Regrow Body Parts

From Insights Blog.

Honesty is the Best Policy

Why cheating is dangerous
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Regina Brett
Plain Dealer Columnist

Quote from column at title link: Who cares if women cheat and get implants, if athletes use steroids? Anyone with a daughter or son should.

Iraq, war, nightmares

Click image to enlarge.

See Let's Give Iraqis Homes, Tools, Villages

Snow Shapes, Big Creek Reservation

Photo copyright 2007 Kristen S. Boyesen

Climate Stability

Sunday, February 18, 2007
Elizabeth Sullivan
Plain Dealer Columnist

Quote from title link: ...the vast majority of the world's experts on the physics and chemistry of climate change, on what ancient climates looked like and on what caused temperatures to shift, glaciers to melt, sea levels to rise and ocean currents to stop in their tracks are telling us: "Wake up!"

Let's Stop Global Destruction

Everyone is responsible for helping to slow down the assalt on the planet.

Water is precious. Conserve it.

Organic matter is needed to replenish soil. Compost rather than throw vegetable waste in the trash headed for an encapsulated landfill. Return organics to the Earth.

Re-use, rather than discard. Check out FreeCycle and Pass it on and Sandy Mitchell's article on Cleveland recycling.

Invest in energy-efficient appliances and vehicles. Carpool. Walk. Bicycle. Turn off your TV.

Free program for returning veterans in Northeast Ohio

The City of Bedford has graciously offered space at Ellenwood Center for four sessions of Imagination Arts once a month. Bedford businesses are offering discounts and gifts as a thank you to veterans and their families participating in the program. Benefits include stress relief, bonding, right-brain exercise, fun and relaxation. Schedule and details at Imagination Arts.

Let's give Iraqis homes, tools, villages and hope.

This essay by guest columnist Mike Marcellino appeared in the Feb. 15 issue of the Bedford Sun Banner. Mike served in the U.S. Army in Vietnam. The article is not yet online, but here are three quotes, followed by a scanned copy of the newspaper column.

(It is...)
"Time to find an end.
Time to stop killing to save them."

"We should just pull out of the sectarian battles in Baghdad and other big cities (and) go to the villages and towns where some people still like us. Give (them) tools, materials, advice (and) jobs to rebuild (their) towns and a better life."

"Let the Iraqi war lords solve their own problems."

Click images to enlarge.

Squirrels on parade

Photos copyright 2007 Kristen S. Boyesen

A hike in the Big Creek Reservation of Cleveland Metroparks provided some welcome exercise and fresh air last weekend.



Be sure to check out Photographing Squirrels. The button to see the slide show is way at the bottom. (See squirrels as photographers!)

Recycle your barn and other resources.

Recycled barn parts are the raw material for "Splart", or slate switchplate art, created by Andres Esparza, Kent Ohio. ... the ultimate goal of splart is to encourage sustainability and make people think twice before they discard valuable resources.

See full article from the Cleveland Plain Dealer at title link.

From the Splart website:

The concepts leading to the birth of "switch plate art" or "SPLART"have been a cumulation of my observances regarding life on this planet.

Be unique
Make people happy
Not harm the environment
Make your environment work for you

This is my dedicated effort to transcend the concept of "recycling" into "fine craft". The chips and dust left over from my creation process, I have flaked out into a mulch that is beautiful, and unique. As little waste as possible.

Energy Efficient light bulbs required

THE inefficient standard light bulb could be phased out within three years to save up to 800,000 tonness of greenhouse gas emissions in Australia.

Last month legislators in California proposed a "How Many Legislators Does it Take to Change a Lightbulb Act" that would phase out incandescent light bulbs by 2012 in favour of compact fluorescent bulbs.

Quotes from the title link, where the full story can be read from the Sidney Morning Herald. Help bring peace to the planet by using energy efficient light bulbs wherever possible.

Secret Angel lends a helping hand and heart

Honoring Judy Kilpeck, an Eastlake school secretary who watches over pupils and is their not-so-secret angel. The students know they can count on her. Read the full story at title link.

New England Asters

Photo copyright 2007 Kristen S. Boyesen

These asters were blooming in my front yard and in my back yard. I had so many the Cleveland Museum of Natural History came last summer to do a "wildflower rescue". Look for them in their wildflower garden next summer!

The Highly Sensitive Person

My journey of growth and discovery these last five years or so were due to a great many books that I read and found to be immediately pertinent to my life. One of the most pivotal was, "The Highly Sensitive Person" by Elaine Aron. I have recommend this book over and over to people I meet who seem to be in the same state of confusion that I was, or who have the same sensitivities that make it sometimes hard to 'fit in' with the way the world works.

Elaine Aron has a website and a newsletter. The current newsletter has three articles that are well worth reading.

Latest Research: 
What HSPs See: Our Brain Is Not 
as Easily Confused by Culture and Context

What HSPs Can Give and Get from Animals and Babies

Book Review: Unto Others: The Evolution and 
Psychology of Unselfish Behavior 
by Elliott Sober and David Sloan Wilson, Harvard University Press, 1998

I am adding a link to The Unlimited Love Institute to go along with this last book and article. Stephen G. Post, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, is doing research and writing on the same topic. He and co-author Jill Neimark will soon be releasing a new book, "Why it's Good to be Good". There are other books at the Institute link with similiar topics.

To order a signed copy of The Highly Sensitive Person through the author's website, click here.

To order from Amazon through White Light of Peace, go to Books and Music for Peace.

Communication is Essential for Peace.

Click to enlarge image.

Race Doesn't Matter

I have started several topics at the Discuss Race Forum.
Please join in. Communication and understanding are the keys to peace.

The Moral Choice

Click to enlarge image.

The US needs a Secretary of Peace.

Dick Feagler is one of my favorite columnists at the Cleveland Plain Dealer. He once was a registered Republican, but switched when things got out of hand. He speaks from the heart and sheds insights on the news that are fresh and honest. Here is his latest column on Dennis Kucinich.

Eric Bibb - Blues with a Sunny Disposition

My signed CD cover.

I saw Eric Bibb in concert at Happy Days Visitor Center in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park on Friday (02-16-07). I was overwhelmed with peace and joy as I listened to his music and heard his message, "We are all Connected".

There are links from Amazon to purchase music by this gifted artist, and descriptions of the albums at Books and Music for Peace. Most have clips for previewing cuts from the albums. (Sidenote: An album is a collection of things. The term dates me as it is now used with reference to music. Let's bring it back to mean a collection of things ... stamps, photos, MUSIC!)

Feel Love, Spread Love. We Are All One.

The title link goes to a new article at The Peace Tree.

The following are my comments at The Peace Tree to this contribution by author Christopher Wilcox. Please go to the original post at Peace Tree to tell of your experiences with prejudice, your opinions on how this country will handle Barack Obama's bid for the presidency, or to suggest ways to spread peace and tolerance.

All we can do is to keep spreading love, peace, and tolerance with all that we are and do, and we have to do it actively and with passion.

The negative side has it's passion to fuel the hate. Peace must also be spread with passion, not in anti-war rallies, but in passionate circles of peace.

Here are some interesting links to add to this discussion. I apologize for one being at my own blog, but I posted today's Bizarro cartoon to promote peace through understanding and tolerance.

Another place to explore this topic is at the Discuss Race Forum, started by Dave Meyers. From his website:

Despite being  clearly interracial, Dave was told by his mother that he had a Skin Disease to hide the African part of his being...

Also check out this excellent essay by Frank DeMarco, posted at Insights Blog. An excerpt from: The Secret - and Politics

Reframe everything we worry about. Replace every negative with its implied positive. Moving out of the villains-and-victims mind set, look again for the underlying causes of the world’s problems.

After reading this essay, I went to my blog and replaced all of the titles with positive messages, even if the article referenced was pointing out something negative. My reason for posting the negative in the first place was to create positive action, so the first step is to state right out what a positive step would be. If each of us in this peace movement would do that, I believe we will make a difference at a much faster rate than by just voicing the negative.

Here are 100 quotes from the movie, "The Secret" posted at Insights Blog.

Attain Peace Through Understanding;Respecting Others

I post this not as a urge for universal vegetarianism, but as an allegory for all of us to respect other ways of living, other beliefs, and other body types than our own.

We are all one.

Stop Global Warming: Insulate Your House

FULL HOUSE

Whole world feels your home's drafts


Thursday, February 15, 2007

Susan Condon Love

Plain Dealer Columnist

Some excerpts from today's column in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, with active links for easy research. Full article at title link.

Drafts, cold basements and poor insulation, while part and parcel of older homes, really aren't laughing matters. They are something, if you want to think beyond your living room, that affects all of humanity - as in global warming and the depletion of the ozone.

Rozanne Weissman, director of communications and marketing for the nonprofit Washington-based Alliance to Save Energy (and a former Plain Dealer employee), is on a crusade to get her energy-saving message out there.
The point is, said Weissman in a recent telephone conversation, that "everyone can make a difference."

... Weissman and the others at the Alliance to Save Energy have created a campaign called (with apologies to Kevin Bacon, I would think) the "6 Degrees of Energy Efficiency Challenge."

... Environmental experts say that "we have a maximum of 10 years to start turning [global warming] around," said Weissman. "The problem is serious, and we need to be paying attention," which is why the alliance created the challenge and why the group has recently started publicizing its suggestions on how to save money and energy.

..."The choices we make affect us and our family, the nation and even the world," said Weissman. Air pollution from Asia, for example, affects the air quality in the United States.

We are, she added, really one big family.

Closer to home, you can expect lower utility bills and maybe even a certain satisfaction that you aren't contributing as much to an environmental crisis.

More at title link.

Eat Whole, Natural foods for a Trim, Healthy Body

Clean up your plate
'Eat clean' advocates say dump the junk for health food

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Evelyn Theiss

Plain Dealer Reporter

Excerpts from the title link article are in bold italic:

... 80 percent of what you look like has to do with what you eat. (The other 20 percent is divided evenly between genetics and your workout routine.)


That's right: 80 percent of it is about the food. So if you work out like a fiend, and you don't understand why you're still overweight and flabby, it's time to look at what you're putting in your mouth -- specifically, whether you are "eating clean."

Chances are, you're not. Most Americans, in this land of processed, refined, prepared and takeout food are right there with you. They're eating food that's so processed and broken down, with so much sugar added, it can't fill them up or satisfy their nutritional needs. Yet such a diet gives them too many calories, as well as unhealthy cravings for more of the same.


There are many tips in the article for "eating clean". For more information on the books discussed as well as some favorites from my cookbook library, go to Books and Music for Peace.

A healthy diet creates peace within the body.

Earth, Be My Valentine

Do yourself a favor and check out the title link. It is very beautiful!

A Sonic Valentine for Peace and Love

World Sound Healing Day
February 14, 2007

Sound healers, meditators, peace activists and lovers of all humanity and sentient consciousness: Send a Sonic Valentine to the Earth with the heart sound "AH" filled with the intention of Peace and Love.

Join Jonathan Goldman, the Sound Healers Association and thousands of people throughout the planet as they tone an "AH" together for five minutes today, projecting the energy of Light & Love throughout the Planet. You will actually experience generating a field of transformational energy as this occurs. We have found that creating a Global Sacred Sound any time within a 24-hour period on the planet will create a coherent waveform that will affect the entire Earth. Therefore, any time you feel guided to sound for Planetary Peace on February 14th is a good time!

In addition, local toning groups will be occurring throughout the Earth at various times during that day with the intention of assisting planetary consciousness through sound. There will also be several global toning events occurring via the Internet during that day, including at noon Eastern Time on www.healthylife.net and at 9 PM ET on www.allonenow.org.

More information is at the title link. Thanks to Frank DeMarco for passing on the information.

Grand River Shore, Ohio

Photo copyright 2007 Kristen S. Boyesen

Energy Education Conference

GEO Partnership Event:


The Energy Education Conference:

The Alternative Alternative: Sustainable Value is Here


Friday, March 2, 2007   8:00 am - 4:00 pm

Sheraton Cleveland Airport Hotel, Cleveland


Join GEO at this upcoming conference focused on sustainable energy solutions that can positively impact your bottom-line. Learn enhanced techniques and improved sustainability models that can significantly cut energy costs. Attend "The Alternative Alternative" and spend the day in an environment that provides practical application of the techniques that you have been reading about.

Early registrants will gain access to a behind the scenes tour of the NASA Glenn Research Center on Thursday, March 1, 2007 at 4pm. The registration fee is $129 per person and includes conference materials and lunch. GEO members receive a discount at $109. For more information and to register, visit www.clevelandmeetings.com/energy.

Geese on the Grand River, Ohio

Photo copyright 2007 Kristen S. Boyesen

Sustainability Energy Festival

Sustainability Energy Festival at


The Wilderness Center in Stark County

Saturday, March 3, 2007   9:00am - 5:00 pm

9877 Alabama Ave SW, Wilmot, Ohio (near Canton)

Co-hosted by Green Energy Ohio and The Wilderness Center


Overview: 
This daylong festival is an opportunity for the public to interact with dozens of exhibitors with hands-on demonstrations, and learn how to put renewable energy to work by learning from expert speakers on topics of wind power, solar PV, solar thermal, biomass, green building, and energy efficiency. Come and learn about the technologies, costs, challenges and benefits of clean energy living.
 
Keynote speaker, Bill Spratley will present on how "Sustainable Energy Puts America to Work!" during a luncheon address. Exhibitor opportunities are available. For more information, contact Christina Panoska at Green Energy Ohio by email at Christina@greenenergyohio.org, or Gordon Maupin at The Wilderness Center by email at Gordon@wildernesscenter.org. More information on The Wilderness Center is available at: www.wildernesscenter.org.
 
Thanks to the support from the Ohio Department of Development's Office of Energy Efficiency and the Office of Ohio Consumers' Counsel.

We each have a purpose in life

A story to warm your hearts and ponder the mysteries of life in today's column by Pulitzer Prize winner Connie Schultz.

Ten-year-old Izzy is "wise beyond her years". Here is a quote from Connie's column:

"Do you ever feel older than most 10-year-olds you meet?" I asked.

She sighed. "I'm often more serious than the kids around me."

"You look a little sad about that."

She nodded slowly. "I feel like I'm an 85-year-old surrounded by children."

I have a feeling she wasn't just talking about school.

Read more at the link above to discover the wisdom of this youngster, then send her blessings from your hearts. She is on this earth for a purpose yet to be revealed, but it promises to be of great benefit to the world.

Each of us has a purpose in life. We need only to seek within to find the answers.

On the Grand River, Ohio

Photo copyright 2007 Kristen S. Boyesen

Photo taken August 26, 2004, while canoeing with my friend Patt.

More Companies are "Going Green"

Another article of note in today's news is about Fairmount Minerals, a company returning habitat to mined areas.

It received the 2005 Environmental Business of the Year award from the Audobon Society of Michigan and the 2006 Corporate Stewardship Award from the US Chamber of Commerce.



Some excerpts from the title link article:

While Fairmount Minerals has committed to saving birds at its mines in Ohio, Michigan, Illinois and Wisconsin, its devotion to socially conscious business practices doesn't end there. The company, for instance, offers its employees $2,000 toward the purchase of a hybrid vehicle.

... In April, the company will begin reporting on a variety of its efforts to the U.N. Global Compact, a collection of businesses devoted to a cleaner environment, respect for workers and ethical practices.

Fairmount Minerals recently gave Case (Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland) $2 million to endow a chair in social entrepreneurship at the Weatherhead School of Management. The company gave the school $400,000 more as seed money for the Center for Business as an Agent of World Benefit.

There is much more at the title link. Kodos to Fairmount Minerals, Chardon OH.

If people see good, they'll be good

I did it. This post is with the "New Blogger". I welcome myself to the "New World".

Today's first article of note in the news is about Ervin Peretz and his cafe Terra Bite.

"If people see good, they'll be good," he says.

All payments at his cafe are voluntary. Read the news story at the title link.

Cool View

This is actually three photos taped together, scanned into Photoshop, transformed into a square shape then repaired at the seams. (One of these days I will have to break down and purchase a digital! I just keep waiting for the one that was taken to be returned to me.)

Anyway, I took the photos last week on a hike with a friend in the Rocky River Reservation of Cleveland Metroparks. It was all of 18 degrees at the time, with a stiff wind from time to time if we emerged from the shelter of the trees and rocks.

Here is what the three photos looked like before I "Photoshopped" them.

Photos copyright 2007 Kristen S. Boyesen

Emotional Abuse, Verbal Abuse, Racial Prejudice

I had a dream early this morning in which I had a sizable piece of shiny Plexiglas that I had to store, and the only place was tight against a rough concrete wall.

I do not know how I solved this dream-problem, but somehow my thoughts turned to emotional abuse. Perhaps our spirits are like the clear Plexiglas, and the world around us is full of rough threatening walls.

Emotional abuse can be very subtle. We all know about screaming parents telling their children they are worthless. This is blatant and obvious emotional/verbal abuse. Less obvious is prejudice. (People think they have a right to their prejudices so do not think they are perpetuators of emotional abuse.) The most subtle form of emotional abuse is hidden in love ... not all love, just certain forms of love-relationships.

Anyone wishing to learn about emotional and verbal abuse will find a lot of information at Dr Irene.com.

To learn more about prejudice and race relations, visit Dave Meyer's website Discuss Race.

At the end of Hanging Rock Trail

Photo copyright 2007 Kristen S. Boyesen

Check out the title link to see another view of this rock.

Cleaning Services, Cleveland area

I have been meeting a lot of people lately through networking meetings for Art Experiences.

One of the most interesting is Rhonda. I met her at a COSE networking event. Her business is No Time Cleaning Services, serving Northfield Center, Sagamore Hills, Hudson, Aurora, Macedonia, Bedford Heights, Solon, Twinsburg, Hinckley, Medina, Broadview Heights and more.

"I go where there is dirt," she says. She services both residential and commercial customers.

Here is her story.

When asked for her favorite childhood memory, or happening that helped direct where is now in life, she replied,

"I always was fond of organizing things in my room and maintaining items neat in my dresser".

As for her age, "I will tell you this when I get to know you better!" She loves rhythm and blues, the color purple, roast beef, and her favorite vacation is anywhere in Europe. If she had it to do all over again, she would have chosen a profession in medicine.

Rhonda received a B.A. in business administration from Ohio University, also completing Army ROTC and commissioned as Second Lieutenant in 1985. During her 13 years of service Rhonda was stationed at Ft Bragg, North Carolina and in Germany, Korea, Japan, and Saudi Arabia. Additionally, she commanded a Light Equipment Maintenance Company during Desert Storm/Shield in Doha, Kuwait.

Not only did Rhonda serve in a combat and hostile environment; she also performed under dangerous conditions, jumping out of "perfectly good airplanes" while in flight. "This was training," she responds. "I was assigned to an Airborne unit and that was our mission." Rhonda ended her military service with the rank of captain.

Rhonda's experiences serve her well in her home-grown cleaning business.


"You have no time to clean," she says with a wide grin, "I take care of that for you with the same detail-oriented white glove touch required by the Army. I left the military for the corporate arena, and found it was not the life I wanted. Having my own business and being responsible for satisfying my clients is rewarding and fun."

"Before I started my business I did car detailing. I would detail everyone's car in my family for free because it relaxed me. I would see how shiny I could get the car, how clean I could get the carpet, how many different fragrances of air fresheners I could mix together."

She still does car detailing when weather permits,
Rhonda keeps herself in shape with Tae Kwon Duo - a martial art that emphasizes discipline, perseverance, focus, and physical activity. She has lived in Northfield for a year and a half.

"I love it there. It is so quiet, and the people are very friendly."

She has a beagle puppy named Shannon. Her favorite time of year is spring, when she can again ride her motorcycle.

Relaxing near the top of Hanging Rock Trail

Photo copyright 2007 Kristen S. Boyesen

It was surely a fine day for a hike.

Snow in Parish, NY

I can get to Parish from Cleveland on one tank of gas. I am not about to try that this weekend! See photos at title link. More here

Regionalism Fosters Responsibility for Communities and the Environment

New York Times
OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR
GAR ALPEROVITZ
Published: February 10, 2007

California Split

excerpts ...

SOMETHING interesting is happening in California. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger seems to have grasped the essential truth that no nation - not even the United States - can be managed successfully from the center once it reaches a certain scale. ...

... A recent study by the economists Alberto Alesina of Harvard and Enrico Spolaore of Tufts demonstrates that the bigger the nation, the harder it becomes for the government to meet the needs of its dispersed population. Regions that don't feel well served by the government's distribution of goods and services then have an incentive to take independent action, the economists note.

...writing to Jefferson at a time when the population of the United States was a mere four million, Madison expressed concern that if the nation grew too big, elites at the center would divide and conquer a widely dispersed population, producing "tyranny."

...These days, many nations - including Brazil, Britain, Canada, China, France, Italy and Spain, just to name a few - are devolving power to regions in various ways.

Gar Alperovitz, a professor of political economy at the University of Maryland, College Park, is the author of "America Beyond Capitalism."

Read entire article from title link.

Wind Swept Tree

Hanging Rock State Park, North Carolina.




Photo copyright 2007 Kristen S. Boyesen

Ethanol from Corn IS NOT THE ANSWER

Ethanol fuels corn cultivation

Farmers drop other crops hoping to cash in on demand

Wednesday, January 24, 2007
John Seewer
Associated Press

Growing cotton is a family tradition on Webb Bozeman's farm in central Mississippi. But not this year.
Inspired by soaring demand for corn to feed the growing ethanol industry, Bozeman is joining a large number of farmers across the country who will plant corn instead of soybeans, wheat and cotton.

Some in the Midwest are ending their longtime practice of rotating plantings of soybeans one year and corn the next, opting to grow corn in consecutive years.

Livestock farmers are turning pastures into cornfields....

... Some farmers are contemplating planting continuous years of corn, but doing that can lead to pest problems and increased costs for fertilizer and seed, said Bruce Erickson, a Purdue University agricultural economist.

Corn prices are so high, though, that it will cost chicken and pork producers more to feed their animals, and that could end up raising prices at grocery stores.

These are excerpts. The complete article is at the title link.


Why is it that no one seems to be writing about the inadvisability of this trend? There is not enough land on earth to feed the hungry vehicles, let alone the people.

Farmland needs to feed people. Pasture land is for animals. Fallow land is to protect fragile ecosystems and to capture carbon dioxide. Ethanol from corn IS NOT THE ANSWER for our dwindling world supply of energy.

First and foremost is energy efficiency and conservation.

Hanging Rock View

Photo copyright 2007 Kristen S. Boyesen

Swamp Thistle

I took these photos of a Swamp Thistle last summer.

In hunting around for interesting links to go with the photos, I found the identity of the butterfly!



It is a Spicebush Swallowtail.

Photos copyright 2007 Kristen S. Boyesen

We must each do our part now, rather than wait to be rescued from Global Warming

$25 Million prize to undo global warming

It is true. This prize has been offered. (Full story at title link.)

Let us not sit back and wait for it to happen so all of our past neglect of the planet can be undone.

Each one of us has to begin now, on our own. Comments are welcome for suggestions on the ways each one of us can make a difference.

What are you doing to lower your production of carbon dioxide?

The mysteries of life

When I first saw this photo, I wondered why I had snapped the shutter at this tangle of vegetation.

Then I looked closer.



It is a Great Blue Heron, hiding along the bank of Alexander Springs Creek, Ocala National Forest, Florida.



Life is like this sometimes. At first it seems like there is no purpose, then it all becomes clear, and was right in front of you all the time.

Photos copyright 2007 Kristen S. Boyesen

Addendum: I have found a great link to views of Alexander Springs and the beach. This area in in Lake County, site of the recent tornadoes in central Florida. It was great swimming there in December, as the water is the same temperature year 'round.

Honest cabbie, stiffed on tip, returns rings

Thursday, February 08, 2007

Associated Press
New York - A taxi driver returned a black bag carrying 31 diamond rings to a passenger who earlier had given him a 30-cent tip on an $11 ride.
Hours after Osman Chowdhury dropped off the passenger, he tracked her down through a flurry of phone calls and returned the bag, which she had left in the taxi's trunk.

Read entire article at title link.

Paynes Prairie, Florida

Photo copyright 2007 Cara L. Gentry

Paynes Prairie was, for awhile, covered in water and used by paddle boats! The title link goes to a drawing by James Calvert Smith of one of these steam-powered paddle boats as described by Mr. J.A. Avera. The flow through the Alachua Sink controls water levels in Paynes Prairie.

"We need to live, breathe, and act peace"

A March A Ride and A Funeral

The excerpt below, by J.C. Shakespeare, is from the February 5 post at The Peace Tree. Full article at title link, with many comments to ponder.

"We have to take the harder path, the moral high ground, and return hate with kindness, abuse with compassion, outright lies with gentle demonstrations of truth. Continue to articulate a positive vision of what a more compassionate world, a more compassionate society, a more compassionate model of civil discourse looks like. We're not rolling over and playing dead, but we need to live, breathe, and act peace in each moment that we can remember the essential truth of ALL religion and, in light of quantum physics, all science as well . . . WE ARE ALL ONE."

Native Ohio prairie grass

I took this photo last summer on a hike in Boston Township, Cuyahoga County.



Title link goes to information on the Aulwood Prairies in western Ohio.



Photo copyright 2007 Kristen S. Boyesen

We must drastically reduce carbon dioxide emissions

When Being Green Raises the Heat

Excerpt from op-ed article at the New York Times, Jan 16, 2007. Full article at title link.

To preserve our environment, we must drastically reduce carbon dioxide emissions, and this will require a major transformation of our energy system. A primary goal for the next half-century should be to transform our energy system to one based on clean, safe and environmentally acceptable energy sources like wind, solar and perhaps nuclear. This means solving the real problems involved with storing and distributing power, providing energy for transportation, and using nuclear plants.
We cannot afford to indulge ourselves with well-intentioned activities that do little to solve the underlying problem. Instead, we must demand that our political leaders do more to revolutionize our energy system and preserve our environmental inheritance for future generations.

Ken Caldeira is a scientist at the Carnegie Institution's department of global ecology.



Live Oak, Paynes Prairie, Florida
Photo copyright 2007 Kristen S. Boyesen

US DEA should grant approval for hemp licenses

North Dakota Issues First US Hemp Licenses

One way for peacefully living on the planet is to wisely use what has been provided. The products made from hemp are comparatively easier on the environment than the same products made from cotton or wood. The US Drug Enforcement Agency must still grant approval before planting can begin. It will be in the best interests of agriculture and the environment if they do grant approval.

From the article posted yesterday at cattlenetwork.com.

The sturdy, fibrous plant is used to make an assortment of products including paper, rope, clothing and cosmetics. Industrial hemp cultivation is legal in Canada and other countries but is banned in the U.S. Law enforcement officials worry that industrial hemp can shield the growing of marijuana, although hemp supporters say that fear is unfounded.

Lily Pads, Alexander Springs Canoe Run

Photo copyright 2007 Cara L. Gentry

My daughter took this photo as we paddled along Alexander Springs Creek in December. The title link goes to a description of the canoe run.

How the World Really Works

I have been hearing about the movie, "The Secret" from several sources. The title link will take you to 100 excerpts, posted at Insights Blog.

This link will send you to the website where you can view the movie for $4.95 or purchase the cd. (No. I am not getting a percentage on this. I am spreading the word.)

Seeing the small things

Photo copyright 2007 Cara L. Gentry

I was playing around in Photoshop with this interesting photo that my daughter took, and found that it was fun to look at in its entirety as well as in small bits.


All of the following

are cropped images

from different areas

of the original photo!





Life is the same way. The small things can be the best!









Even confusing things will come into focus with time.

Obama's Identity Crisis

The title link goes to an article in today's Cleveland Plain Dealer by Joe Hallett, senior editor at the Columbus Dispatch. In it he quotes Debra Dickerson, copied below:

" 'Black,' in our political and social reality, means those descended from West African slaves," Dickerson wrote in an article for Salon magazine. "Voluntary immigrants of African descent (even those descended from West Indian slaves) are just that . . . with markedly different outlooks on the role of race in their lives and in politics.

"At a minimum, it can't be assumed that a Nigerian cabdriver and a third-generation Harlemite have more in common than the fact a cop won't bother to make the distinction. They're both 'black' as a matter of skin color and DNA, but only the Harlemite, for better or worse, is politically and culturally black, as we use the term."

All I have to say is (as a starter), "Huh?"

You've got to be kidding. I admit I am from Northern New York, where I did not even know that people with different skin colors existed until I was 5 or 6 years old. When I did have that awareness become part of my life it was a descriptive term, not a family history.

Is this really how most Americans viewed the descriptive word 'black' as it pertained to skin color? That the person was from West Africa and descended from an American slave???

Is there a word that means, 'American born, descended from a farmer from Ireland'?, for example, or any other specific thing in a person's personal history?

The only word I can think of that pertains to descent and is understood to pertain to family history is, "royalty", and there is no royal class in this country. Family names sometimes reflect an ancestor's way of life, or where they were from, but that information is passed down through the name itself, not through group consciousness that 'certain people are descended from XXX so we will assign this word to them so we will know who they are'.

Is this really how is was? (The article says that the word is in the process of changing it's meaning.)

How many out there still think 'descendent of an American slave' when using the descriptive term 'black'?

This country was founded on the concept of freedom. Let us live it in everything we say, feel, and do.

NightOwls of Coventry

The locally filmed movie NightOwls of Coventry by Cleveland Heights-based independent filmmaker and director Laura Paglin, is now available through NetFlix.

Not a member? Join here:

I saw this film when it first came out at the Cedar Lee (my favorite theater!), and really enjoyed it.

Cleveland as gay, lesbian tourist destination

The Connie Shultz column for February 2, 2007, in the Cleveland Plain Dealer is right on the money. Unfortunately, it is too bad that we have to think with our pocketbooks in order to be fair and considerate of others.

This business promotion is the first step to tolerance, understanding, and acceptance of people as they are.

Caring for the Mentally Ill

The headlines of a story of giving in the Cleveland area. Read entire article at the title link.

Nurse helps lost souls
Caring for mentally ill poor is risky, funny, frustrating and satisfying
Sunday, February 04, 2007
Joanna Connors
Plain Dealer Reporter

Squirrels as Photographers

This photo copyright 2007 Kristen S. Boyesen

I learned of a very interesting photo website through a Jan 22 article in the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

The photographger's link is here, and the button to see the slide show is way at the bottom.

The photos are not the result of editing tricks, but instead, of the natural curiousity of squirrels. Enjoy!

(The above is one of my photos of a squirrel. To see really cool shots by this Cleveland photographer, click one of the links!)

Solar boat

Thanks to Frank DeMarco at Insights Blog for this article.

Full story at title link.

A Swiss-made catamaran is said to have become the first solar-powered boat to cross the Atlantic after reaching the French Caribbean island of Martinique.

Making Peace, One Person at a Time

Information at Northcoast Conflict Solutions led me to donate my services through Imagination Arts for returning Iraqi and Gulf War Vets and families through www.giveanhour.org

Northcoast Conflict Solutions
Celebrating 11 years of peacemaking
Making peace, one person at a time
7007 East Sprague Road, #1
Independence, OH 44131
(440) 262-3700
(440) 262-3702 FX

"Be the change you wish to see in the world." -- Gandhi

NCS is again sponsoring the Northeast Ohio Peacemaker of the Year Contest.
Nominate a secondary student or adult for the second annual Northeast Ohio Peacemaker of the Year. Deadline April 2, 2007. Instructions and nomination form are at the title link above. Donations for prizes are being accepted. Email address at the title link above.

Can't Log In (By the usual methods) Here is a path.

The complications of life's journey ...
All photos copyright 2007 Kristen S. Boyesen

I am posting this as a public service.

02-04 Update. If I try to log in by the regular method, I get the 'switch now' screen, with seemingly no way out. If I go back to my blog, though, the pencil edit icons are up. Clicking on them sends me back to the switch page, so that is a dead end, also.

If I go to another blog and make a comment, though, I am able to get inside my blog to post after I return from commenting elsewhere.

Try it to see if it works for you, and let me know!

Well, it has happened. I am locked out of my blog.
{Sort of.}

I do not at all like the strong-arm tactics. I cannot log in, period, unless I switch.
{Not quite true.}

When you see the warning that you can skip switching only once, it does not mean that you will never again be offered the opportunity (as I thought) to switch.

It means that after the once, you will be locked out.
{By the usual methods of logging in.}

Be warned.

I posted this warning as a comment in a couple of blogs, noting with surprise that my old username way of commenting seemed to work. I returned to my blog to see if I could comment at my own blog, and the pencil icons were up, meaning I could click on this editing tool to access my account.

This new post was created in this way, by first clicking on the editing pencil, then clicking on the 'create' tab.

I guess I will have to switch soon, but will try to hang on with this until I have the time to switch.