Catalyst Magazine

By 1999, after two international wars-one with Iran, the other with the United States-and nearly a decade of sanctions, Iraqis were left destitute. That same year, American and British forces began weekly, sometimes daily, air strikes on the country in an attempt to weaken what seemed to be the iron grip of Saddam Hussein. It was also the same year Thikra Mohammed and her husband decided it was time for their young family to leave their home and native country.

"We did not feel we were free," Thikra recounts."We could not talk. There was a lot of interruption and interference with our jobs as doctors. The situation got worse and worse in every aspect of life."

The couple, along with their infant daughter, left for Yemen.

"It was very tough and hard, difficult to explain to our families - leaving Iraq, leaving our profession....We don't know where we are heading. So it is very difficult situation, but we thought about our kids and their future," Thikra explains.

Yemen, a country struggling with its own internal conflicts, was little improvement over the family's situation in Iraq. The family moved again, this time to Jordan. There they were registered as refugees with the United Nations and told they were being relocated to another desert region, the state of Utah.

"Some people in the American Embassy in Jordan, they just gave us some advice, some information about the people in Utah. They say,'They are kind of religious.' We just felt comfortable with that." Though Thikra says she was wary of the term Mormon. She had no idea what it meant, what it entailed. "We said that's fine, maybe later, if we don't like it we can change state. We can move to another state. But when we arrived here we just felt it was very nice and it is convenient for us as a family."

Mustafa, another Iraqi refugee who also fled the rule of Saddam, likened living under the dictator to an abusive husband. "He takes away all feeling of safety in the home, the most important place. The place you should always feel safe. That is what Saddam did. He took away safety in my country, my home."

In 1997, Mustafa left Iraq and came to Utah at the encouraging recommendation of a friend. He's now passing along the advice.

"I think Utah is nice," he says. "I visit many states where Muslims are living. They think that it's the best place for them, but my recommendation is to come to Utah. It's a good place to raise children. You can protect them. Because it is a conservative state, you can shelter them from certain things."

Conservative is an understatement to some. The predominantly Republican state is also home to the headquarters of The Churchof Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In 2004, an official estimate counted a little over 60% of Utah's population as members of the Church.

Though they are not minarets, the steeples of Mormon churches and temples that pierce Utah's skyline are evidence of the state's religious atmosphere, something many Muslims find appealing.

"They focus on religion, like attending churches, mosque like us." Thikra emphasizes, "This is very important inlife."

The Mormon majority in Utah have created a state that reflects the religion in both laws and culture. It's a phenomenon central to the complaints of the non-Mormon residents of the state, but as Muslims, Thikra, Mustafa and many other Iraqis share common religious restrictions and morals with Mormons.

Both Islam and Mormonism encourage their followers to abstain from alcohol, drugs and gambling. "I'd rather have a Mormon neighbor," says Khalid Al-Hamed, an Iraqi refugee from the province of Basra. "They don't drink. They don't smoke. You feel the same."

There is a strong emphasis on family, a value apparent in both church and day-to-day activities of both religions. The LDS church has established Welfare Square near downtown Salt Lake, an area dedicated solely to helping those in need. In Islam, charity is one of the five religious pillars of the faith.

It may seem an odd comparison to some, but to Daniel Peterson, a member of the LDS church and a professor of Islamic Studies and Arabic at Brigham Young University in Provo, it's a phenomenon he's observed for years.

"There is a large theological difference, of course, but not quite so far apart as people may guess. Theologically we speak the same language," Peterson says.

Peterson also says he's not surprised to hear that Muslims in Utah are finding the "moral climate" in Utah to their liking. It's a sentiment he hears echoed from his own Muslim friends and acquaintances. He says quite often, diplomats from Muslim countries visiting BYU are pleased to find an American university that has not become as liberal as most. Because the University has a strict honor code and requires its Mormon students to closely follow LDS standards, diplomats often send their children to the campus. "They can receive an American education in an atmosphere that more closely resembles the one in which their parents were educated back in the '50s or '60s," Peterson explains.

Internationally, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints donates more money to Islamic Relief Worldwide than any other church. The LDS church donated $1.6 million in aid to tsunami victims; Peterson says itis easier for the church to donate to an established charity with ties and links to a community that would be hard for a Christian church in a Muslim country to establish.

This tie fueled fire behind a Boston Globe article earlier this year alleging that former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney was a member of a church that funded terrorism. The article alleged some of the money donated was diverted to the Palestinian militant group Hamas. According to an official statement addressing the article from the church's website, "All donations from the Church to Islamic Relief Worldwide have been in the form of relief items such as clothing, quilts, disposable diapers, infant formula, wheelchairs, washcloths, soap and first aid supplies. In each case, representatives of the Church accompanied the shipments and oversaw distribution."

The LDS church is also established in the Middle East.Though they are forbidden to proselytize, there are members in Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and Syria. "We do not actively seek out or target Muslim converts," Peterson says, though it is an ongoing discussion within the church. "We're there to build relationships and friendships," he continues. "We certainly won't deny that."

Nationally, bridges are also being built. Peterson is traveling to Claremont University in Southern California to speak at a Muslim-Mormon dialogue to address the on-going and future relationship between the two religions.

Here in Utah, the LDS church, as it has done with numerous other religions, offered to donate money to help Muslims build a mosque in the Salt Lake Valley. Peterson says the offer was declined.

Peterson also believes many Mormons may not be aware that their conservative atmosphere is benefiting others, especially their Muslim neighbors. The appreciation and recognition may also encourage more Mormons to make more of an effort learn about Islam.

"There is a lot of ignorance, but there a lot of interest in learning more. There is a hunger to understand," Peterson says.

A home and a place to worship

Before the service begins, there are warm greetings and inquiries of health and well-being, how children are doing in school, what solutions one can offer to another's problem, general gossip. Everyone knows everyone else. Even when services start, children and babies continue to play happily, surrounded by friends and family. In this congregation, a child has not just one, but many, mothers.

It's a scene many Latter-day Saints could relate to. However, it's not Mormons, but Muslims, who are worshipping tonight.

A table is laid with numerous dishes of rice, stews and breads, dishes as familiar and traditional as green Jell-o and funeral potatoes are to Mormons, in preparation for a meal before the service.

Now the sheik will speak. Tonight, his sermon is about the media and the sometimes harmful stereotypes of Muslims that are often portrayed. "We should know what the American people think...," he continues, "this is one way to help understand, and therefore, prevent potential prejudices."

It's just one of the ongoing struggles Iraqi refugees are facing. Another is citizenship.

Most are permanent residents, official refugees. They've taken their naturalization tests, passed, but citizenship still eludes them.The majority of Iraqis living in Utah were here before the 9-11 attacks. After that, however, the process slowed to a standstill. Many have taken their cases to court with the help of lawyers working for Catholic Community Services.

"Even after 10 years of living here, paying taxes and abiding by the law," says Mustafa who is still fighting for his citizenship.Thikra took her naturalization test in April 2005 and still waits for citizenship. "We have everything documented here," she says,"The government brought us here as legal refugees. We are permanent residents now. It's just a matter of processing."

For Thikra, the pursuit of citizenship may force her to leave Utah. "If I apply for residency, I have to apply in different states. If I get any chance or opportunity in another state, I have to move. But I really love this state." If that is the case, Thikra is adamant about coming back. "Maybe if I finish residency, which is four years in a different state, I can move back again and work here as a doctor."

Still looking for refuge

Nearly every Iraqi in Utah, and the rest of the nation, has family still living in the war-torn country.

Mustafa went back to see his family in Karabala, a city that has made its fair share of headlines for violent clashes and bombings. He tells of limited electricity, rising gas prices, the way life has slowed to an excruciatingly slow pace. "I saw my country and I'm not optimistic about it," he shakes his head. "A term you hear repeatedly is 'democracy,' and we've seen that 'democracy' comes with a price."

Thikra and her husband lost numerous relatives in the violence that erupted after the fall of Saddam. "In the beginning it was hopeful, but now it is hopeless." Her voice waivers and she struggles to control her emotions as she talks of the despair and helplessness she feels knowing that her loved ones are suffering. "Every time I call my family they say, 'We just have one wish in our life, to see you before we die, because we don't know what may happen.' It is very hard," she continues."They wish now they could leave Iraq."

And many do.

This month is the fifth anniversary of America's 2003 invasion of Iraq. Backlash from the conflict has spilled outside Iraq's borders into neighboring countries. There is a growing concern over the crisis brewing in countries like Syria, Egypt, and Jordan around the 2.5 million Iraqi refugees who have fled the ongoing violence in their homeland. Not since the displacement of the Palestinian people with the creation of Israel in 1948 has there been a refugee crisis this large in the Middle East.

Syria, after taking in one million Iraqi refugees, has effectively closed its borders, overwhelmed by the continuous flow. Jordan admitted more than 700,000 of the refugees before shutting down its border crossings. Egypt has taken in 100,000. The United States initially set a goal to allow 7,000 refugees into American borders over the last 12 months. The Bush Administration then lowered the goal to 2,000. As of the end of 2007, 1,608 Iraqis have been resettled in America.

The growing strain the refugees are creating in the Middle East is one America cannot afford to ignore. Not only is the reresentment from Iraqis, who risked their lives to help the U.S. in exchange for visas, but citizens of other Middle Eastern countries are now competing with the refugees for jobs and aid money.

Sooner or later, the U.S. will have to recognize that taking in a mere 2,000 of more than 2.5 million is not enough. As yet another group faces the struggles and hardships of making a home in a foreign land, the Salt Lake Valley, and other Mormon communities throughout the nation may prove helpful in the transition.

"I think Mormons and Muslims can become a model of how Muslim-Christian relations can work," Peterson says. "The best kinds of relationships are built by neighbors, having people over to dinner. Mormons tend to be good at that. It could be a model for a lot of people."

Stephanie Carter is a recent graduate of the University of Utah with a BA in communications and a minor in Middle Eastern Studies. Last summer she lived and blogged in Cairo. Her experiences with the LDS Church in the Middle East inspired this article.

As a child of a casserole family, where most mealscontained only store-bought canned vegetables and a can of gelatinouscream-of-something soup, my understanding of where food comes from was limited,to say the least.

Over the last few years there seems to have been a shiftin the way many people think about the food they eat. A growing trend, locallyand nationally, encourages people to consider their roles as consumers in thefood market. They're calling themselves "locavores" and their aim isto buy food that is grown and produced locally whenever possible. The reasonsfor becoming a locavore are as varied as they are for becoming a vegetarian.For some, the environmental impact of buying food that has traveled inrefrigerated vehicles from halfway around the world is reason enough. Forothers, it's about supporting local farmers and investing in their localeconomies. For me, it's about getting back to basics.

My first visit to the Downtown Farmers' Market four yearsago marked the beginning of a revolution for me. As I wandered around thevendors' booths on that sunny July day looking for fresh fruits, such aspeaches and raspberries, I was baffled. I approached one of the vendors andasked when there might be peaches at the market. He responded with a kind smileand said, "Not until August or September." 

It didn't make any sense. If I wanted peaches orraspberries right now, I could go to any grocery store and find them-even inFebruary. The store always has every fruit and vegetable, so why didn't theFarmers' Market?

The answer, which is so simple I'm embarrassed to say it,is that food growers are bound by the seasons of the climate they are growingin. It had not occurred to me until that day at the Farmers' Market that if Iwas buying peaches in February, they had traveled from some exotic locale,thousands of miles from Utah. When I went home and faced the bananas sitting onmy counter, I felt the disconnect that comes from not knowing what you areeating or how it came to be in your kitchen.

As the locavore trend grows, communities across thecountry are starting "Eat Local" Challenges, which encourageparticipants to commit to eating only locally produced foods for a specifiedlength of time. In Salt Lake City, Andrea and Mike Heidinger completed theirfirst 30-day challenge in October 2007. They said they were amazed at howquickly word spread about the challenge and how many people actually joinedthem. The parameters were flexible and participants committed to eating locallygrown food (within 250 miles) for as short as one day to an entire month. TheHeidingers and other participants detailed their experiences on a blog, oftenoffering advice on where to find hard-to-find items.

In order to complete their challenge, participants reliedon a variety of resources including local farmers' markets and communitysupported agriculture (CSA) programs. Some actually produced their own fruitsand vegetables. Complete commitment to the challenge required giving up somefoods altogether. Rice, coffee, black pepper and cinnamon were among the foodsthat the Heidingers said they missed most. According to Andrea, however, thechallenge helped them discover honey as a substitute for sugar, and theyhaven't gone back to using refined sugar since.

For the Heidingers, eating locally is about supportinglocal farmers. As Andrea explained, "Anything we can do to preserve thelocal farms is cool. Some of them have been around for generations and they'reall struggling, always on the edge of going out of business." 

Christi Paulson of Slow Food Utah agrees with theHeidingers about supporting local farmers, and said she believes educatingchildren about agriculture is a good start. Slow Food promotes organic,sustainable food growing and buying practices and educates the public about thebenefits of those practices. According to Paulson, there has been an increasein membership  in the last threeyears and more significantly, a drastic increase in the number of people whoknow about Slow Food and what it does.

Eating locally is more than a trend, though. Becoming alocavore requires more than just passing up Starbucks for a local coffee shop.It requires a shift in thinking. Perhaps you're not ready to give up eatingiceberg lettuce in January just yet, and neither am I. For those of us tryingto find a balance between enjoying the foods we love and supporting localbusiness, there are many small steps that can make a big difference to localfood growers. 

Meet new people

According to Christi Paulson, Slow Food Utah used to be asmall group of middle-aged food enthusiasts who gathered four times each yearto enjoy a dinner made from local, organic food. In 2004, when Paulson wasasked to lead the group, Slow Food began reaching out to the community throughprograms like the schoolyard garden at Riley Elementary, where Paulson teaches.Among other things, Paulson has transformed Slow Food Utah from what shecharacterized as a "supper club" into a more community-basedorganization that welcomes everyone. Slow Food Utah often maintains a booth atthe Downtown Farmers' Market, offering flyers and brochures that explain SlowFood's core beliefs, which Paulson explains as, "good, clean, fairfood."

Paulson says she is particularly proud of the schooloutreach programs that Slow Food is involved with. "Kids generally don'tknow where their food comes from. They just think it comes straight from thegrocery store. And just seeing their faces when they're digging in the dirt andthey're seeing what happens when they plant a seed and it grows....," shesaid. "And it's good for their health.  Kids don't eat enough fruits and vegetables, but if theygrow it, they'll eat it."

In addition to teaching kids where food comes from,Paulson sees the school garden as a recruiting tool. She is cultivating thegardeners, and maybe even farmers, of tomorrow.

Members of Slow Food meet monthly and the group holdsinformal potluck dinners regularly, open to others interested in joining. Visitthe Slow Food Utah Web site (www.slowfoodutah.org) for upcoming events andother helpful information about eating local in Utah.

Shop local

Farmers' markets are a great introduction tounderstanding where your food comes from. Each week at the markets, growerssell their farm-fresh produce and answer questions about their growingpractices. During the season (June through October) the variety of produceavailable will change with the weather. In the early months, fresh produce ismostly leafy greens, peas and beans. Each week the offerings expand and change.

There are dozens of farmers' markets throughout Utah,from Logan to St. George. To find one near you, visit www.utahsown.utah.gov/FarmersMarkets.htm.

Besides the mainly fruit and vegetable options availableat local farmers' markets, several local dairies and ranches throughout Utahprovide milk, cheese and meat. Beehive Cheese Co. in Uinta makes its cheesefrom milk from a local dairy, Rockhill Creamery in Richmond has its owngrassfed cows, and you can find their products in grocery stores along theWasatch Front. Local meat producers like the G Bar Ranch and Morgan Valley Lamboffer all-natural, chemical-free, Utah-raised beef and lamb and can be foundonline and in stores specializing in local food.

Local First Utah is a helpful resource to find localfood. On the website (www.localfirst.org) you'll find a business directory oflocal businesses. Local First promotes all kinds of local businesses in aneffort to support small businesses and local economies. In addition to alisting of local food retailers and producers, the site also lists restaurantsthat serve locally grown food.

Help a farmer

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is another way toget some face-to-face interaction with the people who grow your food. Unlikefarmers' markets, where customers can shop for specific items each week just asthey would at the grocery store, Community Supported Agriculture requires aseason-long commitment. With CSAs, customers buy a share of a grower's cropbefore the crops have been harvested, and then fresh produce is deliveredweekly to various pick-up points. Several farms along the Wasatch front offerCSA programs. The programs vary in price, as well as the selection of producethey offer.

Christi Paulson said she has been involved with her CSAfor five years. She said she enjoys the variety of produce and the interactionwith the grower that she gets from it. "Usually you have to try thingsyou've never had before," she said. "And you know where your foodcame from, you know that farmer.  Youcan trust that person."

Buying produce from a CSA can be unpredictable becauseyou don't know what fruits and vegetables you'll be getting from week to week,and sometimes you may get vegetables you've never eaten and aren't sure how toprepare. Many of the CSA programs offer recipes and serving suggestions alongwith the weekly boxes of food, but eating produce in season can sometimes get alittle tedious.

As Paulson explains, "In the fall I can't wait forthe winter squash. By January, I feel like if I have to look at another wintersquash, I'm going to die." During the summer months, many CSA participantsstart to feel the same way about tomatoes, which most CSAs have in abundance.Ranui Farms specializes in leafy greens, so their customers always get greens.But other products change over the course of the season. In the summer,customers are likely to get tomatoes and zucchini, and in the fall deliverieswill include more root vegetables like potatoes and beets.

John Garofalo, owner of the biodynamically run RanuiFarms near Coalville, said their CSA program gets him through the early spring."Typically growers around here spend a fair amount of money in late winterand early spring to get the operations up and running; but a lot of times we don'thave sellable crops until late May to early June," he explains. "CSAsmean we don't have to borrow money."

Among the five CSAs operating along the Wasatch Front,prices for a two-person weekly allotment over the roughly five-month seasoncareen from $175 for the season to $736. Most of these CSAs are full for 2008;you can put your name on a waiting list for 2009, however.

The Slow Food Web site has a comprehensive list of theCSA programs in Utah that details the cost and variety of produce offered fromeach one: www.slowfoodutah.org.

Grow it yourself

For fresh produce, you can't beat a backyard garden (orfront yard, for that matter). Of course, growing a garden has a learning curve,and most new gardeners chalk their first season up to experience. Starting agarden requires research, a few resources-and courage, faith and follow-up.

Home gardens are convenient and under complete control ofthe gardener, so there can never be any questions about whether the tomatoesreally are organic. If you grow them from seeds, you know everything yourplants have been exposed to. You also get the convenience of pulling freshherbs from the garden to throw in the spaghetti sauce cooking on the stove.

For those of us who may not have space to plant a gardenin, or who don't know the first thing about planting squash, there's stillhope. Thanks in part to the growing focus on eating locally, dozens ofcommunity gardens have sprouted up along the Wasatch Front in the last 10years.

In Salt Lake, Wasatch Community Gardens operates fourgardens in the downtown area. The gardens offer youth programs to educate kidsabout organic gardening, and they also offer rental plots for members of thecommunity to use. In conjunction with the rental plots, Wasatch CommunityGardens teaches related workshops which are usually free and open to thepublic.

According to Susan Finlayson, the Community EducationCoordinator for Wasatch Community Gardens, the gardeners at the downtowngardens come from a wide range of backgrounds. "It's a really diversecommunity," she said. "There are people who have been gardening foryears who are looking for a space to garden in and who like the idea of meetingpeople, and then there are the newbies, and they all come together here."

The four gardens currently have 62 rental plots, at$40-$48 each. For some gardens, there is a waiting list that may mean waiting afull year before a plot opens up. For information about workshops and rentalapplications, visit www.wasatchgardens.org

Think before you eat

Like vegetarians, every locavore has to live and eataccording to his or her own values. Being a locavore sometimes means simplymaking better choices, even if you aren't buying local. If you can't findproducts that are locally produced, Christi Paulson suggests comparing foodlabels. Choosing the product that traveled the lesser distance brings you onestep closer to eating locally.

And as Paulson said, you have to be realistic. "I'mnot a purist," she said. "I can't ever grow a banana here, so am Inever going to eat a banana again? No. Am I never going to have anything withvanilla in it, or chocolate, or coffee, or olive oil? No. But I try to get asmany local products as I can." Like Paulson, I can't say I am or will everbe a purist. I do plan, however, to be more conscious about where my food iscoming from. Considering where I started, I would say that's a pretty bigrevolution.  u

Emily Aplin is a recent graduate of the University ofUtah .  She is a regular at thedowntown farmers' market and plans to attempt her own "eat localchallenge" this summer.

We slipped back over the fence just as the security patrol pulled up inside the cemetery. I pulled my camera through the bars and walked down the street, iPod playing Andres Segovia's performance of Francisco Tarrega's "Recuerdo de la Alhambra." Our European adventure was off to an excellent start.

Our early morning adventure to the cemetery in the heart of Madrid had a photographic expedition as its original purpose. For an hour and a half, we walked through the crypts and walls of niches. The endless cemetery spilled off a hill into arroyos on two sides. The crypts were crowded with enough roses to choke Portland; and everywhere, crucifixes. Then, behind a tall hedge, we discovered a memorial inscribed in German. We had stumbled on the last resting place of some of the Luftwaffe fliers who had bombed the Spanish town of Guernica.

Previously, our unofficial tour guide had briefed us onPicasso's "Guernica," the subject of the next day's tour. The Spanish government of dictator Francisco Franco had commissioned Picasso to paint a mural for the 1937 World's Fair in Paris. No strings attached. Picasso responded with a giant canvas depicting the horrors of the German Luftwaffe's bombing of Guernica in the service of Franco's side in the Spanish Civil war.

As we tried to decipher the words on the memorial, I told my friend that, even though these were some of the flyers who pioneered strategic bombing the intentional bombing of civilians to break the will of an adversary I had to honor these men who had stepped up when their country, led by a man not known by them to be mad, had asked them to. Friends of mine from Vietnam lie in graves mad men sent them to.

The next day I entered the Picasso exhibit with a different perspective than the rest of our group. What stirred me more than the actual painting was the galleries of sketches, studies and pre-figurative works by Picasso. The music on my iPod that day was a grand, melancholy mix I call "South China Sea," reminiscent of opera music I once heard in a dream. Tears streamed down my face as I pondered madmen, patriotism and Picasso's centaurs and horses.

I resolved then to go back and piss on the graves of the German aviators. Collateral damage is one thing. Bombing civilians to break the will of a nation is, or should be, beyond belief. (See Vonnegut's "Slaughter-house Five" or John McCain's solution to the Iran problem.)

I had the opportunity to relieve myself two days later, when part of our group took a side trip to the cemetery during visiting hours.

I couldn't. Wrong as their actions were, those men thought they were doing what was honorable and necessary. What I needed was to insult the men who lied to them -Franco's grave (I couldn't find it), Hitler's grave, Nixon's grave, George W. Bush's grave. But that wouldn't do any good. To paraphrase the last words of a local boy who met a sticky end, "Don't piss, organize."

And make sure your leaders aren't mad.

John deJong is associate publisher of CATALYST.

john@catalystmagazine.net

This writing was originally presented during the wedding ceremony of our good friends Melissa Bond and Chase Fetter last fall. For this traditional month of weddings, we offer it to you-a reminder to all of us who have taken (or who contemplate taking) this step.

We all hear a lot about how we fail each other. Great literature tells us about it, and country music songs. We know heartbreak and all its good reasons.

But we can also love.

We can. Do it.

We can love.

Love, when it lasts, becomes a habit. Habit is usually a bad word. But it is also part of inhabit, and that's what lovers do, they inhabit each other, they house each other. The container of where you were before changes to a place where your beloved is also. Where does your self end and the beloved's begin? Where does your body end and the other's begin?Sometimes you don't know. (You really don't know.)

I read in the paper recently that scientists have proven, using trick cameras and willing volunteers, that human consciousness is capable of out-of-body experiences. To which mystics will say "we knew that."To which the married say "we knew that. We are out of our selves in love."

But consciousness melding-profound though it is-is merely the party trick of marriage. The real feat of love is the same as always: In this moment, do you act toward this person with more kindness than less, more generosity, more forgiveness, more tenderness, more ... pleasure, delight, welcome...? Do you do the bittersweet waltz of everyday life together? When small acts of love become a habit, year after year, love grows. Love expands into parts of yourself you don't know yet that you have.

As my father said on the occasion of my sister's wedding, you think you love each other now? You have no idea.

Today, you are going to vow to love each other forever. Vowing in public before your friends and family is a solemn and holy act. And to help you do it, we will go first. We'll make some vows to you:

We promise to love, honor and protect this couple through all the days of their lives together.

We promise to whisper sweet nothings into their ears, (you're a great couple... I love how you are, together... the two of you are gorgeous)... so they feel the current of love and remember it's there.

We promise to make them laugh in times of trouble and help them to turn to each other in times of sorrow.

We vow to support them in keeping their marriage alive and full of spirit.

As they embark on this ancient tradition of mating for life, we, the community, the congregation...we hold them in our protection and that of all those who have come before us.

This verse was transcribed from hieroglyphics on a 3,500-year-old Egyptian vase:

This love is as good

as oil and honey to the throat,

as linen to the body,

as fine garments to the gods,

as incense to worshippers

when they enter in,

as the little seal-ring

to my finger.

It is like a ripe pear

in a man's hand,

it is like the date

we mix with wine,

it is like the seeds

the baker adds to bread.

We will be together

even when old age comes.

And the days in between

will be food set before us,

dates and honey, bread and wine.

Amen.

Dorothee Kocks is managing editor and fiction editor of the Wasatch Journal. Author of the non-fiction book "Dream a Little," she's currently writing a novel about a woman, a man, and a strange musical instrument. Called "The Glass Harmonica, or The Sensualist's Tale," it's a historical novel about how love and pleasure can change the world.

A crowd of angry people stands outside of the city hall building in Hazelton, Pennsylvania. Some of them wave giant American flags. One holds a signs above his head that read "Proud Legal American."These are the self-named "small town defenders" and they are on a crusade to pass legislation in their town that would target and penalize anyone hiring or aiding an illegal immigrant.

This scene opens a documentary on the rights of immigrants in the ACLU video series "The Freedom Files," which currently has nine 30-minute episodes. Each covers a different issue concerning freedom and human rights-the death penalty, the rights of gay families to parent, and other subjects. The documentary continues by following a number of respected community members, who are themselves legal immigrants or native citizens of Latino decent, as they fight unconstitutional legislation being passed in their own middle-American towns.

Spyhop, a not-for-profit arts and media center for youth in Salt Lake City, together with the Utah Chapter of the ACLU, hosted a screening of the documentary last April, along with a lecture presented by Lisa Remington, a member of the production staff for "The Freedom Files."

"Film is especially effective as an organizing tool because it directly impacts your audience in a short period of time," says Remington. Speaking to both filmmakers and activists, she stressed the importance of individual action. "I am going to encourage all of you to film. This is particularly important with a space like Spyhop that can help you through the process."

Film, she insists, is a medium for everyone and especially useful to activists who wish to disseminate their message quickly. "We have such an interesting opportunity with technology these days. There are these little cameras that make it easy to take videos and to upload them onto the web and it can be very entertaining." Never underestimate, Remington reminded her audience, the power of humor.

Of course, not everyone is likely to be inspired to pick up a camera. For those less visually and artistically inclined, Remington also had some advice. "Something that the ACLU and the Office of Grassroots Organizers uses is the motto 'Educate, Inspire, Act.' For example, I educate myself and make a video, I then inspire you by showing you the video and from there you challenge your audience to do something."

Remington's story held particular interest for her Utah audience, since she was born and raised in Salt Lake City. After growing up in Sandy and Holladay and studying acting at New York University, she moved to Los Angeles with the idea of pursuing acting as a career. "It is kind of a joke I tell now that in order to pay the bills I found an office job for adocumentary filmmaker. Because everyone knows that filmmaking doesn't pay the bills," she says.

More than just paying the bills, what attracted Remington to documentary work was her sense of equality. "I always had a sense of justice and of being the person to stand up for something even when there was no one else." When the Iraq War began in 2003, Remington joined a friend working on a documentary about war protesters. "I started shadowing him, shooting and going to protests. That is when I was first confronted with the question of my own beliefs. It was an interesting moment that through the process of documenting I had to ask myself, where do I stand."

After working on the war project, Remington continued to find jobs in film, but not always with a political slant. She found that she naturally gravitated to films with a purpose and a message that motivated people to action.

The ACLU's objective with the video series is to help initiate the process of education, inspiration and action. Individuals can purchase an episode to use as an inspirational and educational tool among friends. An activist information packet included with the video outlines how to organize a home screening and gives some ideas on how to effectively lead a post-screening conversation. Plus, the packet gives ideas on how to take that collective energy and turn it into action.

In closing, Remington reminded her audience of the importance of taking action, and the power of film. Her words of inspiration remained short and to the point, just like the films she advocated. "Just do it," she said, reading directly from the words on her PowerPoint presentation and chuckling a bit. "Just do it."

About Spyhop

Spyhop is located in downtown Salt Lake City. Since they began in 1999, the have provided hands-on mentoring and experience-based multimedia learning for thousands of youth. Upcoming classes in June include Intro to Filmmaking, Sound Engineering, Flash Animation and others. Check out the program schedule and find out how to apply on line at www.spyhop.org.

About the ACLU Freedom Files

"The Freedom Files" is now in its second season, covering new issues such as "Torture and Unlawful Imprisonment" and "School to Prison Pipeline." To purchase the films, along with an activist's toolkit, a teacher's guide and other useful information, go to www.aclu.tv. To contact the Utah chapter (355 North 300 West), go to www.acluutah.org or call 521-9862.

I do not remember the first time I actually threw my dad over my back. Or the first time he came at me with a wooden knife poised behind his leg. I do know that the ability to restrain his arm created a very different sort of relationship between us than most girls had with their dads. While my friends went to daddy-daughter dances, I was doing a different kind of two-step with my father. Sometimes he came at me with a loud "hi-ya!"; other times I pinned his hands behind his waist, my blond ponytail cutting through the air as he struggled in vain to break free. But always we took turns launching or rolling with the attacks coming at us, using bare hands, long leather-bound swords, and lots of flying, feet first, across the room.

"You haven't got me there," my dad says ,stepping away from the throw I am just about to perform. I get up from my squat and let go of his arm. He's not a small guy. Muscular and just over six feet, he moves quickly and lightly, but could still squash a 13-year-old girl if she weren't careful. But I know that's not the case with me and I'm eager to prove it. The sleeves on his cream-colored gi are damp, and his face is red from practicing in the heat of the coming summer. He reaches out to grab me again, strongly, powerfully: "Extend through your center, stabilize your feet. You need to do that before you can hold me up."

I exhale in frustration. Sometimes I think he gives me a harder time just because he's my dad. But I try it again, moving into position, shooting the arm that is holding his up in the air, the other resting on my bent leg. I look up to see his face, which is focused and betrays only a bit of unease.

Before I can throw him, the sensei claps his hands, indicating this technique is over. I feel disappointed that I couldn't complete the move, making one more adjustment in the quest to perform it gracefully. Nonetheless, Dad and I stand up and bow to one other. The bow opens and closes each class and each technique, whatever the frustration or accomplishment of the day. It conveys a sense of appreciation for the opportunity to learn from each other. And so my dad bows to me and I to him. On these white, worn mats, we are equals.

We started practicing aikido together when I was eight. What began as a playful way to take our love of Steven Seagal action movies into the real world ultimately became a physical rendering of our father-daughter journey together. Throwing a punch, taking a pounding on the mat, coming at it again in a new way, bending the knees for greater stability-all of these dynamic lessons wriggled themselves far beyond the dojo and into our lives.

Aikido itself originates from many converging disciplines-jujitsu, judo, samurai sword work, military training-all forged together in World War II era Japan by a man named Morihei Ueshiba. The militaristic culture of Japan before and during the war certainly shaped aikido's development, but so too did the postwar reverberations of how violence and egoism can unleash devastation upon individuals and the society they inhabit. Because of these influences, aikido developed as a powerful, but ultimately peace-seeking practice. The point is not to injure your opponent, even though you have the capacity to do so, but to reach a point of mutual understanding and transformation.

The transformative power of aikido certainly influenced me as I thrust it, fully and from my center, into the crucible of growing up. I learned, from the power of experience on the mat, when to be assertive and make things happen, when to blend with the force of someone else, when to change places as easily as socks. These exercises kept my practice strong. They also kept me grounded throughout the tumult of junior high, when people began to explore and rebel in novel ways. I never needed to rebel against a father who understood how to take turns giving and receiving attacks from his daughter, when to "say uncle," and when to push me a little further. Even as I changed and began playing soccer and wearing mascara, the connection between my wrist and my dad's hand still existed with the same powerful authenticity and playful regularity that it always had.

Each day saw the transformation of our lives bit by bit-a new job for him, a new grade in school for me-but still we came to practice together. As we got better, the techniques, grabs, and high falls got more complex and more fluid. We were equals there: taking falls, flying through the air, dancing in and around each other. The spirals of wrist movements became the spirals of a father-daughter evolution. Perhaps he could drive a car and balance a checkbook, but I could turn myself out of a hold quietly and roll like a leopard.

Aikido not only provided a goal-training for my first kyu (brown belt) test-it remained a constant source of stability during the uncertainty of my adolescence. Rolling and blending with attacks, getting up again breathlessly, leaping into another series of techniques-always, always coming back to center and learning to extend through that place-such discipline helped anchor me as school became even more difficult, as friends came and went, as my teenage self-confidence waxed and waned according to the whims of fashion or the fleeting attention of a boy.

My first kyu test happened after a flurry of preparation. I had practiced every day for six months to attain the technical skill of the wooden sword and the increasingly advanced arm pins and whole-body throws. Beyond demonstrating this technical expertise, I had to show that I could respond effectively in randori-the ultimate free-form practice of countering any attack with any response-sometimes from only one person, sometimes from multiple.

The minutes go by, person after person comes up to attack me, and the sensei calls out different techniques for me to demonstrate. I feel strong and capable but exerted as the test goes on. Soon it is randori. My dad comes up. Breathing deeply, I soften my eyes to take in everything around me equally. My dad's gray hair and blue hakama blend into the background of the white dojo and people watching from all sides. His face is focused, his arms out of sight. The attack could spring from any angle, any direction, either hand-or a foot if he wants to throw me off guard.

Finally it comes, a grab to the wrist, and the Father-Daughter Dance begins:

The force of his hold, coming through his body to mine, pushes me back. I stumble and regain my balance. Grounding down, I concentrate on bringing my strength up from that point in my center-my place of power-through my hips, and extending it through my arm. Right then, with everyone watching us, it doesn't matter that I am 14 years old and he is 48 or that he has 90 pounds and 10 inches on me.

Raising the arm my dad holds, I edge into position, stabilize my feet, and extend up to him. I bend at the knees. Now he simply has to trust. Trust the form. Trust me. Slowly, I lower him onto my back. He leans in, knowing I had trained and practiced all this time just to hold him up right now. His feet lift off the ground. But instead of flipping him over right away, I pause to bounce him around a few times, upside-down, his head poised toward the floor. The sound of laughter rises up from the room.

I grin and hold my father on my back for a few more milliseconds. I've got him this time. Then-in a blink-I fling him over me, his turn now to streak through the air, much cooler than any action-figure movie star.

We've both come this far together, holding each other up, learning to fly.

Sophia Nicholas' first story for CATALYST, "Working to Return From War," appeared last month. Her "day job" is with HEAL Utah.

You can practice aikido with Rick Berardini Sensei at Utah Aikikai, 3474 South 2300 East, Suite 12. Ph (801) 272-0707.www.utahaiki.comm

COMMUNITY RADIO QUIZ

Question: KRCL's new weekday, daytime programming, hosted for the first time by paid DJs instead of volunteers, is . . .

Answer:

A.  . . . a sign of the apocalypse that causes us to forego civility and leaves us railing hatefully until we're purple and spitting

B.  . . . a reality that should be given a chance to thrill us in a new way, and an opportunity for us to practice personal diplomacy in difficult circumstances

C.  . . .other

It's not my job to share my answer, just to introduce the three people who will be hosting KRCL week days from 6 to 6, and I'm happy to doit. But I will confess to a certain nervousness due to my closeness to the subject. I've worn a few hats at KRCL including on-air host, off-air volunteer, volunteer representative on the board of directors, and trainer of new volunteers. It's been 17 years since I was on the air as a host, and KRCL has changed a lot since then.

For many people, this new change brings much more drama than the others. Three KRCL volunteers have become staffers at KRCL, the first-ever paid programmers. They've navigated a traumatic transition, one that displaced at least 18 of their fellow volunteer program hosts. The change has brought these former volunteers into a world full of the angry purple people as well as people who are trying (or struggling) to keep open minds, trying to respect the reasons for the change, and trying to give peace a chance.

In that spirit, meet the "new" hosts.

Ebay Jamil Hamilton:

"Get up and mingle!"

When Ebay talks to me about KRCL, I notice his language is steeped in reconciliation. With 17 years at KRCL, Ebay is the most aware of what the change offers, but also what it has cost. He's a little weary of everyone harping on the fact that he arrived at the station as a 13-year-old kid with a "lifetime" of KRCL listening already under his belt, but it's true, and he's been a charming presence at the station ever since. His longevity brings both unique perspective and perceived responsibility. He peppers our conversation with positive phrases: "I'm trying to find a way to make this okay for everybody . . . This is happening, so let's just make the most of it . . . I'm going to make sure KRCL succeeds . . . I believe we are going to get there . . . I believe this will work . . . I can tell you it's going to be good."

As music director, Ebay is working to ensure listeners will continue to enjoy unparalleled music and expertise, but with a more constant change-up during weekdays. He feels that moving away from"block" programming offers a practical way to increase listenership, a key reason for the change. He says, "Instead of tuning out for two or four hours, you may only have to get past one song." That ability to build on listenership throughout the day rather than having people constantly tuning in and out should improve the health of the station. And it's an opportunity for listeners to broaden their passions.

He's 30 now, but he makes an analogy based on his own experience as a Utah high school student of color. "Going into a school lunchroom where they say that it's multicultural and diverse but everyone's still sitting at their tables [by racial and ethnic divisions]. . . I want you to get up and play with each other. Just get up and mingle! As long as people are open to giving us a try, I think it'll be fine."

He continues, "If you are going to listen to the radio, and you're checking out the other stations, chances are you'll find we're doing something cooler than most, even around the country. We are all people from here at KRCL. This isn't something from outside. I think most people's concerns are being answered in the programming."

Aware of how high the stakes are to get this right, Ebay says, "I just want KRCL to be here for another shy little 13-year-old like myself."

David Perschon:

"I'm honored to be here."

David may have the broadest musical knowledge of the three hosts. He moves happily between virtually all genres with educated ease. He says, "I grew up listening to KRCL and that's how I built my record collection back when I was 14 and starting to hear stuff on the station. So I've been listening since I was a kid."

While he began as a volunteer only two years ago, his musical depth, extensive personal music library, pleasant on-air style and willingness to fill in for folks quickly made him a perennial favorite at the station, with both volunteers and listeners.

I ask how he's dealt with some of the comments generated when the changes were announced. He says, "Once people give it a chance and see what it sounds like, they can draw some conclusions. But for people to be so negative right off the bat was surprising, especially coming from such a tight-knit community of people who are open-minded. A lot of feedback before it even happened was so hateful and very negative. It was surprising to see how vicious some people were."

"It's been a really difficult transition," he admits. "It's split the KRCL family in two. It's hard to see people lose their shows, people who have been around for years and years. Change is hard, but sometimes it's necessary. We'll see down the road if it was the right thing."

David has good wishes for the displaced volunteers, many of whom have found a new home at Utah Free Media, ufm.org, where they do their shows on the Internet. "I really hope the whole UFM thing goes off and people tune into that as well. I'm hoping it succeeds and they find a niche there and they have support. There are shows I miss and I can stream those shows. It's nice to have options, definitely."

As for his new gig, he says, "It's fun to come in and provide a soundtrack to people's mornings. I'm trying to do the best job possible and provide a really diverse mix of music. We don't have playlists; we aren't being told what to play. We're trying to create a consistent sound through drawing from albums we all agree upon, but we're playing what we want to. It's a blessing to be able to do that on a daily basis. It's a dream job in a lot of ways. I'm honored to be part of the community here, doing what I do. We're off to a good start."

"Bad" Brad Wheeler:

 "The steeper the hill, the more excited I am."

Brad is the most genre-specific of the three, giving him a tough learning curve. But he's a hard worker and he's up for the challenge.

Brad found the station at age 18, listening to KRCL'S Monday night blues shows. He discovered he had a gift for playing the harmonica. He says, "I would go to the Dead Goat Saloon, and I eventually got a job there. I would call [KRCL blues host] Truman every Monday night and tell him all the blues gigs that were going on in the state. Truman wanted to develop a feature called Blues News and he wanted me to be the blues newsman." He's been doing that for about 11 years, now.

Eventually, KRCL called him to DJ. "I thought, well, I just call Truman on the phone! I work on 25th Street in a bar. My language might not be appropriate! But I just started doing it."

He says, "The station is an incredible thing. It has helped influence me to the idea of being a part of my community. I had never experienced diversity like this until coming here."

What's this new situation like for him? "It's totally being out of my comfort zone. It's a huge responsibility-it's massive. But the steeper the hill, the more excited I am."

Reflecting on the change, he says, "My hope for the station is that we increase our ratings so we become compliant to maintain our Corporation for Public Broadcasting status.

"The way I kinda see it is KRCL was your friend who was out on an innertube at the beach and it was getting a little far out there and you could either, like, swim out and bring your friend back or you could just do nothing and watch your friend drift away. I would rather do whatever it takes, including put myself through all this... change, to keep KRCL around instead of watching it go."

Through the years Barb Guy has worn a few hats at KRCL including rabid all-genre listener, show host for 10 years, die-hard off-air volunteer, four-year volunteer representative on the board of directors, and trainer of new volunteers. She also did a gig as a DJ on commercial radio simultaneous to her time at KRCL.

Resources

KRCL: Tune in to 90.9 FM or visit KRCL.org for more information on the station, programming, podcasts and streaming.

Utah Free Media: Visit ufm.org to hear the DJs you miss and see how you can support this fledgling "alternative to the alternative," internet radio station..

The golden voice of the great southwest, U. Utah Phillips, will sing and story tell no more. At age 73, Bruce Phillips passed away in his Nevada City, California, home May 23rd from heart failure, after a lifetime spent on the road, speaking and singing out against injustice wherever he found it.

U. Utah Phillips was born in Cleveland, Ohio, May 15, 1935, during the Great Depression. His military service during the Korean War in the 1950s was instrumental in shaping his political views and anti-establishment stance. Musically influenced by Woody Guthrie and the emerging folk protest movements of the '30s and '40s, he styled his moniker, U. Utah Phillips, after his musical hero, T. Texas Tyler.

Phillips grew up in Salt Lake City and spent many years of his life here; he always had a love-hate affair with his adopted state. In Salt Lake he met Ammon Hennacy, a Catholic anarchist who founded the Joe Hill House, a "house of hospitality" which Phillips and Hennacy ran from 1961-1968. A card-carrying member of the Industrial Workers of the World (known as the Wobblies) for most of his life, he defended the rights of the working man, the homeless and the indigent. Phillips also had a lifelong passion for trains and hobos.

Phillips ran for the U.S. Senate from Utah in 1968 on the Peace and Freedom Ticket against long term U.S. Senator Wallace F. Bennett, father of current Republican Senator Robert F. Bennett. Phillips garnered over 2,000 votes, but was defeated in the race.

Fellow singer-songwriter Rosalie Sorrels was the first to popularize and record songs by Phillips. They became lifelong friends and performed dozens of concerts together. His first recorded album was "Good Though" (1973) followed by "We Have Fed You For a Thousand Years." More recently, he gained a new audience through his joint album with Ani DiFranco, "Fellow Workers." Other musicians, among them Tom Waits, Emmylou Harris, Ian Tyson and many more, have recorded Utah Phillips songs, including such classics as "Moose Turd Pie," "Rock Salt and Nails," "Green Rolling Hills," "Daddy, What's A Train" and "Goodnight-Loving Train."

For many years, Phillips hosted his own radio show in Nevada City called "Loafer's Glory: The Hobo Jungle of the Mind" and was a well known community activist there. His story-telling abilities were legendary, and any Utah Phillips performance was likely at least three-quarters stories with a few tunes thrown in. He was an ardent student of history and had a lifelong passion for trains and hoboes.

Rave On, Utah Phillips! RAVE ON!

Earth Harps by MASS Ensemble

Earth Harps are enormous musical instruments strung to buildings. Performers run their fingertips along the strings wearing rosin-covered cotton gloves to generate a vibration that literally pushes the music through the molecules of the string, creating beautiful cello-like tones.

For the Arts Festival, MASS Ensemble will make the Main Library at Library Square into two giant Earth Harps. Both harps will use the library's wall as an anchor point with the largest attaching to the Amphitheater Stage using more than a half-mile of brass musical wire. This Earth Harp will serve as an installation piece throughout the Festival, and on Sunday night, the audience will sit underneath the harp as it is played from the stage and feel the movement and vibration of the instrument throughout the performance.

A second harp will string west down to The Round, and will be played in daily interactive performances with the public and nightly jam sessions-bring your instruments!

Earth Harps have transformed many architectural sites into musical experiences, including the Seattle Space Needle and the Kennedy Center. Don't miss this Salt Lake happening!

Earth Harp Jam Sessions: Nightly 8-8:45pm at the Round with Bill Close, artistic director.

Earth Harp Performance: Sunday, 9:30-11pm at the Amphitheater Stage.

Yoga Workshop with Andrea Brook: Sunday, 9:30-11am,Amphitheater Stage area (advance registration required; see uaf.org).

Help to create a collage with Jann Haworth

Collagist Jann Haworth's most well-known work is the album cover for the Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band."She also created a mural on that theme in downtown Salt Lake City. Haworth's contemporary work has been exhibited around the world, in dozens of Europe's finest museums. Her exhibit "Pop Plastiques" will be shown inside the Main Library ("Nudie" appears is this month's cover art) during the festival. In a rare opportunity, Jann will conduct a collage workshop based on the conceptual aspects of the friendship quilt, working with the public and several invited artists. See Jann's work, watch her in action, and dialogue with her in the Special Collections Room, Level 4 of the Main Library.

Jann Haworth in Residency Thursday through Saturday,noon-5pm and Sunday, 1-5pm. Collage Workshop: June 26-29, 1-3pm.

Fare Well and Hell O! - The End of the World As We Know It or Dancing Your Way to Paradise!

Fare Well is a multimedia work that brings insight and vibrant critique to the contemporary issue of end time through movement, music, text, and visual installation (images and visual poems). Fare Well is as extreme as the weather in its moods and absurdities. As fires rage, volcanoes erupt, the Arctic melts, and the seas rise ("Did we do it?") Fare Well draws the audience  in through humor, irony and anti-narratives.

Fare Well & Hell O! will be danced by pioneering Washington, DC, choreographer Maida Withers-known internationally for her innovative choreography, her intensity as a dancer, and her interactions with other dancers and collaborators. The work also includes art video by Ayodamola Okunseinde, poetry and sound by Alex Caldiero and original music by Steve Hilmy.

Fare Well & Hell O: Main Library Auditorium, Saturday, 9:30pm and Sunday, 6:30pm.

Fear No Film

WAR! What better word to rouse a crowd in a political year like this one? In 2008, we are certainly divided, undoubtedly conflicted, and desperately exhausted from our situation... And we're not even talking about Iraq or Afghanistan... We're talking about the politics we all share in identity and in being human. Throughout the festival, check out any of many short films in our juried Fear No Film festival.

The films average 20 minutes apiece, so you can drop in and cool off in the library auditorium while getting captivated by these great creative works.

Fear No Film festival, Nancy Tessman auditorium, inside library.

The Word Ecstatic

In partnership with the SLCC Community Writing Center, Salt Lake City's Youth City Program and the Salt Lake Acting Company, the Utah Arts Festival offers The Word Ecstatic, a variety of opportunities to take workshops, enter a writing competition (see this page), participate in a Poetry Slam or just enjoy readings from local authors and poets. The Big Mouth Stage on the southeast quadrant of the City & County Building grounds will host poets, readings and performances. The SLCC Community Writing Center on the Library Plaza will feature workshops and readings, as well as the starting line for the second annual Wasatch Iron Pen writing competition.

For a complete Utah Arts Festival schedule including national musical headliners, music clips and more, visit uaf.org.o

Get Kamikaze with Your Writing Muse

By Melissa Bond

Interested in getting your literary groove on this summer? The Utah Arts Festival is sponsoring the second annual Wasatch Iron Pen, a 24-hour literary marathon, set to take place right in the middle of the festival. That's right, 24 hours to shake your groove thing all over the page. For those of you who need a little adrenaline to fuel your writing muse, the Iron Pen gives you from Friday, June 27 at 5 p.m. to Saturday, June 28 at 5p.m. to set fire to that pen. It's a kamikaze mission not for the faint ofheart. It will require a full sprint of creativity that could leave you drinking cup after cup of existential coffee by the early morning hours.

But this kind of sweat for the muse is nothing new. A quick trip into Google's shiny realm of all things literary and inventoried turns up innumerable one- to three-day literary marathons. Writer's Weekly, an online freelance writing e-zine and Voices, a non profit organization of writers, have hosted literary marathons for years and participants sweat over everything from poetry to short stories to novels. In Utah itself, the Helper Arts Festival has, in years past, held a literary ultra marathon that encouraged writers of all genres to face off in a 24-hour battle of verbal brawn.

The marathon typically starts with a visual cue of some sort. Last year, the Wasatch Iron pen hustled all the hungry writers and poets into one room and showed them a honeycomb filled with honey. The idea is to work the cue into the written work in a way that's significant-thematic, even. This prevents previously fawned-over work from making its way into the submission pile. This year, writers will receive the cue at exactly 5 p.m. on June 27. The clock starts ticking at that point.

Garrett Alberico, a winner in last year's poetry category, says that the 24 hours wasn't too daunting. "It was cool to narrow the focus," he says. "And it gave me more incentive to write because of the time limit." So, if incentive is what you're looking for,or just a good jolt of muse, check out the Wasatch Iron Pen. It's just 24 hours,after all.

Writers of all genres and experience levels can register for the marathon beginning June 12, in person or by phone at the SLCC Community Writing Center (located at Library Square; tel. 957-4992).  Or register online at www.uaf.org.Registration fee: is $10. Six categories: Poetry, Fiction, Non-Fiction (Adult and Youth). Winners will be contacted Sunday, June 29, and are encouraged to read selections from their piece that afternoon at the Big Mouth Café tent. For more information, call 957-4992 or visit www.slcc.edu/cwc.

It's cold, it's early and what am I doing out of my cozybed? OJ glass in one hand and field easel in the other, I'm loading the last ofmy painting gear in the Honda. Stop, think through the list: canvas panel,easel, paint and brush bag, turps, granola bars, plenty of water,miscellaneous, and oh yes, the umbrella.

The sun will be up and over the Wasatch east hills inless than 15 minutes. Where is that sunscreen? At best I'll get a terrificlittle 9x12 hummer for the gallery. At worst (depending on the season) I'lldeal with flies, pies, wind, rain, snow, or passing cattle and cowboys, which Iexperienced last August in the North Fields. Last summer, my friend Debbie T.reported a foul and strange smell while painting in the pines above SnakeCreek, only to discover a rotting deer hide, dragged cheerfully to her side byher dog. On another occasion, while shooting photos for a potential site, Isank into a three-foot hole of oozing sand.

I'm off for a precious two-hour date with nature. Paintingis my occupation, and painting en plein air is my outdoor passion.

Most of us hardy plein air artists can thank (or, on cowpie days, curse) John G. Rand, who in 1841 invented the collapsible metal painttube. Before this time, artists had used pig bladders to store their oilcolors.

What the Impressionists (who coined the phrase)encountered in the great outdoors challenged and fascinated them, and does thesame for the modern plein air artist. Something remarkable happens when Iabandon the studio, and stand, saturated in nature with all its variables andwonders. I become quiet, focused, intense... birds chirp from the trees, whilethe ambient light washes across the pasture or the river. Colors becomebrilliant, dazzling, as I connect with "the now of the moment" asEckart Tolle might say it. This is really living. This is really connection.This is really me!

So much time has passed since those first Impressionistswent about inventing plein air with their dabs, dots, and the"painterly" quality of their impasto brushwork. The snarling insultsof the early critics changed to envy and admiration, as the new unconventionalpaintings captured the public's interest.

Plein air painting has become a mainstream activityacross the country and the world, complete with associations and competitions.Heber Valley has become one of the most popular rendezvous points for plein airpainters in Utah. "Wasatch Plein Air Paradise 2008," sponsored by theMidway Art Association, is the largest of Utah's plein air competitions.

Consequently I'm doing my "painting push-ups"for the next big competition in June. Competitive painting? Here's how itworks: Artists from all over Utah arrive at the Midway Town Hall on Thursday,June 26 to have painting surfaces "stamped." That initiates the raceagainst time to find the perfect plein air setting in Wasatch County, withframed entries due back at 5 p.m. on Saturday the 28th. When it's all done,they and the public can enjoy the actual art exhibition and sale on July 3-4amid traditional Fourth of July events. Two short "paint-out"competitions will also take place July 3 and 4.

John Hughes, Steve McGinty, Bonnie Poselli, KateStarling, George Handrahan and Ken Baxter are among the well-known plein airprofessionals who have participated in the competition either as jurors,painters or both. In 2007, over $10,000 in purchase awards and prizes went towinning entries and artists of all levels. I'll probably be out in the northfields having the time of my life....in plein air paradise!  u

Sue Gertsch is president of the Midway Art Association.

Contact: www.midwayartassociation.org; tel. 801-755-6730

Main Competition: June 26-28

July 3-4 : 5-hour Paint-out Competitions

July 3-4: Art Exhibition and Sale, Midway Town Hall,10a-7p on the 3rd, 8a-2 p on the 4th

July 4 Artists Award Reception, 1 pm.

Once a local favorite on 9th East, the Dodo now occupies a prime location on 21st South and 14th East overlooking the tall pines and cottonwood trees, flower gardens and wide green lawns of Sugar House Park plus a stunning sunset view of Mount Olympus.

When the Dodo Bird in Lewis Carol's novel told everyone wet and dripping to race around the lake until dry, the Dodo Bird was asked, "Who won?" The bird responded, "Everybody has won and all must have a prize!" At the new Dodo Restaurant everybody wins, and the prize is an extraordinary restaurant managed by new owners who have brought it back to life with new landscaping, an enlarged outdoor patio, and lots of onsite parking. The dining room features two large murals of dodo birds sipping pink champagne and celebrating life by local artist Darrel Barton.

The new Dodo offers an extensive menu with an impressive variety of food items and affordable prices that can accommodate any dining budget. Many favorite items from the first Dodo, which opened in 1981, remain on the menu.

The artichoke pie served with tangy lemon mayonnaise and the toasted sesame seed baked cream cheese served with slices of apple and Asian pear can be ordered for $7. Lunch sandwiches and entrées vary from $8 to $11. Dinner salads such as spinach with cranberries, candied walnuts and gorgonzola cheese start at $9. The honey-baked salmon entree with grain mustard and herb glaze is just $17. And the popular smoked turkey sandwich with Dodo sauce is $9 at both lunch and dinner.

Don't forget to save room for the Dodo's well-loved desserts: Tollhouse Cake, homemade apple pie, dark and white chocolate mousse pie, and my favorite, the coconut caramel coffee cake served warm with fresh whipped cream. The desserts are made fresh daily by in-house pastry chef Ramone, who has remained with the Dodo for the past 20 years.

The restaurant's owners are Byron Loveall and Brian Omera, who have been partners since they opened the Porcupine Grill at the mouth of Big Cottonwood Canyon 10 years ago. Executive chef Mike Corbett and restaurant chef Jim Colloch have both been with the Porcupine group since itsearly days. I asked what has kept them loyal employees for such an impressive duration. They both responded, in essence: "The owners are actually here, caring and supporting their large team of employees. They don't just show up to critique the profit and loss statements. They are an integral part of the Dodo family." They also mentioned taking pride in making everything on the menu from scratch: soups, sauces, dressings, smoked meats and desserts.

I tried the seafood soup du jour and noticed right away that the vegetables were cut by hand and the soup had an obvious homemade flavor. Their sauces, dressings, soups, and baked meats are all made "a la maison." Their turkey and ham are smoked and sliced fresh from their own kitchen. This is rare in popular local restaurants. Why the extra expense and effort? Well, let's say you can see and taste the difference.

This location has been the home to numerous restaurants from the early days of Brattens, to the well-loved Bird's Cafe, the not quite authentic French restaurant L'Avenue, and the soon forgotten Harry's. Not to worry! The Dodo is not an extinct bird. It is very much alive. And it's my bet that this Dodo is here to stay.

Ed Huntsman is a professional photographer and former restaurateur living in Salt Lake City.

The Dodo in Sugar House. 21st South at 14th East.Saturday and Sunday brunch: 9 am to 3 pm. During the week, the dining room isopen from 11 am to 11 pm..

In this issue you will see a beautiful photo by Josh Blumenthal of our dear friends Melissa Bond (a frequent CATALYST contributor) and Chase Fetter in the act of being married. (That’s Jerry Lazar officiating, and the accompanying story’s author, Dorothee Kocks, is to the left). That was last September. Now the Bond-Fetters are heavy with child, as is “Babying the Buddha” columnist Kindra Fehr.

I’ve never had any of my own, but like babies, and I really like kids. (As I said to my friend Kristen recently: “I want children in my life. I just don’t want them in my body.”) Therefore it’s curious that I’m becoming a de facto spokesperson for babies in the workplace.

A few years ago CATALYST received a first place “Psychologically Healthy Workplace” award from the Utah Psychological Association, in part for our open-door policy regarding babies and children. When you have a lot of young women employed, and you love them and don’t want them to leave, letting them bring their newborns to work is the logical thing. Then the babies grow, and we get attached to them, too; toddlers have proved to be good (or at least amusing) inter-office couriers. A baby would never be unamused for long, with so many doting adults.

Eventually the mommies would go home, some to be full time moms, others—like art director Polly Mottonen—to be part of the cyber workforce (in addition to being a full time mom; it sure looks like giving birth grants a woman an extra six hours to every day.)

Someone wrote a recently released book about babies in the workplace, in which I was quoted. People magazine is working on a story re. babies in the workplace, and has talked to the CATALYST staff several times. Now the Boston Globe is calling, re. the same subject.

How do I weigh in on babies in the workplace? They’re counter-productive. So are these farting dogs under my desk. There’s more to life—and a workday—than productivity. Max Mottonen, age 7, who came to work inutero, still comes to staff meetings. He pays attention and participates (“Only one person talking at a time, please!”). And leaves me notes like the one pictured here. Too bad they have to go to school. Maybe kids in the workplace is an idea I’ll just have to pioneer. Maybe an intern program for the prepubescent crowd. We could do all kinds of fun stuff. We could have an office test kitchen, could go on field trips, and have a big kids section in CAT. And they could walk the dogs. Okay, all you babies, grow! Anty Gret has plans for you. Can’t wait. 

— Greta Belanger deJong

Greta Belanger deJong is the editor and publisher ofCATALYST. greta@catalystmagazine.net..

Environmental news from around the state and the west

by Amy Brunvand 

Coal power threatens National Park vistas

Two Utah national parks are listed among the top 10 at risk from air pollution from new coal-fired power plants, according to a new report from the National Parks and Conservation Association. Seven new coal-fired power plants are either already under development or currently seeking permits in the region surrounding Capitol Reef National Park and Zion National Park. These plants will emit toxic mercury and fine particles of soot that cause haze, as well as other air pollution. The problematic power plants are Sevier Power Company Project, Intermountain Power Plant and Bonanza Power Plant in Utah; Topquop Energy Project, White Pine Energy Station and Ely Energy Center in Nevada and Desert Rock Energy Project in New Mexico. Citizen groups including the Sierra Club, Sevier Citizens for Clean Air and Water, Western Resource Advocates, Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment, and NationalParks and Conservation Association oppose this flurry of coal-powered energy development. Sevier County citizens have collected enough signatures to put a citizen's referendum concerning the Sevier Power Company project on the November ballot. However, during the 2008 General Session, the Utah legislature passed SB53, a new law that "prohibits the use of local initiatives for land use ordinances or changes in land use ordinances." It is unclear whether the law is constitutional, and if so, whether it applies retroactively to the anti-coal power initiative.

NPCA report: Dark Horizons: www.npca.org/darkhorizons/pdf/Dark_Horizons_Report.pdf

Utah cities rank low for air quality

Logan, Salt Lake City and Provo are among the nation's worst cities for short-term particle air pollution (locally known as "the inversion") according to the American Lung Association State of the Air 2008 report, which warns that "air pollution is more dangerous than many people realize -partly because you can't even see the most dangerous, microscopic particles that do the most damage to your lungs." The nation's old, dirty coal-fired power plants are among the biggest sources of air pollution.

State of the Air 2008: www.stateoftheair.org/

U.S. Senate hears oil shale testimony

On May 15, the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources held an oversight hearing on development of oil shale resources in Colorado, Wyoming and Utah. Colorado Governor Bill Ritter expressed deep concerns about federal efforts to fast-track commercial oil-shale leasing, saying "Establishing a leasing program prior to understanding what technologies are viable and the implications of these technologies would be a dangerous course, with enormous risk of unintended consequences." His concerns included the amounts of water and energy needed to process oil-shale, the impacts to the environment and wildlife, the infrastructure needed to cope with a government-subsidized oil-shale boom, and the cumulative impacts of other energy development in the same areas. Steve Smith, representing the Wilderness Society, testified that it is not worth sacrificing communities, water, clean air, wildlife and scenic beauty to a theoretically but not actually usable energy source. Smith testified that past attempts to develop oil shale have failed to produce a usable energy source: "Between 1920 and 1980 the federal government issued patents on over 345,000 acres of oil shale claims in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming. None of these claims are in commercial production."

Utah Senator Orrin Hatch and Governor Jon Huntsman Jr. on the other hand, are willing to volunteer Utah as an oil-shale sacrifice zone. Huntsman sent the committee a letter requesting to lift the current oil-shale lease moratorium, while Hatch derided environmental concerns as "smokescreens for a hidden agenda," and said that "there is no room in our energy policy for an anti-oil or oil-shale attitude."

U.S. Senate Committee on Energy & Natural Resources:http://energy.senate.gov/public/

Wildlands Dialogue Project bridges differences

The debate over how to manage Utah's public lands has been raging for over 25 years without getting any closer to a community consensus. The Wildlands Dialogue Project aims to bridge such disagreements by asking the question, "If so many of us love the land, why then do we have such difficulty agreeing on how to care for it?" During the next year, the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance will sponsor a series of facilitated community dialogues in communities throughout Utah. The sessions are open to anyone intrigued by the question: "What should the future of Utah's wildlands be?" and who is willing to talk with others about this question with respect for a variety of viewpoints.

Wildlands Dialogue Project: www.suwa.org

Environmentalists oppose Washington County land use bill

Despite improvements from a previous version, the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, the Sierra Club, and Wasatch Mountain Club have come out in opposition to the Washington County Growth & Conservation Act of 2008 due to concerns over wilderness boundaries, public land sales and off-road vehicle management. Sierra Club's Lawson LeGate says, "Local governments should not develop a dependence on selling off public lands to fund local projects. That's why we need to remove the provision that grants millions in land sale revenue to Washington County." Environmentalists are still hopeful that further dialogue will help produce a bill that offers real and lasting protection for southwestern Utah's public lands.

Jordan River: sewer or urban jewel?

In a KCPW interview, Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon lamented the condition of the Jordan River which runs through Utah, Salt Lake and Davis counties saying, "Unfortunately our Jordan River has become a toilet for Salt Lake County, and it's not what we want it to be." Mayor Corroon has made Jordan River restoration one of his top priorities with possibilities for trails, riverside restaurants and shopping, wildlife habitat and boating. In May, Salt Lake County and Envision Utah held a series of public meetings to envision the future of the Jordan River, but if you missed the meetings you can fill out a survey on the Blueprint Jordan River website.

Blueprint Jordan River: www.blueprint.slco.org.

The campaign rhetoric is getting so creepy that I'mactually starting to think about the advertisements. The pro-Clinton ad about"who do you want to answer the red phone at 3 a.m.?" is especiallydisturbing. The scary part is that apparently the impending nuclear holocausthinges on somebody answering a 1970-vintage handset landline. I mean couldn't amessage that important come in on a cell phone, text message or instantmessaging? Where are all those billions of dollars of military funding going?

The next thing I thought was "I wonder who thenumber one nuclear threat in the world is? Syria? North Korea? Switzerland?After a little research, it turns out that it's us. The United States has about12,000 nuclear weapons located in 14 states, seven foreign countries and anundisclosed number touring the oceans onboard submarines. Our best buddies,Great Britain and France are about fourth and fifth on the nuke list. Israelhas never officially admitted that they have any nuclear weapons at all, butmost sources estimate they unofficially have about 100. Russia is still leadingthe pack in sheer numbers of nukes, but most of them are in the same conditionas that 1967 VW van in your neighbor's back yard.

So, clearly we are world leaders and deserve to wave ourgiant foam rubber "We're number one" fingers around in the air likenutbag fans at sporting events. The only question is will we use them? Iborrowed this potential abuser assessment tool that the rest of the worldshould be using on the United States right now before they decide to go outwith us.

"The list below provides you with some extremelyvaluable information. Use it to help you determine if the person you are datingis already an abuser or has the potential to become one."

1.   LowFrustration Tolerance-Reacts to stress in self-defeating ways, unable to copeeffectively with anxiety, acts out when frustrated. Frustration leads toaggression.

We are getting a little edgy about the price of oil andthe economy in general.

2.     Impulsive-Isquick to act, wants immediate gratification, has little or no consideration forthe consequences, lacks insight, has poor judgment, has limited cognitivefiltering.

"Rush to war" and "quagmire" are thewords that most often come to mind.

3. Loner-Is isolated and withdrawn, has poorinterpersonal relations, has no empathy for others, lacks feeling of guilt andremorse.

We have a president who does not like to read newspapersand a vice president who, when told that two-thirds of the American publicoppose the war, said "so?"

4. Overly sensitive-Hypersensitive to criticism and realor perceived slights, suspicious, fearful, distrustful, and paranoid.

Homeland Security is the result of our insecurities. Allshoes and bottles of shampoo are potential bombs, all cell phone calls are topotential enemies and we've exported our legal system to Guantanamo Bay.

5.     Threatsof Violence-Toward self and/or others, direct, veiled, implied, or conditional.

Let's see, last week Hillary Clinton said we would"totally obliterate" Iran if they attacked Israel.

6.     BlamesOthers-Projects blame onto others-Is fatalistic, external locus of control,avoids personal responsibility for behavior, views self as "victim"instead of "victimizer," self-centered, sense of entitlement.

"They hate us for our freedom" is the nationalequivalent of high school cliques saying "they hate us because we arepopular."

7.     ChemicalAbuse-Especially alcohol, opiates, amphetamines, crack, and hallucinogens (PCP,LSD), an angry drunk, dramatic personality/mood changes when under theinfluence.

We do have the highest percentage of our population inprison for drug crimes of any developed country, and we're still a big importerof the drugs that last time I checked.

8.     Historyof Violence-Towards self and others, actual physical force used to injure,harm, or damage. This element is the most significant in assessing individualsfor potential dangerousness.

Well, we did use nuclear weapons one, no two, times. Wereally tried to stop, but they made us do it.

9.     Odd/BizarreBeliefs-Superstitious, magical thinking, religiosity, sexuality, violentfantasies (especially when violence is eroticized), delusions.

I still support freedom of religion, but we've had a lotof this in the news lately.

10. Preoccupation With Violence Themes-Movies, books, TV,newspaper articles, magazines (detective), music, weapons collections, guns,knives, and implements of torture.

Have you looked at the movie or video games listingslately? Tales of the Roman Coliseum seem tame in comparison.

Dang, if I were the rest of the world, I would leave skidmarks in the driveway trying to get away from us.

Dennis Hinkamp has not given up on America, but thinks itneeds to seek some serious therapy.

Dear Swami:

I have to wonder what kind of collective mental illness we have in America where a public-minded prosecutor like Elliot Spitzer can be brought down in days when he runs afoul of Wall Street. Meanwhile, the Bush Administration has violated national laws, international laws, and our collective moral sensibilities, and somehow that's okay. I wouldn't put it past them to bomb Iran while they're still in office. I'm concerned, and I'm wondering if there is anything we can do to head off that horrific possibility.

Tristan Schaute

Dear Tristan,

I'm afraid we now have a new affliction to add to the panoply of diseases our poor body politic is suffering from. Along with Mad Cowboy Disease, Deficit Inattention Disorder, Irony Deficiency and Truth Decay, we now have Spitzerphrenia. That is where you can be nailed for screwing a prostitute, but if you screw the entire world, you get off scot-free.

Regarding your other question, we must bring the Iranian and American people together to face the one danger we share in common-our lowest common dominator misleaders under the influence of unfun fundamentalism, motivated by fear instead of love. This mutually reinforcing terror is a locomotive that has us on track for a train wreck.

That is why the unarmed forces of both nations must bewilling to take up arms in a totally new way. Yes, that's right. Arms. Only this time, we are to use our arms in the only appropriate way-for hugging. Imagine a preemptive peace ceremony where ordinary American and Iranian citizens stand in front of one another in complete attention, present arms, and hug. And then the whole world can be put at ease.

Dear Swami:

I'm thinking of hiring you as a spiritual adviser. How accurate are your past predictions?

Randi Holway-Holm

Dear Randi:

Past predictions? 100% accurate. I can predict the past with uncanny accuracy. If it's already happened, you can count on me to tell you. If it hasn't happened yet, that's trickier. After all, this is a universe of infinite possibilities. You've heard of Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle?Well, now they're not even sure that is true. Even so, the best way to predict the future is by accurately assessing the present. In other words, if we keep going where we are headed, we are likely to end up there. As for making me your adviser, I have to tell you it is not advisable. For one thing, anyone who asks me for advice is already in so much trouble, that it is doubtful I can help. So, here is my policy: I am happy to offer you advice, provided you promise not to take it.

Dear Swami:

I noticed a while back you suggested a name change to an individual suffering from bad luck. I may have a similar problem. I'm sure my Vietnamese parents didn't mean me any harm, but I think they've put me at a distinct disadvantage. Not only that, but I recently had my astromusicological chart done and found out I was born under the song sign, "I Can't Get No Satisfaction." Can you help me, Swami?

Ho Lai Minh

Dear Ho,

Wow. Having said that, I realize you're in more trouble than I imagined. So, yes. A name change can make a huge difference. Like the guy who came to me with money issues. His name was Osborne Poe. We made the switch, and now he's Richard Denhue. Then there was the unsuccessful football player, Ben Schwarmer. He became Linus Grimmage, and his name is synonymous with football. For you? Well, you might try Hugo Farr. And while you're making changes, change your birthdate. They won't let you do it in California, but if you just drive to Nevada, you can legally change your date of birth. You'd only have to become six months older to be born under the Beatles, "I Feel Fine."

(c) 2008 by Steve Bhaerman. All rights reserved. Swami is coming to Salt Lake City on June 24! Mark your calendar.www.wakeuplaughing.com.

James O'Dea is the president of the Institute of NoeticSciences (IONS), after serving as director of the Washington, DC, office ofAmnesty International for 10 years. O'Dea is also a contributor to the newanthology "The Mystery of 2012: Predictions, Prophecies andPossibilities." His chapter, "You Were Born for Such a Time asThis," argues that humanity is rapidly approaching our pay date,"when our debt will be maxed and no further credit from a depleted andover-taxed Nature will be extended to us." I invited O'Dea on RadioActiveto talk about the breakdowns and breakthroughs that we can anticipate over thenext several years.

Troy Williams: What do you mean by a "noeticscience"?

James O'Dea: Noetic science comes from the Greek wordnous- to know directly. In the western development of our intellectualcapacities, technologies and worldviews, we've relied heavily on the rationalmind-which we still love and treasure-but it's not the only part of us. Thereis another way of connecting with our deepest wisdom. It goes beyond the"left/right," "up/down" sequential logic of the rationalmind and captures a whole gestalt of information.

The Institute of Noetic Sciences was founded by EdgarMitchell, Jr., the sixth man to walk on the moon who, when coming back toEarth, had an intense sense of connection beyond his body and into theuniverse. He was a hardcore scientist and marine pilot, but when he came backto the planet he realized there is a whole other way to connect science andspirituality. Social justice, wisdom civilization-whatever you want to callit-humanity is reaching into our highest evolutionary possibilities to activatethe transformation and changes that are possible. "The Mystery of2012" is really a compendium of thought from many perspectives that says:It's coming. There is some synthesis of evolution that is about to change thecourse of events. These are predictions and possibilities-they are not someBiblical truth being passed on as a new religion.

TW: And your primary work focuses on health and healing,extended human capacities and emerging worldviews. What exactly are you tryingto track?

JO: Just as in that experience with Edgar Mitchell, weare seeing a big crack in the dominant materialist scientific worldview.Science can only relate to that which is material. The whole of westerncivilization has organized around materialism -and materialism gone insane-tothe extent that we are destroying the habitat essential to our survival.

We have traced the breakdown in this materialistworldview and the beginning of our understanding into the subtle field of mind,healing and energy. We've also looked at the relationship between attitude,belief and health, for example, the whole field of epigenetics-the study of therelationship between consciousness and your own genetic triggers -the notionthat our consciousness and awareness are truly causal. We can now begin toreframe a civilization not built on materialism but on consciousness andawareness. We can ask how do we raise the kind of awareness that will sustainus ecologically, bring us peace and health, and activate our highest wisdom.

I was in Turkey during the period leading up to the coupin 1980. I was knifed and my house was machine-gunned. After that I was inBeirut during the massacres of the Palestinians. It was a very low point for mebecause I saw children murdered. It was a true nightmare.

And yet, I have seen the heroism of the human spirit. Youcan see the indomitable nature of the human being rising through those kinds ofcatastrophic abuses. You see profound humanity.

After I left Amnesty International, I led dialoguesaround the world called "Compassion and Social Healing" where webrought together former Nazis and Holocaust survivors -people who you wouldnever imagine could look at each other and offer each other love andforgiveness and reconciliation. That is what led me to the Institute of NoeticSciences. We have this deep capacity to transform the worst and rise out of it.South Africa created the Truth, Reconciliation and Forgiveness work, and thatis the model we need to hold for this planet. It is not the cowboy "go get'em!" approach, but rather, how do we find the means and the consciousnessto transform, as in South Africa, the apartheid of hatred into an intercommunalcivilization?

TW: You talk about the need to clean wounds before theycan properly heal, whether it's the dispossession of indigenous peoples or evenour current occupation of Iraq. Before wounds can heal, they first need to becleaned. So there is a need for us to take responsibility for our own actionsand the actions of our people, before this healing can begin.

JO: Yes, we can look at evolution and all the errors thatwere made, but we need to hold it in a container of compassion so that it canbe resolved-so that we can move on. That cleaning-out process is truth. It'snot a vindictive truth. It's not "my truth" above "yourtruth." But it is, as in the case of South Africa, truth, reconciliationand then forgiveness.

Let's look honorably at the past-for example, thedevastation of indigenous cultures-not so that we can fixate on blame orpunishment, but so we can realize the preciousness of what was lost and thepower of what can be reconfigured when we unite indigenous wisdom and thewestern way of knowing. That is what is being called for-a whole new synthesisof how we know.

That is what people are looking for in "The Mysteryof 2012." They are looking at some synthesis that will take us beyond theeither/or polarities of western development and indigenous knowing. Whatplanetary civilization can be sustainable, eco-centered, nature-based and yetalso allow for the ingenuity and creativity of the human spirit to optimize?We've got to learn these lessons quickly, knowing that we have a choice tochange the course of history and not repeat it.

TW: Talk about "The Shift Report: Evidence of aWorld Transforming." You are exploring innovations in all kinds ofdifferent fields.

JO: "The Shift Report" looks at education,commerce and a whole variety of fields and begins to track the worldview shiftfrom the reductionist to the more integrating. From competition to cooperationand from outer-directed to inner-directed. What, below the radar, is anevolutionary sign of change?

For example, we are seeing a deep and amazingconversation happening between science and spirituality. We are seeing that theevolutionary story of domination and competition is actually morecollaborative. We are seeing that the human body -the mind-body system-is muchmore healthy when we focus on love. We've discovered in the last 20 years manyof the powers and capacities of the human heart that were never understoodbefore. Just think of someone you love and your body starts to break downcortisol, which is the driver of stress, and starts to create DHEA. It startsto release the pleasure seekers, the hormones, the biochemical stew of love,friendship and empathy.

This conversation between scientific and spiritualworldviews is accelerating. It was triggered by the mind-body health movementand the startling insights of quantum physicists. They're looking deep into thequantum world and seeing a reflection of our own attitudes and beliefs. Theobserver is fundamental to the thing that is observed.

I am personally interested in this domain, as someone whohas an activist perspective. How do we bring this conscious model intoactivism? Some people are talking about spiritual activism or transformationalactivism. It's activism in which we are not projecting out into the world. It'sall too easy to say the problem is out there, whether it's the corporations orthe military or whomever. We believe that the emerging worldview is moreinner-sourced. It's more about how do I transform and become a transformationalagent myself? How do I go beyond the polarity? You know the beautiful quotefrom Rumi, "out there beyond right and wrong there is a field. I will meetyou there." How do we get to that place in consciousness where we're notcreating the enemies who are the solutions to our problems, but ratherconfiguring a new sense of community?

TW: You make this connection that because of theinterconnectivity of our globe-our economy, our environment-if things breakdown, it's a global breakdown. And then you juxtapose the potential of that fora global breakthrough.

JO: Yes, there is something so accelerated about the wayideas, perceptions and business is conducted these days. The skies and oceansare whole elements that we share. We see the weave of connections of how whathappens in one place affects another. There is a sense of these years now,accelerating more into that window of 2012, where the lessons before us may beextremely harsh. We're not waking up at sufficient rates to respond to theecological crisis. We're still caught in a very punitive mentality. We're notexercising our deepest capacities to dialogue with "the other."

The human story is likely to unravel until we reach someturning point where we see that we have no other choice but to reach for ourbetter natures. We will see graphically how profoundly we are connected and howwe can in fact shift consciousness itself. There are model cooperatives wherepeople are learning prosperity and health through new paradigm economics, newparadigm psychology, and new paradigm health-care. These will become a muchmore central part of the story. And yet it's an ancient story too. Thefascinating thing about 2012 is that it gives you tremendous respect for thosein ancient times and in various cultures, who looked up in the heavens, studiedthem and tracked them as accurately as we can track them today. They saw26,000-year cycles that come to a closure in the years ahead. It gives you asense of awe of our place in the cosmos. We do have a place in the cosmic story.We're a little planet, but we're in the midst of great cycles and movementswithin the starry heavens themselves.

The people of the Kalahari have an endtimes story wherethey visualize All Devourer eating up the trees, rivers, everything. It devoursMantis, the divine spokesperson of the Kalahari people. Eventually they emergeout of the belly of Devourer completely restored. There is some sense that weare inside the very thing that needs to be transformed. And that's the goodnews. Because if we are in here, in it, we can transform it. We have to go backinto our own awareness to find out those deep truths that will then beessential to the next evolutionary shift.

Learn more about IONS at www.ions.org. RadioActive airsevery weekday on KRCL 90.9 FM. www.krcl.org. g

AKA: Arya Tara, Jetsun Dolma, Divine Mother, Great Protector, Mother of All Buddhas, Mother of Liberation, Universal Mother of Compassion, Tara of the Turned Face, Tara of Seven Eyes, the Great Goddess, She Who Brings Forth Life, Star of Heaven, She Who is the Embodiment of Wisdom, The Great Compassionate Mother, The Faithful One, The Fierce Protectoress, One Who Saves

Different Aspects: White Tara is one aspect belonging to a set of Bodhisattvas (a being that compassionately refrains from entering nirvana in order to save others or Buddha to be). Some other aspects are Green Tara (activity of compassion), Red Tara (magnetizing all good things), BlackTara (power), Yellow Tara (wealth and prosperity), Blue Tara (transmutation of anger) and Cittamani Tara.

Mythology: Tibetan Buddhism (Mahayana, Vajrayana)

Translation: Star (Sanskrit)

Story & Symbolism: Tara originated as the Hindu goddess Parvati, the Mother Creator, before entering Buddhism around the third century BCE. A few stories speak of her origins in Buddhism. This one describes in words how we usually see Tara depicted:

Avalokiteshvara, the Buddha of compassion, looked down upon the earth and was so moved by the extent of suffering he observed that tears of compassion flowed down his cheeks and created a pool. From this pool Tara was born, rising from a blooming lotus as the embodiment of love and compassion.

White Tara is seen with breasts uncovered, sitting in the diamond lotus position on a lotus flower. She has seven eyes (two in the usual place, one on each of her hands and feet and a third eye on her forehead) exhibiting that she sees all suffering in the world. Her white color portrays purity and radiance. Her right hand makes the boon-granting mudra (hand position), her left hand is held in the protection mudra while also holding the Utpala (a three-bloomed flower that symbolizes Tara as the essence of the three Buddhas).

AKA in other mythologies: Kuan Yin (China), Great Goddess Tara (Celtic), Tarahumara (S. America), Ishtar (Egyptian), Star Woman (Cheyenne), Tarani Bosatsu (Japan), Tara (Druids, Hinduism, Jainism, Tibetan Lamaism, Polynesian)

Interpretation: An acquaintance who was struggling once asked me, "Is there a goddess of forgiveness that I can turn to?" I considered this for awhile until it occurred to me that one can not find forgiveness without compassion. Then I realized that if one truly feels compassion, there is no reason for forgiveness. If someone hurts you, their unconscious actions come from a story within themselves, a story where you are not really the object. So what is there to forgive? It may have nothing to do with you or everything to do with you; it doesn't really matter. In either case, they are suffering and you have the choice to feed that suffering or to transform it with compassion, thereby healing both of you. Like the half full/half empty glass metaphor, the reality is in our perception. We are all hurt by others and we all hurt others. You can live your life feeling unloved because you perceive that you lack love, or you can feel abundance with the love you have.

Buddha describes compassion in the "Four Sublime States of Mind," as the way to reduce suffering. The Path of Purification (fifth century CE) states the importance of understanding that first you must feel compassion for yourself before feeling compassion for others. In the next stage, you find compassion for a loved one, which also is easy. In the third stage, focus your compassion on a stranger, and lastly, practice compassion for someone for whom you feel hostility. This is the most difficult stage, but consider this and it will help-we are all the same in this basic desire; we need to feel loved. You develop universal love and compassion when you see every individual that suffers as if she were your child, or as if he were your parent and that you want to end their suffering.

I believe that the cessation of suffering is the result of compassion found through suffering. When you encounter a situation full of pain and suffering, it breaks your heart wide open. In this vulnerable period, you realize love is the most valuable thing you could ever have in your life. All those daily irritations and human infractions mean nothing in comparison. In this moment, you find compassion, because your healing heart has room only for love.

Practice: Compassion is not a passive emotion and it does not occur arbitrarily. You create it by setting your intention and by practicing. During your meditation, try a mantra that Tibetan Buddhists called "Tara Practice." A mantra is a syllable or poem used as spiritual conduit or vibration. Repeating this invocation of Tara helps focus your attention toward achieving compassion: Om Tare Tutare Ture Soha. Pronunce it ohm tahray tootahray tooray sohah.

Om is the cosmic sound that keeps our universe together. Tare invokes Tara. Tutare translates as deliverance into individual salvation, liberation from fear, external dangers and internal delusions; these syllables activate the center of compassion within us. Ture is deliverance into the Bodhisattva path of universal salvation, the end of suffering, liberation from ignorance. Soha means let this be so or amen.

A tangible object can also help your practice. For example, I have a copper bracelet with this mantra etched into it. While wearing it, I often find my fingers running over the beautiful script,  constant reminder of my intention. During particularly challenging moments, just touching these words prompts me to exercise compassion. You may connect to a Tibetan prayer wheel, a necklace, a fetish or statue of Tara, a tattoo, or any other symbol that recalls your compassionate intention. Keep it with you for the times you need to call upon Goddess Tara.

Listen to Tara's Mantra: www.dzogchen.org/chant/tara.htm

Other reading: "In Praise of Tara" (MartinWilson), "Tara the Feminine Divine" (Bokar Rinpoche), "The Cult of Tara" (Stephan Beyer), "How to Free Your Mind" (Thubten Chodron)

In her spare time from teaching kindergarten, raising two mini-goddesses and managing a band, you may find Carol Koleman Taiko drumming, shooting some photos, making talisman necklaces or spinning fire machetes in the desert.

A curry-flavored funk rock musical about the om-holes of YogAngeles and their quest for Enlightenment Lite. Two acts with intermission.

                     -SBDance.com

If you are the sort of person who thinks that yoga is a deadly serious spiritual practice and not an appropriate subject for satire or hip-hop parody, then you should definitely avoid the new (or at any rate, upgraded) SB Dance show, "Revenge of Yoga the Musical."

On the other hand, if you are that sort of person you are going to miss some really fabulous musical theatre. SB Dance did a beta-version of this show last year ("Yoga: the Musical") and it ended with a standing ovation from the audience and a titillating cliffhanger: "to be continued in June 2008." Now that it is June 2008, I for one can hardly wait to see Part II with the promised surprise ending.

It's going to be "a bigger, badder, boogier version," says SB Dance director Stephen Brown. "It's like last year was the pilot and this is the fully revved machine. We've taken last year's show and rewritten about 70%, and that's Act I. The other half is completely new." Some of the original cast was not available, and most of the roles have been reworked to make optimal use of singing, acting, dancing and yoga talents. If you liked last year's show, the new version has evolved into a show that is almost, but not quite completely different.

It ought to be said that last year's show really was good enough to be worth developing into a full-blown musical-the wickedly funny story has to do with rival yoga teachers scheming to take over America's yogic psyche. There is an energetic funk/hip-hop/rock score by Ricklen Nobis, Jeffrey Price and Jimmy Fassler, comic lyrics by poet Sheri Zollinger and inventive dance numbers by Stephen Brown that blend elements of hip-hop, yoga postures and Bob Fosse.

When I dropped by the Rose Wagner studio to get a sneak preview, the cast went through a series of meditative yoga asanas and then got busy hamming it up for a number that is pure Broadway. Stephen Brown passed out bamboo canes, and reminded everyone, "Remember, it's not about originality, it's about cheese!" He rejected one move as "too modern dance" and put the cast through their moves until the comic timing worked so well that even the dancers were laughing.

Even if you don't know the difference between downward-facing-dog and Underdog, you've got to admit that there is something inherently funny about a spiritual practice that results in an ultra-hot bod. In any case, yoga in this show is just a vehicle for universal themes about claiming higher consciousness in order to jockey for political power and using spirituality to sell a product. "It's Monty Python with a message," says Brown. "You can teach something by being satirical. It has a lot to say about the culture we live in, how America tries to eat yoga but it turns out yoga might eat America."

Stephen Brown should know, since when he's not choreographing dance or writing musicals, he teaches at Centered City Yoga. He is well aware that a good teacher can weave the mental, spiritual and physical elements of yoga practice into something that is much more than simply a workout. But still, yoga in America has changed significantly from its origins in India. "There are inherent paradoxes," says Brown. "Here in this country you cannot exist solely as a sadhu or spiritual teacher-you've got to make money. But then Madison Avenue gets involved and pretty soon we get diamond-studded ohm jewelry." Or, he might have added, Revenge of Yoga trading cards (collect all six at the fine local businesses listed on the SBDance website).

It's exciting to see home-grown musical theatre with this level of ingenuity and talent. Stephen Brown thinks that "Revenge of Yoga the Musical" has potential to have a much larger appeal than just to SB Dance's loyal but somewhat cultish audience. "Salt Lake City is an awesome place to create," he says. "It's crazy how much is going on here. The resources are incredible; SB Dance calls Rose Wagner our home. A lot of what we make is only possible because of that facility. But for something like this musical that has the potential to go to the next level, there is nobody in Utah to take it there. In terms of greater exposure this place is still isolated."

Nonetheless, Brown predicts that "Revenge of Yoga the Musical" will have special appeal to people who read CATALYST. "Greta [editor and publisher] is not in there per se," he says mischievously, "She's disguised." Hint: look for the hair. (This makes Greta very nervous.) 

SB Dance: www.sbdance.com/

Revenge of Yoga, the Musical. SB Dance. Opening night June 6: $30. Celebrate the opener with food, beverages & the always entertaining cast of artists. June 7, 13 & 14 @ 8pm; June 15 @ 4pm. Buy tickets at ArtTix: www.arttix.org

You're gonna need brain food-and lots of it-to match the quicksilver planetary pace of June 2008. Mercury, symbol of all intellectual processes, as well as transportation and treks, rules the month, which means all month long, we're thinking, talking and traveling. It won't be easy keeping up-the days and nights unfold in changeable patterns and the uncertainty factor is sure to challenge routines and aggravate nervous systems. Of course, some of us will thrive in this busy, brainy climate, while others will be taxed to keep up. And those who manage to sustain the pace, but aren't enjoying it, are at risk for exhaustion, and that could turn moods cranky and crabby. The best way through is to find a comfortable personal pace that allows for sensitivity, flexibility and mental agility.

The mind games begin with the Venus, the Sun, and Mercury conjunct in Gemini, one of two signs ruled by Mercury (on June 2, the Moon also enters Gemini, where it stays until late afternoon on the 4th). Both Mercury and its home sign, Gemini, thrive on gathering and disseminating information. From the mundane to the profound and the ordinary to the extraordinary, we can expect to be inundated with material from a variety of sources. Mostly everyone will have more to say. If you have children, anticipate a thousand more "whys" than normal. If you are in a group therapy setting, expect everyone to take an inventory. Classes, business meetings, and conferences are sure to run late. And you can also count on relationship discussions, personal and professional, to be packed with disclosures. Even those strong silent types-male or female-are inclined to talk about every detail.

But while Mercury is happy in Gemini, it is also retrograde in Gemini until June 19, and its backward motion could translate into a lot of repetition, so try to be patient when someone gives you information about a certain situation for the umpteenth time. For those of you new to Mercury retrograde, here's the skinny: Three times a year, Mercury appears to be moving behind instead of ahead (relative to Earth's position), and when Mercury appears to move backward, all things related to its vast domain tend to move backward as well. Phones just won't work. Voice mail and email get lost in a void-the same place socks go when they disappear in the dryer. Schedules liquefy. And travel delays and detours become the norm. Put simply, Mercury retrograde is a mess. Which is why Mercury retrograde is not agood time to initiate new plans.

But biding time won't happen easily during this retrograde for two reasons. (1) From the 1st-7th, Uranus squares Mercury; from the 6th-21st, Uranus squares the Sun, and from the 8th-17th, Uranus squares Venus. Uranus signifies revolution and agitation; squares symbolize friction. But because Mercury, Venus, and the Sun are all benign and creative presences, these Uranian squares promise positive plot twists. Yes, there are sure to be sudden reversals of fortune, yours or others. And yes, there will be strong emotional reactions. But again, these are not necessarily negative interactions. The strongest probability is call to action because (2) Mars sextiles Venus, the Sun and Mercury, and because Mars must move when its energy collides with those Uranian bolts from the blue, so action-packed adventures are probable. Mars is in Leo, a fire sign, and a position that feeds the innate Martian need to lead, as well as the determination to push forward against all odds. So, Mercury schmercury-the combined effort of Mars and Uranus definitely pushes ahead.

Neptune also plays a strong role this month First, it trines Mercury from the 1st-4th, Venus from the 9th-18th, and the Sun, from the 7th-23rd, all three positive configurations that promote empathy, sympathy, and extraordinary intuitive insight. Be prepared to be more than a little psychic, especially when it comes to knowing who's on the phone, who will be late, and who will be a persistent pain in the ass. Second, a Mars/Neptune opposition from the 15th-28th has the potential to make many of us porous with co-dependence. Just be aware, when you're not busy trying to hold a boundary in place, you or someone you love could be irritable with hypersensitivity. Transform the stress of this opposition by using it to intensify spiritual aspirations and practices.

Several non-Mercury related combinations also weave their influence through the month: (1) The ongoing Saturn/Pluto trine continues to stabilize the unstable. This positive, supportive interaction has provided the tolerance and stamina to withstand the plethora of changes over the last several months. (2) That overload of shift is directly attributable to the Jupiter/Uranus sextile, which also persists throughout the entire month and is the source of those sudden twists of fate.

On June 14, Pluto retrogrades back into Sagittarius, where it will stay until November 26. And from June 14-28, a Sun/Pluto opposition has the potential to turn the air tense with power struggles. As Pluto retraces its path, we get one last chance to reexamine the meaning of its 13-year cycle through Sagittarius, the Sign that symbolizes religion, philosophy and belief systems, as well as higher education, global communication, and the Higher Self. The shadow of Sagittarius is ignorance, fundamentalism, and an inability to embrace diversity. As this Pluto retrograde unfolds, try to become aware of how your perspective has shifted, particularly when it comes to a spiritual perspective that includes rather than excludes. Also try to notice where you have held on to ignorance or refused to let go of certain patterns even when you had the necessary information or knowledge to facilitate a change. From the 22nd-30th, a Mars/Pluto trine stimulates great ambitions and the desire to succeed at almost any cost. As you pursue your goals, think about the consequences of your actions and remember, the ends don't justify the means-the means are the ends.

For the longest time when listening to "Mind Games," I thought John Lennon was singing about "mind gorillas,"and while I know now he was singing about "mind guerillas," I still can't let go of the image of enlightened apes in search of love, pushing the envelope of evolution. So this month, as minds and souls are challenged to think about every detail of life, get in your gorilla suit and put your soul power to the karmic wheel.

Visit Ralfee's website at www.aquariumage.com or email her at ralfee@aquariumage.com..

If you know your Ascendant and/or your Moon sign, read that too.

Aries March 21-April l9

The challenge is creating the perfect blend of hindsight, foresight, and insight, and the key to success is learning how to feel with your mind without denying the facts or exaggerating the outcome. Be determined, and you will combine thought, word, and deed with dazzling skill.

Taurus April 20-May 20

There are opportunities to improve your financial situation, but before you can make future gains, you have to be realistic about your current reality. Review your choices, organize your data, be honest about what you can accomplish, and then get to work actualizing those goals.

Gemini May 21-June 21

You are the "go to" person all month long, and you are dispensing advice day and night. And while I'm not advising you to withhold information, it's very important to prioritize your time and energy. You won't serve anyone if you're exhausted, so plan a program of self-care, and above all, pace yourself.

Cancer June 22-July 22

You are right, there is a lot to think about, especially as you contemplate your next step. Use this time to review certain circumstances from the past, and as you do, try not to brood over your mistakes. Instead, notice what you need to learn and then let go and move on.

Leo July 23-August 22

The roaring continues, but this month, family, friends, and even strangers are interested in your unique perspective. So don't be shy about sharing your gifts and expressing your opinion. Not every word will be golden, but much of what you say will stimulate and provoke a process in others.

Virgo August 23-September 22

It will be easy getting lost in work, especially because there is so much to do and so many opportunities for you to display your talents. Just be careful not to neglect other areas of your life, especially relationships, where it may not be as easy to handle the demands.

Libra September 23-October 22

You're confronted and confounded by choice: On one hand, you can accept that status quo and enjoy the ride, but on the other, you feel the need for reformation and revolution. Unfortunately, there is no"right" logical choice, but if you listen to your heart, you'll know what will make you happy.

Scorpio Oct 23-Nov 21

Make your mantra "I like change; change is good" and you'll be in the perfect mindset for navigating a maze of unsettling situations. You don't have to surrender your principles. You simply have to be willing to be flexible and able to make adjustments as each situation unfolds.

Sagittarius Nov 22-Dec 21

Discussions with partners, personal and professional, could land you in deep water. And while going beneath the surface of certain situations might produce beneficial consequences, it wouldn't necessarily be wise to plunge into every detail. There's no need to hurry this discovery process.

Capricorn Dec 22-Jan 19

Try to avoid get-rich-quick schemes that offer fabulous returns but sound too good to be true because they are. Instead, review your financial situation with an eye toward tweaking it toward a slightly more stable direction, and then trust your decisions.

Aquarius Jan 20-Feb 18

You're sorting through a hodge-podge of creative ideas looking for little nuggets that could deliver tangible opportunity. As you make your choices, keep in mind all that glitters is not gold. Notice the obvious, but also probe for substance.

Pisces February 19-March 20

You are inspired, that's true, but not everyone agrees with your choices. Rather than let dissent turn into drama, pay attention to the criticism. You may not agree, but your willingness to listen will open a closed system and that will have lasting transformational value.

Arthurian Tarot: King Mark, The Salmon

Mayan Oracle: Harmonic Resonance, Universal Movement

Aleister Crowley: Truce, Hermit, Adjustment

Medicine Cards: Grouse, Moose

Osho Zen Tarot: Possibilities, Laziness

Healing Earth Tarot: The Devil, Grandfather of Shields

Ancient Egyptian Tarot: Hermit

Words of Truth: No Movement, Source, Clarity, Sacred,Powerless, Ease

This June you have the opportunity to see the world of possibilities opening to you. As you learn to become more loving to yourself, you also become more self-contained. This month, you are no longer looking for someone or something outside of you to fulfill you. When you are relaxed and at ease, you can see the limitless possibilities all around you. When you are in tune with your true nature, you trust that the universe is giving you exactly what you need in order to grow.

When you constantly need to analyze things, over time you realize that mind will accept any boundary or limitation as the truth. But existence by its own nature cannot have boundaries.

Your mind will try to tell you to be content. If you listen to that voice, then you will remain small. This smallness is your mind's imposition upon your freedom, limiting your potential and possibilities. When the mind is in control, you become lazy and life becomes dull. You feel as if you are in a rut, and life becomes a bitter pill to take.

When you experience the feeling that you have "arrived," remember your mind is imposing a boundary and limit upon your experience. This does not mean that you have not achieved something fabulous that is to be celebrated. But each of us is constantly growing and evolving. Enjoy each success and then reach beyond that known place toward more fulfillment, love, and joy. When you think that you have arrived, know that the mirror of that reality is cracking under your feet, and you are about to take a freefall into something new and unknown.

Don't worry or despair. This is just the natural progression that is life. There is always something new to explore or some way to expand love in your life in greater expanding circles of connection and honor.

Do not believe those who offer false flattery and seduction. Whether they know it or not, they are keeping you small in order to validate that they do not need to grow further. Others will tell you that what you have should be enough, that you should be satisfied and content. I am not talking about financial satisfaction, but spiritual fulfillment and satisfaction. In this area, trust your own depth and discipline. Amazing levels of spiritual awareness, conscious clarity, and awakening are available to everyone. However, it does take discipline and the willingness to push beyond comfort into the hidden and resistant areas within you.

That is why you must learn to listen to the intuitive self and the deeper soul awareness within. The mind is only one small and very narrow aspect of your being. You are much more than what you believe you are.

Notice if you value doing but do not always value the mystical knowledge that can be found within the intuitive self. That intuitive self is asking for you to listen and open beyond the level of comfort that you have created up to this point.

This month, be reluctant to take huge external risks. Let go of extravagant plans and the constant need to manifest extreme wealth. Allow stillness to invade your life. Go within and find your inner source of power and clarity.

Take some time to dance into the passionate flow that is what makes life worth living. The simple things in life are the memories we end up holding as sacred treasures-you do not remember the expensive holiday gifts you received as a child as much as you cherish the memories of rolling in the grass and playing with your family in hysterical giggles and laughter.

Allow those simple pleasures to expand the childlike innocence back into your life. Allow joy to become the priority. Allow love to be the guiding light and principle in your work and family. Make choices that are not about getting what you want, but noticing and giving to others what will open their heart more fully to the love that is within them. After all, spirit is always present and guiding our lives, even if we do not always realize it.

Suzanne Wagner is the author of numerous books and CDs on the tarot. She lives in Salt Lake City. www.suzwagner.com.

JUNE 1 The Sun rises today at 5:58 a.m., and sets at 8:52 p.m. June's average maximum temperature is 82°; the minimum is 63°. Average rainfall is .93 inches.

JUNE 2 For a sweet, green lawn, mix dry organic fertilizer with four pounds of Epsom salts (makes it green) and a pound of confectioner's sugar (gives the microorganisms in the soil energy). Let grass get 3.5 inches long before mowing, and mow only one-third of the leaf surface each time.

JUNE 3 NEW MOON. There's still time to plant basil, beans, beets, carrots, corn, cucumbers, eggplant, kale, kohlrabi, melons, peppers, pumpkins, radishes, squash, tomatoes and turnips, and bachelor buttons, cannas, cosmos, dahlias, gladiola, marigolds, morning glory, sunflowers and zinnias. Plant successions of radishes, carrots, snap beans and corn every two weeks through July.

JUNE 4 Frogs and toads are singing and mating. The American bullfrog's song carries so well because it uses its ears as amplifiers.

JUNE 5 Plants got yellow leaves? Use Texas green sand to add iron. Don't even think about using Ironite, which is made from hazardous waste.

JUNE 6 Bright plants for shady areas: impatiens, begonias, geraniums, Iceland poppies, dianthus and Johnny-jump-ups.

JUNE 7 Look for the waxing Moon hanging close to Mars tonight and Saturn tomorrow night.

JUNE 8 Galls on trees are caused by moth larvae, which feed by carving grooves, which then ooze resin. The resin forms igloo-like enclosures where the larva then dwell.

JUNE 9 Butterflies love aster, cosmos, thistle and buttonbush. Their caterpillars prefer thistle, mallow, hollyhock and sunflower.

JUNE 10 FIRST QUARTER MOON. Vines for sunny walls: cat's claw, coral vine, grapes, lady banks rose and trumpet vine. Vines for afternoon shade: asparagus bean vines, hyacinth beans, and jasmine.

JUNE 11 Before cooking, give fresh broccoli a quick saltwater bath to coax out the perfectly disguised (and no-so-tasty) cabbage worms. Italian immigrants first brought broccoli to the Americas in the early 1800s. An ingredient found in broccoli has antiviral, antibacterial and anticancer properties.

JUNE 12 Plant rue to keep cats out of garden beds. You can also spray rue tea on furniture to keep them from scratching. To keep out dogs, mix one part cayenne pepper, two parts mustard, and two parts flour. If needed, escalate to pure cayenne pepper.

JUNE 13 It's time to prune spring-flowering shrubs like forsythia and lilac, and divide phlox and other early-blooming rock garden plants.

JUNE 14 As early season crops are harvested, plant warm-weather or cover crops in their place.

JUNE 15 Many species of birds, including hummingbirds, line their nests with aromatic leaves to keep mosquitoes away, kill bacteria and act as a sunshield.

JUNE 16 Shred spare plants and damaged leaves around the perimeter of healthy vegetables to sacrifice to slugs and snails, which go for wilting foliage first.

JUNE 17 Keep mulch thick; reapply if weeds or soil start showing through. Straw is the best mulch for vegetables; it keeps them cool and protects against soil-dwelling diseases.

JUNE 18 FULL ROSE MOON. Plant roses where they'll receive a minimum of five to six hours of full sun per day. Roses love alfalfa meal, good old guinea pig food. Spread a layer underneath.

JUNE 19 Jupiter and the Moon rendezvous fabulously tonight in the midnight sky.

JUNE 20 Summer Solstice. Summer officially begins at 9:59p.m., when the Sun is directly overhead at the Tropic of Cancer. Big party at Stonehenge tonight.

JUNE 21 The best compost is the most complex; use kitchen waste (but no meat or cooked foods), spent annuals, weeds (unless they've gone to seed), grass clippings, leaves and manure. Keep it moist and aerated and turn weekly, if possible. If you can't turn it, just shred whatever you add.

JUNE 22 Safe, cheap weed killer: Mix 1 quart water and 1 to 5 tbsp. rubbing alcohol in a spray bottle. Spray offending plants during the hottest part of the day.

JUNE 23 Tonight is Midsummer Eve (called Litha by Wiccans), the midpoint of the growing season. Our Pagan ancestors believed that plants harvested on Midsummer Eve had special powers. Much of the world still celebrates the occasion with bonfires, feasts and libations.

JUNE 24 Painted lady butterflies see more patterns, a wider range of color and more shades of green than people do.

JUNE 25 Keep tomato plants staked as they grow, and pinch off the suckers.

JUNE 26 LAST QUARTER MOON. Wind-pollinated plants cause the most allergy problems. They generally have small, inconspicuous flowers that produce huge amounts of pollen. Wind pollinated trees include fruitless mulberries, olives, ash, privets, cottonwoods and mesquites. Shrubs include pampas grass, fountain grass, ragweed, Russian thistle, pigweed, saltbrush, rabbit brush and bursage. Ground covers include Bermuda and Johnson grass. If you suffer from allergies, either stay inside in the evening, when the pollen settles back to the earth, wear a hat, or shower before going to bed.

JUNE 27 Bumblebees vibrate their burly flight muscles to shake pollen loose from flowers. Flying bees build up an electrostatic charge, which discharges when they land on grounded flowers, and spreads the pollen they are carrying.

JUNE 28 A 50/50 solution of baking soda and water takes the itch out of mosquito bites.

JUNE 29 After the "June drop," thin closely clustered fruit. There should be six inches of space between apples, pears, peaches and nectarines.

JUNE 30 The Sun rises at 5:58 a.m. and sets at 9:03 p.m.Water early in the morning, rather than at night, for maximum growth and minimum disease.

And this our life, exempt from public haunt,

Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, 

Sermons in stones, and good in everything.

-William Shakespeare

Diane Olson is a freelance writer, proofreader and wanna-be fulltime naturalist.