| Grandmother
Council/Presenter Bios
Lunchtime
Keynote |
KEYNOTE:
Sharon Mehdi
Lunchtime
keynote address with a reading from her book:
The Great Silent Grandmother Gathering
Sharon
Mehdi is a writer, teacher, healer, mother and
grandmother. She has lived and worked in Egypt,
Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Guatemala, Mexico, Spain,
France, and Canada. She knows peace is possible.
The Great Silent Grandmother Gathering,
Sharon Mehdi’s inspirational story of
two grandmothers standing silently in the local
park as their way to help “save the world,”
has become a regional phenomenon in the Pacific
Northwest, galvanizing its many readers over
its hopeful message of small actions that can
make the world a better place. www.grandmotherbook.com
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WORKSHOP:
Global Indigenous Grandmothers
Mt. Ashland Room
1pm
|
Agnes
Baker Pilgrim
The
oldest living female member of the Rogue River
Indians, Takelma Band, originally from Southern
Oregon, Agnes was chosen by her tribe as a “Living
Legend. Agnes is an ambassador for our Mother
Earth. She is a spiritual elder of the Confederated
Tribes of Siletz and granddaughter of Chief
George Harney, the first elected chief of the
Confederated Tribes of Siletz. She is a world-renowned
spiritual leader, elder mentor to the Native
American Student Union of Southern Oregon University,
and keeper of the Sacred Salmon Ceremony.
WORKSHOP:
Global Indigenous Grandmothers Movement
We
are the International Council of the Thirteen
Indigenous Grandmothers. From Alaska, America,
Mexico, Central America, the Amazon, Brazil,
Africa, Nepal and Tibet, we have united as one.
Ours is an alliance of prayer, education and
healing for Mother Earth and all her inhabitants,
all the children, and the seven generations
to come.
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WORKSHOP:
Embracing Life
as Sacred Theatre
Mt.
Ashland Room
3pm
|
Peggy
Rubin
Margaret
Nash (Peggy) Rubin is Founding Director of the
Center for Sacred Theatre in Ashland, Oregon.
Primary activities of the Center include the
creation of workshops in Living Life as Sacred
Theatre, and Sacred Studies of the Divine Feminine.
She is also the principal teaching associate
of Jean Houston, Ph.D., in Dr. Houston’s
worldwide multicultural transformational work
and in her schools of spiritual studies, as
well as a member of the core faculty of the
School for Social Artistry, an intensive leadership
training program. Working with Jean Houston,
Peggy Rubin has presented classes, workshops
and trainings throughout the United States,
and in Australia, New Zealand, England, Ireland,
Sweden, Greece, Egypt, The Netherlands, India,
West Africa, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Jamaica,
and on behalf of the United Nations Development
Programme, in Albania, St. Lucia, Barbados and
Kenya.
Before
joining Dr. Houston’s staff in 1987, Peggy
was for 14 years the Public Information and
Education Director for the Oregon Shakespeare
Festival, one of the largest classical repertory
companies in the United States. Before that
she was a bank executive for First Western Bank
in Los Angeles. She has also been a teacher
of English, a freelance writer and editor, and
an actor.
She
holds a degree in Fine Arts from the University
of Texas, and has taken courses, primarily in
Economics, at the University of California at
Los Angeles, and in the Environment at Southern
Oregon University.
She
has studied extensively with Elaine De Beauport,
Ph.D., founder of the Mead Institute, leading
teacher of humanistic and behavioral applications
of current brain/mind research; and with William
Emerson, Ph.D., pioneer in the field of pre
and peri-natal psychology, and its importance
in understanding human development.
WORKSHOP:
Embracing Life as Sacred Theatre
"Embracing
Life as Sacred Theatre" is an experiential process
to explore ways of dramatically framing and
celebrating the stages of a woman's life. You’ll
find yourself enriched with new skills that
provide the means of moving from pain to joy,
new possibility, true happiness, gratitude and
compassion. You'll explore how to engage and
use the teachings and powers of Sacred Theatre
at your work, at home, at play, and throughout
your world, how to value and lead your life
as a sacred player in the great theatre piece
entitled life on this planet. For more about
Sacred Theatre and Peggy Rubin, see www.sacredtheatre.org
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WORKSHOP:
Practicing
Social Artistry
Mt.
Ashland Room
2pm
|
Dot
Fisher-Smith
Artist,
counselor, group facilitator, networker, social
agitator, follower of Gandhian principles of
non-violent direct action, 35 years of Soto
zen practice and hatha yoga.
WORKSHOP:
Practicing
Social Artistry
Radicals
are in many ways social artists. They restate
the hidden truths of society through working
with people and social movements rather than
color or line. Like the few genuine artists
of any age, they teach people to see with fresh
vision. They go to the roots (Latin: radices)
of social beliefs and re-examine tired slogans
and lifeless symbols. They are a source of great
vitality and energy for any society.
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WORKSHOP:
Compassionate Listening
Mt.
McKenzie Room
3pm
|
Carol
Hwoschinsky
Carol
Hwoschinsky is Training Director with The Compassionate
Listening Project-(C.L.P.) She is a licensed
counselor, an educator, and mediator. She applies
listening skills personally, in the community,
and internationally, serves on the Board of
Mediation Works in the Rogue Valley. She is
also co-founder of The Intermountain Synthesis
Center, a facility for the training and practice
of psycho-synthesis, and was on the teaching
staff of Jean Houston’s School for Social
Artistry for three years.
She
has taught psychology in the former Soviet Union,
worked in Armenia/Azerbaijan to support dialogue
and joint projects, and now serves as trainer/facilitator
for The Compassionate Listening Project which
fosters dialogue and reconciliation between
parties in conflict in the Middle East, Europe
and the United States. MidEast Citizen Diplomacy,
www.Mideastdiplomacy.org
WORKSHOP:
Compassionate Listening
Compassionate
Listening is a dynamic process used as a first
step to reconciliation, requiring an open mind
to find and explore new possibilities and an
open heart to accept the other person and their
point of view. This quality of listening creates
a safe environment for people to freely express
their deep concerns. Compassionate listening
means empathizing with feelings and conditions
of being human. Through listening compassionately
to ourselves, to others and to the earth, healing
can occur by closing the gap which creates separation.
It fosters peace, courage, reconciliation and
healing.
|
WORKSHOP:
Spirituality and Sacred Living
Mt.
McKenzie Room
4pm
|
Nancy
Bloom
Nancy
Bloom, M.A., CHT, since 1975 a professional
intuitive, workshop leader, Spiritual Healer,
counselor and hypnotherapist, has dedicated
her life and all her talents to healing. She
is presently in private practice in Ashland.
For 25 years she taught countless workshops
and trainings with heart and humor in California,
Oregon and Hawaii on: energy healing, Therapeutic
Touch, self-healing, personal transformation,
intuitive development and The Medicine Wheel:
Way to Wholeness, Path of Power. She has also
led Wilderness Quests.
Nancy works not only as a healer, but also as
an inspired and inspiring singer-songwriter
whose first CD, Spirits Walking the Wind, has
touched the hearts and souls of many with its
beautiful, moving music and life-affirming lyrics.
It is available at Soundpeace, in Ashland, at
American Trails Gallery on the Plaza, and at
Sacred World in Jacksonville. She is presently
completing her second album and is available
to share some of the spiritual journey of intuition,
guidance, inspiration, faith and follow-through
that informs her own creative process.
Nancy is the creator, host and producer of the
award-winning television show Life Passages,
The Soul's Journey. To find out more about Nancy's
life-affirming works visit her website at www.SpiritInBloom.com.
Nancy is proudest of her son Skye, now 29, a
loving, caring and humorous soon-to-be father,
and her mother, 88, who published her first
book at the age of 80! By the time of the Grandmother's
Council Nancy will have become a first-time
grandmother. At 62 it's high time!
WORKSHOP:
Spirituality and Sacred Living
What is spirituality? What is sacred living?
What are they in your life and what might they
be? Wisdom ways from time-honored spiritual
traditions throughout the world can give us
clues. Listening within to Spirit, to Source,
to our Hearts and to our Souls can guide us
along the path.
The
rich context of Nature leads us into our own
deeper Nature. The Seasons of the earth and
our own life seasons and inner weather can become
spiritual teachers for us.
And we learn from one another...
Sacred
Living is something we can blossom into every
day. Find ways to Live the Spirit throughout
your life.
LIVING THE SPIRIT: Live an Inspired Life by
embracing your Spirit on a daily basis. Gain
practical tools and approaches for Living the
Spirit each and every day.
Re-commit to an authentic life, following and
deepening your own unique path and drawing upon
a wealth of support - from Spirit, nature, guidance,
spiritual traditions, teachers and teachings
and your own Soul, empowering you to be all
you are here to be, helping you tap in to the
Source, and draw upon and actualize the gifts
of your own true nature.
This
workshop includes universal wisdom teachings,
honoring many traditions, along with simple
tools to last a lifetime, inner time listening
to the voices of your Soul, of Guidance, of
Nature, of your Inner Grandmother, your Inner
Healer and of your Creative Spirit, and heartful
supportive sharing in the circle we co-create
together, along with some silence, meditation,
and sound. Nancy's teaching style is warm, inviting,
empowering, evocative, supportive, playful,
and transformative.
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WORKSHOP:
Feminism Today
Mt.
Thielsen Room
2pm
|
Barbara
Scott Winkler
Barbara
Scott Winkler is the Director of the Women’s
Studies Program at Southern Oregon University.
Dr. Winkler teaches classes on the U.S. and
international women’s movements, on sexual
politics in U.S. History, as well as the introductory
and practicum or service learning courses for
the Program. She is co-editor of the book Teaching
Introdution to Women’s Studies: Expectations
and Strategies, and author of
numerous articles and presentations on teaching
women’s studies focusing on activism and
diversity. She was a member of the planning
committee for the Southern Oregon Stop Hate
Crimes Conference, and is the faculty advisor
for two students groups on campus, the Women’s
Studies Student Club and the LGBTASU (Lesbian,
Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Student Union). She
lives in Medford with her husband, Greg Scott
and their daughter, Anya Qingxin Scott, whom
they adopted from China in 1996. She has been
active in the women’s movement since 1970,
when she first took part in the Women’s
March for Equality in New York City, and has
been a member of the Grandmother Circle since
the first gathering in 1993.
WORKSHOP:
Feminism Today
In
this presentation/workshop led by Dr. Barbara
Scott Winkler, we will be looking at the continuing
controversial topics of reproductive freedoms
and lesbian and gay rights. Dr. Winkler will
provide a summary of current issues and place
them in U.S. historical context. After the presentation
Dr. Winkler will provide some initial questions
as we gather into groups to engage in further
discussion. Since these topics powerfully touch
our lives all members of the workshop will be
asked to approach the material and each other
with respect for our differences.
|
WORKSHOP:
Compassionate Communication and Mediation Skills
Mt.
McKenzie Room
2pm
|
Joanne
Lescher
Joanne
was trained and certified by Marshall Rosenberg,
founder of the Center for Nonviolent Communication
(www.cnvc.org).
Speaking from the Heart practices the principles
developed by Marshall, specializing in couple's
work.
Joanne brings her background as an experienced
mediator to the healing work of compassionate
communication. As a skilled presenter and trainer,
parent educator, and group facilitator, Joanne
effectively assists others in improving their
ability to dialogue with each other. Her skills
have been affectionately summarized as "an
ability to tame lions". Joanne's website
is: http://speakingfromtheheart.com/
WORKSHOP:
Compassionate Communication and Mediation
Skills
Learn
four simple steps to enhance already rich relationships,
and successfully heal painful ones.
In this workshop you will:
·
Discover the healing power of empathy
· Learn to stop blaming others
· Express anger without hostility
· Verbalize your intentions with clarity
and compassion
· Take responsibility for your feelings
and behaviors.
Compassionate
communication is experienced as a "language
of the heart".
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WORKSHOP:
Staying Healthy and Sane in Crazy Times
Mt.
McKenzie Room
1pm
|
Sue
Morningstar, WHCNP, MSN, CNM, student rabbi
Sue
Morningstar is a nurse practitioner for women’s
health, herbalist, midwife and student rabbi.
She and her husband Howard, a family physician
and herbalist, practice together, and are in
the process of constructing an integrative healing
center which they anticipate opening this summer
in Ashland. Sue attended Columbia and Yale Universities,
and is currently studying with the Aleph Rabbinic
Program of Jewish Renewal. She and Howard have
been best friends since the age of three, have
lived in Southern Oregon for 14 years and have
two grown children.
WORKSHOP:
Staying Healthy and Sane in Crazy
Times
Sue
Morningstar will use the kabbalistic four worlds
model to explore the notions of sanity, health
and Tikkun Olamâ, the ancient Jewish life
task of "fixing the world." Together,
through the sacred technologies of chant, visualization
and divine gratitude we will envision a future
of physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual
sanity. We will learn about and be inspired
by the work of various individuals and organizations
engaged in the daily struggle of fixing the
world. Please bring drums, rattles and shakers
if you have them.
|
 WORKSHOP:
Peace: Personal and Planetary
Mt.
Thielsen Room
3pm |
Mary
Ann Jones
Mary
Ann Jones has been actively supporting and volunteering
at Peace House for 15 years, and recently became
a Board member. She became concerned with peace
and justice issues through contact with the
American Friends Service Committee during her
student days, and participated in AFSC residential
service projects for one year after graduation.
She supported the Mt. Diablo Peace Center in
Walnut Creek, CA during her 21 years in the
Bay Area and traveled to Nicaragua with Witness
for Peace in 1986. She is committed to non-violence,
social and economic justice, and careful stewardship
of the planet.
WORKSHOP:
Peace: Personal and Planetary
This
will be an opportunity to share and brainstorm
on these questions:
1.
How does a spiritual/philosophical context for
our lives reveal and enhance our connection
to the whole human family? Can we discover a
sense of serenity and belonging in which we
may rest?
2.
How might this sense of connection lead and
inspire us to speak, think and live more peacefully,
and to work for changes that promote peace andjustice,
locally or globally?
|
 WORKSHOP:
Stories from the Heart
Mt.
Thielsen Room
1:10pm |
Carola
Lacy
I
spend my time traveling abroad, walking, going
to plays and concerts, doing yoga, water painting,
reading, making up songs, and best of all: falling
in love for the first time at age 77.
My most satisfying achievements: being healthy,
bringing up my three children, and giving joy
to myself and others through storytelling and
playing violin.
My hardest lessons to learn: taking responsibility
for my life, being aware of my impulses, believing
I’m lovable. My messages to share: To
follow the inner voice (first gut reaction/thought),
to persevere toward desires/goals, to guard
well my two gates: thoughts I let in, and words
I let out.
WORKSHOP:
Stories from the Heart
Storytelling
is one of my big passions. I’ve been telling
them for around 40 years, in schools, churches,
to migrant children, and at various other gatherings.
I love it. I hope these stories will touch your
heart, as they do mine.
Train
Out of Tokyo, by Terry Dobson,
shows how kind words dissolve violence.
The Sword of Wood, by Doug Lipman,
is a story from old Jewish folklore, showing
the power of creativity and faith.
The Wonderful Pear Tree, by Frances
Carpenter, set in old China, is a miracle story
revolving around kindness.
The Prayer Rug, a
Sufi tale from Arabia, reveals the power of
commitment, imagination, and perseverance.
Heaven and Hell, is a Zen story
of compassion.
The Crane and the Heron, from
Russian folklore, is about indecision.
The Book, from the
Dessert Fathers, is on forgiveness.
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WORKSHOP:
Ceremony
Honoring the Sacred Passage of Menopause
Mt.
Thielsen Room
4pm
|
Kippi
Waters
Kippi
Waters spent several decades traveling the globe
teaching meditation and yoga before settling
in Ashland in 2000. She has a Masters Degree
in Vedic Science and studied with the world’s
greatest experts of Ayurveda including Dr. Brihaspati
Dev Triguna and Deepak Chopra. Of all places
on earth, she loves Oregon the most and hikes
the mountains of our region with religious zest
and her 13 year-old canine companion named Blondy.
Kippi grows medicinal herbs, makes her own personalized
medicines, practices Bharata Natyam Dance and
is a proud member of the Rogue Valley Peace
Choir.
She
created MenoMorphosis Workshops to provide supportive
circles of education and inspiration for women
in all phases of menopause. www.menopauseworkshops.com
Workshop:
Ceremony Honoring the Sacred Passage of Menopause
This
ceremony is open to women of all ages and will
weave education and experience of specific foods,
herbs and exercise that are traditional allies
for supporting the menopausal journey.
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WORKSHOP:
Forest Defense
Mt
Ashland Room
4pm |
Annette
Rasch
Annette
Rasch is a community organizor and writer who's
worked on mining, industrial pollution and forest
protection issues for more than 25 years. She
has lived for the past 8 years in the Illinois
Valley with her mother, Pat Simonsen. Annette
also practices Qigong, is a dog trainer and
wildlife rehabilitator, and also loves to garden,
sing and play the piano.
WORKSHOP:
Forest Defense
details
coming soon ...
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| Also
on the Grandmother Council: |
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Melodie
Ashworth
I
was raised in the slowly growing universalist
Quaker community of the West Coast, where I
tried to keep my body quiet for an hour at a
time while waiting for occasional words of wisdom
spoken out of the silence, usually by elders.The
small size and inherent do-it-yourself nature
of the Religious Society of Friends gave me
many opportunities over the years for search
inside myself to find spiritual guidance, and
for small group leadership.
A
Peace Corps assignment in the Philippines right
out of college reinforced my belief that the
essential wisdom of humankind is unrelated to
technical sophistication. Upon returning from
the Philippines, I married a college classmate
who joined me in the Society of Friends. Our
journey in life together has included struggling
with the draft during the Vietnam War, lobbying
for the establishment of the Red Buttes Wilderness,
and nurturing four daughters. What is unusual
about our family is that the last two daughters
joined our family by mutual acceptance. After
becoming acquainted, we discovered together
that we need and belong to each other.
My
career followed my lifelong interest in living
things. Although I started out as a general
biologist, job openings led me into the medical
field. A firm belief in universal, public health
care led me to work for 28 years in the SOU
Student Health Center, where I eventually oversaw
the medical lab.
Since retiring two years ago, I have found myself
helping individuals and the community in spontaneous,
short-term, and intensely personal projects.
My husband and I suspect that a concern about
current U.S. immigration policy will lead us
to more concerted action in the near future.
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Sharon
Wilson
Sharon
Wilson has spent her lifetime helping people
find their Beautiful Bright Self. She does this
with art, Feng Shui, Ceremony, Shamanism and
Listening. "I believe we are our own healers".
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Jane
Maynard has spend most of her life defending
the children and disabled in our communities.
She is an outspoken advocate for children
and has worked tirelessly as an advocate for
low income and disabled children. In the 1980's
she co-created a Peace Curriculum for preschoolers
that is still used today. She has held many
roles as teacher, surrogate mother, fiercely
devoted grandmother, and Peace Warrior.
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Harriet
Rex Smith
Harriet
Rex Smith is a painter and artist and has lived
near Ashland for over 25 years. Her well-known
artwork is on display on the walls in the hallway
of the Inn where our Conference is being held.
Most recently one of the Grandmothers who were
jailed as a Forest Defender in the still on-going
Buscuit Salvage sale, she states that when her
great grandchildren ask where all the old-growth
is gone, she will proudly tell of her part in
saving some of the last existing old growth
trees. An artist is always looking for alternatives
to problems.
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Joan
Norman
Joan
Norman, proudly age 72, has been a leading Defender
of the Forest during the Biscuit Green Bridge
Actions. Arrested on March 7th, she returned
March 14th to join the hostoric Women's Defense
at which 22 women were arrested. Refusing bail,
she spent weeks in jail before being released
last week. The court charges are in process.
For over 40 years she has devoted her life to
activism in the Anti-War movement, Civil Rights
and Women's Rights. We are soveriegn people
in a soveriegn land and need to un-create the
corporations- Timber and otherwise- because
we created them and we can take away their charters
if they hurt us or our land! It's WAY OVERDUE!
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Nina
Council
Nina
Council is a grandmother, retired, UC Berkeley,
prior mural artist, social worker, active animal
rights activist, mother of one daughter now
age 46, two teen grandchildren, 14 and 17.
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Annie
May Kelley
Annie
May Kelley was born in the South Island of New
Zealand. After attending high school in a small
town, she went to nursing training school and
earned a registered nursing degree. She moved
to the North Island to Wellington, the capitol
of New Zealand, joining the hospital staff caring
for wounded Japanese and German soldier prisoners
of war. She met and married an American Naval
Chief Pharmacist Mate then came with her 6 month
baby girl on a large warship to the U.S.A. Annie
has lived in Long Island New York, Hartford,
Connecticut, Boston, Chicago, Miami and Marin
County, California before residing in Phoenix,
Oregon. She also has a son.
Her
life long love of animals was fulfilled working
as a veterinarian assistant for 8 years in San
Rafael, California.
Currently
she continues to work full school days (5 days
per week) in a second grade classroom at the
Phoenix-Talent Elementary School. She has done
this with a smile on her face faithfully for
the past 14 years through the Rogue Valley Grandparent
Program. Teachers say Annie provides service
to youngsters by listening, encouraging development
of their skills, hands out lots of love and
band-aids, gives them the extra boost when needed,
holds little hands when they're not feeling
well, and ties their shoes so they won't trip.
Grandma Annie, as she is affectionately referred
to at the school, is a fixture that the school
couldn't do without.
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