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Rock Your Spa Day//Hard Rock Tulsa

(This post is sponsored by Hard Rock Spa Tulsa but all opinions are mine alone)

As you may know, I do adore the spa. Having spent ten plus years in the salon/spa industry, I feel like I know a thing or two about them also. Of course if I am needing a last minute quick massage for sleeping on my neck wrong, the place up the street from me is great. And cheap. And of course I love my neighborhood nail spa and they do a great job of making me feel beautiful and relaxed. But there are days where the whole world is against me, my tire has another nail in it, the dogs threw up on the duvet, my phone battery is dying at a rapid pace and there is zero explanation, someone in Dubai bought 6,000 worth of computer stuff on my credit know. One of those days. For those days, there is Hard Rock Spa Tulsa.

This gem just opened in mid December. And I was just telling my friend in Dallas the other day how I miss Dallas Resort spa's. I was feeling home sick and having a terrible day and she was telling me to book a spa day and then go eat chocolate and I would feel like a brand new lady like we used to do all the time. I was laughing out loud and explaining to her that there was a huge difference between the day spa's we have here in Tulsa and the spa's we have in D. Not to mention there were no resort spa's to even spend the whole day. We typically would take advantage of the steam sauna, the pool, bottle know....everything is bigger in Dallas you guys.

I just sorta stopped going to the spa. I think it was partly for a few reasons. One being I knew everyone in the industry. As much as I wanted some blissful out of this world pampering, where I would fall fast asleep and wake up glowing like a pregnant Heidi Klum, that just wasn't reality. All of my technicians were nervous and chatty and then I found myself just delivering an Aveda product knowledge course throughout my whole help Sam destress and not think about work service. Two, I simply couldn't justify spending the money on relaxation for myself to make me a better person in society. If my neck was sore or I was having a weird break out, sure...that was justified. But just to treat myself to a body mind experience..I felt guilty for spending. And three, I felt all sorts of anxiety to get naked in front of someone other then my boyfriend. Like OMG, she will see all my cellulite and stretch marks. And my tummy just is not as flat as it once was and, and, and......

Seriously...these were my mental spa blocks.

So long story short, my industry friend from my Aveda days contacted me about her new position with Hard Rock Tulsa and invited me in to try a few services. I was so excited to hear that Tulsa had a destination resort spa. It was complete news to me! All of those silly blocks started popping up in my head though. Not going to lie, especially the body one. I had to give myself a pep talk and I am so glad that I did.

The spa is gorgeous, the staff is so professional, and I instantly felt like I had been transported somewhere else. I indulged in the Sea Holistic Exfoliation & Massage which took me on a journey to Thailand. The lavender sea salt scrub soothed my muscles and made my skin feel silky smooth and the Thai-inspired  massage completely relaxed me so much that I fell asleep. It was 80 minutes of total bliss. I also indulged in a Hydralessence Hydrating Facial. My skin felt so restored and hydrated after. The soft gel peel was m fave part of the service. And of course as much as extractions are not my fave, they are needed so we got rid of all the congestion in my pores. I have missed the monthly facial. My skin looks and feels so amazing after just improving my whole daily maintenance.

The best part of The Spa at Hard Rock is that when you book just one service, you are encouraged to spend the entire day or as much time as you possibly can. You are encouraged to not rush. Take advantage of their complimentary steam shower, dry sauna, and their amazing relaxing lounge with these amazing zero gravity chairs. When the pool opens this summer too, you will be able to also take advantage of that perk. They will have massage therapists available too out on the deck for shoulder massages poolside.

And lucky for you dears, they are offering 15% off any facial now until the end of February to Go French Yourself readers. Just show them this post when you are paying . Check out the amazing facials and other services provided here

Do something sweet for yourself, your Valentine, your bestie, your sibling, and truly make a day of it! I am so stoked to have a girls day here starting with the spa, then dinner, then a concert!!! How fun would that be?! Maybe even some gambling! When in Rome, right?!

You deserve it ! Call 800-760-6700 to book your service and let me know how much you loved it.

So much thanks to The Spa at Hard Rock Tulsa for hosting Lin and I. He loved it even more then I did so men...follow his lead! And just look at my skin. Seriously love the benefits of a facial, massage, and a little self care day. It's needed! It's so very needed!


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Check Out Brillo's New Sponges

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For almost a century, Brillo has been the go-to steel wool soap pad for scrubbing blackened pans and crusty casseroles. Now, Brillo is launching a line of sponges to complement its infamous little pink pad. The new Brillo Estracell Sponges, ($1.79-$2.99) are made from a polyester-type material which, according to the company, cleans better, and rinses and dries faster, so they're not a breeding ground for germs and bacteria, like traditional cellulose sponges are. The new ilne will include both heavy and light duty scrub sponges, a Wedge Edge, which is a no-scratch scrub sponge angled to get into tight corners and crevices, and an innovative square Sponge Wipe.

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I had a chance to try the Sponge Wipe (left, top) at home this past weekend and I was impressed. It's a bit thinner, but larger, than a regular sponge and I thought it was more substantial and more comfortable to grip than other sponge-type wipes I've tried. I liked how quickly I was able to clean my counters, table, even my stovetop and how easily it rinsed clean. A handy addition to my kitchen-cleaning arsenal, I'll use this for surface cleaning and leave my sponge just for the dishes.

On another good note, to celebrate the new launch and everything pink Armaly Brands (the makers of Brillo) has partnered with the Breast Cancer Research Foundation and will be donating five cents for every purchase of specially marked packages of Brillo products, up to $50,000.

And to keep your household sponges clean and germ-free, read the results of our Good Housekeeping Research Institute test to find out which of six different methods killed bacteria best.

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South Sea Sanctuary Spa

South Sea Sanctuary Spa Brian
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Jalan Tugu City Centre, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah 88000

Located at the heart of the city, South Sea Sanctuary Spa promises to offer the best of beauty treatments and relaxation therapies. The wellness and holistic programs of the spa are aimed towards healing the mind, body and soul. The comfortable setting and relaxed atmosphere of the place make it ideal to relieve the stress and tension associated with daily life. The therapists working at the place are well-trained, polite and highly skilled at their tasks. After the treatment is over, the staffs working at the place offer some nice-refreshing tea with herbs to add to the wonderful experience.

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55.04 km » Mount Kinabalu
8.27 km » Manukan Island

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Shower Bases & Pan Prices and Installation Costs in Bakersfield, CA

$633 to purchase a new shower bases & pan and $390 to have it professionally installed

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Perfect for replacing a bathtub with shower, the Ovation curved shower base is made of durable acrylic with a bright white, gloss finish and textured floor to help prevent slips and falls. The curved front gives you more elbow room, while the low threshold makes stepping in and out easier. The optional, style-coordinated wall surrounds and shower door complete the spacious shower ensemble. Left hand drain outlet.

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36 in. x 42 in. Double Threshold Shower Base with Right Drain and Tileable Trench Grate

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Redi Trench shower bases are the industrys only one-piece, tileable shower pans with an integrated trench drain and tileable drain top. Choose from single curb, double curb, or barrier free entrance. All models offer the top-quality features you expect from Tile Ready brand shower pans. Tile Redi shower bases comply with all national and local plumbing codes and are UL listed.

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The wedi Fundo Primo Shower Kit contains all products needed to build a wedi shower. No more guess work, all materials and quantities are estimated for you. The Primo Kit is internally waterproof due to its wedi XPS foams closed cell structure and naturally protect against mold or mildew like every wedi XPS foam based product. The Fundo Primo Kit adds speed, safety and consistency to your installation: Measure, possibly cut, thinset to subfloor, connect drain - done. The most unique advantage, however, is the complete and natural core waterproofness of the wedi product and its completeness and range of components that will form an entire assembly system with the Fundo Primo Kit engineered to fit and last. A true system with full warranty coverage.

Shower Bases & Pan Price Distribution in Bakersfield, CA

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How did you know God was there?

You ask then how I knew God was present, when his ways can in no way be traced? He is life and power, and as soon as he enters in, he awakens my slumbering soul; he stirs and soothes and pierces my heart, for before it was hard as stone, and diseased. So he has begun to pluck out and destroy, to build up and to plant, to water dry places and illuminate dark ones; to open what was closed and to warm what was cold; to make the crooked straight and the rough places smooth, so that my soul may bless the Lord, and all that is with me may praise his holy name.

                                                                              –Bernard of Clairvaux

On the Song of Songs 74:6, from In the School of Love: An Anthology of Early Cistercian Texts, selected and annotated by Edith Scholl, OCSO.

One comment

  1. Bob says:

    When pastor at Moon Run I was invited to candidate at Ravenswood, WV where ALCOA was building a new plant, had already built a new public school, and was bringing in 500 management. The congregation was an ideal group and I was ready to accept a call. But, during the night before I was to preach, (which they liked) I was awakened with the nagging sense that I should refuse the call. I sat bolt upright and tried to convince the Lord this was the place for me, to no avail. Finally I said,”Ok Lord, I’ll do what you want”, and went back to sleep. That changed the whole direction of my ministry. GOD works in his mysterious ways.

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Kashmir: 'The uselessness of literature'!!

Much of it is due to the circumstances we are in, but more due to the way literature is being performed in Kashmir.

Muzaffar Karim
Srinagar, Publish Date: Oct 15 2017 11:01PM | Updated Date: Oct 16 2017 8:41PM
Kashmir: 'The uselessness of literature'!!File Photo

"What will literature do," an angry realist student asked me, "when people are being murdered brutally?" as I went on to deliver a lecture, after five months of turmoil last year. How is Shakespeare and Donne going to help, he went on asking. Because, Literature makes life tolerable, it makes pain bearable, I wanted to answer. But I did not. This was not the answer he was looking for and this was not the question he was asking. I satisfied him by teaching Shakespeare's "Tired With All This". The question kept nagging me not because it was a rare question (my journalist friends keep on asking me this question) but because the question left a trail of questions behind. All these questions were alarming; and all of them revolved around the big question. . .

Scherezade comes to my mind, ready to confront death armed with just her stories. Standing on death's borders, what was it that motivated her to go to the gallows and what belief that she would come alive? How did she know that just by narrating stories,she will change King Sheheryar and in turn the fate of the whole empire? Is it not a belief in the power of language, a trust that words can change hearts, a faith that words can bring change in real life? Yes! It is. And this is exactly what we have lost. People should believe in the ability of words and language, just like they believe in bullet and gun. But, unfortunately we have lost it. Or have we lost this belief specifically in the realm of literature only because we do get enraged and furious when someone abuses us. We still believe that a piece of paper, unearthed after months, with names and messages written on it can cast a spell and alter the course of our life. Does this not testify that we believe in the power of words? But the attitude changes belligerently when it comes to literature – What revolutions can a novel bring?

Much of it is due to the circumstances we are in, but more due to the way literature is being performed in Kashmir. It is a strange place where journalists want to be novelists and novelists try to be journalists. No wonder, our first English literary product was a memoir and not to sound like a conspiracy, most of our writers are journalists. It is not bad, neither journalism nor literature is owned by a person or any section of society. But it raises an important epistemological enquiry – why are people who deal with facts trying to write fiction and vice versa?This is bad. The fictionality of Fiction is an important thing to maintain in a state where literally hundreds and hundreds of newspapers and magazines churn and present reality to us on daily basis. Maintaining this fictionality of fiction is what urged Aristotle to say that by imitating 'what ought to',Poesies (creation) makes itself a higher endeavor than Philosophy and History. This is done by not imitating reality and creating a fictional world of itself. Artists do not produce an exact copy of the original (and they should not), and in not producing an original they provide an artistic truth more valuable than philosophy and a reality more profound than history. The creation of an alternate world, a fictional world completely different from the real world is, for Mario Vargas Llosa, what makes literature an act of rebellion. By creating another world and by criticizing this real one,we become rebels. The reader of such a fiction returns to reality with a heightened sensibility that translates itself into an act of rebellion against authority, the establishment, or sanctioned beliefs.'

A historian or a journalist writing facts within a fictional world, taking cue from Virginia Woolf, is like a cat playing with a ball of yarn. If one wishes to wear it, one has to process it, knit it. Without knitting, it is nothing but an early morning recreational activity to digest tea. Knitting then becomes a perfect metaphor for creative fictional activity.A woolen garment after knitting protects us from cold but how does knitted reality help us? When a muscle is provided with successive stimuli at a fast rate, I learned in my biology class at college, the muscle instead of reacting undergoes a tetanic contraction. This is what has happened to us. The continuous bombardment of news and reality has reduced us to a tetanic contraction, a state where our only response is 'no response'. We do not feel anything; we are in a continuous vegetative-state, a zombie state, when we should have been like Vampires actively sucking the blood of colonization. Our obsession to document everything, produce a report on everything and not to leave any dark continent unexplored (an obsession to which social networking and online sites serve well) has ventured us on a bold but defeated journey. Our pen, like the camera of a pornographic film is exploring the depths of reality – a reality which is then made orgasmically available to us in print and online media. We are surrounded by pornography of reality and this is where our fiction should have been therapeutic. In all this confusing reality, fiction should provide us with a cognitive mapping to make sense of all the confusion. It is in this sense that fiction comments upon reality, or life. This is what David Foster Wallace means when he says, "I just think that fiction that isn’t exploring what it means to be human today isn’t good art."

This unflinching commitment towards reality and confusing fiction with reality results in our production of slave narratives, which are then immediately consumed in our academic circle as Resistance Literature. If our sole responsibility as artists and specifically as fiction writers is to mourn by showing ourselves as victims then we must congratulate our journalist community. It is their job and they are performing it well. If there is a good report on mass graves or disappeared persons, why should I read a fictionalized account and not the real one? When we ask ourselves this question we are confronting the discussion we just had. Our fiction is imitating reality when it should have been otherwise. Literary activity should be understood in Kafkaesque way, where the cage is in search of bird.

The centrality of author in our literary and academic circles is another factor that is strangling our literary project. When I asked a 'famous' writer of Kashmir about the death of the author, he felt as if I was a maniac about to kill him. His response was rash which clearly highlighted his ignorance of Blanchot, Barthes and Foucault in which context I was asking. Hero-worshiping has always hurt our political project from Sheikh Abdullah to Syed Ali Shah Geelani and it pains to see the same Author-worship in our literary project. It is doing us more harm than good and most of all it is hurting the literary sensibility that evokes trust in language and faith in words. Kashmiri author emerges as an eclipse that darkens the literary skies when it is language and literary activity that should have shone. Literary text emerges at the exact moment of author's diminishing self or like a meteor which is visible to our eyes only when it is dying in the earth's atmosphere.Not only is there a need to proclaim the death of the author and self-aggrandisement of author but also death to all those practices which give birth to this figure of author – the cult of entrepreneur, Book-Café culture and Talks.

Entrepreneur is the most abused word in our literary culture alongside Resistance. It is good that so many book-cafes have emerged within Srinagar only,which positively highlights our rising appetite. But dear entrepreneurs, it is high time to stop pouring caffeinated literature down the throat of Tea lovers. No doubt, you are earning and nurturing a cult of authors but you are doing no service to literature or Nation. If you are true literature lovers, then we are desperately in need of some good Publishing houses giving opportunity to our new emerging writers. If this happens then you may be earning as well as serving literature. But again, be cautious, it should not happen (as often happens in your café-literary-talks) that the brother-of-someone-you-know or the friend-of-a-friend whom you know or the-Mr.Brilliant-writer-from-birth-and-pedigree should only get published.

If it sounds harsh then language is doing its job and highlighting the point that we have grown intolerant to criticism. In fact, criticism is missing from our whole creative edifice. Somehow, when it comes to creative activity we are satisfied only by the fact that the person is Kashmiri. The phenomenon was earlier seen on national level, when we supported QaziTauqeer, knowingthe fact that he was not at all qualified to be a singer, let alone win the contest. We supported him just because he was a Kashmiri. In these very newspapers, we have seen amateur writers being compared to Garcia Marquez, Dostoevsky even Ginsberg. It is good that we are appreciative of Kashmiri writers but it is not essential to make literary gods out of them. The towering figure of writer that we are creating will collapse under its own weight like Babel but the rubble will take up the much needed literary space. The history of Philosophy and the history of Literature show that it has always been constructive to be a little critical. Maybe, it is time we need critics more than writers and good critics should be given shelter as Kabir once mused:

Nindakniharerakhiye, aangankutichhaway

Bin pani binsabun, nirmalkaresubhav

(Keep the critic close, shelter him in your courtyard

Without water, without soap, He keeps you clean)

The restoration of trust and recognition of the power of language comes only when we believe (with Barthes) that in literature 'it is language which speaks, not the author'. Literature is a hopeful activity because it does not asphyxiate itself by reaching an end, a goal, a self, an achievement or vanity. It is not a window but a door leading to hundred other doors, an attitude captured perfectly by Michel Foucault when he says, "I don't write a book so that it will be the final word; I write a book so that other books are possible, not necessarily written by me."

There are stories about the tribes of Solomon Islands who curse and abuse the trees to clear the forest for development. Storiesabout an African tribe who gather round a person who has committed a crime and say all the good things that he has done to connect him to his good nature – we may never know the truthfulness or the falsity of these stories, but what they signify is the power of words. A power we reassure ourselves of every time we pray for someone. The connection between word and world is close – the words like Kun Faya Kun can create the world, Christ's Qum can bring dead to life, Mansoor's AnnalHaq can topple rational empires. Words can Kill, Language can heal and Literature can help but it all starts with hope, faith and trust – a trust in the sacredness of language in relation to truth as well as a faith in the holiness of language in its relation to Humans. This is what makes writing 'an act of hope' for Isabelle Allende. She says: I feel that writing is an act of hope, a sort of communion with our fellow men. The writer of good will carries a lamp to illuminate the dark corners. Only that, nothing more — a tiny beam of light to show some hidden aspect of reality, to help decipher and understand it and thus to initiate, if possible, a change in the conscience of some readers. This kind of writer is not seduced by the mermaid's voice of celebrity or tempted by exclusive literary circles. He has both feet planted firmly on the ground and walks hand in hand with the people in the streets. He knows that the lamp is very small and the shadows are immense. This makes him humble.

Muzaffar Karim is Assistant Professor, Department of English, KU, South Campus


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Trekking and Hiking Shop
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A Wife’s Blessing – How to Get Approval to Take Lots of Photographs

We all know that taking the perfect shot is more than a combination of good equipment, a great subject, and strong composition. An excellent shot often takes patience while waiting for a scene to set up and the light to be ideal. The time spent watching shadows grow, light warm, or dusk to fall may take the fortitude of an ultra marathoner.  That same time can be monotonously painful for a non photographer. I can’t count how many of my photographer friend’s wives cringe when they see their husbands pull out the camera gear during a vacation. Frankly, I don’t really blame them. While I enjoy the time setting up a shot, I can relate to the restlessness it causes to those around me.  So, how did I tackle this problem? For years I traveled alone or with other friends interested in photography. This becomes impractical once you get married. That is, at least, if you love spending time with your wife. I fall into the latter category, and while my wife Jennifer is very patient and enjoys the outdoors, I do recognize there is a limit to what one should expect a non-photographer to endure.

My solution is simple. I make my wife the subject of my photography. Documenting your wife and preserving her beauty for eternity is difficult to meet without enthusiasm. Starting with our marriage on Easter Island , I have photographed Jennifer in her wonderfully versatile Maggie Sottero dress all around the world. It’s a project we call, One Dress, One Woman, One World. Sometimes, she is front and center in the foreground, and other times it’s like a game of “Where’s Waldo,” with her figure appearing as a white spec engulfed in expansive landscape. Either way, it adds freshness to my photographs that didn’t exist before.

Hiking near the Matterhorn - One Dress, One Woman, One World   Hiking the Routeburn Trek - One Dress, One Woman, One World

As we travel, so does the dress. It goes almost everywhere with us. It’s become a lively game between us to think up new and inventive shots. Having a creative and fortunately brave wife really helps. Occasionally, during our travels, we will both catch something out of the corner of our eye and quickly roll into wedding dress mode. If it’s a fun in-the-moment shot, we usually go for it with the light we have. Other times, when it’s a more technical shoot, I try to reduce the time she has to spend in the dress, not to mention the hours of waiting. Normally, I scope out a locale, the appropriate light, and composition ahead of time. With proper planning, the time spent putting on the dress, shooting the photographs, and returning to casual attire can be less than 45 minutes. Of course, this is because my wife is highly skilled at slipping in and out of her dress in the most bizarre places without indecent exposure! Sadly, recently after a nine hour drive to San Francisco we waited in the car for two hours for the light to peak. Then we had to endure a drunk partier hurling over the rail while we waited. Not the best way to set a mood for a shot.

While everyone has their limits, we’ve struck a great balance and are both extremely happy with the collection of photographs created so far. What is really important to me is that they are our creation. When I show them off, or she does, it’s about us and not just me. I find it far more rewarding then the photographs I took before.  While it makes it easier to justify spending money on additional camera equipment, the more important perk is that our project scores me points with my mother-in-law. Although, she is a little biased toward the close up shots, she is very grateful for any photograph of her daughter.

Antelope Canyon - One Dress, One Woman, One World

We plan to continue the project for a few years and already have hit four continents with my wife donning the dress 39 times in a little over a year.  Future trips include a trip to the Egyptian pyramids, treks through New Zealand, and the eastern seaboard. That will cover every continent but Antarctica. I haven’t decided yet if I am manipulative enough to convince her to slip on the dress in that harsh of a climate! Time will tell and since she’s a part of it, it will be time that I have.


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Green Room Productions

ZORRO The Musical

Tuesday 7th to Saturday 11th November 2017

The curtain has fallen on the thrills and spectacular excitement of the legendary masked hero ZORRO. Some wonderful feedback from our audiences.

"OMG, what a show!! I really enjoyed it. AMAZING!"

"Amazing performances... really enjoyed the whole show from start to finish"

 "Fabulous fun, flamenco and flames!! Thanks for a great evening"

"Fantastic performances from all tonight.  Really enjoyed the show!"

If you were in the audience  - thank you so much for supporting this production!

Our next production - TOP HAT The Musical

Tuesday 8th to Sunday 13th May 2018

7.30pm Tuesday to Saturday 2.30pm Saturday and Sunday

TOP HAT brings the glamour of Hollywood's golden age to the stage.  Based on the 1935 film, it features some of Irving Berlin's greatest hits including 'Cheek to Cheek, 'Top Hat, White Tie & Tails', 'Puttin' on the Ritz' and 'Let's Face the Music and Dance'.  This hilarious romantic comedy is sheer theatrical pleasure.

Telephone 07531 122206 or

Email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

All shows at Wyllyotts Theatre, Darkes Lane, Potters Bar EN6 2HN

Watch out for our new look website - coming soon!

Like us on Facebook  Facebook    and follow us on Twitter  Twitter   and Instagram  Instagram

Welcome to Green Room

Green Room Productions is one of the premier musical theatre companies in London and the South East.  The company presents two musicals a year at the Wyllyotts Theatre in Potters Bar.  Recent productions include Betty Blue Eyes (2017), Priscilla - Queen of the Desert (2017), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (2016), Made in Dagenham (2016), Sunset Boulevard (2015), Hairspray (2015), White Christmas (2014), Aspects of Love (2014), Grease! (2013), The Boy Friend (2013), Love Story (2013) and The Scarlet Pimpernel (2012).

We are always pleased to welcome new members who want to share in the excitement, hard work and exhilaration of producing first rate musical theatre.

For more information email us at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

© Green Room Productions :: webmaster@greenroomproductions.co.uk ::


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Ariane Cassidy: Cleaning & Catharsis

Ariane had just gotten in town that day after being gone for a month modeling. It was late evening as I made my way over to her empty apartment to snap some pics as she cleaned it for the new tenants. There are a lot of memories tied to that space for her and I'm fortunate to be a small part. Both of us were semi new to the area when we met/shot there. Hanging out, talking, and taking photos seemed like an appropriate way to bring the Pensacola chapter of our lives full circle especially considering I was moving away in a couple weeks.

Any motivation to clean or take pictures seemed to dissipate pretty quickly. I'm sure the vodka didn't help considering most of the night was spent reminiscing and reflecting with the bottle close by. We did manage to take some stuff out to the curb, but I'm sure it wasn't enough to get a deposit back. I doubt Ariane cared though. I think she was really just there to give the place a last goodbye.

Click the tags for more on my blog: Ariane Cassidy, color, Fujifilm X-Pro1


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We are the most comprehensive website solution on the market today. By providing a proprietary and cost effective website design, hosting, email, SEO, content management and full support Gumption Inc. stands out in the industry.


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Bikes & Accessories

Stile Products Recalls Tern Folding Bicycles Due to Fall Hazard

Recall Summary of product:

Tern folding bicycles

The bike’s frame can crack at the hinge on the top tube, posing a fall hazard.

Consumer Contact:

Stile Products; toll-free at (888) 570-8376 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. PT Monday through Friday or online at and click on Product Recall Information for more information.

Recall Details

About 175

The recall involves Eclipse S11i and Verge S11i, X10, X20 and X30h models of Tern brand folding bikes. The 24-inch wheel Eclipse model was sold in a silver/black color combination. The 20-inch wheel Verge models were sold in silver/black, orange/white, red/black and yellow/grey color combinations. “Tern” is printed on the front end of the top tube and on portion of the frame. The model name is printed on the middle of the top tube. The frame has a 10-character alphanumeric serial number that begins with AM1A or from AM1102 through AM1207. The serial number is stamped on the bottom bracket shell of the bike. An alphanumeric service tag number located on the front of the seat tube will be requested. The bicycles’ service tag numbers included on this recall are listed on the firm’s website.

Stile Products has received two reports of incidents of the frame hinge cracking, resulting in minor scrapes and bruises.

Consumers should immediately stop riding the bicycle and contact Stile Products or take the bike to an authorized dealer. Consumers will receive a free frame and have it installed at no cost.

Sold at

Authorized Stile/Tern dealers nationwide from January 2012 to May 2013 for between $1,800 and $3,000.

Alu Maga Industrial Co., Ltd., of Taiwan

Manufactured in

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Preschool Storytime

Download as iCal file

Friday, October 27, 2017, 10:30am - 11:30am

Spout Springs Meeting Room

Children ages 3 and up are invited to join us for Preschool Storytime!  Children will hear stories, enjoy songs, action rhymes, puppets, circle time, movement songs, and much more.  This program is FREE and reservations are not required.  No formal groups.  If you are a group and need an outreach visit please call 770-532-3311 ext. 143

Contact  770-532-3311 ext. 192

by ajunius


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Carendula, Common Marigold

Common MarigoldCommon Marigold

When I bought these plants, they were so small. The name is "they don't feel the cold even in winter".
As the name tells, they started blooming in winter. It belongs to the Common Marigold.

The language of flowers

enduring the grief

Flower page

March 16 2001


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Unemployment Insurance Reform in New York

Friday, January 31, 2014

Last year, Governor Cuomo signed legislation to reform the unemployment insurance system in New York.  The changes were enacted as a result of the insolvency of the Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund and New York’s need to repay the $3.5 billion it borrowed from the federal government to cover increased costs during the recession.  In an effort to provide guidance on the new changes to the unemployment insurance system, the New York State Department of Labor (NYSDOL) recently issued separate fact sheets for employers and claimants.  The fact sheets are available on the NYSDOL’s website, at http://www.labor.ny.gov/home/.

One change in the law, enacted pursuant to a federal requirement, states that an employer will not be relieved of charges to its account if the employer or their representative failed to timely respond to NYSDOL inquiries or submitted insufficient information.  Employers will no longer receive leeway for late responses, and their account may be charged even if the NYSDOL subsequently determines that the claimant was ineligible to receive benefits.  The amendments also increase the maximum weekly benefit rate from $405 to $420, beginning October 6, 2014.

The new law is not all bad news for employers, however, as it provides for new fraud detection and prevention measures, and imposes a new penalty (15% penalty or $100 fine) on claimants found to have misstated information about their claim for benefits.  It also significantly increases the work search requirements for claimants, thereby encouraging claimants to return to work quickly.  The amendments also provide that claimants will not be able to collect unemployment benefits if they received severance payments that exceed the maximum weekly unemployment benefit or if the claimant is collecting a pension from an employer that is chargeable on the claim.

This information has also been posted to our Education Law Blog: http://www.hancocklaw.com/education-law-blog/

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Movie I Loved: The Brass Teapot

I had the opportunity to rewatch a movie I love again this weekend, and I introduced it to some of my friends. It's called The Brass Teapot. It's available on Netflix, and I highly recommend it! It's probably in my top ten for movies. It's sort of an indie dark comedy / cautionary tale / modern fable.

John and Alice Macy are a married couple in their mid-to-late twenties. They're the kind of average joes who live in squalor but don't care too much since they have each other. John is a telemarketer who bikes to work to save on gas and allow his wife to have the car. Alice finally completed her degree in Art History and is struggling to find a job, partly because she's a little unrealistic about the state of employment. John is the type to maybe be too content with life even when things get rough, and Alice is the kind of girl who wants more because everyone told her growing up that she was destined for something big-- and especially since she's fallen so far, there's a part inside her that wants to prove them all wrong. They are in serious debt, mostly unemployed, and looked down on by most everyone in their community. That said, they still love each other very much, and though things are getting rough, they are determined to find a way through.

Enter the brass teapot-- Alice is drawn to it because it pulls her in. The teapot is magic. Compelled, she steals it and takes it home, not really understanding why. She soon discovers that when she feels pain and is in possession of the teapot, it fills with money. She decides it is a godsend, and goes on a spree of burning herself with her curling iron, stubbing her toe, etc. When she tells John, he's frightened, but eventually they decide that they will use it to get out of debt, make a solid million, and quit.

The teapot dates back to the birth of Christ, and has travelled throughout the centuries, through the hands of kings, dictators, generals, and peasants-- and it has never ended well. The teapot changes those who touch it. It enchants them and magnifies the dark parts within them with its hunger and their greed. It starts off with the owner's pain, and then it loses interest with that and begins to want more and more for the same kind of payout. The teapot really challenges John and Alice and gets them into a lot of trouble, with others and themselves. It takes a hold of Alice, because Alice touches it first and the most, and they are driven to their breaking point. This movie is a wonderful story about how good people can turn bad with the right kind of leverage, and in turn, how they can redeem themselves.

There is a lot to love about this movie. The dark humor is great and never feels forced or inappropriate. The two leads do a really great job in their characters as well as in terms of chemistry. This movie doesn't strike you as formulaic, and has a lot of layers and subplots that are compelling, but aren't confusing. This movie takes a bit of an attention span to watch though, so I don't recommend netflixing this while working on a paper. There's also some poor decision-making happening, partially due to Alice being under the teapot's spell, and partially due to good old-fashioned stupidity, so you might get annoyed by that. You need to have a pretty decent ability to suspend your disbelief for a while, since the premise is pretty wacky, and some crazy situations arise. The film was based on a comic book, so I'd say that's about where your suspension of disbelief has to fall for this to work for you. It's a really great satire about the American Dream and humanity that ends very satisfyingly.

My only criticisms are that I really wished they hadn't used the "wise mystical asian man" trope--he had a thick accent and everything, and I honestly don't think that was necessary. Realistically Dr. Ling probably would have been formally educated in British English from a fairly young age, and having travelled the world as extensively as he had, he probably would have had less of an accent and spoken more British English the the caricatured accent he used in the film.

I think some viewers will feel some tonal whiplash, because the film shifts from slapsticky antics to very dark, deep moments. For me, I really think it works. Maybe that's because I'm a deep, dark, funny person myself, and that's kind of how I see the world anyway. I think the shifts were well-executed though, and I found it pretty fulfilling, since slapsticky comedies feel too one-note, and deep dark movies-- well, they have their time and place, but sometimes you want the substance to come with some hilarity!

Harper's rating: 4.8 / 5
Pros:Great overall storyline, dark comedy, depth, strong cast, fun premise, great handling of tonal shifts, some really interesting exploration of not only money and greed, but honesty, power, truth, and what matters in life
Cons:Use of the "wise mystic Asian guy" trope is kinda old, potential tonal whiplash, you need to have decent suspension of disbelief, you might hate Alice and you have to keep reminding yourself that the teapot is really messing with her

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  1. Great review!

    HCXO Semirah

  2. My BF was telling me about this story on his last trip here, but couldn't remember the name of the movie. I'll have to watch this soon since two people have recommended it already. Great review Harper!

  3. Definitely check it out! Really fantastic exploration of the human capacity to want.


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Toyou7 Wholesale Electronics Announces Cheap Wholesale Headphones & Other Mobile Phone Accessories For Mass Purchase

December 20 21:44 2017
From headphones, earbuds, to data cable and charging heads for cell phones, Toyou7 Wholesale Electronics offers a significant range of wholesale mobile phone accessories at cheap prices.

Customers can now purchase a whole range of quality and stylish mobile phone accessories at cheap prices from Toyou7. Today, mobile phones are not only a device for making phone calls, but it has become an essential part of everyday life. This is the reason why one often prefers to customize or personalize its looks and wants to accessorize it in a desired manner to enhance their personal experience. For example, one may need quality headphones to enjoy listening to music on their cell phone.

Toyou7 Wholesale Electronics has cheap wholesale headphones for every discerning customer. For bulk buyers, they have a wide variety of headphones, available in different styles and prices. They have gaming headphones, wireless headphones, Bluetooth headphones and a number of other choices for an individual to personalize his/her experience of using a cell phone. Whether for listening to music or watching a movie on a cell phone, one can choose the best headphone from their stock.

Toyou7 Wholesale Electronics Announces Cheap Wholesale Headphones & Other Mobile Phone Accessories For Mass Purchase

The company’s cheap wholesale earbuds and headsets are ideal for the shops selling mobile phone accessories to customers in their local market. The market of mobile phone accessories growing rapidly and by offering cheap and a wide range of accessories, Toyou7 allows these local shops and sellers to multiply their business. They have earbuds in different colors and styles that offer high quality audio output to a listener. There are also earbuds designed for athletes, sportsmen and fitness enthusiasts who can keep listening to their music while enjoying their favorite activity.

By announcing mobile phone headphones wholesale for mobile phone accessory sellers around the world, Toyou7 Wholesale Electronics allows them to offer their customers the best quality products at the best possible prices. Besides the price advantage, the sellers will also get products with beautiful packaging that will help increase their customer base. They sell headphones that come with an ergonomic design that precisely fits into one’s ears and nullifies the effect of noise to enjoy the melody.

One can check the entire range of mobile phone headphones and earbuds on the website

About Toyou7 Wholesale Electronics

Toyou7 Wholesale Electronics is the supplier of wholesale mobile phone accessories, such as headphones, cell phone data cable, mobile power, mobile phone shell, cell phone membrane, cell phone charging heads, etc. They supply quality products in beautiful packaging. There is a wide range of mobile phone accessories in their stock, available in a variety of colors, styles and prices.

Media Contact
Company Name: Toyou7 Wholesale Electronics
Contact Person: Tony
Email: [email protected]
Country: China


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My Quran Teaching Academy Goes Online, Launches Quran Reading, Recitation and Memorization Courses for Kids

December 28 22:39 2017

Islamabad, Pakistan – December 28, 2017 – My Quran Teaching Academy, which has worked for the last eight years in the teaching of Quran to young students, has announced the launch of its new online Quran classes, which come with a free, three-day trial period.

My Quran Teaching Academy has launched its new online Quran classes for kids to serve Muslims around the world. Through web technologies, now anyone can take Quran lessons from the comfort of their home. Learning Quran online is a great way to Allah’s message for all of humanity. The online Quran Academy courses are delivered by qualified male and female teachers who try to make students excel in learning Quranic knowledge in the shortest time. This includes reading Noorani Qaida, Quran reading with Tajweed, Quran memorization Online, Quran translation, Tafseer, and more.

Parents desirous of making their kids learn or memorize Quran can register for free and start a free, three-day trial, followed by the regular online course. Learning Quran online has thus been made easy for all brothers and sisters so that they can best perform their duties.

For female students, the Quran Teaching Academy provides female teachers who are more caring and passionate about their profession and Islamic teaching in general. Having a female teacher would also encourage female students to discuss their issues openly.

“Our students come from different social strata, and offer everyone care and quality education. The students’ progress is shared with their parents every month, which helps foster an environment of achieving good results in the shortest possible time,” said Mushtaq Ahmad of My Quran Teaching Academy.

Apart from Quran reading, recitation and memorization, the Academy also offers Islamic Activities courses, including monsoon dues, prayer, six kalma’s, and Quranic dua for instilling Islamic values. And last but not the least, the Academy conducts the very important Hadith and Tafseer courses.

For more information, please visit:

Media Contact
Company Name: My Quran Teaching Academy
Contact Person: Mushtaq Ahmad
Email: Send Email
Phone: +923335512773
Address:House#9 Main Street, Farid Town Jhangi Syedan
City: Islamabad
Country: Pakistan


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November 30, 2011 | last updated June 4, 2012 11:21 am

CT group pushes health exchange shakeup

Kevin Galvin, owner, Connecticut Commercial Maintenance Inc., Hartford

A Connecticut small business organization is asking federal officials for help in its push for the removal of retired health insurance executives from the state's health insurance exchange board and the expansion of representation for consumers and small businesses.

The group, Small Businesses for a Healthy Connecticut, is headed by Hartford small business owner and commercial health care advocate Kevin Galvin.

It has sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius asking her agency for help "in addressing the problematic composition of Connecticut's Health Insurance Exchange Board which has over-representation by insurance industry interests and under-representation by individual and small business consumers."

In the letter, Galvin said he and other consumer advocates have objected to the lack of small business and consumer representation on the board and have appealed to legislative leaders and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, since August, without success. Galvin seeks to replace those members or add consumer and small business members.

Galvin wrote that the insurance industry influence violates the spirit and the letter of state and federal laws creating the exchange, and jeopardizes its success.

Keith Stover, a lobbyist for the state's insurance industry, said he disagrees with that assessment.

"I think there is a puzzling desire on the part of these groups funded by the Universal Health Care Foundation to derail Connecticut's progress on reform," Stover said in a written statement. "In fact, the Exchange Board appointments made by the diverse group of leaders demonstrate a seriousness of purpose about the practical implementation of reform. To a person, the Board is made up of people with real expertise, demonstrated concern about and sensitivity to consumer issues and to the needs and desires of purchasers."

The exchange board is part of a quasi-public agency that will work to create Connecticut's health insurance exchange by 2014, as required under the Affordable Care Act.

The exchange will essentially be an online marketplace for individuals and small businesses to obtain coverage from an array of insurers competing for consumers. The federal government will require participating health plans to meet certain benefit standards and also provide ratings on health plan quality.

But states have a lot of freedom in choosing how they want to operate the exchange, and the board will have a lot of influence over how Connecticut's version will operate.

Consumer advocates have been critical of the makeup of the board, particularly the appointment of former insurance executives including former Connecticare CEO Mickey Herbert and Mary Fox, who is the former senior vice president for Aetna Product Group.

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  • Viking By Crown Group Wins Most Prestigious Industry Award

    Viking by Crown was named the Joint Winner in the ‘Home Units $500,000 – $700,000’ category at the 2015 Master Builders Australia NSW Excellence Awards. From www.theurbandeveloper.com – Today, 10:38 AM When a project is recognised by one of the nation’s most prestigious industry bodies, Master Builders Australia, and awarded the in...

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  • Sustainable gifts for him

    Stylish sustainable gifts for the men in your life…Bamboo personalised keyringBamboo sunglasses  Beard gloss  Organic chocolateWooden watch  Loom towel  Help save the environment – make a donation

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  • Launch of Crown Group’s Infinity.

    I’m now a movie star! Click to see the stars in the video for the Crown Group’s launch of the spectacular Infinity project at the Carriageway ….look for me! There are just a few seconds of me just after the one minute mark. Can you hear the nerves in my voice? It doesn’t matter what others say about public speaking…it always...

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  • How will the Yuan devaluation affect Australian Property?

    According to the AFR, the devaluation is only a small part in the bigger Chinese investment picture. Yes, the Yuan has devalued but the cost per square metre is still better in Sydney and Melbourne than it is in Shanghai and Beijing. Further, the Australian dollar has also declined, meaning that most Chinese investors would perceive the Australian prop...

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High Country News http://www.hcn.org A gun culture bibliography http://www.hcn.org/issues/353/17197 High Country News, I always look forward to your feature reporting - especially when the reporter is Ray Ring. But I have seldom been not only so disappointed by an article's obvious slant, but also so absolutely astonished by the lack of breadth in Ring's information-gathering (it is not worthy of being called "research"). His primary source - indeed, practically his only source - is Professor Joan Burbick of Washington State University, whose Gun Show Nation: Gun Culture And American Democracy does little more than rehash the standard screed of the anti-gun crowd.

There is, by now, a large and well-developed body of literature presenting multiple sides of the complex story of American gun ownership - much of it coming from the political left of center, at that. It would have been appropriate for Ring to have familiarized himself with some of it. For readers of yours who may be seeking a more balanced perspective on American gun users and enthusiasts, I would suggest the following books: Abigail Kohn's Shooters: Myths and Realities of America's Gun Cultures (Oxford University Press, 2005); Jan E. Dizard's anthology Guns in America (New York University Press, 1999); Caitlin Kelly's Blown Away: American Women and Guns (Pocket Books, 2004); and my book with Carol Oyster, Gun Women: Firearms and Feminism in Contemporary America (New York University Press, 2000). All of these works amply show that there is a lot more going on in America's "gun culture" than a bunch of conservative white Anglo-Saxon males asserting their masculinity and playing at being gunslingers. That stereotype is limiting, demeaning, distorting and insulting to the majority of HCN's readers who are, themselves, responsible gun owners and users.

Mary Zeiss Stange
Ekalaka, Montana
No publisher Letter to the editor Article
Living with the ghosts of the Indian Wars http://www.hcn.org/issues/315/16100 Montana’s "Custer Country" is a region haunted by the ghosts of the Indian Wars, where towns are still named for the so-called "heroes’ responsible for massacres such as Wounded Knee I live in enemy territory. The problem is, I am the enemy. Montana’s Department of Commerce calls it "Custer Country": the southeastern region of the state, a million or so acres of sage-dotted grassland, juniper draws and hillside stands of ponderosa pine, stretching east from Billings to the Dakota border. My husband and I raise bison here, near Ekalaka.

This area was ground zero for the 19th-century Indian Wars. George Armstrong Custer was, of course, the cavalry officer whose foolhardiness led to the U.S. Army’s only significant defeat, by Lakota and Cheyenne warriors in the Battle of the Little Big Horn in 1876. But "Custer Country" nonetheless attests that history is ultimately written, and the terrain mapped, by the winning side. The racism that fueled the Indian Wars is encoded in this landscape.

Many of our towns are named after the "heroes" who enforced the federal government’s war policy against Native Americans. Custer, Mont., is a nondescript town right off Interstate 94 just a few miles east of the turn-off for Sheridan, Wyo. General Philip Sheridan spearheaded the Indian Wars, and famously remarked that the only good Indians he ever saw were dead.

Terry, Mont., is named for Gen. Alfred Terry, who arrived at the Little Big Horn too late to help Custer, but pursued the Lakota warrior Sitting Bull and his people to the Canadian border. And Camp Crook, S.D., after Gen. George Crook, who forced the Apache chief Cochise to surrender. And Forsyth, Mont., after Col. James Forsyth, under whose command the Seventh Cavalry massacred 300 Oglala Lakotas, most of them women and children, at Wounded Knee in 1890.

Miles City, the largest town in southeastern Montana, commemorates Gen. Nelson Miles, who after Custer’s death took command of one-fourth of America’s standing army, and pitched all its strength against the Indians of the Plains and Southwest. The mastermind in carrying out the campaign to force Natives onto reservations and into prisons, often hundreds of miles from their original lands, Miles was indirectly responsible both for the death of Sitting Bull and for the Wounded Knee massacre. He exiled the Chiricahua Apache warrior Geronimo to Florida, and through a brutal winter campaign forced the surrender of the starving Nez Perce under Chief Joseph.

Miles City is the county seat of Custer County. Its main drag is named Garryowen Road, after the Seventh Cavalry’s regimental marching song.

Garryowen Road houses the regional office of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. My husband and I have collaborated on conservation projects with a wildlife biologist who works there. He traces his ancestry to the Hidatsa and Mandan people, North Dakotan tribes linguistically related to the Lakota. Every day he drives to work, every time he has to give someone his business address, it provides an explicit reminder of the near-total genocide of his people. We asked him, not long ago, what he thought about that. "Obviously," he said, "I don’t like it. Some of my people get crazy about it, but I suppose my anger is more subdued."

The conversation was awkward on both sides. There we were, a white couple working with a Native American environmental specialist employed by the government that stripped his people of their land, to restore wildlife habitat that had flourished before Native hunting and foraging traditions were displaced by farming and ranching. And this, in a county where some of our neighbors still refer to Indians as "Prairie Afros" and call curly buffalo grass "nigger wool," and where the local paper ran an ad for part-time help that unblushingly asked for an "Indian" to do some menial chores.

Ironically, our community is one of the handful of non-reservation towns in Montana with Native-inspired names: Ekalaka, the grand-niece of the Oglala Chief Red Cloud and a relative of Sitting Bull, is described in tourist brochures as an "Indian princess" who married the first white settler in these parts.

Down the road from us, tribal leaders on the Northern Cheyenne reservation are working to restore Cheyenne names to places named by white settlers. For example, settlers named the town of Busby, in the western part of the reservation, after an early white store owner, but many tribal members know it as White River. The last several years have witnessed initiatives across the country to change obviously offensive place names, like "Nigger Mountain" and "Squaw Creek."

Such moves, like the elimination of racially insulting logos for sports teams, are surely laudable and necessary. But they are far from enough. They don’t get at the more subtle — but deeper and more pervasive — racism reflected in place names that tacitly celebrate the near-annihilation of a people and their culture.

Forget the romanticized image of the cavalry rushing in to save settlers from Native savagery. When Forsyth’s troops descended on the encampment at Wounded Knee, they attacked with wagon-mounted Hotchkiss guns, cannon-sized early versions of the machine gun, which could fire 50 two-pound explosive shells per minute. The bodies of some fleeing women and children were discovered as far as two miles from the camp. In his dual biography of George Crook and Geronimo, historian Peter Aleshire documents instances of babies "thrown into the bonfires of burning wickiups, or dashed against stones," and of soldiers who "cut off the private parts of women, and made purses of them."

This is our history, and it is one of savagery. It’s surely time to exorcise the ghosts of the 19th century Indian Wars, banishing them from the 21st century landscape. And the first ones to go should be those of the army of the West’s conquering "heroes."

Mary Zeiss Stange operates the Crazy Woman Bison Ranch with her husband, Doug, and teaches women’s and environmental studies and religion at Skidmore College in New York.

No publisher Essays 2006/02/06 00:00:00 GMT-7 Article
Coming home to the country http://www.hcn.org/issues/168/5437 When a couple of Eastern academics bought a ranch near Ekalaka, Mont., and tried raising llamas, then bison, they faced a clash of cultures as they and their ranching neighbors tried to come to terms with each other. EKALAKA, Mont. - We called it the Mother Tree: a mature ponderosa pine on the crest of a small hill, with an acre or so of seedlings and saplings draping the hill's leeward side, a mini-forest in the making that was the product of scores of pinecones shed by that lone adult. We drove past this tree and her progeny, which were on a neighboring cattle rancher's land, whenever we took the gravel county road to or from town.

The Mother Tree was among the first landmarks my husband and I noticed, to our mutual delight, when we moved to our place in southeastern Montana, in 1988.

She bore eloquent testimony to the character of the land we had determined to call home. This isn't the part of the state that Hollywood rivers run through, or in which Hollywood stars buy property. It's a rougher terrain - but it is also surprisingly vigorous and diverse, fragile in its own way, yet able to withstand a good deal of abuse.

In the 11 years we've been here, we've come to appreciate resilience. We've also come to understand that the forces of change at work in the contemporary West are more subtle and complex when you're living through them than when you contemplate them from a comfortable distance.

It was 106 degrees the July day we moved in. No rain had fallen in two months. The drought of 1988, spawning fires across Yellowstone and elsewhere, was in full swing.

We had just taken possession of about five square miles of puckered-looking prickly pear cactus and desiccated sage. And dust. Lots and lots of dust. We figured we must be crazy. Before too long, we began to realize all our neighbors figured pretty much the same thing.

Neither Doug nor I come from rural backgrounds. We had not come here with any illusions about becoming cattle ranchers. In fact, we were not really interested in becoming serious ranchers at all.

The previous owner, who had been on the place for 40-some years, had meted out about as much punishment as the land could take. His cows, before the Land Bank forced their sale to make interest payments, had overgrazed the pastures. He had dynamited beaver dams and dumped garbage in every abandoned homestead on the place. He had not, in 40-odd years, it seemed, planted a single tree.

We, on the other hand, had come to do our part to heal the land. Our ambitions were small, or so we thought: We wanted to cultivate some wildlife habitat. To have some quality hunting. To plant a few trees. To raise a few pack llamas, maybe a horse or two.

We both had full-time jobs in higher education. We didn't want to take on more than we could handle. We just wanted to have a place to come home to: our beautiful 3,300-acre ranchette, where we could simply let nature be nature.

"But you can't just let it sit," our cattle-ranching neighbors told us. "Fire'll take out the grass, if cows don't. Best thing to do is to graze it down. That's nature's way. "Cause if it don't burn or get grazed, it'll get so thatched-over, you won't have any grass in a year or two."

Of course, they went on to explain over coffee at the Wagon Wheel Café, you have to know when grass becomes grazeable.

"Guy over at the BLM told me to put the cows out on the grass when it's as high as a beer can," one ventured. "Now," asked another, with a crafty wink, "would that be a beer can standing up, or a beer can on its side?"

Later on, driving home past cattle who appeared to be subsisting on inch-high stubble, Doug remarked, "I think that was a crushed beer can."

That was a drought year. Amazingly, the following year was glorious. Ample rain and a late-spring snowstorm brought abundant wildflowers and unbelievably green and various grasses. Despite our neighbors' well-intentioned urgings, there were no cattle on our place, by golly.

But the next year, 1990, although we had another good rain-producing spring, by early summer we had dry thatchy pasture, looking decidedly the worse for wear. Watching nightly light shows crackle in a rainless southern sky, we began to understand why the phrase "dry lightning" could strike fear in the hearts of landowners.

We reluctantly decided it might be a good idea, all things considered, to put a few bovines on the place. So we placed an ad in the local paper and quickly found a cattleman happy to bring over 100 cow/calf pairs. The only other livestock on the place at that point were an obstreperous llama, the first of the herd we hoped to build, and a couple of English springer spaniels.

It was about that time that we discovered we were known in town as "the people from Connecticut." That neither of us had ever had anything to do with the Constitution State was beside the point. We were outsiders. Also about that time we learned that when, occasionally, we would hear about somebody being from "out of the country," it didn't mean they were foreigners. It meant they grew up a few miles down the road, in western South Dakota, or maybe northern Wyoming. We were really outsiders.

Of course, we knew we were. And we also knew that, after about a decade of farm foreclosures and the gradual swallowing-up of small family operations by corporate agribusiness, outsiders were not especially welcome in these parts. We knew, too, that despite the three doctoral degrees we have between us, our neighbors, who all seemed to be seventh-generation ranchers sharing a dozen or so surnames, knew a lot more about surviving in this part of the world than we did.

We were prepared to learn, and to listen.

Learning wasn't all that hard. Being academics, we were used to doing homework, and we put our new knowledge to work. We learned the principles of rotational grazing, developing a plan with the local Bureau of Land Management office to bring our deeded and leased rangeland back to prime condition.

We discovered the best sorts of trees and bushes to grow in this climate - some native, some introduced - and began a program of planting shelter belts and wildlife habitat areas.

We learned what we needed to know about veterinary medicine, and about the care and feeding of cud-chewing quadrupeds, to get a llama-raising operation under way.

We learned about the maintenance and construction of barbed-wire fences and enclosures, the pros and cons of different fencing systems.

In spite of ourselves, we began evolving into ranchers.

Another thing we learned in those early years here: You can't operate a ranch in absentia. Doug decided to quit his teaching job, to concentrate his energies on the ranch.

Second, we learned that ranches are the original money pits, especially when they need a lot of work, and when the ranchers are, as we were, starting from scratch in terms of equipment.

I kept my day-job, "commuting" to upstate New York during the school year, telling folks that like most farm and ranch wives, I have to work in town to make ends meet. Town, in this case, just happens to be 2,000 miles away.

From bites to bloat

The early '90s were our Llama Period. Our cattle-ranching neighbors, of course, warned us against the critters. There had been a llama, once, in Carter County, and he was notorious for overcoming fences, running for miles on end and spitting at everyone in sight. We were undaunted. The animals were intriguing. The llama industry was robust. Not only did llamas look like a good investment, every breeder we talked to stressed how easy to handle and essentially indestructible llamas were. We assembled a small herd.

Between 1990 and 1997, when we sold our last camelids, we lost two llamas to rattlesnake bites, one to bloat, one to a congenital heart defect, one to an intestinal disorder llamas aren't even supposed to be susceptible to, and one to stillbirth.

During the same period, thanks largely to the USDA's lifting a ban on the importation of South American animals, llama prices plummeted. Females that had commanded $10,000 or more were selling for, at best, a tenth of that. Males you could barely give away. Our llama venture yielded a net loss of around $20,000, and we counted ourselves among the more fortunate llama folk.

I imagine our neighbors mostly thought we were a little screwy to get into the long-necked woollies in the first place. The animals were just too different - and being "different" is not a particularly good thing around here.

Nevertheless, between the llamas and the grassland we annually leased for cattle, we were beginning to gain some credibility as more than hobby farmers. People stopped asking us what we did with all the time we had on our hands and no longer regarded us as "independently wealthy."

They could commiserate with us about how hard it is when livestock becomes dead stock. We could empathize with their economic distress, what with beef and lamb prices falling through the floor, and wool and grain subsidies being abolished. But if we and our neighbors were becoming closer in some ways, in others we were still very far apart.

During the academic year, I fly home every chance I get. One such long weekend in the mid-'90s, we were driving back from the Rapid City airport. Nearing home, as we rounded a curve on the county road, Doug slowed the pickup and murmured, "Uh, Mary, you're not going to like this." I was puzzled, but then I saw it: the familiar Mother Tree, achingly alone.

The future forest, those scores of her seedling children, had been plowed under. Mutilated branches littered the hillside, where a handful of partially uprooted survivors leaned into the old tree's shade. All the rest were gone. It was cold-blooded murder. It was genocide.

Of course, from the cattle rancher's point of view, it was a good idea. Trees displace grass, and he was in the business of producing beef, not scenery. Besides, ponderosa pine needles are known to cause spontaneous abortions in cows that nibble on them. So cows and pine trees don't mix. A month or so later, the turf was ripped up a second time, the coup de grace eliminating the last few struggling survivors. The Mother Tree has stood in stoic isolation ever since.

While our neighbor was busily eliminating trees, we were planting them. Doug has planted upwards of 5,000 trees and bushes since we moved here, to provide shelter and restore wildlife habitat.

As for me, I'll take a tree over a beef cow any day. Annie Dillard had it about right when she described cattle as "a human product like rayon," with "beef fat behind their eyes, beef stew." This sounds harsh, I realize, but as a hunter I'm not a big fan of the intellectual capacities of domesticated animals. And as a conservationist, I know the damage indiscriminate grazing has done to the Western range. It is of no small significance that when the Crow Chief Plenty Coups had his great vision of the demise of the eastern Montana prairie, it took the form of these strangely misshapen spotted grazers displacing the buffalo from their homeland.

We had, from the start, seen our cattle lease as at best a necessary, and temporary, evil. There was, we knew, a more efficient, and far more environmentally friendly, way to make our place a working ranch without compromising wildlife values.

As llama prices looked to be heading south, we began seriously talking about turning our place into a bison ranch.

Moving on to bison

Our neighbors warned against this move. A delegation came for a visit. Earnestly, they explained that they were concerned that, even though after five years we seemed to be pretty good at the day-to-day business of managing a ranch, we would get in over our heads with this buffalo idea. We didn't have the fences or facilities. We didn't have sufficient experience with livestock. These animals are big and wild and powerful. They're different from cattle. We could get hurt.

We knew all this already. We also knew that, for us, raising beef cattle was out of the question. We had become used to the gut reaction against change in the way anything is done around here. It's almost as if your average cattleman harbors some sort of death wish; the worse things get, the more he digs in his heels and refuses to do anything, well, different. Two of our contiguous neighbors had gone belly-up since we moved in, and another was perilously close to it (and has since also had to sell). Everyone had cast us in the role of "outside forces of change" anyway, so we decided we might as well embrace it. In 1993, we took the plunge and bought our first 25 bison heifer calves. And we started fencing like crazy.

As it turned out, while our neighbors didn't approve of our decision, over time they didn't exactly disapprove either. At least bison are red meat. And there was one other bison producer in Carter County - he had grown up here, and everyone thought he was crazy to get into buffalo, but by the mid-'90s, he was turning a profit. That helped us a lot, both in terms of enhancing our credibility locally, and giving us the encouragement we needed to persevere in the first few years, when our bison venture was all outgo, no income.

Now, we have a viable, growing bison operation. The bison industry is in good shape - good enough, in fact, that more than a few cattle ranchers are converting to bison. Some of our neighbors have brought visitors over to see our herd. They do look great out there, in the large pastures we run them in. We don't interfere in the animals' lives any more than we must; it's as close as one can get, in ranching, to letting nature just be nature. It's gratifying to be doing our part to bring bison back to their original homeland. They belong here.

Whether we belong here may be another matter.

In terms of its human society, this part of the West is dying. Kids grow up and move away, and few ever come back. The ranch economy may be on an irreversibly downward spiral. The ranchettes that have become the norm, as ranchers sell out or subdivide, haven't made their way this far east under the Big Sky yet, but it's only a matter of time before they do.

Meanwhile, as we get older, the remoteness of our place - we are five two-track miles off that county road - as much as we love it, also has its problems. Things that used to be adventures are now arduous, too often dangerous, tasks. Doug spends too much time alone here, and my "commute" gets tougher each year. We have made some good friends among our neighbors; but deep down, I suspect even they think we're a tad too different for these parts. Neither of us can imagine living here forever. But neither of us can quite imagine leaving forever, either.

We're giving ourselves a few more years to decide what we'll do with our beautiful 3,300-acre ranchette. Meanwhile, we are still learning what our part is in the project of letting nature be nature. In the process, we are nurturing as many future Mother Trees as we can.

Mary Zeiss Stange is an associate professor of religion and women's studies at Skidmore College, where for eight years she directed the women's studies program. The Stanges moved to eastern Montana from the Helena Valley, where they had lived for several years. Mary grew up in Wisconsin, Doug in New Jersey.

No publisher Communities Essays 1999/12/06 00:00:00 GMT-7 Article


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Exploring Human Potential

Toward Accountable Care Cultures: Minding Our “Clinical Footprint”.

Eric Dishman

If , while reading this blog, you have a medical emergency, please stop reading and dial 911 or go to a nearby emergency room. Because sometimes you just need help from a doctor or other medical professional. But what about all of those other times–that aren’t emergencies–where you aren’t sure you really need to see someone, just need a little information, or have a small worry where a nurse or doctor might ease your mind? Can an advice nurse help triage and assuage your healthcare concern over the phone? Does a quick search of the internet help or harm your confidence in knowing what to do? Is it worth making the appointment, trip, and co-pay (assuming you have insurance) to visit your care provider?

I recently wrote about the hype cycle around the topic of “mHealth.” But it’s certainly not the only hot topic making the rounds in the U.S. marketplace of healthcare ideas right now. Perhaps running a close second for the most-hyped award is “accountable care organizations,” or “ACOs” for short. I’ve just landed in Washington, D.C., where I know of no less than five workshops this week on ACOs, yet few consumers (or clinicians for that matter) understand–or have even heard of–this concept, which is a pretty significant aspect of the healthcare reform bill here in America.

ACOs refer to models of care, payment, and governance whereby different healthcare entities in a community (physician groups, hospitals, home care providers, specialists, long term care providers, etc.) come together to form a new kind of organization that is accountable–and paid collectively–for the annual, holistic care of a large group of patients. There are many different kinds of ACOs being proposed and explored, especially via the newly-forming CMS Innovation Center (CMMI) set up to pilot these kinds of approaches. I found the Deloitte whitepaper on the topic to be a helpful summary of the ACO concept.

The bottom line is that, importantly, ACOs are one way of trying to shift our payment model for healthcare in America from a “fee for service” paradigm (doctors and nurses get paid for each office visit, lab, or prescription they generate) to a what I think of as a “fee for results” (medical professionals get paid for delivering great quality care and improved outcomes for their patient panels). Think value, not volume of visits. It’s ultimately about setting up incentives that move us beyond this factory-line, fix-it, fee-for-service, face-to-face care mentality that has dominated our conceptualization of healthcare for a long, long time and that no one–providers, patients, payers, or politicians–is happy about.

I am certainly guilty of adding my voice to the echo chamber on this one as I fly around giving lectures and helping healthcare providers develop their technology strategies for becoming an ACO. But I fear we may be missing the real opportunity for meaningful healthcare reform if we focus too much on the “accounting”–the numbers, salaries, bonuses, and quality measures that will certainly be controversial and suspicious to a lot of healthcare professionals–and too little on the “accountability” that these new care models must instill in all of us. Yes, we must figure out fair, sustainable ways to do clinical payment, governance, and liability as we try out ACOs, but we must also foment a shift towards a culture of accountability for care on the part of patients, clinicians, payers, and everyone involved in healthcare.

At the end of the day (and as much as we don’t like to think about it, especially when we face a medical catastrophe and want every test, procedure, and drug in the book thrown at the problem), healthcare resources–doctors, nurses, bed space, drugs, equipment, education/training resources, and dollars–are limited. Our workforce of trained healthcare professionals–especially primary care doctors and nurses–is dwindling in the midst of global retirement and demographic trends. And somehow–perhaps the bureaucratization of care, perhaps the actual and perceived declines in salary and status for healthcare providers–we’ve not filled the pipeline of healthcare workers fast enough to keep pace with the age wave that is producing a large number of older, often sicker patients.

As with “natural resources” that are scarce or declining, we as a society have to figure out more effective and efficient ways to use and sustain these precious healthcare resources. We need an accountable care culture, in which we all play our part to nurture, sustain, and improve the care resources we have around us. We will have to all change our attitudes and behaviors about how we utilize healthcare resources. In the midst of Global Warming and worldwide conflicts around natural resources like oil and natural gas, we have seen new behaviors, industries, and consciousness emerge. We have become more accountable for our energy use–as individuals and institutions–to reduce our “carbon footprint” whenever possible. So, too (and with surely as much debate, disagreement, education, and struggle as we have faced with energy consumption), we must come to be more conscious and conservationist in our clinical consumption. We must learn how to reduce our clinical footprint.

So what would it mean for us to mind our clinical footprint? I honestly don’t know, entirely. But I am pretty sure that if we only use things like ACOs to change the behavior and payment paradigms of clinicians without also changing how consumers, companies, and cultures manage their own health and resources, then we are doomed to fail. Certainly, doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals need to at least be open to these new models of care coordination and accountability for managing the whole patient population with more attention to the costs and benefits–to the value–of different procedures and therapies. And we as patients need to be conscious of at least the days, dollars, and drugs we consume in our quest for health and wellness.

But there is more to accountability than making all of us healthcare accountants, tracking every dime and minute we use the healthcare system. “Accountable” also means taking personal responsibility for something. It means patients will need the means–and the mandate–to take personal responsibility for our health and wellness with more consciousness of–and commitment to–healthier behaviors. And it means medical professionals will have to shift into a mode of coaching and teaching us more about those preventive behaviors, not just putting us back together again when we’re broken or sick.

Some skeptics will say that we’re simply making everyone a healthcare “bean counter” or fomenting a “nanny state” whereby the government controls our behaviors, but I believe we can become more accountable as a culture without going to those extremes. Today’s volume-driven paradigm has made us, as patients, too passive about owning our own health and care, too ignorant of the costs and benefits of the things being done to us in the name of healthcare, too divorced from the financial aspects of care, and too ignorant about whether or not those procedures are likely to prove beneficial. No one should hesitate to dial 911 when help is needed, but nor should we be absolved from trying to minimize our clinical footprint of the healthcare resources we use. If the current hype around ACOs can help stir up that kind of consciousness and personal responsibility, then it will have created healthcare reform, indeed.

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Easy Tzatziki Sauce

Easy, fresh, healthy dipping sauce.

This tzatziki sauce is made with fresh, healthy ingredients. It's easy and fast to make, and it is wonderful as a vegetable dip or paired with grilled meat.

Serves: 2

Prep Time:

Cook Time:

  • 1 cup whole milk Greek yogurt, plain
  • 1 cup cucumber, seeded and grated (drained)
  • 2 cloves garlic, pressed through garlic press or finely minced, then rested
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice, freshly squeezed
  • 1 teaspoon lemon zest, grated
  • 2 tablespoons dill, chopped
  • Salt and pepper to taste

  • Mix all ingredients in a bowl and refrigerate.
  • Allow sauce to rest for a few hours before serving for best taste.

Combine all ingredients except the cucumber, and refrigerate overnight. Drain the grated cucumber in a separate bowl overnight.

Combine ingredients together the next morning.