Liz Jansen

Susan Macaulay

Life lessons surround us everyday, everywhere; we just have to take notice. Guest Co-Host Susan Macaulay from Amazing Women Rock fame  introduces us to Liz Jansen, a biker and writer that put pen to paper to write her blog 10 Life Lessons I Learned From Being A Biker. Balance, Vision, Energy,  and Communication are just a few of those lessons, and they are key components of riding the open road. In her book “Women, Motorcycles and the Road to Empowerment”, Liz explores the relationship between women, motorcycling and personal power. Fifty women motorcyclists share stories of how they have tapped into that power and how it has shaped their lives. Using her own story as a framework, the wisdom of forty-nine other women join her in a common message of inspiration. They represent all disciplines of riding and come from diverse backgrounds including one of Hollywood’s top stuntwomen, federal politicians, artists, activists, adventurers, business leaders, racers, a dental hygienist. While the motorcycle is the vehicle of transformation for these women, it’s not necessary to be a rider to understand the message.  How one learns to embrace and overcome challenges and reap the rewards, weaves an exquisite tapestry that becomes the picture of who we are.

Gary & wife Thea

Have you ever thought how interesting it would be to live life in an ever-changing locale? You could travel around the world caring for homes of people that were going to be away for short or long periods of time. The plants would be cared for, the animals loved, and you could live life on a perpetual vacation. Gary Dunn, along with his wife Thea,  created the The Caretaker Gazette, a unique newsletter containing property caretaking and house sitting jobs, advice, and information for property caretakers, housesitters, and landowners. Published since 1983, it’s the only publication in the world dedicated to the property caretaking field. The GAZETTE provides its subscribers with thousands of house sitting and property caretaking jobs each year. There are housesitting jobs in all 50 US States, Canada, Mexico and dozens of other countries. Is it time for a change or an adventure to shake things up? Call-in and ask Gary a question. Maybe caretaking is in your future?

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From Healing to Hell

In From Healing to Hell, a now adult son bravely reveals the tragedies he encountered as a young adult and the harrowing ordeal his family faced at the hands of the U.S. government. An award-winning inventor and successful oral surgeon, one would never guess author Dr. W. Henry Wall, Jr. has a dark past filled with anguish, unanswered questions, and heartbreak.

Like his son, Dr. W. Henry Wall, Sr. was a celebrated medical professional and a pillar of his community. He was also a state senator and mental health advocate – until things took a turn for the worst. In the late 1940s Dr. Wall, Sr. became unwittingly addicted to Demerol, a narcotic prescribed to him after a routine dental procedure. Soon after, the Wall family found itself trapped in a nightmarish chain of events.

Dr. W. Henry Wall, Jr.

In 1953, Dr. W. Henry Wall, Sr. was arrested on federal drug charges, convicted, and sentenced to the only U.S. prison for addicts. His community was shocked. His family was emotionally and financially devastated.

It gets worse.

In prison, Dr. Wall, Sr. was subjected to the CIA’s MK-Ultra experiments of the 1950s and 60s. He was given drugs, most likely LSD, against his will and his mental health was irrevocably damaged as a result. Ironically, a man who once fought for the rights of people with mental health problems became one himself.

Until his death, Dr. W. Henry Wall, Sr. was plagued by psychotic episodes and paranoia. He struggled to distinguish between imagination and reality and dealt with intense delusions and thoughts of suicide.

From Healing to Hell gives life to an emotional and controversial time in U.S. history. It also explores political and social issues still relevant today, including:

• Government officials acting above the law
• Secrecy and cover-ups by the U.S. government
• Our country’s security versus individual rights
• The importance of government transparency
• Accidental addiction to prescription drugs
• Overcoming adversity and a troubled upbringing

“I hope my family’s half-century nightmare gives every American fair warning,” says Dr. Wall, Jr. “While government is essential to our way of life, its powers must never be left unchecked.”

Dr. W. Henry Wall, Jr. is an oral and maxillofacial surgeon and award-winning inventor with more than 19 medical patents. In From Healing to Hell, Dr. Wall, Jr. reveal the ordeals he faced as a young adult and the tragic story of his father, a victim of the C.I.A.’s unlawful MK-Ultra human experimentation program. The program, which began in the 1950s, tested the effects of LSD, hypnosis, and electroconvulsive therapy on U.S. and Canadian citizens. It is considered one of the greatest tarnishes on modern American history.

Scott Crider, founder of "Dogs Against Romney"

For the second half of the hour, we will be joined by Scott Crider, founder of the grassroots phenomenon, Dogs Against Romney.

Anyone with a television or access to social media has heard about the infamous “Seamus-gate” incident, in which the presumptive GOP nominee strapped the family pet to the top of his station wagon for a trip.  In June 1983, Romney and his family were preparing for their annual vacation from their Belmont, MA home to a family cottage in Beach O’ Pines, Ontario. Seamus was enclosed in a carrier that Romney had equipped with a windshield and strapped on the roof of the family’s Chevy Caprice station wagon. Sometime during the 650-mile trip from Massachusetts to Ontario, the dog became afflicted with diarrhea, causing excrement to flow down the windows of the car. Romney stopped at

Tess Baker joins "Dogs Against Romney"

a gas station to hose down the dog, the carrier and the car, then put Seamus back in his carrier, and continued the 12-hour trip to the family’s vacation home.  During a 2012 interview. Romney stated that Seamus enjoyed being in the dog carrier, an “air-tight kennel,” and that he was not aware of any violations of Massachusetts law. *Yes, Willard, it’s illegal.* Mrs. Romney has complained that the news media has exaggerated the severity of the incident and compared traveling in the roof-top dog carrier to riding a motorcycle. Given that dogs possess no opposable thumb with which to grasp the handlebars… we’re thinking she’s probably wrong about that.  PETA has weighed in on the cruelty of the act, as well as many other animal rights organizations.

Enter Scott Crider.

Scott Crider is an award winning digital creative director, social media/interactive marketing strategist, and blogger living in Gulf Shores, Alabama. A Web 2.0 pioneer since 2005, Crider’s background in social media includes authoring two blogs that have received millions of visitors and massive media attention from virtually all major U.S. news media and many International media outlets. His work was also written about in a book about viral culture.  Scott has demonstrated acumen in harnessing the power of Facebook community-building and strategic application of social plug-ins to drive narrative across all media channels, online and offline.

So, what do you get when you take one digital media guru and cross it with a politician who, many suspect this incident personifies his disconnected, clinical leadership style?  DOGS AGAINST ROMNEY.  We’ll examine both sides of the issue – see if it’s much ado about nothing or does it speak to a larger character issue with a man who is asking us to make him the leader of the free world?  We’ll find out.

So Buckle Up and prepare to get BROADSIDED!

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They can purchase a MEDCottage, a free standing 12-by-24-foot bedroom-bathroom-kitchenette unit that can be set up in their backyard. More than simply a
miniature house, it features high-tech monitoring and safety features that rival those of many nursing homes.

An example: special rubber floors, so even if an elder falls she will not suffer a fracture. And tracks along the ceiling accommodate a lift or a trapeze hook. Residents who have balance issues can grab onto a hook to provide stability as they move around the cottage. The
lift helps those with more serious mobility challenges.

For those who need more elaborate medical monitoring, the MEDCottage is equipped with a system that tracks blood pressure, glucose, heart rate and blood gases, passing along that information with family and physicians. If the resident fails to take medication from a dispenser on time, the system not only reminds her, speaking aloud. It also sends a text message to the caregiver.

Zoning rules can create barriers, but states are becoming more accommodating as regards MEDCottages and other similar structures. And while at $85,000 they are not inexpensive by any means that outlay represents a considerable savings when compared with the
costs of nursing homes; the company will buy these cottages back for $38,000
after 24 months of use.

And as MedCottages make aging at home – or at least in a new home – more realistic for seniors there is one more dynamic that might be added to this arrangement.  It would be interesting to discover how a monitoring device like those marketed by Grand Care Systems could be added into this mix.

For more information about aging at home you can purchase Rounding the Circle of Love: Growing Up As She Grows Old at Amazon.

Well, it now appears that the most appropriate arrangement might not be one that arrives on the scene pre-fabricated, jumps off somebody’s drawing board or is devised through
academic musings. Rather, it might be one that simply evolves naturally: a natural occurring community (NORC).

These are neighborhoods that have a disproportionately large number of seniors. They might have moved there to join others in their age demographic. Or, they might simply be aging in place within a community they have called home literally for decades. In either case, social workers have determined that NORCs can become nurturing places for the elderly particularly if they are bathed in social, medical and other services.

Taking all of this into account, The Jewish Federation of North America has established a model – NORC SSP (supportive services program) – which has been replicated throughout the country.

Practicality is often the name of the game as support is delivered to seniors. Terms such as
“environmental improvements” are given a very broad definition. They might, for
example, include installing safety equipment in a residence to prevent falls.
Legal and financial advice is provided, even though these matters are not
always brought into a mix of social services.

It would be interesting to research if introducing (monitoring) technology such as that
marketed by Grandcare Systems into NORCs bwould serve to make elders safer. Would it make it possible for more elders to age in place within a nurturing community?

For more inforamtion read Rounding the Circle of Love: Growing Up As She Grows Old which can be purchased at http://amazon.com

British retirees travel to India to take up residence in what they believe is a newly restored hotel. Less luxurious than its advertisements, the Marigold Hotel nevertheless slowly begins to charm in unexpected ways. (imdb)

elizabeth: I think I can speak for Nicole (by putting my hand in her back and barely moving my lips) when I say we were both very excited about seeing The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. The cast is a who’s who of some of the best British actors around. Okay, okay, Colin Firth was not available. I think he was on the set of Bridget Jones Goes Through Menopause.

This movie is a travelogue about India – a country I am not all that familiar with. Perhaps it is the poverty and the caste system that doesn’t pull me into discovering more about it. But this movie is a love story about the people who live in crowded conditions and as a westerner I was moved to see this and pleasantly surprised to see happy people. It almost felt that the story we came to experience was somewhere in the background. As much as I was drawn into India’s story, I was missing the Brits and their tales.

But when Judi Dench, Bill Nighy, Maggie Smith, Tom Wilkinson and the rest of this brilliant cast did show up and tell their stories, I was taken in and happily so. But I wanted more of their stories. My secret favorite (I guess it is not a secret anymore) is Ronald Pickup who was Howard the horny man on a mission.

Nicole: …ahem, can I speak now? Hope I didn’t give you splinters, cassidy. Though that is kinda what you deserve keeping me cooped up in that suitcase you drag from gig to gig. But I digress…

I enjoyed this movie, but not so much that I’d sit down to watch it again. Nor do I think it will be remembered come Oscar time (even if Dev Patel gave a wonderful performance as the near-do-well Sonny). That’s probably because the character development of this rather large cast was sloppy and ill-formed. Frankly, I think I knew more about the four or so elderly women sitting in the row in front of us than the actual cast of this movie.

elizabeth:  I think the most important thing I am taking away from this movie is that age that does not mean that finding love and having a healthy love (sex) life is no longer a reality. (Thank God!!!)

And Dev Patel who portrayed Sonny Kapoor, the current owner of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel deserves an Oscar nomination. He made me believe that anything is possible. And how freaking great is that?

Nicole: It’s interesting that they were able to assemble such a star-studded English cast such as this with an underdeveloped script. I know it sounds like I hated this film – but I didn’t. Given what they were given, Dench and company nonetheless shined.  But a better plot with richer character focus would have served them well.

So, I guess that means Cassidy and I are kinda/sorta disagreeing for the first time. But this was not the kicking and dragging fight I was hoping for. Oh well, better luck next time.

 Our rating for The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (out of 4):

and

You’ve probably heard that it’s not only fashionable to wear a great hat – it’s also a wise choice to make. I’m putting this our as a reminder because lately, even when we’re entering a season of direct sun overhead, I’m seeing many people walking in the street or taking their daily run in very bright sunlight without any head covering. By saying YES to your head you’re saying yes to YOU.

I’ve learned that it takes a very short time for us to absorb the healthy amount of Vitamin D we need i.e., a little sun goes a long way. The UVA rays can cause damage and skin cancer. The UVB rays are also dangerous. Thankfully, The most dangerous UVC rays I learned are, for the most part, blocked by the Ozone Layer and never reach Earth.  I think humans are fortunate to have discovered the need for and created hats. I believe that in addition to becoming a fashion, they’ve helped many people live longer and healthier lives than they would have otherwise. Our planet is gorgeous and a wonderful place to be and, that said, I believe it’s still in creation and it’s not – and will probably never be, perfect. Thankfully we were given intelligence.  We can create things that make it an even lovelier place for us to live. If you have children (20 years old and younger) please see to it that they protect their bodies from the sun. Skin cancer can begin developing at a very young age and in some case, will only become evident later on.

Head coverings began in ancient times.  Many say that it was to cover their heads before a lord they couldn’t see. I have a feeling they began, as most national and religious customs originated, to alleviate physical concerns. Most of the traditions had origins that came from human needs. For example, I’m quite sure that the Kosher laws began  for health reasons. Shellfish are “bottom feeders” and had could place unhealthy creatures into man’s system. I was at a lecture once at which I learned that that mixing milk and meat products was probably dangerous in ancient times because they didn’t have porcelain plates as we do today.  They used plates and platters made of wood. The fat and grease from the meat products would sink into the wood plates and couldn’t be totally washed out. They would leave organisms in the plates, which would change the composition of the milk products.  The Kosher laws have remained through tradition, but I’m certain they began as health measures.

Geographical areas that became Egypt, Greece and Rome, the countries we think of as beginning our culture have a great deal of sunshine. I have a feeling that people needed to put something on their head or the sun might affect them. UVA rays can get through your scalp. The ancients may not have had a name for the rays or even realized they were rays, but I bet people got dizzy and had other reactions to too much sun exposure. Today, you can wear sunscreen on your skin, but you need a covering for your scalp.  What a great excuse to wear a wonderful hat or a gorgeous scarf wrapped around your head!  This goes for males too. I actually see more males wearing hats in the past few years. Summer is coming. It’s a good time to find a few hats that you can wear every day when you walk outside. Straw is wonderful in the summer because it’s less likely to over-warm your head.

It would be great if you could meet with an image consultant to find out what your tonal color palette is and also what your style is. This makes it much easier to shop and saves you money. You’ll know your hat goes with most of your clothing and that you pieces of clothing go with each other.  If you can afford only one hat, buy it in a light neutral shade that harmonizes with your skin tone.

Hats are helpful in the winter too. While several scientists have debunked the idea that we lose most of our body heat through our heads, I find that hats are very important to my comfort in the winter.  I feel much more comfortable when my head is covered – especially by a beautiful hat! I don’t know anyone who feels as warm on a frigid winter day without a hat on as they do with a hat on. Hat styles can be dramatic, natural, classic or pixyish. Hats can make a definite statement, if you wish them to. My son is partner in a great very classy Burlesque Theatre troupe. He is always seen in a bowler or top hat.

By the way, there are other sun protectors that are good to think about too. I learned to be careful about exposing my chest to the sun. One day, I was wearing a V-necked tee shirt and experienced a nasty reaction, a burning and itching sensation the next morning. I had to go to a doctor, who said I should always cover over my chest and or put a healthy and strong sunscreen over that area. I’d had some cancerous cells in my breast about five years ago, which were removed. If you’ve ever had, even, cells and no mass as I did – it’s still important to protect that area from the sun.

So say, “YES” to your head and your body and put on a hat, a sunscreen, a scarf and most important: A Happy Face!

The weapon is different, the results are the same.

I waited a long time to write this.  After 40 years of knowing someone, loving someone, defending someone, when they turn their wrath on you, you just have to know when to walk away.  Such was the case 6 months ago when a ‘friend’ did something so out of bounds, so egregious, so unacceptable, I had to call it quits.

The specifics, while interesting aren’t really important in the grand scheme of things.  I’m sure he’d say the specifics are everything, but truthfully, they’re not.  Everything I loved about him, his wry sense of humor, his acerbic wit, his generous nature just couldn’t hold up against the things he said about me to others, his determination to paint me as mentally ill to my family when I began to resist his demands and the day he felt he was within his rights to contact my employer and ‘share information’.   He had become the one thing I’d avoided my entire adult life… an emotional terrorist.

I know a lot about these people.  My mother was and is one.  I couldn’t help thinking this last Mother’s Day how, after having all those children only one really speaks to her – the one she created exactly in her image.  Emotional Terrorists have common qualities:  they seem caring and generous to a fault, but they do things in the background that kill your soul a little at a time.  They convince you to do things to your own detriment.  They say horrible things about you behind your back and they always seem to have a pity card in their back pocket they love to play anytime you attempt to call them on their shit.  I understand the toxicity of such relationships and I cut off all communication with my ‘friend’ for a year before letting him back in the last time.  I knew better, but I so wanted it to work.  My first clue should have been when I opened my door and found a book delivery on my steps.  It was entitled “Mistakes Were Made… But Not by Me”.  Talk about having a huge set of nards.

He would send gifts – expensive ones and it made me uncomfortable.  I never seemed to thank him enough or thank him correctly.  He complained to all our mutual friends about how ungrateful I was and before I could attempt to make it ‘right’, another would arrive.  It was a spiraling vortex of his disappointment in me I couldn’t fight my way out of.  These were things I couldn’t send back either.  Difficult to box up a stove and send it back, if you get my drift.  Part of me didn’t care.  In one round of our friendship, I’d taken care of his three dogs (who I loved) for months while he chased a lover across the country in a relationship doomed for failure.  During that time, we formed a writing partnership that should have been lucrative for both of us.  Since he was the one receiving the checks, the only one who truly got the lion’s share of the money was he and I was left being owed thousands of dollars after doing 95 percent of the work.  When it was time to pay up, he manufactured a tiff and stormed out of my house in a fit of fake outrage.  I don’t believe in fighting over money, so that I forgave, but part of me justified the expensive gifts as back pay for monies owed.  I’m ashamed of rationalizing it in that way.

At one point, he even convinced me I was taking all of my childhood frustrations out on him, was horrible to people and needed to see a therapist – so I did.  I took every email we’d ever sent to each other and shared it with her.  I wanted her to fairly see both sides.  She came to one conclusion: I was involved in a toxic relationship with him and she assured me I’d given him more than a fair chance and he was essentially a cruel S.O.B. and I should avoid him at all cost.  Upon learning he was the only person with whom I had such a relationship, she assured me I was nothing he said I was.  I was so convinced he was right I sought a second opinion.  That therapist was less kind about his behavior.

So why did I let him back in?  I wanted it to work.  I have a tendency to be endlessly forgiving.  I tend to remember only the good things and forgive the bad.  He convinced me he needed me and I needed him and I wanted that.  I foolishly forgot I was the only one to bend, to ignore bad behavior, to give second, third and fourth chances.  And I realized I was in the same sort of vicious cycle as women in abusive relationships.  My mother had taught me this is what love is and some habits are just so hard to break.

The call to my employer and the misdirected scathing e-mails he’d sent to friends about me and ‘accidentally’ copied me on were not an accident.  They were meant to hurt and deeply.  One day, you wake up and decide you have to love yourself enough to just walk away.  I had the benefit of having done it nearly three decades earlier with my mother.  I have to tell you, saying the words to him was the tough part, but my life in the past 6 months has been the most liberating of my life.  No more guilt gifts.  No more emails about my supposed mental illness, no more having to explain my whereabouts.  No more five-hour phone marathons in which I was barely permitted to speak and my entire day was ultimately shot.  No more hearing from friends about him making fun of my radio show and how it’s a perpetuation of my lifelong failures.  No more criticism about what a terrible writer I am because at least his writing comes from “such an organic place…”

If a friendship is no longer emotionally fulfilling but merely a source of pain, it’s no longer a friendship.  It’s a hostage situation.  I learned I had plenty of real friends willing to pay the emotional ransom to free me from my captor.  I appreciate my friends who can be honest with me without being cruel and I thank them for that.  I still end every phone conversation with a friend or a family member with an expression of sincere love.  Life’s too short to be living it for someone else.  Share it with people who want nothing from you but your love and feel the need to give nothing more than that in return.

The payoff is huge.

Carol Baker is a political writer, satirist, and co-host with Vicki Childs of our Here Women Talk weekly internet talk radio show called BROADSIDED. You can hear their show every Thursday at 11 am Eastern/10 Central/8 Pacific.

I recently received a phone call from a very close friend of mine who was in tears. Her fourteen-year-old Pomeranian, Madik passed. Madik’s unconditional love, brought laughter and joy to the family. He was ill with diabetes that finally took over his life and his quality was no longer what it used to be.

Those who love animals must understand that they do connect with us. Just because they are not in human form does not mean they will not be able to connect. In fact, I had a reading with a man who lost his cat in a fire. He flew in from California for the reading. His cat delivered messages that only the owner was able to understand. Just like I am able to speak languages when in a trance, animals communicate their thoughts as well. It is all about a shift in consciousness.

This morning I wrote to Jill, who resides in Lexington Kentucky and awoke with a message from Madik. He was assuring her that he was where he wanted to be and that was in his home. When Jill returned home she felt guilty that she was not there but was left to find her loving friend on his blanket near his bed. This is the way he wanted to go. I was also being told that Tosan who was killed by a car 6 days before Madik joined the family, the father of my dog that was gifted to me, Cinnamon who was murdered, helped to cross Madik to the other side.

Many times we experience guilt, why wasn’t I there. If I only had done this, perhaps I should have gone by his side. Do NOT beat yourself up. Some animals suffer, some cross over by natural causes and others cross due to accidents. They all have different personalities. They are part of our families.I do not like to judge but in this instance I have a difficult time with people who do not like animals. I feel there is something missing within their character and I only wish I could determine what it is. Some buildings do NOT allow dogs and they look as though they are dinosaurs. Again, I am Not judgmental, however, I think there is something missing, perhaps a cold and unfeeling element that is missing in a human being who can’t feel a connection with an animal. Animals are so intuitive, more so than people. Personally, if someone does not like animals, I tend to steer clear of them only because there is something missing in their character.

There was once this one woman who had cats. She was gifted them from her husband. He loved cats. He came home and gifted her with two kittens. When she learned that the cats contracted fleas, she went into hysteria. She removed the indoor cats and had them live outdoors. The house was cleaned and taken care of from being flea infested. The following morning it was brought to this woman’s attention that a truck accidentally killed one of the kittens. The one lonely kitten returned home on its own. When the mean lady learned of this news she was relieved to learn that there was less to deal with. As I have written in my previous article about Karma. Do you surmise this cold-hearted woman will return to this world? If so, do you think she will be a cat being beaten up on the streets by Alley cats? What will be the ending of this story?