So much to do, so little time!
Will the world go green in time?
Will I lose enough weight to look OK at Robin's wedding?
Will we push Congress and President Obama (love saying those two words together!) to go all the way to Single Payer?
What netflix should I pick next?
It's so wonderful to be back in Sonoma (I returned July 2006), back in the cottage that my wonderful parents (Les and Audrey) provided 36 years ago when Baby Leslie and I came West from the Blue Ridge Mountains, Sperryville to be precise.
Overview of jobs, education, deliveries, etc.:
Acalanes High School, Lafayette, CA
Woodrow Wilson High School, Washington DC, for junior year
Got AA from Fashion Institute of Technology in NYC
Managed book section of Yes! Natural Foods in D.C.
Dress design and manufacturing (Shenandoah
. . . Workclothes became Sensible Raiment)
Gave birth to Leslie at home
Moved to Sonoma
House cleaning
Receptionist at est (Werner Erhard's program)
Winery tour guide
Got my BA in Environmental Studies at Sonoma State
Co-organized the First West Coast Eco-Feminist Conference
In jail 4 days in the Abalone Alliance Diablo Canyon Blockade
Gave birth to Robin at home, under water
Helped start Sonoma Valley Waldorf School
Designed, screen printed, and sold bandanas in the craft
. . . fair circuit (National Rutabaga)
Licensed child care provider
Rudolf Steiner College for Waldorf Teacher Training
Survived teaching first grade at Davis Waldorf School
Lived in Muir Commons Co-Housing, Davis, for 9 years
Got California state teaching credential
Taught in Sacramento
Leslie married Lew Price
Attended Presidio School of Management for a "green
. . . MBA" but decided I was too old to suffer Econ 101
Moved back to Sonoma and taught second grade in Vallejo
Leslie & Lew had Baby Marlo: http://leslieayers.typepad.com/
Robin and Maurice Lee are engaged to be married April 23,
. . . 2009, the fourth anniversary of their relationship
Now I'm semi-retired and very busy. Gardening, 3 minutes of Public Comment at the school board every month (Ethan, the student member of the board, calls me the "Vitamin D Lady"), Spanish class, bicycling to the farmers market etc., church with Mom with Scrabble afterwards (I usually lose), Sonoma Valley CAN (Community Action Network---http://sites.google.com/site/sonomavalleycan/).
Then there are the yard sales on Saturday mornings, baby sitting for darling Marlo, New England country dances, writing letters to the editor and handing out leaflets on vitamin D (see GoodSchoolFood.org, top item in left margin). This year I dried a lot of pears and picked up a lot of walnuts, which Dear Old Dad put out to dry on his very organized system of trays.
The Daily Show, Colbert Report, Rachel Maddow, Amy Goodman, Alternet, OrganicConsumers.org, New Scientist, New Yorker, Ode, NPR, the Index-Tribune and the Sonoma Sun keep me informed.
My current goal is for every student in Sonoma Valley to take home a flyer about vitamin D so their parents can provide them with enough, which could be the missing ingredient in closing the Achievement Gap and lowering the dropout rate. Based on the research, getting enough D would also protect young people from flu, diabetes, asthma, and depression. It also appears related to resisting temptations like alcohol and drugs, so Sonoma's crime rate could go down if the majority of kids got enough D.
In fact, it would be great if all 40,000 people in the Valley became 'D replete,' which would be astounding since nationwide only 2 out of 10 people have adequate D, not the mention optimum D levels. You can get an easy, nearly painless, home 'blood spot' test for $30, see end of article at http://goodschoolfood.org/vitamin_dropout.shtml
If you haven't emailed or called in a while, please bring me up to date on your doings, feelings, and thinkings! In case there are phone marketers phishing, here's my phone number in an encoded way: (seven oh seven) nine III nine - IX IX IX IX.
