feeling of being alone and too ashamed to tell. It is a skill to meditate this way by yourself, but can be done with very effective results.
Susa
In your 'Inner Child Meditations', you offer specific affirmations and your 'Love Meditation' is a reversal of a common unhealthy habit many women are unaware of having. Do any stories come to mind about the effect of this meditations, on yourself or clients?
Jenny
Before I trained in therapy I used to visit an intentional community in the USA, which practiced a form of behavior modification. Here people would make a point of complementing each other as a form of positive affirmation. I would notice myself at first struggling to accept the gift of a compliment. Through self enquiry I understood why I found it hard to accept peoples kindness and I worked at really letting that kindness in. Once I became more comfortable with it I would notice when other people struggled to accept kindnesses, love or gifts. This affirmation can be used as an effective technique for opening the heart to receiving more love.
Susa
The Grounding Meditation is a wonderful example of detailed guided visualization. I assume you have deliberately chosen the term meditation for what some call visualization or use of the imagination. Do you care to share anything about what prompted you to use the term meditation?
Jenny
I see visualization as a form of meditation in that visualization requires personal awareness and focus. This Grounding Meditation when done repeatedly and over a period of time is more than a visualization. It can change a woman's centre of balance, change her posture and help her to feel more grounded and solid.
Susa
Your 'Meditation to release thoughts' includes a bit more physical stretching or movement exercise. What is it that is valuable about including that?
Jenny
Being able to think clearly is a very useful skill but it can be overdone. Analyzing every little detail is also a useful skill but again can be overdone. Stopping excessive thought (including worry) is a useful thing to be able to do. Physically moving the body can help reduce thoughts that are repeating and repeating. If you over-think as a habit then it will take conscious repeated effort to break the habit. Doing something physical and focusing on the physical movement rather than the repeated thought pattern can help break the habit.
Susa
Would you like to add anything else?
Jenny
In 2008 I gained a master degree in International Business with a strong focus on Sustainable Business. I believe healing the earth by using more sustainable and cleaner forms of energy and wasting less resources and reducing excessive packaging goes hand in hand with healing the psyche. It has been said many times that the mentality of systematic and continued rape of the land goes hand-in-hand with systematic and continued rape of women and children. I believe that to stop both these crimes the empowerment of women is vital.
I would like to invite all We'moon readers to visit the 'Nourishment for Difficult Times website' (www.healingmeditations.co.uk), a free resource for all women survivors.
Biography
JENNY WESTON (S.H., P.E.P.T., BA(Hons), MSc.) is a certified practitioner of Polarity Bodywork and Psychotherapy.
She has led groups for many years on holistic thinking and healing. Her work is grounded in empowering her cliental to let go of stuck, self sabotaging patterns and embrace a more expansive concept to self. She has a particular interest in Buddhist philosophy and Shamanism, which she weaves into her meditation practice.
She also has a degree in Business and Management and Msc in International Business, with a special interest sustainable business and how holistic thinking leads to positive transformation.
Her website dedicated to women's well-being, showing meditations and techniques to aid healing from deep wounds to improve quality of life. She is workshop leader for Nourishment for Difficult Times.
We'Moon Anthology Blog Tour
Interview of Susa Silvermarie
This interview forms a part of the "We'Moon Anthology Blog Tour." Mother Tongue Ink has published an anniversary anthology entitled, 'In the Spirit of We'Moon, Celebrating 30 Years, An Anthology of We'Moon Art and Writing.' http://wemoon.ws/ This gorgeous compilation includes the work of many of the artists and authors who have contributed to the internationally acclaimed 'Lunar Calendar Datebook' for the last three decades.
We'Moon invited all those contributors to the anthology who have our own blogs to interview another contributor, and to then post our interviews on our blogs. We'Moon will link our blog interviews to their Facebook page at the following link:
http://www.facebook.com/wemoon
I am honored to interview We'Moon contributor Susa Silvermarie from Asheville North Carolina USA.
Susa, How has being published in the We'Moon Calendar affected your work?
Susa
Being in We'Moon joined me to a community of women artists and gifted me with readers all over the world. Since 1993 I've been honored to have twenty-one of my poems appear We'Moon over the years, and six of the pieces are reprinted in the anthology. I get excited every time a new We'Moon hits the shelves, whether I have a poem in it or not. I was 45 when I first submitted a piece, and now I'm 64. I feel like I grew up with We'Moon. So it's with great gratitude that I reviewed the anthology on my site. I have also added my We'Moon poems to the site, www.susasilvermarie.com under the page entitled 'My Writing.'
Jenny
What else are you doing as a poet?
Susa
Glad you asked, because I have an. event coming up in August I'd like to tell readers about. I'll be attending the A Room of Her Own Retreat at Ghost Ranch, New Mexico on a Wise Woman Fellowship. Aroho is the preeminent nonprofit institution working on behalf of women writers today, and the annual retreats are designed around the passions of peers to see more go to: www.aroomofherownfoundation.org
I'm thrilled to be participating in the retreat and to be offering a "Mind Stretch" called How to Love the World According to Mary Oliver, in which I will perform selected poetry by Mary Oliver while listeners play a game of Catch-the-line-that-calls-you, followed by reading the caught lines as a group poem. Mind Stretch presentations are videotaped and select moments may be posted to AROHO's You Tube channel. I think this will be great fun and I'm looking forward to putting on my performance hat again.
Overall, I'm anticipating the essential nourishment of connections with diverse feminist thinkers and out-of-the-box writers. For any We'Moon readers who write, I encourage you to check out the Aroho guidelines and submit your work for the many prizes and awards that Aroho gives out each year.
Jenny
So you're a poet now writing young adult fiction. Can you talk about that?
Susa
I began writing as a poet and I will always be a poet. But when I turned 60 I went back to school for an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults. I'm hooked on writing for young people and I'm passionate about helping them write their experiences as well. I want to be part of reaching them, and I want to do what Madeleine L'Engle says,
"I write for the child in everybody, that part of us that is aware and open and courageous, that part that isn't afraid to explore the mythical depths…that part where art is born."
A year ago I retired from my job life to write full-time. I'm so grateful for this new beginning in my life, which I call my 'Third Trimester'. Writing fiction and performing poetry and following my artist nose wherever it leads me, ahh- it feels like my true road, what I am meant to be doing. I'm 64, becoming more fluid than ever before, and I'm in love with life.
Jenny
Are you looking for agent representation for any particular work at this time and if so, can you share the pitch?
Susa
Yes! I'm actively seeking an agent for my young adult novel in verse, 'Telling It'.
The pitch: The year is 1969 and eighteen-year-old Sheila embodies the clash of cultural mores at the end of the 60's. When she adventures to Brazil and conceives by date rape, her mother disowns her, and Sheila grapples with homelessness, the welfare system, and the process of deciding whether to keep the baby. She draws close to a priest expelled from his parish for firebrand sermons against the Viet Nam war, and she transforms herself from an isolated girl in need to a young woman who belongs to a community, one who gives raw, luminous voice to a new era.
I visualize this historical fiction tale resonating with kids today, kids who like Sheila must also find their way and come of age in a challenging era when old ways are truly crumbling and it is the young who must create the new.
Jenny
Your site, www.SusaSilvermarie.com showcases your blog posts as well as other writing. What's it like for you to share yourself in that way?
Susa
I call the blog entries flash essays and I love posting them. For a writer who began publishing the hard, slow way in the 70's, there is nothing like the thrill of hitting "publish" when I add a blog essay or a poem, a book review or a story. I don't know who my readers are but I know I'm reaching them, at last count over a thousand hits. To complete the circle of giving my art, I need it to be received. We are so blessed to have this new capability of seizing the means of production! I invite We'Moon readers to subscribe to my blog.
Jenny
Can you talk about what the process of writing means in your life?
Susa
I see myself as a writer in the shamanic tradition, one who journeys to other worlds, and shapeshifts beyond my kind, in order to harvest fruits and fictions that surprise me. The shaman and the writer are solitary figures, and yet, the purpose of my writing is to connect, especially to young people. I know what their isolation feels like. I hope my writing can help mend it, so they will experience their connection with the human family and our planet home. I want to be one of the writers who offers them alternatives to traditional ways. I want to write for children so that I may encourage their boldness, their tenderness and their creativity in a world that so urgently needs these qualities
What I work to nurture now in my writing is the sense of connection, all of us belonging to one family on one beautiful fragile planet. Writing is my tilling the soil of belonging, writing is my shining a light on the seed of belonging, writing is my quenching the thirst for belonging. What writing means to me now is finding and offering that sense to the youth into whose hands I hope to send my writing, as well as to the child in myself still seeking it.
All along my path, writing has been a spiritual tool. I consider my process of writing to be a sacred charge of heroic proportions. For the joy of writing, I have gladly re-visioned setbacks as opportunities, and I have gladly given up many things that feed me less than writing does. What I ask of writing now is that it call me and my potential readers to the true enormity of our spirits. I want my writing to give kids heroes and to make kids heroes. What my writing means to me now is a way to help young readers find that they themselves belong to that heroic realm. To me the fruit of writing is community connection.
Jenny
Who or what are your influences?
Susa
I am inspired by the awesome art of nature Herself in every form.
Some of my individual influences have been Mary Oliver, Adrienne Rich, Marge Piercy, Pema Chodron,Thich Nhat Hanh, Patricia Lee Gouch, Joanna Macy, Fran Cheny, Joanna Macy, my son David Sartori, and my mother Marie Himley Sartori, and Jeannie David.
Back in the day, the National Feminist Writers Guild influenced and expanded me, as did my participation in Dianic Wicca. I recall how the first feminist spirituality conference in Boston in the 70's called Through the Looking Glass blew my perception doors wide open. I wrote about that in an essay that's on my site called Remembering the Mothertongue. Nowadays Alanon and Buddhist practice keep me honest and humble. The people of my beloved Mexico have also been a profound influence on me, the poetry of the everyday people who have shown me their souls.
Jenny
Before you began to write for children and young adults, I understand you worked with elders and published a book about that. What's the connection?
Susa
For many years, my work with elders was my doorway into spiritual opulence. I pioneered a form of poetry therapy for people with dementia. Poetry allowed me to meet people heart to heart in that rich place, in the shimmering fullness of our human potential. Even those with Alzheimer's Disease were able to open to art's moment. I owe them a special debt of gratitude, and I called my third book of poetry Tales From My Teachers on the Alzheimer's Unit. I am currently in the process of sharing those poems on my website.
These days I inhabit the world of children as much as I can. I now work in schools rather than in nursing homes. I have used the oral composition techniques I learned as a poetry therapist with elders to work with preschool children, and have created anthologies of their extraordinary poems for their families and classrooms. I worked with folks at the end of life and now I'm working closer to the beginning, but you know what? They're right next to each other on the circle.
Jenny
What is one thing you're willing to share with me that most might not know about you?
Susa
I'm a shy person hiding inside someone born in the middle of a big family, a natural introvert who had to learn how to pile enough on my plate before the food was gone, how to claim space, how to get heard.
Jenny
If you could share your wisdom with girls on the cusp of womanhood, what might you say to them?
Susa
Sisters! Those of us who have been doing it for awhile are no different from you. We have the same obstacles and fears and blocks. I'm here to assure you that it is completely possible to walk through them and find the joy and pleasure of sharing your art. Come on, we're waiting for you with open arms. And as much as you need our old wisdom, we need your new wisdom.
Jenny
Would you like to add anything else?
Susa
Come visit me at susasilvermarie.com and let me know that Jenny sent you. The latest addition to my site is an audio of my grad lecture entitled, Gender Fluidity in Selected Young Adult Novels.
Biography
Susa Silvermarie is the author Tales From My Teachers on the Alzheimer's Unit, three chapbooks of poetry, and hundreds of poems published in periodicals over the last forty years, as well as recent children's stories. She has edited six anthologies of poetry composed in her nursing home workshops, and her freelance credits include features, columns and essays. She taught storytelling to kindergarteners in public school and poetry to teenagers at writing camp. She's currently writing young adult fiction and she blogs at susasilvermarie.com. This past winter she lived more simply than she ever has, as she wrote and blogged from Yelapa Mexico, a village on the Bay of Banderas reachable only by boat. Earned MSW at age 42 and MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults at age 63. Currently seeking representation for three completed young adult novels.
French Translators needed to Help Congo Rape Survivors
I have been in contact with Michel Gratton who is Chef de Mission of the organisation called War Child. The organisation works with children who have been raped in D.R. Congo. They are keen to use the material published on Nourishment for Difficult Times, but need it to be translated into French.
http://www.warchild.org.uk/issues/rape-and-sexual-violence-in-congo
This is a request for any French speaking women out there to help us translate some meditations published on this site so we can send them to help women and girls in French speaking Africa.
If you can volunteer your time please email: hmeditations@googlemail.com
Thank you for contributing to women healing women.
Jenny
Supporting Women in Rwanda
Nourishment For Difficult Times is proud to support Kigali Crafts Ltd. The following is a press release by the founder of Kigali Crafts, Amy Trumpeter.
Rwandan Beaded Pens by Habiba
"June 2010 was a special year - for my 30th birthday I decided to travel to Kigali in Rwanda,to support women who had survived the 1994 genocide. My volunteering project was organised through Global Volunteer Network, and our partner charity was FVA (Faith Victory Association) in Kigali. My project involved supporting women who were victims of gender based violence.
During my time in Rwanda, I met an amazing woman called Habiba.
She was pregnant during the genocide, but lost her baby because
there was no access to healthcare, and she needed a midwife. All of
her family were killed during the violence of 1994. She came out of it
believing that she had no living relatives left. In 1996, she got a
phone call to say that there was some good news. She didn't believe
it, because she said after 1994 it felt like nothing good could ever
happen to her. The phone call was to tell her that she had a surviving relative - her brother was still alive. This made her so happy that she cried, and gave her hope for the future. She now does beading to try to survive, but the lack of a tourist trade in Rwanda means that she struggles to sell her work in her own country. I loved Habiba's beaded pens so much, and was amazed by her courage and determination, so I decided to support her project. We went to the local market together, and I financed her beading by spending just £20.00 on the beads and equipment that she needed to continue. I made a promise to her that I would sell them back in the UK. Habiba now sends 50 pens a month to sell in the UK. If I can sell just 10 pens in December, this will pay for her children to go to school for a term, and help her to buy food and clothing.The rest of the money raised goes towards the running costs of my micro-financing
business. This includes flights, tools, resources, postage and packing to and from
Rwanda and insurances. The women don't want to live on handouts, and through
this project they feel empowered to work themselves out of poverty. This is
something I am passionate about and dedicated to. I really hope that you will
support my project this Christmas!In April 2011, I will be launching my fair trade company - Kigali Crafts Ltd., based on my inspiration from Habiba. Look out for any developments on my website."
AMY TRUMPETER
Women Survivors in D.R. Congo
Women in D.R. Congo are being raped by soldiers of all armed groups as a form of control. Nourishment for Difficult Times is dedicated to raising awareness about this issue and has been in contact with many organisations who work with rape survivors and raise money for project groups working in Africa. 'HEAL Africa' is an organisation that provides health care. Counselling and in some cases safe housing for the women concerned.
'Women for Women' support women survivors of war in D.R. Congo and other countries.
As women we know what it is like to live under the threat and rape and for the women in D.R. Congo this is a constant daily threat as well as the high probability of contracting HIV.
If you feel would like to do something to help these women and want more information, then click on the links to these websites:
Helping others feels good and helps to gives a sense of empowerment.
Women helping other women to heal is vital.
More from Amy Supporting Women in Rwanda
The following is the latest information from Amy Trumpeter of Kigali Crafts. She has just returned to the UK after a two week trip to Rwanda buying fair traded products for her online crafts shop.
"Please support Rwandan victims of gender based violence by buying some of our new Rwandan crafts, and taking an interest in my project - it will help my fair trade business, Kigali Crafts, to continue. Our new products include make up bags, banana palm photo frames and head scarves. The new products are made from amazing and vibrant African printed fabrics.
Habiba, the first genocide survivor that I ever supported, is doing very well. I started selling her pens in June, 2010. I was pleased to return to Rwanda almost a year since my project started, and see the difference that Kigali Crafts is making in people's lives. Habiba's family now have electricity, and her children are going to school. Habiba has also completed a tailoring course, and donations have paid for her sewing machine to make skirts! I also met the women in Gisenyi who are working on the recycled paper bead project. I found out that 27 out of 30 women who make these beads for Kigali Crafts are HIV positive, so this business is really important for them. We have donated 3 sets of tools now, and I have trained them in jewellery making and accounts. In Gisenyi, I also met an amazing 15 year old girl called Margaret, who has one leg and a baby as a result of rape. All her life consisted of was begging in the market and being abused by her cousin, whilst trying to make ends meet for her beautiful boy Erik, who she loves so much despite what happened in the past. With the help of other fellow volunteers and organisations, Margaret has now been accommodated at the Ubushobozi organisation. The sewing machine that donations bought for her, and the lessons in sewing, English and ICT will mean that she can have a future sewing bags for Ubushobozi and Kigali Crafts, and gain an education at the same time. I am over the moon with the progress that I have made in the two weeks I was there...I have seen that it really is making a difference."
You can view the Kigali Crafts website http://kigalicrafts.com/# and also become a fan of Kigali Crafts Ltd. on Facebook.
Help Rwandan women to help themselves out of poverty, by supporting Kigali Crafts.