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Farmers Market is Open Again!!

Saturdays & Wednesdays from 9am to 1pm!!!
Word has it that 2005 may be the 17th year of the farmers market. Come on down and find out who the most senior farmers are at the market! My name is Karen Kinney and I will be the new market manager for the 2005 season. The Vashon Farmers Market needs your help to get the word out. The market is an important way for island farmers to sell their produce. And it is a great way for shoppers to learn about the food we eat. If you have any questions about the market or suggestions, please feel free to contact me at 206-722-4835 or at karenk@drizzle.com. I am looking forward to working with the farmers and crafters and getting to know lots of you.

Thanks,
Karen Kinney

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Sacred Space: retreat cottage

On Vashon, special thru June 2005, $30 per night or 2 nights for $50!! For musicians, writers, or anyone else seeking spiritual space! Private cottage, meditation garden, electric heat, double loft bed, and bathroom with sink & composting toilet. Provisions include small fridge, microwave, coffee maker, and hot & cold water. Check it out at:

www.tomcraighead.com

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So Many Open Mics!!!!

Vashon Bookshop is now offering open mic for WORDS each fourth Wednesday beginning Wednesday, May 25th, 2005. Stop in the shop or email Devon for full details!

Cafe Luna Vashon is now hosting an OPEN MIC NITE for words and for music every second Thursday of the month!! NEXT DATES ARE: MAY 12th, JUNE 9th, JULY 14th!! Wanna get your 15 minutes of fame?? Sign up for open mic at 6pm. Performances run from 6:30 to 8:30pm.

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Serial release only at KotaPress!!
Transcending Time, Part 5

Our own Joan M. McCabe has just released Part 5 of her novel, Transcending Time, which is the sequel to Tapestry of Time, and you can only read it here!!!

Click here to read Part 5 of Transcending Time!!!

Part 6 will be posted next month...look for it!!!

For more information about Joan, see www.jmmccabe.com

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Creative Nature Camp 2005!!

We are excited to dive into another fun-filled season of exciting new projects for both the younger (huckleberry group ages 4-6) and older children (salmonberry group ages 7-12).

Camps & waiting lists fill quickly, and are on a first-come first-served basis, so please be sure to give me a call as soon as you know which camp(s) you are interested in. 463-4794 (See full list of camps scheduled below.)

Each individual camp costs $115.00. A non-refundable registration fee of $40.00 per camp is due at the time of registration & is included in the $115.00. You will receive a discount of 10% if you choose to sign up for 5 or more camps. Limited scholarships and sliding scale are available.

Payment: Please Make All Checks Payable to M. Metke
You can mail your registration fee of $40.00 per camp to:

The Creative Nature Camp
c/o Maren Metke
P.O. Box 2273
Vashon WA 98070

Please be sure to talk to me before sending in your deposit!
463-4794
Maren Metke

Hours of Operation:
Our hours of operation are 10am – 2pm

Schedule:

Session 1 Nature Crafts of the Forest 1 June 27 th – 30th

Handmade forest Paper, forest crown, marble swirl paper Nature Walk

Tracking & plaster casting tracks, Mosaic foot prints, Batik forest scene

Camouflage Tie-Dye Charcoal Drawings, Tree I.D. and Planting, forest paper and stories

Face Painting, Faerie Treasure Hunt

Session 2 Art Camp July 4 th – 7 th

Watercolor & Watercolor resist, Pointillism, Paper Mache Puppets

Clay Sculpture, Splatter Art, silhouette Watercolor, Impressionism Life Drawing, Sand Painting

Finish up puppets, Puppet show practice, Lantern Making

Face Painting, Faerie Treasure Hunt, Puppet Shows

Session 3 Pioneer Camp July 11 th – 14 th

Butter Making, Spinning, Felting, Naturally Dyeing, Soap Making

Soda Making, Quilting, Log Cabin Building , Earth Oven, Corn Husk or Earth Dolls,

Can Lanterns, Pinwheels, Jacks, sundials, Calligraphy Whittling, Finger knitting, crocheting

Face Painting, Faerie Treasure Hunt

Session 4 Sustainability, Gardening and Cooking Camp July 18 th – 21 st

Gardening, Compost, Worm Bins, Ecology, Trash Art

Harvesting, Nutrition, Cooking, Recycled Paper, Life Drawing, Photography, Herbs, Recycling,

Heart Seeds, Native Plants, Garden Art, natural Pesticide and Compost Tea, Waste Management. Cooking

Face Painting, Faerie Treasure Hunt

Session 5 Fort Building & Outdoor Survival July 25 h – 28 th

Scouting out a perfect spot, scavenger hunt- how to make a sturdy fort, sundial making

Survival kits & compass building, calls, & tracking, Batik Alert Flags, Teepee making

Map Making, & Treasure Hunting, Nature Walk/ Trail Cutting, ivy crowns, Native Plants

Face Painting, Faerie Treasure Hunt

Session 6 Geology Camp August 1 st

Rock identification, Rock Test, Pet Rock,

Sedimentary Rocks, Metamorphic Rocks, Igneous Rocks, Volcanoes,

Geodes, Fossil Making, Archaeological dig, Magnets, Rock Finders,

Face Painting, Faerie Treasure Hunt

Session 7 Garden Art Camp August 8 th – 11 th

Heart Seeds, Pressed Flower Books, Soil study, Dream Pillows, Mosaic Plaster foot casts

Dye Flowers, Essential Oils, Planting seeds, Garden weaves

Tie Dying, Mosaic Stepping Stones, Nature Walk, Flower paper

Face Painting, Faerie Treasure Hunt

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BE HERE for him, NOW

from www.drwaynedyer.com/articles/index.cfm

One of the truly great men of our time needs our help. I write these words to encourage your generosity and support. Back in the 1960's a Harvard professor named Richard Alpert left behind the hectic world of academia and traveled to India - there he was to meet his spiritual teacher who gave him a new purpose to fulfill along with a new name. He of course is Ram Dass.

His guru told him love everyone, feed people and see God everywhere . Ram Dass became a person who lived out this mandate - he did what so many of us could only dream. He connected to his spirit and devoted his life to serving others.

In 1969 he wrote and published the signature book on spirituality and applied higher awareness, Be Here Now . In keeping with his commitment to love everyone and feed people, he donated all of the royalties and profits to foundations that did just that. With millions of dollars at stake, Ram Dass simply chose to live his life as a man of service to God.

After years spent in India in pursuit of a higher more enlightened consciousness for himself and for our troubled world, he returned to the United States to lecture throughout the country. He spoke to packed venues wherever he went, and as always he donated the proceeds to such causes as would keep him in harmony with his mandate to serve. He co-founded the Seva Foundation (www.seva.org) and his writing and lecture fees were primary sources for this compassionate and inspired work.

To me Ram Dass was and is the finest speaker I have ever heard, period! He was my role model on stage; always gentle and kind, always speaking without notes from his heart, sharing his inspiring stories and always with great humor. I tell you this from my own heart; I could listen to his lectures for hours and always felt saddened when they would end. He was the voice for Applied Spirituality - his life was the model. When he was threatened by having his own private sexual preference exposed, in a time when a closet was the only place that was even mildly safe, Ram Dass called a press conference and proudly announced his preference to the world. He paved the way for tolerance and love when no one else would dare to do so.

Most of us could only dream of defying the conventional life and living out our inner callings to promote a cause that was bigger than our own lives - to leave the security of a guaranteed career - to leave a country where comfort was ensured; all to live in a foreign land with few conveniences, traveling and meditating for a more peaceful world. It is what St. Francis did in the 13th century and what Ram Dass did in our lifetime.

When Ram Dass' own father, who had largely criticized his son's unconventional lifestyle, was close to death, Ram Dass devoted himself to 100% service in those final years. He fed his father, he bathed his father, he placed him on and off the toilet until the day he died. Why? Because he felt this was his mandate. He wanted to experience true service on a 24/7 basis and know firsthand the joy that comes from giving one's own life away in the service of others. Always, for over 30 years, Ram Dass was in the service of others.

In 1997 Ram Dass was struck by a semi-paralyzing stroke and became wheelchair bound. Still he wrote of his adventure in a powerful book titled, Still Here . He continued to travel, though he could no longer walk and continued to speak to audiences, though he spoke from a slowed down body, but still he did it to serve others.

Now it is our turn... Ram Dass' body can no longer endure the rigors of travel. He has come to Maui, where I live and write. I speak with him frequently and I am often humbled by the tears in his beautiful 73-year-old eyes as he apologizes for not having prepared for his own elderly health care - for what he now perceives as burdensome to others. He still intends to write and teach; however without the travel - we can now come to him. Maui is healing - Maui is where Ram Dass wishes to stay for now!

He is currently living in a home on Maui, which he doesn't own and is currently in jeopardy of losing. I am asking all of you to help purchase this home and to set up a financial foundation to take care of this man who has raised so much money to ensure the futures of so many others. To live out what Ram Dass has practiced with his actions. Please be generous and prompt - no one is more deserving of our love and financial support. In the end these donations will help ensure that Ram Dass and his work will reach another generation or remind a current generation that it is in giving that we receive.

If there has ever been a great spirit who lived in our lifetime, literally devoting his life to the highest principles of spirit, it has been Ram Dass. I love this man; he has been my inspiration and the inspiration for millions of us. It is now time to show him how we feel by doing what he has taught all of us to do - Just , BE HERE for him, NOW.

Please send your donations to:
Ram Dass
c/o Hay House
P.O. Box 5100
Carlsbad, CA 92018

~~~

Preventing the tragedy of child abandonment

New posters available within Washington state, offering help and resources to parents of newborns To help panicked new parents avoid destructive patterns of abandonment, a coalition of child health and safety organizations in Washington state is now reaching out to parents-to-be, informing them of resources to help them and their newborns:

"Safe Place for Newborns" posters  have been produced in several languages, giving new parents, and parents-to-be, a toll-free telephone number that they can call for help.

The posters also inform parents-to-be that in Washington there is a safe and legal alternative to the drastic, and tragic, situations that end in abandonment or worse. Washington 's Newborn Safety Act offers parents a safe place to leave a newborn infant, confidentially and without fear of punishment within the first 72 hours of a child's birth.

Printed editions of the posters - 11-by-17 inches, in English or in Spanish - may be ordered in small quantities within Washington state from the Washington State Alcohol/Drug Clearinghouse at 1-800-662-9111, in Seattle at (206) 725-9696, or http://clearinghouse.adhl.org.

The new Safe Place for Newborns posters are a special focus of Child Abuse Prevention Month in April 2005.

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Creative Crossings Presents...
My Mother and Me!
A creative, interactive learning experience for
Mothers and early teenage daughters

Friday May 6th —5 PM- 9PM

Pizza, Pop, and Popcorn included
Introductory Price: $55.00/pair
For Girls age 10-15 and their moms or adult female mentors

At the Presbyterian Church
17708 Vashon Hwy SW
Vashon, WA 98070

Fun, playful, thought-provoking:
Are you astonished to find your daughter growing up into a special and amazing young woman? Are you worried about the challenges your daughter may face as she enters the middle school years and beyond? Has your daughter perfected the art of eye-rolling? Are you craving quality time with your daughter in the midst of busy schedules? My Mother and Me! weaves together collage-making, games, and thought-provoking discussion in a safe, caring, playful environment. In addition to laughter and fun, we spend the afternoon honoring your unique relationship; building community with other mothers; looking at the dichotomy of girls wanting independence, but needing support, limits and guidance; and discovering inner strenghts and resources to help you and your daughter navigate the teenage years successfully.

Space is limited!

Please call Peggy Rubens at 463-1682 to sign up for this GREAT program

~~~

A Passion for Poetry:
FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS
READ AND TALK
ABOUT THE POETRY THEY LOVE

Friday, April 22nd, 7:30 pm
Vashon Bookshop
Sponsored by The Poetry Salon

OPEN MIC SIGN-UP
STARTS AT 7:00 PM

~~~

ENVIRONMENTAL SYMPOSIUM

Evergreen State College Researchers and Authors of Defending Wild Washington
meet with Vashon’s Community and Environmental Groups to Exchange Ideas and Goals. Learn What We Are Doing and What We Can Do to Protect Our Wild Areas.

Friday, April 29th
7:00 pm
Vashon Bookshop
463-2616

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Island Author to Speak on Trauma and Healing

Psychiatrist and noted author Barry Grosskopf, MD, will speak on inter-generational trauma and healing on Friday, April 22, at 7:30 pm at the Havurah building on the Westside Highway. This is an extraordinary opportunity to learn more about the innovative work being done by this gifted Island resident. This event is the second in a series of non-religious lecture/discussions sponsored by Havurat Ee Shalom. It is free and open to the entire Vashon Community.

In his book, Healing the Generations, he notes, “each day for the past twenty five years, I have heard the confessions of wounded people…” In therapy, he helps them to understand the traumas that shaped the personalities of the people who raised them. “When my patients do so, they are humbled by new understandings, softened by compassion, and relieved of the sharpness of old pain with genuine forgiveness.”

The effects of trauma are not always obvious. Sometimes a person knows that “Mom grew up during the depression” or “Dad had a bad time in the war” without really understanding the deep and lasting influence of such events. In trying to become whole people, then, one important step is to explore the events that shaped the lives of our forebears. The surprise is that, when we understand and forgive our parents for their limitations, we find a profound release of our own.

Grosskopf serves as a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the UW School of Medicine. He is the former Medical Director of Highline Mental Health Center and currently serves there as a psychiatrist. He will draw from anecdotes, patient stories, ancient teachings, as well as new discoveries in neurology to shed light on this fascinating work.

There will be an opportunity for informal discussion over refreshments following the talk. Email awslaw@wolfenet.com if you have questions.

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Have Vashon related news, announcements, or art?
Email us and we'll post here in the KotaPress Vashon Journal for you!