2013-05-23T05:39:02-04:00 Ellen Snortland http://www.huffingtonpost.com/author/index.php?author=ellen-snortland Copyright 2008, HuffingtonPost.com, Inc. HuffingtonPost Blogger Feed for Ellen Snortland Good old fashioned elbow grease. tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.2898500 2013-03-21T17:17:59-04:00 2013-05-21T05:12:01-04:00

Ellen Snortland http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ellen-snortland/
When friend Carol Franzblau, newly transplanted from the East Coast, mentioned that her dear friend, Mary Johnson, had written a revealing book about her time as a sister of the Missionaries of Charity, my anti-Mother Teresa radar clicked on. During Women's History Month, Johnson, who joined Mother Teresa's order in 1979, is on her national tour to promote the paperback version of her book, An Unquenchable Thirst.

Mary Johnson's book tour itself should be a Women's History Month event. After reading her beautifully written memoir, I picture her as a singularly iconic, nerves-of-steel young woman, much like that man in Tiananmen Square facing off with a communist Chinese army tank. Only in this instance, Johnson confronts the spiritual, materialistic and male-dominated "tank" that is the Catholic Church.

In her book, Johnson reminds us of the power of the national press. As a high school student in 1975, she saw Mother Teresa's picture on the cover of Time magazine. That was it for the youngster from Texas. Her spirit burned for a life of service to the poor, and she would have it, despite her family's less than enthusiastic support of her dreams.

An Unquenchable Thirst is a compelling, unflinching look inside a sister's heart, as well as some of the houses within the constellation of Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity. There's so much I loved about Johnson's memoir, which could have been a genuflect and tell (as opposed to a kiss and tell), but instead is primarily an authentic search for Johnson's soul, not one bound and beaten by ritual, although there are actual bindings and self-beatings described in this book.

I found it fascinating that one of Johnson's paths to her true voice came through the good old 12-Step process. Gloria Steinem, the closest icon we have to a "saint" within the women's movement, has said for decades that she'd like to see the movement toward gender equality be run like the 12-Step programs developed so many years ago by Bill W. and his wife, Lois. At their core, the 12 Steps are about full human self-expression and liberation from compulsive behavior -- the exact opposite of strict Catholic doctrine, as practiced by Mother Teresa.

I had a chance to speak with Johnson while writing this column. I asked her, "What do you wish people would ask you in interviews, but don't?"

Johnson said she truly wished her experience would lead to a serious public conversation about celibacy and the impact that vows of chastity have on church leadership. Although some people will bring up this issue in conversation, she'd like to see more of it and be part of it. She's truly an expert at what it's like to have repressed sexual longings, which manifest themselves in ways both sacred and profane.

What a year it's been for Catholicism. My husband and I had just watched one of the best documentaries we've ever seen, HBO's Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God, a scathing expose centering on sexual assaults by priests at a school for the deaf, and two days later Pope Benedict XVI announced his resignation. It's likely that the release of this truly astounding film was a major factor in his announcement. The former Cardinal Ratzinger's fingerprints are all over the files of priests who, for decades, raped their way through boys' and girls' dorms in parochial schools all over the world. Johnson has a lot to contribute to a public discourse about the role of religion and liberation.

If you liked Jon Krakauer's Under the Banner of Heaven, you'll also enjoy An Unquenchable Thirst. It's like watching a quiet religious political thriller. "Will she leave the Missionaries of Charity? Will she make it out, spirit intact? Will she come out and tell everyone what happened?"

Thankfully, after 20 years inside the MC order, Johnson did make it out and does tell us what happened with great beauty and generosity of spirit. Welcome home, Mary.

(NOTE: This article appears in a slightly altered form in the March 14th issue of the Pasadena Weekly, for which it was written.)]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.2876895 2013-03-15T18:12:15-04:00 2013-05-15T05:12:01-04:00

Ellen Snortland http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ellen-snortland/ Complete, a new play written by Andrea Kuchlewska, directed by Jennifer Chambers and having its West Coast premiere at the Matrix Theatre in Los Angeles, left me -- ironically enough -- with the experience of being "ambivalent and incomplete" which may be a more apt title for this play. Billed as a "fast-paced comedy," the play explores linguistics, blind faith and a controversial enlightenment program developed early in the 1970s called "est". While the playwright doesn't name "est" specifically in the play itself, the program and supporting materials makes no bones that she's really talking about it.

Let me lay a few biases on the table up front: I appreciate rigor in language, as I have earned my Juris Doctorate and passed the California Bar Exam. I'm also a theater person, having run my own theater company for several years. And I'm a humorist, committed to getting more women's stories onto stage and screen. Both Gloria Steinem and Werner Erhard, the creator of "est" have been major influences in my life. (I was an "early adopter" to both radical feminism and est.) Steinem and Erhard both became punching bags in the mainstream media, I believe for reasons beyond the scope of this review. In my own memoir solo play, Now That She's Gone, I say, "I must face my cowardice daily to stand up for both of them. But if I can't stand up for two leaders I love just in case people won't like me, how would I have been in Anne Frank's time when the consequences were life and death, not just bad opinions?"

Complete is written beautifully, with lots of fascinating threads weaving in and out, as well as masterfully directed with a deft hand, but the pattern that emerges from the tapestry is wonky, confusing and not comedic. In fact there's little sense of humor in it all, taking itself WAY too seriously.

The protagonist, Eve, played by Meredith Bishop, comes off as someone who has severe issues that are possibly related to either undiagnosed Asperger's Syndrome, PTSD from childhood sexual abuse and/or merely someone with a truly wretched personality. Who knows? Whatever the cause, she's not funny. No one in the audience was laughing at or with this hot mess of a human being.

I really wanted to care about Eve but just couldn't, even though I admired Bishop for her portrayal of a deeply flawed character. I ended up rooting for Micah, played by Scott Kruse. Micah is Eve's colleague and companion in their shared graduate program in linguistics. Kruse's Micah is believable as a geeky guy, overwhelmed by stage fright, who wants to grow and happens to be smitten by Eve. If I were friends with Micah in real life, I'd be tempted to take him aside and say, "Run! This woman is NUTS! She needs serious therapy." In classic storytelling parlance, Eve's character has virtually no arc, where Micah's character does. Eve only goes from bad to worse.

There's a Zen saying: "You become that which you resist." Eve rants about her terrible experience with The Program, which she took as a child, then again when she was 16, and finally as an undergraduate while researching a paper for her degree in linguistics. She comes away from the 3rd experience with a severe case of "backlash." She's disgusted with the jargon of the program and its damaging misuse of the word "create," which she at core blames for her life being screwed up -- all the while using most of the language and syntax of the program. I felt badly for her, but at the same time put off. She admits she thinks people need to do the program because they are so screwed up. She is insufferable, and gloms onto her personal view of virtually everything as "the answer," all the while deriding graduates of The Program for the very same rigidity which she has in spades.

Then, since Micah's sister "witnesses" that The Program transformed her life, Micah sneaks off to participate in it, unbeknownst to Eve. He then becomes the more sympathetic character and more of a mensch after the program. He's far more relatable. It's hard for me to imagine someone buying Eve's point-of-view unless they already have a negative experience of est, in which case, she'd buoy up their pre-existing opinion.

The other cast members are more or less "stock" characters; Evie, played by Tess Oswalt, is the young version of Eve and plays a one-girl Greek Chorus commenting and furthering the story of Eve. Ostensibly, an important part of "Complete" is the damage that can be done to children when they grow up within a linguistically rigid, jargon fraught "fringe" sub-culture. While a fascinating topic, that wasn't an obvious through-line in the production. Maybe another play at another time? Jack, played by Scott Victor Nelson, is the all-purpose, somewhat compassionate, somewhat smarmy "program leader." Nelson hit some good notes but was fulfilling a more or less cartoonish role.

It's tempting as a reviewer to rue the play that "could have been," especially when there's so much talent, passion and energy in the production. I am afraid that the focus on the misuse of the word "create" missed a few larger issues. Let me back up for a second.

In real life, there were definitely jerks who did the training who went out proclaiming, "I can create parking spaces!" to which I remember Werner Erhard saying, "Really? Let's see you create one right here. Go ahead. No parking space? Try creating 'no gravity' then. Doesn't work, does it?" Another set of socially inept people used their two weekend est experience to enhance the already obnoxious character they entered the training with. I also remember people getting upset -- and well they should have -- when these same yahoos would say, "The Jews created the Holocaust." I was deeply offended by that myself.

And I'm an old "est-hole," meaning that I was one of those enthusiastic "You gotta do this! It transformed my life!" people.

The deeper, and I think more profound, question lies with the difference between blame and responsibility. What so many people came away from the est experience with: the choice between blaming very real circumstances or people for the way one's life has turned out vs. accepting responsibility for determining the course of one's life from that moment forward.

What is it that causes one person to be in a concentration camp and come out as one of the most important philosphers of our time -- like Viktor Frankl, author of Man's Search for Meaning? -- while another comes out (understandably so) with a life completely enmeshed in bitterness and hatred? What is that altruistic element that has Eve's mother, a survivor of a homicidal, violent husband, decide to do whatever she can to have her daughter NOT have to experience what she did, as opposed to giving up and living a life of self-medicating with food, booze or drugs? Dare I say it? Frankl and Eve's mother had an existential "choice" to be responsible for how they would go forward, even with unspeakable horror in their pasts.

I have witnessed innumerable people within est coming to similar epiphanies and living fulfilling, powerful lives: "I can live my life at the effect of (fill in the blank), or this particular (name tragic event here)" or "I can live a life that I create that's useful and of service." Is it a panacea for EVERYTHING in the world? No. But it does require a certain facility with paradox, and that facility with paradox is what I see as a huge missing piece in "Complete," which makes me hope that it's a work in progress and not literally complete.

NOTE: You can see production photographs by clicking here]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.2296117 2012-12-18T17:23:23-05:00 2013-02-17T05:12:01-05:00

Ellen Snortland http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ellen-snortland/
Jane: The Woman Who Loved Tarzan by Robin Maxwell

Tarzan has never been so satisfying, and so yummy, as he is now in Robin Maxwell's stunningly good new novel, Jane: The Woman Who Loved Tarzan. The Edgar Rice Burroughs' estate, notoriously guarded and careful about copyright issues, granted Ms. Maxwell permission -- and their blessings -- to finally tell the Tarzan story from Jane's point of view. Wow! An obvious idea, right? Not really. The Tarzan epic from faithful Jane's point of view was, excuse the expression, a novel idea that had not been thought of before. Not only that, "Jane" is the only book in the century-spanning Tarzan pantheon written by a woman. Auspiciously, Maxwell's idea to tell Jane's story was just in time to coincide with the 100th anniversary of Tarzan's swinging into popular culture in 1912.

Although I'm a friend of the author, I would never plug a book if I didn't love it. Indeed, I have so many author friends it's often scary to read a friend's work. What if it sucks? Big sigh of relief: not only did Jane not suck, it pleased and delighted me, page after page. In the most cliché line about a book ever, I couldn't put it down. Really. Everything works: the characters are iconic, yet drawn with such love and care you could be completely ignorant of the classic Jane and Tarzan story and still fall in love with these two. Plus, the period details are spot-on. The timeframe is the transition between the Victorian and Edwardian eras, where women in England and the United States were pressing for the vote and equal access to education. Jane Porter is the emblematic young woman who is striving to be educated at the same level as a young man of her station.

Maxwell is an established and well-loved author of historical fiction focused on fascinating and influential women: Queen Elizabeth the 1st, the Pirate O'Malley, Da Vinci's mother... characters and subjects that provide a vein of under-explored and unexcavated literary and historical gold. Her research is always deep and rich, giving readers the experience of what it must have been like to walk in the shoes of our historical foremothers.

Imagine then the challenge of researching Jane Porter, Tarzan's Jane, as if she were an actual person. Maxwell did a sublime job of giving the reader a glimpse into a highly structured English society that did not openly smile upon "uppity" women. However, as is often the case with determined and driven girls and women, there's a strong man behind them. In this case, that man is Archie, Jane's father, who propels both Jane and the story.

I rarely re-read contemporary novels. But Jane, like a sumptuous meal, is so satisfying on so many levels -- story, characters, history and a view of women's role in society -- that I have gladly gone back for seconds. I can't recommend Jane highly enough. This is a must-read and must-buy for any and all book lovers this season.

The Spy Lover by Kiana Davenport
I have to admit that, when I first received a review copy of The Spy Lover, I was put off: The title and cover suggest a bodice-ripping, muscle-bound, torrid romance novel. Hey, I like trashy novels as much as the next person but I was not in the mood. Nonetheless, I picked it up and was swept away by such a great story told with such beautiful prose I am now hoping that The Spy Lover will be picked up by either Ang Lee or Steven Spielberg.

Author Kiana Davenport is a brilliant writer and researcher. Basing The Spy Lover on her ancestors from the American South and global East, the story is a mash-up of cultures and values that are mind-boggling in their complexity. For instance, the protagonist, Johnny Tom, is a desperately poor Chinese immigrant who manages to escape the cruel and inhumane peasant conditions of mid-19th century China, only to encounter a different type of cruelty and inhumanity in the United States during the Civil War.

The Spy Lover takes the incredibly difficult and generalized topics of race, gender, slavery and war and artfully weaves them into a specific story: the personal heartbreak in Johnny Tom's search for his wife and daughter. His daughter, Era -- a character who could have had her own novel -- is Chinese from her father, and Native American from her mother. Kidnapped and thrust into the war, she is a nurse in Confederate hospitals working undercover for the Union where she falls in love with a Confederate officer, Warren Petticomb.

Davenport is genius at capturing complex times and complications of the heart. It's been a long time since I cried reading a novel, and that happened several times while reading The Spy Lover. How I longed for Johnny to find his family. How I rooted for Era to get out of the war and away with her beloved "enemy" officer. As in any complex work of fiction, I couldn't wait to finish the story but grieved when it ended. That's exactly how I felt when I finished reading Gone With the Wind so many years ago.

If you need a holiday escape from overbearing relatives this season, or just want to spend time in a different world, read Jane and The Spy Lover!]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.1885153 2012-09-14T15:25:35-04:00 2012-11-14T05:12:01-05:00

Ellen Snortland http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ellen-snortland/ Think globally, act locally

Walmart, America's most notorious corporate colonizer, is now reaching its predatory tentacles into Altadena, our idyllic little foothill community that rests next to Pasadena. The Kudzu of retailers, Walmart is dangerous for local merchants. You can use Altadena as a model for other smaller cities as Walmart preys on communities all over the world.

Take a sniff. Do you smell the sulfurous scent of rotten eggs? That is the smell of Walmart greed. I have been a global and local human rights activist for decades, primarily through women's rights organizations and the UN system, and I recognize a local imperialist take-over when I see one. Boycotting and "girlcotting" Walmart is a perfect example of thinking globally and acting locally to preserve and protect humanitarian local values.

Most people know the word "boycott" is refusal to patronize an existing business. I suggest that we girlcott, a word I'll coin to indicate that we pro-actively stop Walmart's encroachment before they get here, so we won't need to boycott them once they are here.

My biases are clear. I'm an Altadenan and I hail from South Dakota, so I'm a Midwesterner through and through. I'm squarely in the camp of supporting my local merchants, and I'm anti-sexist, anti-exploitation, pro-union and appalled that Altadena been targeted for not one, but two Walmart Neighborhood Grocery stores!

It's not too late to stop them, but we must not succumb to apathy and resignation.

As I was researching this piece, I visited the Walmart website to see what one goes through to apply for a job. Given their infamous track record in sex discrimination, documented lower wages and systemic glass ceilings for females, imagine my amusement at the following boilerplate statement: "We do not discriminate against qualified applicants based upon any protected group status, including but not limited to race, color, creed, religion, sex (except where it is a bona fide occupational qualification)..." blah, blah, blah, and I'm pondering what exactly is a "bona fide occupational qualification" based on gender? Child bearing?

As the late Florynce Kennedy -- fellow woman's rights activist and professional smartass -- so aptly said, "There are very few jobs that actually require a penis or vagina. All other jobs should be open to everybody." So does this mean Walmart will be selling babies born on the premises? But I digress.

There are so many reasons for being against Walmart; see what your particular favorite is and take any number of the actions I'm going to list at the bottom of this column.

Job Creation -- Are you in favor of jobs for local people? Me too! There are, however, gullible people who are excited about Walmart opening a Neighborhood Store because Walmart will supposedly be creating local jobs. WRONG!! In fact, Walmart's presence will decrease employment. How? First of all, Walmart refuses to commit to employing local people. That means they will -- and do -- hire anyone they please, no matter where they live. In addition, Walmart's predatory pricing will inevitably destroy competing small local businesses, which means that people will LOSE their jobs when Walmart sinks its claws into the neighborhood.

Anti-blight -- Uninformed people think, "Yeah, there's development happening with a new Walmart store!" While one corner of a blighted area may get upgraded, consider that awful "ghost town" look when small local businesses are forced to shut their doors.

Lower Costs -- When you go for cheaper short-term prices, the long-term effect is just the opposite. A large corporation like Walmart can afford to have ridiculously low prices until it has driven out the competition. When that happens -- as it always does -- then Walmart will raise its prices. Do you love your local Ma and Pa gift store? In Altadena, that's Webster's Fine Stationers. Everyone has their own favorites. Love your local pharmacy where they know your name? You can kiss all that goodbye if Walmart comes in.

Are you against genetically modified organisms? Are you against slave labor and sweatshop conditions overseas? Are you pro-union? If so, you are anti-Walmart, whether you know it or not.

A brilliant way to take a local action that makes a global difference is to take a stand against Walmart, whether you live in Pasadena, Iowa or North Dakota. This is one instance where being a NIMBY can make a difference! (NIMBY means "Not In My Back Yard.")

Actions to take
• Sign a no "Big Box Store" petition being circulated by www.savealtadena.com. If you don't live in this area, consider a petition based on zoning ordinances in your own community.

• Contact "Neighbors Building a Better Altadena" (NBBA) by calling 626-344-7806 or email: nicomo@sbcglobal.net and ask for info. No matter where you are, consider hosting a screening in your church, home or place of business of the truly scathing and accurate documentary produced by Robert Greenwald, "Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price" which addresses Walmart's highly negative personal, local and global impact.

Organize, don't agonize! Get your neighbors out and about, protecting their own long-term interests!

Finally, girlcotts are more impactful than boycotts! An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure. Don't let Walmart infect Altadena or your community in the first place.]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.1220605 2012-01-27T22:15:17-05:00 2012-03-28T05:12:02-04:00

Ellen Snortland http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ellen-snortland/
Sorry to bring up a touchy subject as we kick off a new year -- oh, wait... no, I'm not! As the warmth of the holidays fades and winter deepens, many of us take time to reflect on, and even attempt to change, unhealthy behavior. To further the discussion, I began this column with the word I'd like to explore: "Sorry." Are you really sorry when you say you're sorry, or are you big enough to actually apologize only when a real apology is due? Are you compulsively apologizing or compulsively anti-apology?

On one extreme of the apology spectrum, I have witnessed far too many women in self-defense classes who, even as they kick or strike the padded mock assailant, say, "Sorry." Please understand these women have paid their hard-earned money to learn how to defend themselves verbally and physically, have allocated significant time from their busy lives to do so, and the first word that pops from their mouths is "Sorry." Compulsively. Habitually. Reflexively.

It takes the instructors' time and energy to have the women stop their automatic and unthinking "sorry" and replace it with something more appropriate, like "Stop," "Back away," or "No!" Hone your listening skills after reading this column and notice how many times you hear mostly women say "Sorry," often inappropriately. It's as if their brains have been programmed to apologize for existing, a neural pathway forged from the mistaken belief that the way to get by in life is to be suppliant. SORRY!

Conversely, on the other side of the "Unhealthy Apology Scale" are the typical alpha males who refuse to apologize, despite having been caught red-handed at doing something damaging to themselves, their wives and family, fans, shareholders or constituencies. Can you guess any of the personalities I'm referring to? The men with their pants down around their ankles? We've seen less than stellar examples from religious patriarchs, political men on both sides of the political spectrum, disgraced CEOs, celebrities and sports figures.

Emblematic of the alpha male creed to never apologize is the almost always male-helmed corporation, which (not who) issues a faux apology for face-saving reasons in a ruse to look good. "Hey, what's everyone fussing about? We APOLOGIZED, didn't we?" Not really.

A recent local example is the phony-baloney apology letter that Ron Litzinger, president of Southern California Edison, sent out in what is most likely a CYA (Cover Your Ass) move after Edison's dismal response to the windstorms that hit the San Gabriel Valley last month. As Altadena residents, we waited for five days to have our power restored. In the scope of the universe, five days without electricity is not even a blip on the screen of horrific problems. However, in the realm of foreseeability -- a key word in determining negligence in tort law -- gee whiz, who could possibly foresee a disaster hitting Southern California!?

Sarcasm aside, if the windstorm power debacle is any indication of how SCE will handle outages from fires, earthquakes or mudslides, everyone had better follow Litzinger's advice to prepare for natural disasters. Mr. Litzinger says in his letter, "We would like to apologize for your inconvenience and thank you for your patience and understanding during this significant event." He would "like to," but doesn't really.

A true apology is one given without excuses for why it happened, followed up with a request that the aggrieved party let the guilty party know what can make them whole, that takes specific actions to ensure the event never happens again.

Obviously, SCE can't promise to prevent a weather occurrence, a.k.a. "Act Of God," but it can certainly make promises that are specific, beyond recommending that we prepare for disasters. Good advice, yes, but not advice I need from my power company.

In my personal life, I recently truly screwed up and had to apologize. I won't be specific, because the "wronged" party hasn't given me permission to share our story. I agreed to do something for someone. They'd already paid for it. I didn't do it. It was that simple. Now, the truth is that I had a problem with my computer and calendar software that was real; I didn't make that up, and it was the direct cause of my screw up. But it doesn't matter. The person who was expecting my services didn't get them. I longed to give them my story, so they wouldn't be as upset. But I was determined instead to practice the true apology: "I didn't deliver and I am sorry. I take full responsibility for what happened. What can I do to make it up to you? I'll never do it again." Done.

As was the person's right, they opted to not use my services again, and that's their right. I paid for my mistake. End of story.

As corny as it sounds, one of my New Year's resolutions is to stop saying a "sorry" that's empty, apologize fully when it's appropriate and to do my part to shift our culture of meaningless or non-existent apologies. Anyone else up for that?

Note: This post appears both here and in my column in the Jan. 19, 2012 issue of the Pasadena Weekly, for which it was written.]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.926072 2011-09-01T17:35:09-04:00 2011-11-01T05:12:01-04:00

Ellen Snortland http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ellen-snortland/ Edinburgh, Scotland -- Rain has dampened some of the outrageousness of the tone and mood of the festivities of the Fringe Festival here in Edinburgh. The folks who have done this for years say they don't remember ever having had this much rain. There's as much talk of the weather as there is of the theater right now.

Knowing there was another theater production from Pasadena, CA, we braved the crowds that emerged in a brief respite from the rain and found Paradise in Augustine's, Venue 152, which is where The Presentment plays here through August 29, 2011. Written and directed by D. Paul Thomas, I mused about just how far same-sex themes have come in 5 or 10 years. Was I really thinking, "ho hum, another 'coming-out' play?" Whoa! Hey, I can't help those errant thoughts that waft through my head. But really, ground-breaking revelations about one's sexuality were once thought to be shocking and daring and new... well, at least in California we are used to people coming out of the closet, and out of the wings of theaters. And looking at The Presentment cast photo, there again was that all-too-typical female low employment casting ratio in evidence: 2 women, 4 men. Another thought entered my mind: "yet another writer who unconsciously or consciously finds women less important than men."

So let's just say that my frame of mind was not super-open when we sat down to watch The Presentment. How lovely to be taken in and swept away by theater, despite skepticism, and thus the magic of theater through The Presentment sent my petty thoughts scurrying. I highly recommend The Presentment although I suspect that its audiences will be mostly comprised of people open to the message. How I would love this show to play throughout areas that aren't "the choir" but rather the persecutors and haters of those who are different.

The promotional materials for the Hollywood Hills Production of The Presentment say "family, faith and the challenging choices of love..." which is accurate, but I would add the death throes of familial and institutional patriarchy and the high cost of alcohol abuse are themes that are just as important in The Presentment, even if not underlined.

The Jennings family, headed up by Rev. Samuel Jennings (D. Paul Thomas) is in trouble largely because they are blind to their own addictions, whether that's alcohol or white straight male domination by default. The Rev. Jennings has lost his pastoral position because he's a drunk and, as far as I could tell, Eleanor Jennings (Mary Chalon) his steadfast wife of 40 years also has a severe drinking problem.

Eleanor and Samuel decide to stay overnight at Michael and Rebecca Jenning's apartment overlooking Central Park. The action takes place on the eve of the heresy trial (a.k.a. "the presentment") that's convened to defrock the Rev. David Thomas (Gary Clemmer) for presiding over same-sex marriages within the church. Rev. Thomas is gay, but the church is going after him by accusing him of not only unauthorized same-sex unions but being a non-celibate gay man; the celibate loophole would allow him to stay frocked.

Eleanor and Samuel's son Michael Jennings (Nathan Wetherington) is apparently an alcoholic and unemployed. Michael's wife Rebecca, (Nicole Gabriella Scipione) is pregnant and also the bread-winner in the family. I kept wondering why the heck, if they can afford to live in a $3,000,000 Central Park view apartment with at least 3 bedrooms, is Rebecca donning her apron, cleaning up, preparing meals and behaving very much like a 50s housewife? She must be exhausted! Michael apparently does nothing other than drink and be an unemployed actor... and therein lies an entirely different drama which niggled at me throughout. Perfect wife/saint stereotype aside, Rebecca is liberated enough to be the only voice in The Presentment who suggests that maybe God might be a "she," is well aware of sex discrimination in the workplace, and is pro-inclusion. Very progressive thinking from someone who is as retro as she is, and a relief for me as an audience member to have the "when God was a woman" point of view at least nodded to.

The plot involves hidden homosexuality within the Jennings family and not wanting to be a "spoiler," let me just say that it's heartbreaking and understandable why the Jennings want to drown their sorrows in booze. Sharing their posh Central Park view apartment is the former organist of Rev. Jenning's parish, Jonathan Malone (Preston Vanderslice), an openly gay man who is tired of pretending and placating. He's very sick. He's also a long-standing friend of the entire Jennings family, having not only played the organ at the church but being a part of the family, literally and figuratively.

The play is as strong as the cast. Rev. Jennings is the kind of man who turned me off to organized religion years ago; bombastic, blind and in love with his own voice, he's the kind of character we love to hate. I would definitely join Rev. Thomas congregation, not a Jennings parish. However, the character I was most rooting for, and am grateful to the playwright for creating, is the dutiful pastor's wife beautifully played by Mary Chalon. When I was growing up, it was often the pastor's wife who humanized the church experience for me. That role, "pastor's wife," was often taken for granted, under-appreciated and integral to a successful congregation. Now, thank goodness, pastor's wives can become pastors themselves. In The Presentment it is Eleanor who finally provides the moral compass for the Jennings family to stop lying, and for her husband, the Rev. Jennings to possibly get off his high horse as prosecutor of the Rev. Thomas. She not only tells him off and threatens to leave him but, at one point, hauls off and slaps him. Who but the priest's wife knows just how utterly human a priest is?

This production is really good; kudos to producers Margaret Sedenquist and Deborah Thomas. And wow: D. Paul Thomas, playwright, director and star! If I were him, I'd write this play for myself, although he didn't play the Rev. Samuel Jennings in the original production at the Pasadena Playhouse. All the cast is really strong. (Hey, D. Paul! How about a spin-off for Rebecca and Eleanor?)

My greatest hope is that The Presentment has a life outside Pasadena or Edinburgh. Small towns need to see locally grown productions of this show, a kind of ecclesiastical Laramie Project, Long Day's Journey into Night, Boys in the Band -- or in this case, Boys in the Choir and Sacristy. The days where white straight men tell us all who God is, or isn't, are hopefully screeching to a halt. This is also a time where fundamentalism and strict orthodoxy will get nastiest. So women, gay folks, people of color and everyone else who has been systematically excluded from formal religion: strap in, because it's gonna be a rough flight... but well worth the trip.

Meanwhile, my show, Now That She's Gone, a romp through sex, drugs and Eleanor Roosevelt, continues at the Assembly Hall, Baillie Room, 5:30 p.m. daily. We'd love to see you there!]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.920069 2011-08-08T16:45:35-04:00 2011-10-08T05:12:02-04:00

Ellen Snortland http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ellen-snortland/ Edinburgh Fringe Festival every August. It's hard to describe the joyful mayhem of tens of thousands of people packed into the glorious streets, lined with one more architecturally beautiful building after another. The smells of sausage and beer waft by and sometimes the more ripened body odor of some the UK's teen males does, too. The offerings, ranging from stand-up to musicals and everything in between, range in the thousands and are spread over 238 venues. Over 600 shows are free. Because of the sheer numbers involved, picking a play can be daunting. Heck, promoting one can be crazy. I know because I'm here performing a solo show I wrote about my odd-duck mother, called "Now That She's Gone."

But right now I want to talk about another play which has made me happier than almost any theater piece I can think of in years: TheatreM's production of "Commencement." The show, written by Brent Boyd, is directed by Anne Scarbrough and Doug Lowry, and the cast is made up of extremely talented young women from Marlborough School in Los Angeles, CA. In the interest of full disclosure, I am distantly "related" to the cast, crew and director. My connection? I'm on the board of directors for IMPACT Personal Safety, Los Angeles, a 501 c3 that provides full force full impact self-defense classes at Marlborough.

I love the theater and have been in it since I was 15, doing everything there is to do: acting, directing, producing, writing, designing and reviewing. I am also a co-founder of the first all woman theater company in the U.S., the now defunct "Theater of Process" in Santa Barbara, CA, which had to finally integrate itself with men since there were only so many productions of Lorca's "The House of Bernarda Alba" we could do. So I'm not only conversant but experienced in what it takes to create theater, including theater featuring women and girls.

This world premiere production of "Commencement" here in Edinburgh touched, moved and inspired me to laughter, tears and the simple joy of seeing real people do real theater about real issues. The girls are talented, committed, and having fun every step of the way. (Sadly, there were no programs at the performance we attended, but the ensemble was so large and so good it would be very difficult to write about each actor.) Directors Scarbrough and Lowry have directed a large cast into a seamless tapestry of intrigue, wicked comedy, tragedy and a hearty dose of revenge, giving the thought-provoking and gleefully agile script by Mr. Boyd its proper wings.

I have often thought that women's psyches would benefit from having a larger menu of revenge fantasies on stage and screen. When men get even with other men or women, it's often called "payback"; when women and girls strike back, it's often called "man-bashing." So? There are some men who deserve to get bashed, and not in a fun way either. "Commencement" makes the bashing of CEOs into an over-achievers' extra-credit project, except it's not. It also takes on a major theme of the second wave of the feminist movement: the personal IS the political.

Basically, the character of Ms. Green is a popular teacher who exhorts her senior-class students to take responsible social and political stands to make a difference in the world: Think Global, Act Local. (Isn't it "Think Globally, Act Locally"? That was the only thing that bugged me during the whole production.) The students take her guidance to an extreme degree and kidnap the commencement speaker who is the head of Heartwell Industries, a enormous Halliburton /ADM / Raytheon mashup: a multi-national conglomerate known to run private "black ops" prisons that use torture, and commit industrial and environmental crimes galore in all sectors of mining, manufacture, agriculture ... you get the idea.

Without giving away too much of the plot, let's just say Ms. Green is appalled at the discovery of what her students have done, but then - when the CEO's misdeeds get more local and heinous (think Dominique Strauss-Kahn here) - she goes native and joins her students. She wasn't personally enraged by the magnitude of global atrocities committed by this man, but like Louise in "Thelma & Louise," she took matters very much to heart when one of her girls was threatened, locally.

What fun to see the girls play men and boys. Traditionally, most people don't think twice about seeing men play women and girls; indeed theater history is rife with that very convention since women were not allowed on stage for centuries. What's good for the gander is definitely good for the geese in "Commencement." Their drag versions of amoral bean counters in "risk analysis" meetings is great fun, as is the musing of a father whose daughter is losing her lungs, and their beautiful wilderness as well, as he watches their mountaintops wiped out by Heartwell strip-mining. The leads are all delightful and as far-fetched as some of it is, it has the ring of truth. You go, girls! Be prepared to have that delightful feeling of schadenfreude; there's nothing else quite like it.

"Commencement" is a testament to the adage that girls just wanna have fun... but they also wanna get some back too, just like the boys do.

Go see this! If you're in Edinburgh for the Fringe Festival, it's playing at the C Venues through August 20, at 1:30 (no show on August 15.) Warning: may not be suitable for scum-sucking, child-exploiting, earth destroying, misogynistic, rapist, pedophilic capitalists. Oh yeah, and come see my show too; Assembly Hall, Baillie Room, 5:30 pm daily through August 28. There, I just helped you pick two great shows in Edinburgh!]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.846845 2011-04-11T14:35:11-04:00 2011-06-11T05:12:01-04:00

Ellen Snortland http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ellen-snortland/ Townloop is one of a handful of new technologies for everyone's benefit.

"Green" thinking is now a part of our collective consciousness, and the new Internet phenomenon of "social commerce" is in full flower. Many of us have signed up for Groupon, LivingSocial, HomeRun or some sort of Internet-based discount provider, right? Tada! I'm here to introduce you to coupon/discount Internet group that can help you be green, community-minded and save money, too. Drum roll, please ... enter Townloop -- a new player in the social media Internet discount universe.

Let me back up and share how I discovered Townloop. As an ardent supporter of personal safety education, I teach self-defense through the nonprofit IMPACT Personal Safety. I'm a board member and a kids' class instructor. I'm often appalled at how few people know about us, and when the kids who take our classes "graduate," the parents and the kids -- without any prompting -- declare how important the class is. Normal advertising is prohibitive for us as a new nonprofit and, while we do OK with word of mouth, we need to be more visible to more parents.

So it was a bit of a no-brainer to tell my colleagues at IMPACT I would get us onto Groupon, or KGBdeals, or one of the biggies. Ha! Are you kidding? After emailing, calling, etc., I just could not reach anyone. Nothing. So frustrating. I finally went to Facebook and put this in my status update: "Hey, does anyone in my circle know an ACTUAL person I could reach at Groupon or a service like that?"

The comments reflected my own experience. Terrible merchant interface; no response possible. Until someone piped up with an actual name and number of a person involved with Townloop. Within minutes, I was in communication with an enthusiastic Julie Ward ... how refreshing! What a relief.

Here's how it works, and here's how Townloop is green. Ms. Ward explained, "When I became a mom, I began to walk in my neighborhood. When I was working, I often did my shopping in the area where I worked, which is fine. But as a mom, I started to get to know the merchants in my own neighborhood. Then, as my kids got older and into school, I saw how much PTA parents had to scrounge for extra funds for their schools. I mean, a pancake breakfast may make some money, but it's a one time event ... and a lot of work!" Townloop has changed that for Julie and other PTA parents in the area.

How? Well, Townloop is a win-win set up for schools and local brick-and-mortar stores.

Julie, as a PTA booster, approaches her favorite local store and tells them about Townloop and how they can bring in new customers. Because Julie "acquired" the merchant for Townloop, Webster Elementary -- Julie's designated beneficiary -- will receive proceeds from the sales derived from the discount coupons.

The other social commerce discount providers are typically 50-50: 50 percent to the merchant, 50 percent to the company and its investors. Townloop's motto, "Community + Commerce," means just that: the merchant receives 60 percent. The remaining 40 percent is split between Townloop (20 percent) and the remainder to the acquiring and distributing school or community organization.

I spoke to Mark Goodstein, one of the cofounders of Townloop, who said, "We're not against commerce by any means. We simply had a vision of having a hyper-local discount voucher that benefits schools and merchants." He and his business partner, Erick Herring, have just launched Townloop and are initially concentrating in the Pasadena and San Gabriel Valley areas.

For schools, perhaps this is a way to stop the incessant selling of candy bars, wrapping paper, cards and magazine subscriptions, which would be a relief to everyone. I don't want to buy one more roll of wrapping paper, OK, kids?

Another Internet-based phenomenon you will be seeing more of is what's called "crowdsourced" funding or "crowdfunding." I now have direct experience with this since I'm raising funds to take my show, "Now That She's Gone," to the International Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland, the world's largest theater festival. Without going into too much detail, lots of artists know their artistic vision doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell of becoming a commercial venture. Nonetheless, it's a worthwhile project, and they need funding. Organizations like Kickstarter, IndieGogo, and Sellaband provide ways for artists to "pass the hat" globally. Visit any of those sites to get a sense of the future of start-up capital. (To see my vision, visit kickstarter.com and search for "Snortland.")

I'm thrilled with the vision of Townloop and its commitment to Think Globally and Act Locally. I know there are Luddites out there who immediately dismiss the latest Internet versions of old concepts, but we need to exploit technology for good, not just gain. Frankly, I'd much rather "click" for a coupon than lick stamps or clip newspapers. Click beats lick any day! ]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.808036 2011-01-12T13:02:44-05:00 2011-05-25T18:25:24-04:00

Ellen Snortland http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ellen-snortland/ Being called "girl" by a woman is sometimes worse than a man doing it

Names are important to individuals and groups. Fundamental to being a whole person is the ability to garner respect via how you want to be addressed. On one end of the spectrum, you can be held in contempt in a courtroom if you don't address the judge according to protocol. I double-dog dare you to say to a presiding judge, "Hey, Girl! I object!" On the other end of the spectrum is the bully who calls you names based on characteristics not in your control; that's the domain of epithets that can start fist-fights or even riots.

Somewhere in the middle is the seemingly intentional disregard for addressing women as women, instead of the clueless diminutive "girl." Similar to the black pride movement in which black men said "Enough" to be being called "boy" by the dominant group, many of us "uppity" women objected to being called girls when we were obviously not; it was an issue of newfound respect and a way to assert ourselves as something beyond frivolous: as people of consequence. However, a lot of women themselves are more accustomed and perhaps more comfortable with a cutesy/folksy "girl" or "miss." Thus, there is some understandable confusion with some people's manners.

I was recently taken aback during a business meeting when a woman in her 20s (I'll call her Heather) referred to me and my two older sisters as "girls." We were all old enough to be at least her mother, if not her grandmother. She didn't just do it once, she did it at least four times. "Does that sound good to you girls?" she wheedled. I wanted to stop her and give her an etiquette lesson, but didn't because I didn't want to come off as a bitchy, politically correct, cranky-pants geezer.

If I were truly unfettered, I would have asked, "Looky-here, you numbskull whipper-snapper. Just who do you think you're talking to?" which would have given her a perfect "Do as I say, not as I do" lesson in how NOT to be with each other in a business setting. Why am I offended by the term "girl?" As usual, context is everything. If an actual friend calls me and says "Hey, girl," I'm charmed and delighted, as this is based on a relationship. If a complete stranger who wants me to commit money and time to her business refers to me as a girl, I want to give her a piece of my mind. And not the pretty part either.  

I had my feminist awakening at 15 -- when I was an actual girl -- by immersing myself in Robin Morgan's "Sisterhood is Powerful," along with other classic books on liberation politics, including Eldridge Cleaver's "Soul on Ice," Malcolm X's "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" and Betty Friedan's "The Feminine Mystique." They gave me a way to view my status as a female in a whole new light and gave me a mission: my own liberation and the freeing of everyone I could touch from rigid class and gender constrictions that were in place to keep "The Man" in top position.

And just as black men did not appreciate being called "boy," I saw the parallel of being referred to as a girl. Calling women "girls" was a not-so-subtle way of reminding us that we are not in power, and that anyone "above" us can use terms of endearment ordinarily reserved for someone who is actually dear. And the "girls" who referred to themselves as girls knew who buttered their toast, so they made it a point to help keep the rest of us Libber Women in line.  

"Hey! Where's your sense of humor? What's the big deal about being called a girl?" Indeed. In the scope of the universe, it isn't such a big deal to be called a girl except, except ... WHY would someone call me a girl when I'm so obviously not one? And is it also ageism combined with sexism that would have Heather so blithely and sweetly calling us all girls? Eeeewww. I hate the way some people speak to older people, like they are stupid or inferior.  

I'll warrant a guess that Heather would never have addressed our male contemporaries as "boys," but would have deferred and called them "sir."  

There's the world of books and there's the real world. As a teen, I discovered there were so many damned battles to fight that I would be worn out within a year if I took on every yahoo who called women "girls," or who didn't understand the politics behind little indignities. I learned to conserve my energy, to bite my tongue. Hey, an activist only has so much personal fuel to fight the good fight.  

Bottom line: I'd rather spend my time advocating on behalf of Heather's reproductive and civil rights then spending my precious time on individual manners. I choose to believe she meant well and was merely clueless.  

P.S. Speaking of liberation politics, mark your calendars right now for 7 p.m. Jan. 29, when the Thomas Paine Society will be holding "The Headstrong Evening Club" at the Castle Green, 99 S. Raymond Ave., Old Pasadena. Admission is $35, or $25 for seniors, students and members. For information click here to send an email.

Note: This post appears both here and in my column in the January 6, 2011 issue of the Pasadena Weekly, for which it was written.]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2010:/theblog//3.802941 2010-12-31T11:04:43-05:00 2011-05-25T18:20:30-04:00

Ellen Snortland http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ellen-snortland/ Two new movies shed light on a dark world

Patriarchy is an unsustainable system that feeds on the domination of others by "divine" right and the immutable characteristics of the dominators and dominated. Whether by blood or gender, there are few ways for the dominated group to transcend their birth. There's the divine right of kings (and some queens) over their subjects, and the divine right of men over women and children. We started dismantling the divine right of kings with the creation of democracies; we are now mid-stream in challenging the divine right of men, regardless of class, in society and families.  

The "backstage" realities of a royal patriarchal system are rarely shown so vividly as in "The King's Speech," the wonderful new bio-pic starring Colin Firth as Great Britain's Prince Albert, who becomes George VI upon his elder brother's abdication, and Geoffrey Rush as Lionel Logue, the Australian speech therapist who helps his kingly patient transform his stubbornly stuck stammering to eloquent elocution. The film left me, dare I say it, speechless and grateful for director Tom Hooper and the writer of the brilliant original screenplay, David Seidler. All this genius filmmaking is supported by a perfect score composed by Alexandre Desplat. "The King's Speech" is screaming for an Academy Award from the top of its royal lungs.  

While I doubt many people other than those of us with a feminist lens would walk out of "The King's Speech" saying it's a feminist movie, I was struck with how rarely we get to see how patriarchy cruelly oppresses men as well as women and children, and yes, even princes and kings. What is so starkly present in "The King's Speech" is something that is usually missing in a "dick flick" -- real intimacy and friendship between men that includes vulnerability without force, and equality between the two friends, a true partnership. With a stunning performance as duchess-to-queen, Helena Bonham Carter also delivers a pitch-perfect performance as a reluctant royal and devoted friend, partner and wife to her reluctant king to-be husband.  

On the other side of the proverbial patriarchal tracks, there is another bio-pic called "The Fighter," starring genius actor Christian Bale as Dicky Eklund, the washed-up and crack-addicted "could've-been-a-contender" brother in a down-and-dirty, blue-collar Irish family in Lowell, Mass. There's nothing royal about this movie except most of the family members being a royal pain in the ass to the other brother, Micky Ward (Mark Wahlberg), who still has a shot at becoming a championship boxer.  

"The Fighter" aptly illustrates another dark facet of patriarchy where impoverished boys or men beat the hell out of each other for money. Boxing makes me sick. Nonetheless, "The Fighter" is a heart-wrenching film about another male protagonist who finds his way to redemption through partnership instead of domination. Sheila Jaffe should win an award for casting; the others are surely in the ring for an Oscar. Directed by David O. Russell and written by Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy and Eric Johnson, "The Fighter" leaves you panting for air and with the scent of sweat and blood in your nostrils, even for a boxing hater like me. The mother, Alice Eklund, played with ferocious gusto by Melissa Leo, is brilliant as the drunken boxing manager who has seven daughters who are apparently suffering from various degrees of fetal alcohol syndrome. She puts all her time and money into her two sons as her great white hope(s) of getting out of poverty. Amy Adams, brilliantly playing a character light-years away from her typical perky parts, plays Micky's gritty girlfriend who has a vision and the ovaries to stick with her commitment to a life better than the next drink -- not only for herself, but for Micky.   

Riane Eisler, a friend as well as one of my favorite authors and intellectuals, is a true dominator/partnership analysis queen. Simply put, dominator cultures are militaristic and rigid; partnership cultures are more oriented toward all for one and one for all with no one and nothing left out. Scandinavian countries are good examples of partnership models; North Korea, with its active dictatorship and starving population, the dominator. It's not a cut and dried distinction. There are women who are dominators; there are men who are true partners, and we all fall into a combination of the two, somewhere between the two extremes. Eisler became world famous with "The Chalice and the Blade" and has continued with her other brilliant books, further breaking down the distinctions between dominator/partnership modes.

Perhaps you've heard people say that women's liberation is men's liberation too. That's not malarkey. King George VI became lifelong friends with his speech therapist because the latter defied custom and insisted they be equals. Micky Ward, the boxer, broke through staggering odds by responding to the beckoning of partnership and his own heart.  

Can you guess what I'll be doing with my hubby over the holidays? Seeing more movies! If you and your family will be doing the same, I can't recommend "The King's Speech" and "The Fighter" highly enough. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Note: This post appears both here and in my column in the December 23, 2010 issue of the Pasadena Weekly, for which it was written.]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2010:/theblog//3.798353 2010-12-17T15:23:46-05:00 2011-05-25T18:20:30-04:00

Ellen Snortland http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ellen-snortland/
Smells of Norway waft from my kitchen: almond, butter and fresh coffee. I make all sorts of things but my crowning baking achievement, if you will pardon the expression, is Kransekake: translated literally from Norwegian as "crown cake."

I think of my long-gone grandmothers and my not-so-late mother as I bake the Norwegian cakes and cookies I'm convinced were designed with maximum kitchen time in mind. Come on now! It doesn't take a doctorate in cultural anthropology to figure out that when you're freezing your tuchus off, it's a mighty fine idea to have recipes that keep you next to the stove or oven all day long. (I use Yiddish because I also firmly believe Norwegians are the lost tribe of Israel.) "Ya sure you betcha, Ole! You and da boys just go to your insane little ice-fishing huts while Lena and I spend 8 hours PER cookie in the kitchen, don'tcha know!" Anyway, for the holidays and as a way to supplement our income, I've taken to baking the authentic Scandinavian goodies that my foremothers made because a lot of people don't have the pans, patience or zeal to stay warm that I do.

Which brings me to something else my grandmothers, in their time, would have participated in: the Urban Farmer's Market here in Altadena. On the 3rd Sunday of the month, neighbors -- some of them walking to the market -- display and sell their crafts edible and otherwise. Indeed, I'll be there this month. The less handy neighbors shop, chat or pet the goats. Hosted by Renaissance couple Steve Rudicel and his fiance Gloria Putnam, the two have created a commons on the grounds and in the halls of their historically significant Zane Grey Estate.

My grandmothers would feel completely at home in this Altadena "village" market. My grandmothers would say, "Oh, this is like the Lutheran church basement!" where friends would bring their surplus goodies to help stretch meager incomes in bad years, before and during the Depression. Farmers' wives were clever, and they knew their lives were impacted by things out of their control, like weather. North Dakota soil was rich as any on the planet but the weather was as unpredictable and volatile as well, just as it is today. One bad crop could send a family into crisis, so it was the canning, baking and scrimping skills of the women-folk that everyone else depended on. And while hunting and fishing was also important, it was the food that was "put up" for storage that kept scurvy and rickets at bay, along with the small livestock which the women and kids mostly took care of -- the goats and chickens -- which were the sources of daily protein in the form of eggs and cheese.

We had basements in the Midwest where shelves strained with the weight of canned tomatoes, rhubarb, plums, apples, whatever. And it wasn't just housewifery that prevailed. I remember my dad pitching in equally with canning chores. It was a major deal to save food, and it's becoming so again. Altadena provides a fabulous, front-row view of how you can be in an urban environment and yet also tap into the skills of rural living. Whether it's shopping at our many fine local brick-and-mortar stores like Webster's Fine Stationers, Altadena Hardware, O Happy Days, or dining at our family-run El Patrón Mexican restaurant, Altadena is a study in how we can create village sensibilities in the 21st century. And if Altadena can do it, so can other neighborhoods. You may not be in Southern California, but believe me, with a bit of effort, you can change your shopping habits to include more local and less global resources for edibles. Sometimes all one needs is to see a successful model and then duplicate it.

I visited the second Altadena Urban Farmer's Market in November and was struck with the cycle of life and the turning of the Great Cosmic Wheel. In the 60s, there were lots of back to the land, hippie, communal efforts to stop the waste and a hyper-capitalistic culture that so many of us got sucked back into during the 80s and 90s. And here we are again.

I remember my mother and mother-in-law saying, "Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without," a ditty attributed to Yankee homemakers, pioneer homemakers, depression homemakers, and now good advice again in a green time for everyone -- it's not just for homemakers anymore!

Which brings me back to my homemaking, Norwegian and rural roots. One of the drummed up, horse doo-doo red herrings that got thrown out in the media during the second wave of feminism was this supposed faux struggle between feminists and homemakers. And yes, while some women rejected home-making as a hopelessly dead-end life, there were many of us feminists who were both politically savvy gender-wise and proudly in touch with the skills of our mothers and grandmothers. The cheapest shots that the gender wars produced were pitting women against women; the media could be counted on reporting on "cat fights." Meanwhile, all sorts of men didn't get along or killed each other and they never got caught in a stereotype. Go figure.

In any event, similarly, there is no disconnect between "urban" and farmer either. Come see for yourself, if you're in Southern California this Sunday. We'll be at 396 W. Mariposa, Altadena, CA 91001. Otherwise, in other parts of the country, please go out of your way to find a local farmer's market to support. We need to all change the way we relate to food and local economies.

Note: This post also in my column in the December 9, 2010 issue of the Pasadena Weekly, for which it was originally written
]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2010:/theblog//3.790124 2010-11-30T18:25:30-05:00 2011-05-25T18:15:22-04:00

Ellen Snortland http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ellen-snortland/ No matter how hard the task, every coach knows it can be done.

We all have excuses for why we haven't accomplished this or that. This is the case with many aspects of the most important revolution on the planet: the end of gender domination. The gender revolution, like it or not, impacts each one of us in the most intimate of places: our homes, as well as the halls of power. It reaches into our families, places of worship, how we raise children, sexual identities, our self-image, our choices at every step of growing up and maturing. No wonder it's been such a difficult row to hoe in turning the world right side up.
 
If Gloria Feldt is not a household name to you, maybe she should be. Feldt has launched a book I would love to assign to everyone. Ready for the title? No Excuses: 9 Ways Women Can Change How We Think About Power.
 
If you ever dove into something headfirst, you know the value of having a teacher who is strict, loving and tough. The tough part comes from the teacher acknowledging realities, such as "Yes, I know how hard it is," "Yes, I know there's resistance," "Yes, I know the bullies are mean," and then comes back with "Do it anyway!" That's what Gloria has done with 'No Excuses.' She's the "Do It Anyway" maven who just might be the perfect partner as we negotiate these fascinating times. We live lives that would be unrecognizable to most of our grandparents, if not our parents. That's the good news.
 
The bad news is there is a long history of women gaining ground and then falling back, possibly from exhaustion, but that's not the point. The point of 'No Excuses' is that this is NOT the time to rest; it's the time to push on and on and on. As freed slave, orator, Methodist minister, and woman in history I'd most like to hang out with, Sojourner Truth said as quoted in 'No Excuses': "If women want any rights more than they's got, why don't they just take them, and not be talking about it."
 
Talk about no excuses! Minister Sojourner Truth had every conceivable excuse to not do what she did. She often faced mobs and possible assassination for her speeches, and at the same time she was immersed in the reality that she truly had nothing to lose since she had so little to begin with. As modern emancipated women, regardless of our color, this is no longer the case. However, it's entirely easy to be co-opted by the bromide "We've got it so good now; give it a rest." And yes, if we compare our lives to the women in Afghanistan, or Sub-Saharan Africa, or South East Asia, or almost anywhere else, indeed we have a lot. However, when you hook yourself up to the notion of sisterhood, you understand that the status of women and girls on the far-reaches of the globe is also our business, and the slights and injustices we put up with for ourselves are related to the larger view of women that has persisted for millennia in so many places of power: we're less than... and will always be so.
 
This is not pretty, and 'No Excuses' -- while entertaining -- is not pretty either. Feldt pays the highest respect a coach can hold for her colleagues and players. She wants the best from all of us, including herself.
 
So here are the nine ways we can relate to power, excuse the expression, more powerfully: My commentary follows each item:

1. Know your history -- There's really no excuse to not know about she who went before. Visit the National Women's History Project to find out what you didn't learn in school.
 
2. Define your own terms -- Afraid to speak truth to power? Get over it! Be afraid and speak anyway. It gets easier.
 
3. Use what you've got -- Only stand 5-foot-2? So what? Pave the way for others like you and all of us. Patriarchal types (women and men) are hoping your perceived less-than-perfect self will stop and work on perfection instead of rocking the boat, which is what needs fixing, not you!
 
4. Embrace controversy -- They're talking trash about you? Good! They're not ignoring you.
 
5. Carpe the chaos -- When things are chaotic, things change. Be there.
 
6. Wear the shirt -- Your chest is valuable advertising space. Promote what you're passionate about.
 
7. Create a movement -- When Dolores Huerta told me that self-defense for women and kids was a movement, I believed her and dubbed myself a leader. That's audacious and, come to think of it, just like self-defense!
 
8. Employ every medium -- Do not let your sisters get by with "Oh, I don't like the Internet." My grandma didn't like the U.S. Postal service when it first started delivering to the farm.
 
9. Tell your story -- You are the change we've been looking for in some way and some part. Share it.
 
As a mini-disclaimer, while I am proud to consider myself a friend of Gloria's and am in her book under "Tell Your Story," I would tell you to trash your excuses and buy this book anyway. So? What are you waiting for?!

Note: This post appears both here and in my column in the October 28, 2010 issue of the Pasadena Weekly, for which it was written.
]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2010:/theblog//3.788675 2010-11-26T19:09:16-05:00 2011-05-25T18:15:22-04:00

Ellen Snortland http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ellen-snortland/ Give thanks for those who helped our cornucopia of faiths coalesce.

This week is a perfect time to express gratitude for everything we have -- and don't have. I particularly want to focus on the brilliance of separation of church and state that our foremothers and forefathers risked their lives to build. They fled religious intolerance so they could foist their own religion on others and kill people who didn't see things their way. OK, a bit of dark humor but nevertheless, how soon we forget how freedoms are won and freedoms are squandered... sometimes by the very same people.  

In my mind's eye, as I reflect on the people in my family and circle of friends who have gathered around a Thanksgiving table with me, I can -- no exaggeration -- identify people who are affiliated with the following faiths: Catholic, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Scientology, Wicca, Quaker, Unitarian, Episcopalian, Christian Science, Ba'hai, Mormon, 12 Steps, Agnosticism and Atheism. These practitioners range from ultra-orthodox to lapsed to anti -- and everything in between. We all got along (and still do), although there have been a few arguments along the way which generally result in "Let's agree to disagree and not bring it up again."  

As a dear friend of mine once said, "Don't disrespect my wife or my religion." Hear, hear! And as I further reflect, the arguments we generally would engage in were not religiously based but politically tinged.  

A matriarch of a very close family recently passed away. I'm going to call her Bonnie. She was an ardent Christian Scientist. Bonnie's kids rebelled: not against her personally but against her religion. Now her offspring are either fundamentalist Christian or agnostic, while her grandchildren have embraced Orthodox Judaism, Islam and agnosticism. I see that as a miracle of grace, tolerance and generosity of spirit, although I'm aware there are those who find a family constellation like that appalling. What a great country!  

Bonnie and I used to engage in somewhat heated arguments, because, as a guide for her voting and opinions, she had embraced the politics of the Eagle Forum and Concerned Women for America, the brain-children (in my view, anti-brain children, but that's a whole other column) of anti-Equal Rights Amendment, anti-feminist Phyllis Schlafly. What a perversion of the vision that Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science, had for the role of women! What I tried to have Bonnie understand was that, as a Christian Scientist, she was working against her own interests by helping strict fundamentalist Christians reach for power. Did she not understand they were strange bedfellows? That they were advocating for women's second class status, antithetical to the gender equality of Christian Science? That if the theocratic Christians got into power, her religion would be at risk? I suggested that being a Christian Scientist in a "Christian" America would not be dissimilar to being a Scientologist in today's Germany: not tolerated! Or a Nichiren Buddhist in Southeast Asia (punishable by death). Or being a Christian in Iraq, or a Jew in Iran, or an Atheist in... You get the picture. It's excruciating -- and possibly fatal -- to be true to your religion (or lack thereof) in many parts of the world.  

Thus, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). The right to practice one's religion is a fundamental tenet of the UDHR. Article 18 of an abridged version specifically states: "Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion." The UDHR was adopted and proclaimed by the General Assembly of the United Nations on Dec. 10, 1948, and reaffirmed by the governments of the world in 1993. And yet, we have a loud group in this country that is on the one hand screaming to get government out of our lives and on the other hand promulgating the idea of having a "Christian" government. Why is this such a disconnect for people?  

My religion is no one's business except my own. Period. I am forever grateful to my parents who sent me to Sunday school so I would not be ostracized in our small South Dakota community, but who also said, "It's OK if you don't believe what they are talking about. They are well-meaning. But we trust you to decide what you believe," or words to that effect. I even got kicked out of Sunday school when I sunk my teeth into some of the theology. When the teacher proclaimed, "The little black pagan babies in Africa will burn in hell unless we baptize them!"  

I was so upset at her preaching that I crawled under the table and bit her on the leg! So my relationship with organized religion has been a tad contentious from the age of 4.  

Separation of church and state is one of the major pillars of a democracy. Please do not take it for granted. Look around your tables this week and thank those of your friends and relatives who dare to be themselves, if they differ from you. It's a gift to differ. Amen.

P.S. Look around and see if there's a commemoration of Human Rights Day in your organizations on Dec. 10. Then go support it!

Note: This post appears both here and in my column in the November 24, 2010 issue of the Pasadena Weekly, for which it was written.]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2010:/theblog//3.765793 2010-10-17T17:24:40-04:00 2011-05-25T18:05:23-04:00

Ellen Snortland http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ellen-snortland/ It helps to have a personal relationship with your next meal

Sitting down to supper as a 4-year-old, I recall my sisters' ardent concerns about who was on their plates. Yes, you read that correctly: who.

"This isn't Bluebell, is it?" they'd yell in unison. I was not old enough to have my own 4-H club livestock, but I was aware that Bluebell was a creature that days earlier I'd petted and loved. We lived on a little farm outside of Denver and knew many of our meals. We cleaned our plates, because it was good and because we did not wish to waste our friends' lives.

Some of you might recoil at the idea of being on a first-name basis with your dinner. I understand that reaction. However, I think being intimately involved with your food is important and far more empowering than buying factory-farmed meat or produce shipped from another hemisphere. In the world of our family farm, eating was all part of the great circle of life. We fed our plants and animals so they could feed us.

The impact of growing up on a farm has served me well. I'm loath to waste food since I respect its source. I don't take food for granted. I'm able to use almost everything from a plant or animal that's usable. And I know the difference in the quality of local vs. trucked or shipped foods. I invite you to share those standards if you don't already.

Remember the saying, "What you don't know can't hurt you?" Rubbish! What you don't know about your food can certainly harm you, and a lot of us. Recently, the horrendous conditions for laying hens in Iowa caused a salmonella outbreak, massive egg recall and scandal. What is it about Iowa? Iowa is also the state that had kosher slaughterhouse corruption where the conditions were horrific, not only for the animals but people too.

The kosher designation is not only vital to observant Jews, but to those of us who believe in a spiritual or moral component to food preparation and consumption. OK, so there was apparently one bad rabbinical apple in that Iowa barrel; I still respect kosher as a consumer guidepost. But again, I must caution there's a lot of skullduggery -- an underused word that means deception and trickery -- with our food producers and processors. Just because it says something on the label doesn't mean it's true.

Consumers still have enormous power in society, especially in the world of food. Since food is something we use to survive, we've all got a major steak -- err, stake -- in its sources. As a huge example of how we could really make a difference quickly, consider Costco.

If you like shopping at Costco, insist they only buy fish that is sustainable. Join the Greenpeace effort to hold Costco to account for its part in endangering fish stocks. Same thing with their meats and produce. Believe me, if Costco adopts a sustainable approach to the suppliers they use, we'll see a huge shift in this country's food supplies. And Costco is a great place to start because they have a reputation for being socially responsible. I vote them "Most Likely to Respond."

Need fuel for your outrage? Read books like "The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals," by Michael Pollan (or any of his books), or by watching the excellent documentary "Food, Inc." Another author passionate about our food is Jonathan Safran Foer, who has just released "Eating Animals." You may become a vegetarian from your research, or you may be like me, an often-conflicted yet steady omnivore deeply concerned about the care of our food sources. I go out of my way to "do the right thing," to buy "organic" or "free range," and I'm furious because, according to Safran Foer, consumers who try to be conscientious are being duped over what "cage free" or "free range" often means. Since there are no government standards for these terms, they can be abused.

While both Pollan and Safran Foer acknowledge that many of us won't become strict vegetarians, what we can do is be more demanding about our food. A great way to get moral about food quickly is to educate your kids, if you have them. They'll often keep you honest faster than any influence I know. Teach them about Alice Waters, the famous Bay Area chef, who has been the reigning queen of growing and eating locally for decades.

Use the Web to find local farmers markets and shop at them. And even with farmer's markets things are not always as they seem; verify that the food at these markets is actually coming from real farms... not simply re-packaged food that's normally supplied to the big grocery chains. A good starting place is pasadenafarmersmarket.org. Insist that the milk, eggs and meats you use carry the Certified Humane designation. A "certified humane" stamp means the food "meets the Humane Farm Animal Care program standards, which includes a nutritious diet without antibiotics or hormones, animals raised with shelter, resting areas, sufficient space and the ability to engage in natural behaviors." Visit the Certified Humane site to see who your humane providers are.

If you can handle being vegan, do it. So far, I can't, but you can certainly learn to make vegan dishes for your vegan loved ones. Meanwhile, I continue to thank Bluebell and every sentient being that has ever helped me grow and live.

Note: This post appears both here and in my column in the October 14, 2010 issue of the Pasadena Weekly, for which it was written.]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2010:/theblog//3.676362 2010-08-09T19:40:31-04:00 2011-05-25T17:20:22-04:00

Ellen Snortland http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ellen-snortland/ "A man of quality is not threatened by a woman for equality." 

That's a familiar bumper sticker slogan for some of us. Men are crucial to any social movement, especially the gender equality revolution. That's kind of a no-brainer, right? I especially want men to stand with us for the 90th anniversary of women's right to vote on August 26.   

As some of my readers know, I've been a goodwill ambassador for the National Women's History Project for a few years now. I beat the drum at the beginning of every August to encourage all people -- not only women -- to mark August 26 in some way. Ninety years ago, on Aug. 26, 1920, women finally won the vote after an excruciating yet nonviolent campaign to gain it. As I see it, men have a lot to learn from women; celebrating the day we got the vote without shooting anyone is a pretty good start!  

Really, the women's vote is a perfect example of a Catch-22. How do you win the right to vote without having the vote itself? You can't vote for having the vote if you aren't allowed to vote! Thus, women had to enlist the support of the men in their lives who could vote. It was truly a talking revolution, with some nice examples of civil and domestic disobedience thrown in for good measure: guilt-mongering, hunger strikes, picketing the White House. All were examples that Gandhi observed and used to further his theories about nonviolent protests. As a young lawyer in South Africa, he saw American women in nonviolent action before he ever tried out any of his ideas in India.  

The first recorded public declaration for women's right to vote happened at Seneca Falls, N.Y., on July 19, 1848, and was considered as radical as the Declaration of Independence. After all, men at the time had complete legal domination over women. In fact, women were considered to be legally "dead" upon marriage.  

I understand that not everyone is a history geek, but I want you to fathom the courage it took for the women to stand up and read a document that declared their full humanity as citizens and their mission to get themselves the vote.   

Here's an excerpt from the Declaration of Sentiments read in Seneca Falls (click on the link to see the full text): "In entering upon the great work before us, we anticipate no small amount of misconception, misrepresentation and ridicule; but we shall use every instrumentality within our power to affect our object. We shall employ agents, circulate tracts, petition the state and national legislatures, and endeavor to enlist the pulpit and the press in our behalf ... Resolved. That the speedy success of our cause depends upon the zealous and untiring efforts of both men and women, for the overthrow of the monopoly of the pulpit, and for the securing to woman an equal participation with men in the various trades, professions and commerce."

The resolution was adopted by a majority of the people in attendance, including the men, who were generous enough to relinquish the privilege they had as males so they could include their mothers, sisters, wives and daughters in the democratic process.

Since you're reading this early in August, I've now given you enough info to make an event of your own on Aug. 26 or to attend events that are being created by others. There are too many to list here.  

Two of my favorite nonprofits, IMPACT Personal Safety and Fifty-Fifty Leadership, led by Fifty-Fifty Chair Pauline Field, will be hosting a 90th anniversary commemorative event at the Altadena Public Library. We'll tie in the "think globally, act locally" idea of empowering women, give away free copies of Ms. Magazine, schmooze a bit, and we'll stand up and yell "NO!" since we'll also be giving a mini-workshop on verbal resistance and self-defense.  

Think about it: The birth of any social justice movement must start with the idea of "No!" No! I will not be a second-class citizen. No! I will not be abused. No! I will not allow my child to be hurt. Many of us need to work out our "No" muscles before we can be flexible enough to be able to also say "Yes!" and mean it.  

If you can't come to our event, do something yourself! Create something with your kids, or on the other end of the spectrum, lift a glass and toast the women who had very large clanging ovaries and dared to change the world one citizen at a time, shoulder to shoulder with the men in their lives who were not threatened by equality.  

The 90th Anniversary of Women's Right to Vote! The Power of Peaceful Resistance and Women's "NO!" is at 6:30 p.m. Aug. 26 at:

Altadena Public Library
600 E. Mariposa St.
Altadena CA 91001

Admission: $10, or $5 if you bring someone half your age or more. To buy your tickets online click here]]>