Things that are needed : In which I ask for small favors.
Hello lovelies. I miss this place. If you are not friended to me on Facebook and do not yet know of my burlesque persona, please go friend me. I am Red Zorah. Burlesque has changed my life. Really. I am in love with being 40, and there is so much going on.
Bulleted For Her Pleasure:
1) I live with my girlfriend, one Jill Malone. She is a writer/accountant. She won the 2010 Lambda for Lesbian Fiction. Her blog (wherein she writes about sex, power, motherhood and...me) is here: jillmalone.com and you can buy her books here:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_1_11?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=jill+malone&sprefix=jill+malone
She has a third novel coming out in a year, called Giraffe People. Her publisher is http://bywaterbooks.com/ I recommend them all. Natch.
2) We are getting married on 8/20/11 on a rooftop in downtown Spokane. It will be as bacchanalian as one would expect from a dyke writer and a dyke burlesque queen. If you want an invite, let me know.
3) The Kid has moved out. More on this later. I am hardly coping with this adulthood thing.
4) I love my job. I still work in the same place, as a Primary Counselor, and I am precisely where I need to be.
And this brings me to The Ask:
As you may know, I work in an inpatient drug and alcohol treatment center for women with children. The women come to us with their children, or without them. If they do not have their children, they are in treatment to get their shit together so the children can be placed with them in our facility. We have about 50 women and children living with us. They stay for 6 months. We provide addiction treatment, therapeutic childcare, housing and 24/7 community to keep them safe, secure and moving forward.
You may have heard that the budget for crazy, idealistic enterprises like this is being hacked to death in the wake of War All The Time and Wall Street Ate Our Costs of Living. So we're making do.
About a month ago, a lovely young woman from Radha Yoga Center called the facility and offered to teach yoga to the women I work with. The Center was asking for a mere $50 a class, which considering we have 25 women is a steal at $2 per mama. But, like I said, treatment/children/women are not a priority in federal and state funding. In case you didn't notice - there is a war going on. Against the poor. Against poor women. So the lovely young woman appears every week like clockwork, and she deals with the women and their infants waking, their nervousness and their wonderment at this thing called yoga. For nothing. No, because she wants to give something to the planet. She is a wonderment.
In case you are a utilitarian, know that our program actually saves the state a lot of money. Six months of intensive treatment is a lot cheaper than foster care. A child in the foster care system costs the state 1 million dollars (according to a judge I have appeared before) and we are merely thousands. We take kids out of the system and make their mothers capable. (Or they fail and the children become adoptable, either way, it's a bargain in both human and economic terms.) It truly is one of those win/win rarities.
So. The Ask. My women need yoga mats. And journals. Journaling is the world's best and cheapest therapy. And my women have a lot of stories to write. You would never believe what I've heard. Oprah would never believe what I've heard.
So if you are in possession (as I was) of a yoga mat bought in great anticipation of being used daily for your well-being and serenity, but who lives in a corner because you (like me) never got around to actually doing yoga - can we have it?
If you have a journal you intended to use to write in, but never did - can we have it?
It really will make all the difference. It really is the little things.
And also. If you are going to make good on your intention to take Yoga classes. Please take them at Radha Yoga Center. They are benevolent souls who loan us their teacher. And she is a benevolent soul teaching yoga to women who, most days, are just trying to survive.
Message me if you have something to give. And if you do end up taking yoga classes in Spokane, Washington (it's good for your soul!) consider taking them at Radha. ( ) And while you are there, tell them that you are grateful for what they do for women and children in treatment.
Bulleted For Her Pleasure:
1) I live with my girlfriend, one Jill Malone. She is a writer/accountant. She won the 2010 Lambda for Lesbian Fiction. Her blog (wherein she writes about sex, power, motherhood and...me) is here: jillmalone.com and you can buy her books here:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_1_11?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=jill+malone&sprefix=jill+malone
She has a third novel coming out in a year, called Giraffe People. Her publisher is http://bywaterbooks.com/ I recommend them all. Natch.
2) We are getting married on 8/20/11 on a rooftop in downtown Spokane. It will be as bacchanalian as one would expect from a dyke writer and a dyke burlesque queen. If you want an invite, let me know.
3) The Kid has moved out. More on this later. I am hardly coping with this adulthood thing.
4) I love my job. I still work in the same place, as a Primary Counselor, and I am precisely where I need to be.
And this brings me to The Ask:
As you may know, I work in an inpatient drug and alcohol treatment center for women with children. The women come to us with their children, or without them. If they do not have their children, they are in treatment to get their shit together so the children can be placed with them in our facility. We have about 50 women and children living with us. They stay for 6 months. We provide addiction treatment, therapeutic childcare, housing and 24/7 community to keep them safe, secure and moving forward.
You may have heard that the budget for crazy, idealistic enterprises like this is being hacked to death in the wake of War All The Time and Wall Street Ate Our Costs of Living. So we're making do.
About a month ago, a lovely young woman from Radha Yoga Center called the facility and offered to teach yoga to the women I work with. The Center was asking for a mere $50 a class, which considering we have 25 women is a steal at $2 per mama. But, like I said, treatment/children/women are not a priority in federal and state funding. In case you didn't notice - there is a war going on. Against the poor. Against poor women. So the lovely young woman appears every week like clockwork, and she deals with the women and their infants waking, their nervousness and their wonderment at this thing called yoga. For nothing. No, because she wants to give something to the planet. She is a wonderment.
In case you are a utilitarian, know that our program actually saves the state a lot of money. Six months of intensive treatment is a lot cheaper than foster care. A child in the foster care system costs the state 1 million dollars (according to a judge I have appeared before) and we are merely thousands. We take kids out of the system and make their mothers capable. (Or they fail and the children become adoptable, either way, it's a bargain in both human and economic terms.) It truly is one of those win/win rarities.
So. The Ask. My women need yoga mats. And journals. Journaling is the world's best and cheapest therapy. And my women have a lot of stories to write. You would never believe what I've heard. Oprah would never believe what I've heard.
So if you are in possession (as I was) of a yoga mat bought in great anticipation of being used daily for your well-being and serenity, but who lives in a corner because you (like me) never got around to actually doing yoga - can we have it?
If you have a journal you intended to use to write in, but never did - can we have it?
It really will make all the difference. It really is the little things.
And also. If you are going to make good on your intention to take Yoga classes. Please take them at Radha Yoga Center. They are benevolent souls who loan us their teacher. And she is a benevolent soul teaching yoga to women who, most days, are just trying to survive.
Message me if you have something to give. And if you do end up taking yoga classes in Spokane, Washington (it's good for your soul!) consider taking them at Radha. ( ) And while you are there, tell them that you are grateful for what they do for women and children in treatment.