Learning from the Best

Natalie Ransom of Pozie by Natalie loves her work and it shows. Photo by Katheryn Moran Photography.

How do you become an incredible female business owner? Watch one in action. Take notes. Repeat.

That’s what I’ve been doing ever since I met the dynamo that is florist Natalie Ransom of Pozie by Natalie. When we started working together, she already had her ducks in a row: a great web site, oodles of social media followers, solid professional relationships, service to her community, and so much more. She didn’t need marketing advice because she was already killing it with her creativity, generosity, and hard work. But that’s where our fun began. What could we do together to take her marketing strategy and business a step further?

In March, Natalie was recognized by Bellingham-based video production company Talking to Crows ‘Women Among Us’ campaign. Each day in the month of March, they’re sharing about the powerful women in our community. They are celebrating Women’s History Month by noticing the women making history right now. I was also honored to be recognized.

Natalie in action. Photo by Katheryn Moran Photography.

In the same month, my article about her appeared on the blog of Miss Millennia Magazine, How to Be an Incredible Female Business Owner. The site focuses on mentoring millennial women to be their best and Natalie makes a fantastic role model.

Read my article to discover what I’ve learned by watching her in action. Then check out her web site and follow her on Facebook and Instagram because you’ll be seeing a whole lot more of her in the coming months and years.

Honoring the ‘Women Among Us’

Talking to Crows annual campaign.

As a female business-owner and artist, International Women’s Day and their 2017 theme, Be Bold for Change, means a lot to me. Just a few decades ago, I might not have been able to be a female sole proprietor. Its funny how quickly we can forget the flaws of our past culture…and how those flaws still linger in pockets of our world.

I am so thankful for the women who have paved the way before me. The powerful female writers, business-owners, mothers, scientists, actors, filmmakers, and directors, activists, and thinkers have earned my gratitude and made my life and work easier, more successful, and just. This month, during Women’s History Month, I am reminded of their sacrifice that has provided my privilege.

Whenever I can, I try to pay that privilege forward to other women (and deserving men as well). I recently found a few women doing great things for our community who are also paying it forward.

Pacific Northwest writer and suffragette, Ella Higginson

Stacy Reynolds and Cassidy Young of female-majority owned, Bellingham-based video production company Talking to Crows has launched a new annual campaign: Women Among Us. Each day in March, they recognize one woman from our community that is making history right now. I was delighted to write two articles about this campaign, one for the print publication, Southside Living, and another shared at WhatcomTalk.com. The Southside Living article focused on Magdelena Theisen of Magdalena’s Creperie in Fairhaven, WA and the WhatcomTalk.com article highlighted Western Washington University Professor of English, Dr. Laura Laffrado.

I am delighted to be one of the amazing, powerful women being recognized in this year’s campaign. You can honor the women who’ve come before us and support ‘Women Among Us’ by taking a look and following their Facebook page, Instagram account, and Website posts and sharing their campaign with others.
I’m also honored to be working with CASCADIA International Women’s Film Festival. Their event on April 20-23 showcases films by women directors from around the world. They also present workshops, networking events, and panel discussions that aim to promote women’s education and the Bellingham, Whatcom County, WA area as a filmmaking and viewing destination that supports the local economy.

Supporting incredible women through my writing, work, and actions are so very important to me. Thank you for helping me honor the incredible women in our community and world.

Finding Your Own Path to Activism

Over the past two weeks, since the Presidential Inauguration, everyone I know is unsettled. No matter who they voted for. Perhaps that is the upside of the upset. Perhaps this is what we needed. Even though it doesn’t feel good or satisfying, perhaps these benefits are worth it?

• To be clear about how we feel on the issues.
• To dialogue with those we disagree with.
• For more people to take action to support what’s important to them.
• For people to share their money in support of the causes they care about.
• To be reminded that our point of view isn’t the only point of view.

By Chad A. Stevens, milesfrommaybe Productions. From the film Overburden about Lorelei Scarbro who became a community organizer in the campaign to build an industrial wind farm along the ridges of mountain whose coal mine killed her husband.

I’ve used my work as a teacher, writer, and now as a marketing strategist to support the causes–and the people and businesses–I believe in.

I worked in Superfund clean up as a US EPA contractor because I believe in clean air and water and healthy ecosystems for people, for living things, and for the future of the planet.

By Chad A. Stevens, milesfrommaybe Productions. From the documentary flm Overburden. Nonviolent protest on Coal River Mountain on a mountaintop removal preparation site.

I managed chemistry laboratories and taught environmental science at a State University training the future scientists, policy-makers, and planners that will lead us to problem-solving in future generations.

I worked in special education for little pay for years because I believe in the impact public school can have on the lives of special needs children.

I write about theater, music, the arts, environmental innovation, and buying local and supporting local businesses because I believe in their value–for myself, for my family, and for our communities.

Bellingham Theatre Guild’s 2015 production of The Drowsy Chaperone.

My writing, my communication, and how I approach them are my activism. Perhaps all that’s going on in the world right now is a sign. A sign that its time to wake up, look outside ourselves, and find our own activism.

If we don’t hear the call, we just might lose the freedoms we’ve been taking for granted, the privileges given to us by the activists who came before us. Those activists were every day people. Writers, lawyers, teachers, cooks, students, parents, preachers, nurses, policemen, and even politicians. They are us and we are them.

Another upside: the action is not hard to find anymore. Don’t be overwhelmed. Choose your cause and pledge to yourself to do some small things. Now and from now on. Add your voice. We can do little alone, but together we are mighty.

Here are seven articles I’ve written so far in 2017 in support of the arts and human rights. Take a look, appreciate the arts, the environment, the rights you enjoy. Then find your activism and get involved.

Mount Baker Theatre Resident Ghost Judy is Blushing in Anticipation of The Irish Rovers and We Banjo 3 at Whatcomtalk.com

Resident Ghost Judy Can’t Wait for Mount Baker Theatre Education Shows at Whatcomtalk.com

Bellingham Human Rights Film Festival Explores Critical Issues at Bellingham Whatcom County Tourism Insider Blogs

Art, Nature, History, and Fun at Whatcom Museum in Bellingham at Bellingham Whatcom County Tourism Insider Blogs

Celebrate the Tribute Act at Mount Baker Theater at Whatcomtalk.com

Join Whatcom County’s Vibrant Poetry Scene at Bellingham Whatcom County Tourism Insider Blogs

Appreciating the Poetry of Whatcom County at WhatcomTalk.com

 

Cozy in Whatcom County

When I was asked to develop ideas for indoor activities for visitors to my area, it was easy to come up with a list of my favorite places. Many of them I’d already written about. Independent film, live music, indoor climbing, performing arts, and pub crawls are just a few of the options. Check out my Bellingham Experience Insider blog, 5 Ways to Stay Warm and Active in Bellingham this Winter, soon to plan your next visit to the Bellingham and Whatcom County area. One look and you’ll see why I chose this place to call home.

When winter is keeping you inside, there are a lot of options for cozy fun.

 

Tribute Bands Rock!

Gary Mullen has spent 13 years channeling the power and energy of Freddie Mercury. Photo courtesy of Mount Baker Theatre.

 

Since I was a teen, whenever I’ve been looking for inspiration, for motivation, for perseverance when things feel hard, I’ve turned to Queen. Singing “We are the Champions” and “Bohemian Rhapsody” quietly in my head, or at the top of my lungs, has always helped me through.

When I was urgently paddling a kayak in a storm in British Columbia’s Queen Charlotte Islands, wondering if I would have to self-rescue, I sang Queen. When my newborn twins cried in stereo and nothing would soothe them, I sang Queen. When I ran my first, and last 5K, I sang Queen. Although Freddie Mercury passed away when I was still a teen, their iconic songs live on in recordings and through live performance by the Tribute Band.

It was cathartic for me to write about the beauty of the Tribute Act for my WhatcomTalk.com piece about one of the Queen Tribute Band that is part of Mount Baker Theatre‘s program this year. Get your tickets and say thank you for the inspiration and memories.

Pure Poetry in Whatcom County

Natalie Fedak and Erica Reed make up poetry on the spot with their Poem Store at Kitchen Session Bellingham. Photo by Gary Wade.

I’m a writer, but as every writer knows, that doesn’t mean I excel in every writing genre. Poetry is a form of writing like no other. When I was younger, I studied science, not writing. I was immersed in the world of the literal and concrete. I didn’t fully ‘get’ poetry and I certainly didn’t have the confidence to try writing it.

Now that I’m more experienced in the world, I realize why poets are the writing perfectionists of the field. In just a few words, a poet must make their point, convey the feeling they are after, in a way that no one else has. They don’t get a paragraph to explain. They have one word or a single verse. That, my friends, is art at its finest.

I like to use my writing to support the arts whenever I can. That’s why I wrote about the Bellingham poetry scene for WhatcomTalk.com and Bellingham Experience (Bellingham Whatcom County Tourism). Whether you live in Whatcom County or want to plan your next getaway to this beautiful place, the perfection of poetry is now at your fingertips.

Pet Safety Over the Holidays and All Year Long

I recently wrote a blog post for Run Those Dogs about potential holiday hazards for your pets. I know I get so busy trying to get it all done over the holidays that its pretty easy for me to be absent-minded, in a hurry, and occasionally a little careless.

This blog meant more to me than the average because while I was writing about the dangers of candles, I was reminded of a family just a few blocks away who lost their home and their friend two years ago to an unattended candle. The friend had been staying in their spare bedroom and the fire began with a single candle. A young man lost his life, an older teen was severely burned and broke a bone jumping from a second story window, and two other family members were displaced and had to move out of our wonderful neighborhood, switching schools to move to a crowded house with relatives.

Ownership of the house was complicated and so it still sits down the street, boarded up and blackened by the fire, the prayer flags faded white and waving in the wind. It waits, silently, to be torn down when bureaucracy allows. Someday a crisp, new house will fill the void. But their lives will never be the same.

So please, please, keep you and your pets safe this holiday season and all year long.

Channeling a Ghost for the Holidays

Momix at Mount Baker Theater.

I am honored to be a part of Mount Baker Theatre’s (MBT’s) brilliance. Since the fall, they have allowed their resident ghost Judy to channel her thoughts about the beautiful, historic theater through me.

This week Judy is helping Pacific Northwesterners cross a few things off their holiday shopping list by giving the gift of a MBT experience through my WhatcomTalk.com blog post.

I hope you’ll appreciate how much fun it is to be Judy. I’ve always wanted a writing gig like Dear Sugar where I can give advice and thoughts anonymously. For now, this is the next best thing.

It’s Snowing in Whatcom County!

I know, so what, right? But in the greater Puget Sound area of Washington State, we only get a few days of snow a year, if any, so its a big deal to us.

No one knows how to drive in it, schools and businesses close, its like you’re a kid again with an extra day off school. I choose to embrace the snow day.

I wrote an article about sledding in Whatcom County  for WhatcomTalk.com last season and it still applies so I’ll share it again now.

Don’t forget to take your snow day sometime soon.

The Kid in All of Us Loves the Circus

Photos by Jorge Lausell.

Except for that one incident with too much cotton candy, most of my experiences with the circus have been so very positive. I saw things I never could imagine. By people so glorious and different from my world. The lights, the music, the dancing and laughter. I could go every year.

Luckily, in my neck of the woods, I can actually go every month, or every week if I want. Whatcom County is the home to the Bellingham Circus Guild. I can see a performance on the 15th of every month and take a weekly class. So can my children. We are so fortunate.

It was a delight to write my Bellingham Experience Insider Blog about them. Go read it and then figure out how to get more circus in your 2017.