Natasha Taylor: by Mary Walilko

 Natasha's interview article has been rescheduled for the May Heartbeat.

Holly Duffin, Artist, WAHM (Work at Home Mom)

My work is about my childhood. As a child I could be found creating little masterpieces with found objects. I was constantly drawing, doodling, designing, and making little creatures out of rocks, fabric, found objects, etc. I couldn't keep my hands out of creating. Little did I know that I would still be doing this at age 36.

click here to read full article
 

Do Your Work  by Louise Lovdahl

Have you ever been told “Do your work” around the isms? What does that mean?

As a white person it’s difficult for me to understand what women of color need in order to feel safe. However I do know about sexism and what men need to do so that I feel safe. I have come to believe that whenever one learns about one ism, the awareness around other isms increases.

I asked my friend, Erva Baden, who teaches classes on women’s history and feminine spirituality to share some of her thoughts about the meaning of “Do Your Own Work” in regards to sexism.     click here to read the full article

Helping Parents Deal with the Loss of a Child by Dianne Geiser

When a parent loses a child, the grief process is similar to other losses, but our reaction as a society is one of ignorance. In an effort not to cause discomfort, we avoid mentioning the child the parent has lost. This avoidance can be hurtful, because the parent may want and need to reminisce about this child. Remember the parent is hurting regardless of what you say or don't say.

Parents who lose a child, need to wrestle with acceptance of this loss. It is not the natural order of things, to bury your child. Parents are in shock and friends and family are ill prepared on how to be a support. In an effort to make the parent and ourselves feel better we can actually hurt the grieving parent.      click here to read the full article

Finding Your Circle  by Edna Wilson

My initiation weekend took place at House-in-the-Woods in Delavan, Wisconsin. I drove alone from Milwaukee, which I regretted later because it was one of the worst knuckle gripping rides I've ever had. The March blizzard only got worse the closer I got to the little island. After two hours of snow coming straight at my windshield, I really questioned my sanity. Bathed in fear and sweat, I was certain that this was only an omen of things to come during the weekend.      click here to read the full article

In Next Month's Issue . . . To be announced.
 

The heartbeat is accepting advertisements starting with the March, 2007 issue. The introductory monthly fee of $10.00 per ad per month will be given to the Women in Circle Scholarship Fund. Please contact mary.heartbeat@gmail.com for more information. The heartbeat needs your articles, artwork, poetry, announcements, etc.. You are invited to submit your work. Submission deadline for the April heartbeat newsletter is April 25, 2007.   Click here for submission guidelines Click here to sign up to receive the heartbeat newsletter by email.

Past or archived issues of the Heartbeat newsletters are can be found at http://www.womenincircle.org/heartbeat/index.html#archive.

Last Words:  
". . . a leader is a person who has an unusual degree of power to project on other people his or her shadow, or his or her light. A leader is a person who has an unusual degree of power to create the conditions under which other people must live and move and have their being -- conditions that can either be as illuminating as heaven or as shadowy as hell. A leader is a person who must take special responsibility for what's going on inside him or herself, inside his or her consciousness, lest the act of leadership create more harm than good."      (Leading From Within by Parker J. Palmer)