June 15th Author Readings at Healing Tea

Thanks to the authors who read their compelling work at the first event, June 15th, of the Summer Literary Series at Healing Tea. And thanks also to Master Ki who led participants in movements to relax our bodies and open our minds--and to Carmen Baehr for providing the following commentary on the event.

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Laura Goodman reads her work
The theme of the Stillpoint Center reading evolved around how trauma imprints the stories of our lives and that through writing, our stories can be re-told. First Laura Goodman eloquently interwove her understanding of her dog's PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) symptoms with the death of her mother and grief over an absent father.

These three lives were affected by or suffered from PTSD. Laura unravels a deep understanding of the consequences of trauma from a scared and hurt puppy-mill survivor to a warrior who lost the battle with his heart and therefore was incapable of being a son, spouse or father. Laura's writing is razor smart and tender. A true artist.

Next Lara Robinson and Tim Hilmer blurred the lines between teacher and student as they collaborate on a book that reflects their ability to both learn from and teach each other. Age difference and given roles are overcome as they deal with trauma and life's challenges from domestic violence to cancer. They do so with inspiring poise, clarity of speech and an intelligence that leaves you yearning for more. ~ by Carmen Baehr ~

Jennifer Wert, who will read August 17th, and Jaye Zola

photo on the right---Lara & Priscilla Stuckey, who will read July 20th

Joe Yarrow & Carmen Baehr ------------- photo on right, John Zola, Lara Robinson, Tim Hilmer & Janelle Lynn

Kenya Project

The Kenya Project

by Marco de Martino

Here’s a review and short summary of where we stand today with the Stillpoint Kenya Project.

The idea behind our project is to create a situation where families can become independent and self-sufficient by owning a piece of land with a house on it, mortgage free, so that they can use the money they would normally spend on rent to put towards a better education. Good schools that can help elevate one’s social status and economic condition cost money in Kenya, a cost that most families cannot afford primarily due to excessive rents and other forms of usury. In fact, most Kenyan families of lower socio-economic status are stuck in cycle of debt, as most wages cannot cover the cost of rent and food for a family of four.

For our three families we have purchased three pieces of land. For the family that we were originally going to adopt from, the Edung family, but could not due to the bureaucracy in Kenya, we have completed the building of a small house (1rm, 1bath) for them to live in, which they do, and have laid the foundations and raised the walls for a main house. The idea being that once they move into the main house (2bdrms, 1bath), they can rent out the smaller house for a small sum to help pay for their four boys’ education.

For the second family, the Munene family, we have purchased the property, laid the foundation for a main house that’s essentially is a duplex so that they can live on one side (2bdrm, 1bath) and the other side they can rent out (2bdrm, 1bath).

For our third family, the Gachoka family, we have recently purchased a plot of land in hopes of eventually raising a house.

I have hired a close friend of mine in Kenya to oversee the distribution of funds and manage the construction process. Once we complete these projects the families will be completely independent and their children in particular will face a much brighter future. Please feel free to contact me at any time at: marco.a.demartino@gmail.com

The Kenya Project represents one of the more important undertakings for our family, so thank you so much for your support and consideration.

A Summer Literary Series at Healing Tea

Local Authors Read Their Work

3216 Arapahoe Avenue

(free and open to the public)

June 15th, 4:00 - 6:00 p.m.

• Laura Goodman Then As Now A personal essay dealing with battle fatigue/PTSD and its immediate and far-reaching effects on her father & family

• Tim Hilmer and Lara Robinson Will You Read My Story? A teacher and student reconnect after 26 years and reflect on the year that changed their lives.

July 20th, 4:00 - 6:00 p.m.

• Rachel Weaver Point of Direction A novel of nature and self-discovery

• Priscilla Stuckey A Wider Circle of Friends: How a Scholar of Religion Learned Spirituality from Trees, Animals, and Rocks, a book-in-progress, which blends memoir and environmental philosophy to explore the wide-awake world of nature and the relationships possible with many kinds of friends.

• Kate Krautkramer In the Garden A short story about the problem of being human trapped in human social systems and culture, but also being an animal interested in survival

August 17th, 4:00 - 6:00 p.m.

• Tom Gilboy Bark Mice: The Lion and the Mouse Fable Expanded Here the mice have opposable thumbs and the lion is an Irish spirit, a pooka, who is fleeing human pursuers in the contemporary US.

• Jennifer Wert Pattaya, Juarez, and San Sebastian Three short pieces exploring place and culture, Jennifer’s traveling the distance between the two, and her place in the larger world.

About the Authors

Tom Gilboy works on novels a couple of hours each morning before work, co-writes screenplays, and co-wrote and illustrated a couple of children's books. Bark Mice is in its fourth and final draft after more years than Tom cares to admit.

Laura Goodman is a Boulder-based writer of both nonfiction and fiction. Through the past thirty years her stories and short pieces have appeared in many national literary journals and anthologies, winning awards and grants along the way. She is also a freelance editor who specializes in clients working in fiction and memoir writing.

At present, Laura has two projects in the works. One is a novel. The other is a collection of personal essays which deals with battle fatigue/PTSD and its immediate and far-reaching effects on her own father and family. Her reading is an essay from this collection.

Tim Hillmer has been a teacher and mentor in the Boulder Valley School District for the past 26 years.

Lara Robinson was a 6th grade student in Tim's class during his first year of teaching in 1985-1986. She is now a working mom and writer with two children who lives in Louisville.

Lara became the basis for one of the main characters in Tim's second novel, Ravenhill (University of New Mexico Press). They are now working on a book about the powerful relationship that can occur between teacher and student.

Kate Krautkramer holds an MFA in poetics from the Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado. She has been a columnist for The Denver Post and High Country News and currently lives with her husband and children in rural, Northwest Colorado, where she teaches writing at South Routt Elementary School.

Krautkramer’s work has appeared or is forthcoming in such publications as Blue Mesa Review, Colorado Review, Creative Nonfiction, Fiction, The High Plains Literary Review, National Geographic, The New York Times, The North American Review, Zone 3, So To Speak, The Seattle Review, Mississippi Review, South Dakota Review, Front Range Review, Washington Square and Weber: The Contemporary West, as well as in the anthologies The Beacon Best and The Best American Nonrequired Reading. She has also been featured on National Public Radio’s Morning Edition and Day to Day.

Priscilla Stuckey, PhD, teaches nature spirituality in the graduate programs of Prescott College in Prescott, AZ. She is a longtime book editor and writing coach as well as an avid hiker, native plant gardener, and birdwatcher in and around her home in Boulder.

Rachel Weaver: A writer and teacher, Rachel has taught creative writing classes in a variety of settings including schools, libraries, as part of a glacier backpacking trip in Alaska, and at the Hospice Center for Grief Education. Rachel formerly worked as a wildlife biologist in Alaska studying songbirds, raptors, and black and brown bears.

Excerpts from both Nineteen-foot Tide, and Point of Direction were chosen to represent Naropa University in 2006, 2007, and 2008 in the Harcourt Brace Best New Voices in American Fiction contest. In 2006, she was awarded the Katie O’Brien Scholarship for Fiction and a position as the Writer-in-Residence at the Footpaths to Creativity Center in Portugal. Her work has appeared in The Ontario Review, Fly Fishing New England, Alaska Women Speak, Bombay Gin, The Blue Mesa Review, and is forthcoming in The Gettysburg Review. In June 2009, Rachel was awarded an honorary mention in the New Millennium Fiction Contest.

Jennifer Wert: A Boulder resident for 15 years, she works as a birth doula and yoga instructor. She is also at work on a memoir that chronicles her journey towards becoming a mother and the woman she wants to be.