24
November 2015 www.discovertheregion.com

November 2015 The Focus

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Discover the Region would like to take this opportunity to give Thanks to our loyal readers. Enjoy this months issue.

Citation preview

November 2015

wwwdiscovertheregioncom

Our DepartmentsHealth Wellness Business

Leisure Lifestyle FinancialCoaching Nutrition Fashion

Bret W

ilson P

eggy Marshall

Nassim

Sana E

boni Lacey

Jodie Wilson

StaffC

ynthia Richm

ond

Kim

berley Ashley

Kathryn H

enneman

Sunday Larson

Contents

04 Chiropractic Care and HeadachesDr Bret Wilson

08 How to use Meditation for Pain ReliefNassim Sana

10 Building Your ldquoCOTErdquo of Amour Dr Peggy Marshall

12 A Fabulous Awakening-The Alchemical Age of a Woman Sunday Larson

15 DreamPowerCynthia Richmond

118 The Identity of SheEboni Lacey

20 Billy Travillarsquos WorldKimberley Ashley

23 Locally Published

Chiropractic Care amp Headaches By Dr Bret Wilson

wwwbellwestchirocom

Do you suffer from constant or severe headaches If so you may do what most Americansdo That is simply just reach for the medicine cabinet Yes most over-the-counter productscan relieve headache pains but that relief is short-lived Instead of masking the pain withover-the-counter products seek a proper diagnosis and long-term relief You can do so withchiropractic care

What is chiropractic care It is a field of health care Some classify it as alternative medi-cine Traditional physicians rely on their knowledge medical tools and medication to treatpain Chiropractors focus on manual therapy and lifestyle modification to treat conditionsand restore health

Doesnrsquot a chiropractoronly specialize in backpains This is a com-mon misconceptionChiropractors tend tofocus on the spine butyou may be surprisedhow many ways thespine and its conditionimpacts our body

Many chiropractors have years of experience helping pa-tients diagnose treat and manage all types of pain in-cluding headache pain

Why should you see a chiropractor if you suffer from se-vere or constant headaches Headaches have manycauses Daily stress cause most but there may be a moreserious underlying problem For example those whohave chronic muscle contractions may experience a spinaldistortion a cause of headaches Car accident victimscommonly suffer from whiplash If improperly treatedthis can also lead to headaches Without treatment thepain will continue and it may get worse overtime

How does chiropractic care help headaches It all de-pends on their cause If everyday stress is to blame a chi-ropractor may suggest relaxing exercises at home orregular in-office therapeutic massages If headaches arecaused by spinal distortion a vertebrae alignment may beperformed This alleviates the pressure from nerveswhich should reduce headache pain and frequency

Will the headaches stop after seeking chiropractic careYes and no First it is important to remember that head-aches are caused by many factors If your cause is due tospinal distortion vertebrae realignment will help Thiswill reduce the frequency of headaches caused by this spe-cific problem But you may get another headache fromjust having a bad day at work You and your chiropractorwill work together to achieve long-term pain relief Inaddition to therapeutic massages trigger factors will bediscussed You will later need to avoid these triggers

What should you ask your chiropractor after treatmentMany patients mistakenly believe they are treated and nolonger need to seek treatment Chiropractic care does notmean long-term care Before parting ways however pickyour chiropractorrsquos brain for suggestions to later preventheadache pain or lessens the severity As previously stat-ed trigger factors need to be eliminated Not only thatproper posture is important This is a chiropractorrsquos spe-

cialty Ask them about natural ways to prevent pain in-cluding relaxation and proper posture

In short headaches have many causes Daily stress is notthe only cause Donrsquot mask the pain See what you cando to get long-term and long-lasting relief So the nexttime you get a severe long-lasting or recurring headachedonrsquot head to the medicine cabinet Instead find the con-tact information for a local chiropractic care specialist andsee what they can do for you

Yours in Health

Dr Bret Wilson

Dr Bret Wilson wants you to move play and live freefrom neck and back pain For more information about chi-ropractic posture exercise and how to make better choic-es about your health visit wwwbellwestchirocom

Find a chiropractor in your area to help you with safe andeffective health care

Find out more

Headaches and Chiropractic

Pain Medication Safety

wwwfindbeautyintruthcom

Close your eyes and begin taking long slow deep breaths fromyour abdomen and imaging a beautiful spring day Imagine your-self sitting on grassy ground soft spring breeze washing over yousunlight gently wrapping your body birds singing smell springflowers all around you the soft rustling of tree branches and the

sound of a babbling brook nearby

Nassim Sana MC CC

In life we experience many things and with most chal-lenges we learn to adapt to or learn to live with How-ever there are some things in life like back pain thatlimits our quality of life According to University ofMaryland Medical Center low back pain is one of themost common problems people have About 60 - 80of the adult US population has low back pain and itis the second most common reason people go to thedoctor Back pain is the leading cause of disability inAmericans under 45 years old Each year 13 millionpeople go to the doctor for chronic back pain Thecondition leaves about 24 million Americans chroni-cally disabled and another 24 million temporarilydisabled With these statistics alone we can see thatback pain affects so many peopleBenefits of Meditation for back pain I know throughout the time that I have been practic-ing I have seen firsthand how chronic back pain con-tinues to affect my clientrsquos emotional well-being Myview in life is that just because the quality of life ischanged that doesnrsquot mean we give in and give upYes we may have to make many adjustments and re-define how we live that just doesnrsquot mean that youhave to stop being yourself My main focus with myclients is how we can increase overall emotionalhealth One of the skills and techniques that I loveteaching my clients is how to meditate Mediation is avery powerful tool for everyone and especially forthose who suffer from chronic pain Using this prac-tice you can begin relieving your back pain1 The meditative technique based on increasedawareness and staying in the moment called mind-fulness meditation has been successfully used intreatment programs to reduce pain and improvemood in patients with chronic pain from a variety ofconditions including facial pain coronary and non-coronary chest pain gastrointestinal pain low backneck and shoulder pain and headache (Kabat-Zinn1982)

2 Meditation helps you relax and check in withyourself which in turn can unclench tense back mus-cles It can also help decrease your perception of painby allowing you to concentrate on something otherthan the pain

3 Breathing exercises and meditation techniquesare safe ways that can help relieve and prevent backpain Although they arent considered physical activi-ty its still a good idea to have a conversation withyour doctor before incorporating them into your rou-tine

Your daily 5 minute mediationMy recommendation is for one week meditates for atleast 5 minutes Meditating for one week will allowyou to see how your body responds and begins to feelless pain and stress1 First decide when and where you want to medi-tate then make a commitment to yourself and put itin your calendar

2 Next step find the place you want to meditateonce you get comfortable Depending on the level ofyour back pain you can meditate sitting in comfort-able position using pillows to support you or lay downin a comfortable position

3 Close your eyes and begin taking long slow deepbreaths from your abdomen and imaging a beautifulspring day Imagine yourself sitting on grassy groundsoft spring breeze washing over you sunlight gentlywrapping your body birds singing smell spring flow-ers all around you the soft rustling of tree branchesand the sound of a babbling brook nearby Continueto be in that space for as long as you can During themeditation you can create a clearing in your mindand visualize your body being completely relaxed

4 Once you are ready to come back open your eyesslowly and once again become aware of your sur-roundings Have a pen and paper ready to journalwhat yoursquore becoming aware of and how your bodyfeels in that relaxed state Remember honor your in-ner self and take yourself on as a partnerndash yoursquoreworth it It is important to remember you donrsquot have to sufferfrom back pain alone reaching out to professionalscan help and give you valuable life change techniquesAs a life coach I love teaching and providing the nec-essary tools to my clients like meditation so that theycan live healthier life holis-tically The first step to-wards healing is learninghow to connect andstrengthen our mind bodyand spirit

Building Your ldquoCOTErdquoof Amour

Last month we discussed the myths that surroundperforming under pressure Hopefully you wereable to examine the myths as they relate to your ownlife and began to refute at least one of them so thatyou could enhance your performance This monthwe will explore the ldquoCOTErdquo of amour that Weisingerin ldquoPerformance Under Pressurerdquo presents as a wayto addressing the myths to performance and pres-sureLetrsquos start with the ldquoCrdquo which stands for confidenceWeisinger suggests that confidence is the degree towhich you believe you can influence a specific out-come The good news about confidence is that is itmalleable and can change over time so focusing onbuilding confidence can bring about results Bren-dan Burchard in ldquoThe Chargerdquo supports this beliefand adds that competence and confidence are tied toperformance success He offers that there is a ldquocom-petence-confidence looprdquo that builds upon compe-tence The more competence you feel the moreconfidence you feel which motivates you to take onmore challenges successfully resulting in more con-fidence Weisinger encourages us to evaluate ourown levels of competence and then create a startingpoint for developing more confidence Suggestionshe makes to building confidence include be at yourbest physically and mentally seek feedback createmicro-successes by chunking down your goals andtake responsibility for your actions Canfield in ldquoThePrinciples of Success also shares these beliefs mostemphatically in the idea of taking responsibility forour actions When we take responsibility for our ac-

tions we can effect change when we do not we actu-ally give our power away

The ldquoOrdquo represents optimism Weisinger contendsthat confidence shows up in the moment while opti-mism shows up on either side of confidence Thinkabout a recent activity that you may not have feltconfident about Your thoughts may have taken youinto what wouldnrsquot be possible instead of what wasAnd then if we are less successful than we had want-ed to be we beat ourselves up after the event Weis-inger encourages us to build an optimismvocabulary so when events happen when we are feel-ing a little less confident we are using words thatspur confidence rather than diminish it Achor inldquoThe Happiness Advantagerdquo calls this ldquopriming thebrainrdquo by flooding the brain with messages of opti-mism instead of negativity Think about the wordsyou are using on a daily basis to describe events inyour life and determine where you might be able totake advantage of the ldquopriming the brainrdquo effect Be-yond basic words you might consider using grati-tude as a way of ldquopriming the brainrdquo Just thinkingabout what you are grateful for prior to a difficultinteraction or difficult event can increase your opti-mism quotient

Next comes tenacity Tenacity requires us to seesetbacks as opportunities leverage agility when ex-periences are not what we anticipated or wantedand encourages us to keep an open mind to learningnew things In order for us to be tenacious we haveto know where we are going Where are you focus-ing and do you maintain vigilance towards thethings that are important to you Have you estab-lished rituals that help you maintain effort towardsyour ultimate mission or goal For example if yougoal is to write a new book attain a new position oreven to lose weight you have to have rituals that willtake you into success Tenacity also requires us topotentially take a new direction when we are notsuccessful If you would like a new role in your or-ganization but are not offered it what else could youdo How could you use your skills to be successfulin another area

Finally the ldquoErdquo represents enthusiasm and the ener-gy we bring to our endeavor Enthusiasm is conta-gious and draws people to us When we are notenthusiastic we appear cold indifferent lethargicor even pessimistic The energy we generate to-wards that which matters to us provides us with theboost that can take us into greater success It alsocould enlist others in helping us achieve our goalsWeisinger suggest that we can increase our enthusi-

asm by doing things that energize us such as listen-ing to music that motivates recalling positive eventsfrom our past and even taking a walk Many of theleaders that I work with have a song they play whenthey need to generate energy and also know thesongs that bring the energy up for their teams

When you think about what you can do to strength-en your ldquoCOTErdquo of amour what might be the firststep Which letter can you get most excited aboutand would you have the most success with if youtried to develop in that area As always I recom-mend that you find a small idea or behavior to workon as you manifest the best version of you

To Your Success

Dr Peggy

Door 1 Door 2

In Your DreamsBy Cynthia Richmond

Cynthia Richmond is an author speaker and sought-after media expert on thetopics of sleep dreams and their meanings Contact Cynthia Richmondat CynthiaDreamPowernet

For more information visit wwwDreamPowernet and visit her facebook page atwwwfacebookcompagesDream-Power

Stings May Represent Hurtful Remarks

Send your dream to

CynthiaDreamPowernet

Visit wwwDreamPowernet OrLike my page on Facebook

Dear Cynthia

I had a dream in which I was walking through a forest andsomeone was walking behind me possibly my sister-in-law

Then I was stung repeatedly on my arms and legs by aswarm of bees It was very uncomfortable I kept pulling outthe stingers but couldnrsquot pull them out as fast as I was beingstung

I thought the dream was about taking responsibility forovercoming adversity but I am not certain about the sym-bolic meaning of bees Thanks for your help

~Karen San Tan

Dear Karen

The dream takes place in a forest which is symbolic for theunconscious mind as we cannot possibly know what is inthe forest by looking at the first rows of trees It is home forall of the inhabitants it feeds and shelters and is also associ-ated with balance and the need to provide protection and

sustenance Bees have several symbolic meanings Theysting but they also make honey so like the forest they areassociated with balance Little in life is all bad or all goodEven the worst things offer an opportunity to learn valuablelessons and to grow Bee stings since they penetrate or getunder your skin can represent stinging hurtful comments orjudgments directed your way You remove them but canrsquotkeep up with the pace of the stings or jabs

In the language of dreams arms represent embracing lifewhile legs are what we stand on and for our foundation andour mobility

What role does your sister-in-law play in your life Is shebehind you and supportive or do her comments and criti-cisms hurt your feelings

When criticism is directed our way we are wise to con-sider if there is any truth to it Ask yourself does thiscomment apply to memdashis it accurate If yes then mental-ly thank the critic for showing you something valuableNext learn and grow ask what action would I like to takeregarding this new awareness

However if the judgmental comment does not apply toyou let it go It is much more about the speaker and hisor her projections than it is about you As Taylor Swifthas sung ldquoShake it Offrdquo

If you are in doubt or having insecure or confused feel-ings about the verbal stings ask a trusted friend or familymember for his or her thoughts We can all improve bybeing open to personal growth Then again constant ex-posure to chronically negative people depletes us and canhave devastating effects of our own health and wellbeing

If you need to be around negative Nellies or Neds thisholiday season protect yourself with your own positivethoughts and find things that you are sincerely gratefulfor to focus on Find the balance The best news is thatyou are in control of your own thoughts

Send your dream toCynthiaDreamPowernet

Visit wwwDreamPowernet OrLike my page on Facebook

A Fabulous Awakening

VIGNETTE

The Second of nine posts -My blogwill be accompanied by vignettes from

my forthcoming novelldquoA Fabulous Awakeningrdquo

The Alchemical Age of a WomanWhen we reach the Alchemical Age of a Wom-an wersquore initiated us into a realm of woman-hood wersquove only dreamed about The seasonedstate of maturity when wersquore no longer tetheredby the lsquoshoulds and oughtsrsquo of our earlier yearsWhen being proper can mean behaving justbarely

Midlife brings change be it arrive by choice orby chance But it can start out looking as formi-dable as did our other era of change our teenswhen we woke up to discover we were no lon-ger the rambunctious rabble-rousing ruckus-making girl we once were but not yet the wom-an we would become

But waithellipchange-making is what we Boomersdo best Wersquore of the invincible ldquoI Am WomanrsquoGeneration the shape-shifting change-makingalchemists of reinvention Wersquove experiencedlife from many points of view Yes we are thestoried ones held up to acclaim and ridicule forour ideals passions and our daring to walk themargins and push boundaries to the limits Ourcreeds have evolved First came life is about sav-ing the world then life is about being equal andfair to life is all about me to hear us roar tolife is about gathering lots of stuff to why is thishappening to me

The times yes they are changing Wersquore experi-encing an Age Quake Women over 50 are apower group that must be reckoned with sowrote Ben Brantley of the NY Times

What was typical is no more Women of Expe-rience are now strutting past the ingeacutenues withnary a glance

We have been tagged eldersirens silver foxesand seasoned women We are those who havegiven and taken loved left regretted and re-joiced Historian Gerda Lerner wrote that sucha critical mass of women with a tradition of re-

bellion and independence has not occurred be-fore in history

There comes a day at the launch of lifersquos fabu-lous third when we realize it is now or never Afully embodied awareness of our mortality givesus permission to live all out or all in in the styleof our choice

We all know HER the quintessential Woman ofExperience By her powerful presence we knowshe will not be made invisible or be left unheardShe has found the charm of her fearless voiceShe no longer goes along to get along Shespeaks truth and paves the way for other wom-en to emerge from the shadows Her experienc-es show Her story is evident And the evidenceof her life reveals that she has received hershare of magic and of misery By the tilt of herchin you know this woman will not be corsetedin body or in expressivity

Welcome to thefabulous

AlchemicalAge of aWoman

VignetteAfter being rejected by her prince of a husbandAurora B Rose stepped forth toward her new lifefeeling both trepidation and thrill Upon her de-parture from Savannah her former mother-in-lawoffered sage advice when she told Aurora to getlostAfter taking several unintended detours on hercross-country journey to San Francisco Auroracelebrated her birthday in Sedona Arizona Afterthree days of being pampered at a posh spa in anunforgiving moment she caught a glance of herhands and saw the well-used hands of her grand-mother

A bolt of Zeusian lightning would have beeneasier to bear

Someday Irsquom going to die My voice willnever be heard again My touch wonrsquot be felt Myeyes wonrsquot see my ears wonrsquot hear my mindwonrsquot think my heart wonrsquot feel my feet wonrsquottake steps

The fact that her life would end somedaywas no longer an abstraction

Later as the red rocks faded to an inky sil-houette against the starry sky in her divine limi-nal state of not quite awake and not quite asleepthe Milky Way became a swirling island of starsan oasis of nurture a womb for the mind to growwith wonder She silently asked the stars ldquoI feellike Irsquom coming out of a deep sleep And if I donrsquotwake up now I never willrdquo

From the dark space between the stars thesilky breeze carried a message ldquoYou Aurora Yesyou It all matters Rejoin the dancerdquo

Until next month please connect with me on Face-book or stop by wwwSundayLarsoncom andwwwPluckyGirlscom

A Fabulous Awakening is available

The Identity of SHEAs we can clearly see in thenews a new generation ofracism has arisen From po-lice brutality to racial slursbeing thrown on campuseven to an African-Ameri-can church being bombedItrsquos like the civil rightsmovement all over again

But there is a unique opportunity here that we have as-black people Other races are hearing our cries and arefighting with us Some police forces have taken racialmatters into their own hands and are requiring diversitytraining Campuses are taking extra precaution (letrsquostake Mizzou for example) by not allowing racism tocontinue on campus even if it means forcing resigna-tions Now even predominately white areas and regionsare fighting for black people

Here is our chance to reunite black culture Because letrsquosbe honest unity hasnrsquot always been on our priority listWe scream ldquoblack lives matterrdquo at the top of our lungsyet still pick up guns and kill each other Black peoplekill each other far more than cops kill us So who exact-ly should we be crucifying

Unity begins first with eliminating our own racially de-structive stigmas And the first one that should be elimi-nated completely among all black people is the beliefthat lighter skin is the better skin meaning pulling thetrigger on this ldquougly black girlrdquo stigma

I recently saw some disgustingly racist posts on socialmedia discriminating black women One was a commentmade by a black man that resides in Phoenix (aka theworst place for a black woman to find a man but thatrsquosa whole separate article) stating plain ignorance aboutblack women

ldquoDo nobody want no nappy headed no fatherhavinhellipdonrsquot want to go to college bad credit havinghetto black womanrdquo

And hersquos not the only ignorant black man that thinkslike this Since residing in Phoenix I have ran into sev-eral black men that donrsquot date black women nor find

them attractive Some of them actually believe that dat-ing a lighter skin especially white gives them a higherstatus

I also saw this account whitesmattertoo that postedseveral pictures degrading black women On a post witha full figured black woman wearing a shirt that saidldquomagicrdquo the comment read

ldquoNothing magic about a smelly woman with big legsand bingo wings and brown skin Blacks are only inAmerica because Whites transported them here fromAfrica to be used as slaveshelliprdquo

The account was created months ago and just recentlywas taken off Instagram

Now there are going to be ignorant people out there andbecause of social media we will run into these idiots atsome point The only bad influence social media has isthat it gives ignorance an audience But it also allowsindividuals to speak against it ndash if we care enough to doso

We need to be taking bold stands in our defense of blackwomen Why Because black women are the ones beingvictimized and a lot of this is by our own race

Darker skin black women are still stuck playing secondbest There are thousands of brands across the nationthat donrsquot advertise to black people or use full African-American people within their campaigns such as Amer-ican Apparel Abercrombie amp Fitch Hollister and JCrew to name a few

Rappers continue to amp up this light skin vs dark skindebate in their lyrics Take Young Jeezy Lil WayneFuture and Asap Rocky for example

ldquoFor instance I get-get my dick lickedRed bone com-plexion like a piglet kiss kissrdquo -A$AP Rocky ldquoKeep ItGrdquo Feat Chase Infinite amp Spaceghostpurrp

Not to mention that black rappers continue to exploitthe body of a black woman by constantly using thesame type of black woman in their videos ndash half nakedwith a ridiculously big butt a small waist and long fakehair Canrsquot they use a naturally shaped black womanwith her real hair

Why is it necessary for black rappers to constantly gloatabout their sexual preferences as it completely de-grades black culture

The point is that right now we as black people are be-ginning to become a true voice in society as well ashistory We are beginning to have more influence in theworld something that our ancestors fought so hard forus to have

For this reason itrsquos now more important than ever to beaware of what we are listening to speaking about andwhat we are allowing on our social feeds If we see in-justice of any kind we need to speak on it and repost itblog about talk about it Donrsquot ignore it

I find it astounding that in these last 10 years more darkskin black women have been nominated and have wonOscars over any other time in history (Jennifer HudsonMorsquoNique Octavia Spencer Lupita Nyoungrsquoo) But thebiggest reason of this is because of black producers anddirectors such as Lee Daniels Steve McQueen andShonda Rhimes It was their influence that made thispossible

It takes an influential black person to make these gainsin our society and to fight stigmas Thatrsquos the type ofblack person all of us should want to be

We need to take a stand against all racial slurs and stig-mas especially those given by black people We need tocontinue to evolve as a people and we canrsquot afford tolet ignorant comments about big lips big thighs andlight skin tones deflect the media from real issues

Eboni Laceywwwtheidentityofshecom

Billy Travilla amp Marilyn MonroersquosLast Stop

The Bus Stop In Arizona

KIMBERLEY ASHLEYHAUTE COUTURE

The sizzling sun in Arizona is as hot as a studio spotlight inHollywood

It could be said however that the intense heat of eachshare much in common The blonde actress who herselfraised temperatures in films like Some Like it Hot hellip actual-ly experienced both Hollywood spotlights and Arizona sun

While as a designer I began my career in Arizona BillyTravilla and his muse Marilyn Monroe did the oppositeThey ended theirs in the sunshine state Billy Travilla de-signed the incredible costumes for many of Monroersquos filmsand Arizona was the shooting location for the last stop onTravillarsquos train of iconic Marilyn Monroe styles

In the middle of a mild March in 1956 Director Joshua Lo-gan and Producer Buddy Adler set up camp in Phoenix atthe Arizona State Fair Grounds The duo was here to filmMarilyn Monroe in the role of saloon singer Cherie oppositeDon Murray as Beauregard Decker in his first film role

For the costume designers 93rd film credit Billy Travilla de-signed three well thought out pieces that a Los AngelesTimes reporter once called simple They certainly may haveappeared simple to anyone outside of the film industry butto a costume designer and anyone who understands this artmore deeply those 3 costumes were sheer perfection Ap-parently even the reporter understood that stating ldquo[BillyTravillarsquos] three-piece wardrobe [for Marilyn Monroersquosfilm] consists of an abbreviated theatrical costume a sim-ple [skirt amp blouse] and a raincoat It was one of the small-est wardrobes ever called for in a major film productionbut each piece of clothing she wears helps establish thecharacter of Cherie ldquochantoosierdquo in the Blue Dragon Cafeacute

It has been accurately said that clothes maymake the man or woman but costumes makethe actor or actress In a movie costumes playvital supporting roles Billyrsquos Bus Stop cos-tumes played as much a vital role in telling thatfilmrsquos story as did the acrid Arizona sun

The significance of film costumes were long ignoredby both film fans and the film industry itself hellip untilhellip Debbie Reynolds made a vital point of showing theworld otherwise She did so in Beverly Hills in 2012when her sale of Billyrsquos ldquolittle white halter dressrdquoworn by Marilyn in The Seven Year Itch sold at auc-tion That fetching Travilla confection fetched justunder six million dollars

Although Billy Travilla appreciated the significance ofhis costumesrsquo contribution to a filmrsquos plotline like theformer movie studios themselves he did NOT recog-nize their eventual financial value

Less than a decade after Marilyn Monroersquos 1962death Billy made an emotional decision that had helived until friend Debbie Reynolds 2012 auction hewould have severely regretted ldquoI used to have six ofMarilyns dressesrdquo he said in a 1980rsquos interview ldquobutwhen I went into temporary retirement in 1970 andleft the [country] I cleared out my factory andthrew her garments outrdquo

Knowing Billy and his life story as I do I under-stand that to him those dresses represented a painfulloss of love in his life NOT a financial asset Al-though Billy may have found his Marilyn costumestoo emotional to possess a man named Gene Londondid not He has owned several of Marilynrsquos costumesincluding this particular black lace top and satin skirt

from Bus Stop Madonna reportedly borrowed thisoriginal Travilla from Gene posing in it in her 1980rsquosTruth or Dare poster

I wonder if either Madonna or the costumes newowner knew that this same green top with black-laceoverlay had originally been designed by Travilla to beworn by Susan Hayward several years earlier in Foxs1952 film With a Song in my Heart

It was after filming this Arizona film that for Billyeverything came to a stop one could say he had hisown personal lsquoBus Stoprsquo The designer who hadworked for 20th Century-Fox for 7 yearsmdashreachedhis own 7-year-itch with his studio Fox scratchedthat itch by effectively cutting out completely thecostume department as did all other movie studiosduring that time

And while Billy continued seamlessly to design filmcostumes as an independent contractor his workwith Marilyn Monroe had come to a full stop withthe very film named Bus Stop Although the moviemagic he created for the film star ended the mys-tique of their magic on film did not ldquoI worked withMarilyn on eight of her moviesldquo Billy once said ldquoShewas the love of my life that girlrdquo

Billy had no way of knowing that the ldquolove of his liferdquowould use one of those costumes in dangerous waysDuring filming Marilyn overplayed a scene in whichshe had to smack Murray with the sequined tail of herchanteuse costume The actor suffered painful faciallacerations from being slapped by those strings of se-quins

If Col Parkers influence over his star hadnrsquot preventedit from happening the young and naive cowboy playedby Don Murray would have been played by a mannamed Elvis It absolutely would have been a shame toscar THAT beautiful face Elvis however certainlywould have helped things to heat up onscreen

When it comes to ldquoheating things uprdquo the sizzling sunin Arizona certainly IS as hot as the studio spotlights ofHollywood

So for the blonde actress who could raise a manrsquos tem-perature and for the legendary costume designerwhose skills could raise a womanrsquos star power the landwhere mercury rises may have been the perfect placefor the sizzling sun to set on their cool collaboration

After all hellip in the world of celebrity when it comes toHollywood spotlights and Arizona sun some actuallyDO ldquoLike it hotrdquo

Locally publishedLocal Contentwwwdiscovertheregioncom

Local content publishers bring to the people the stories andevents that happened in their community as it happens It isthe cornerstone of a community that is necessary in building acommunity Local publishers gear content towards the peoplein your own backyard

Local content exposes the opportunity for an individual in thecommunity to access this to say it brings an opportunity toyour doorstep No need to go miles-around the world to getinvolved in the opportunities that are being made known toyou through published local content

Too many times we see a small website trying to make moresales or bring more people by concentrating outside of theircommunity leaving out the opportunity in his own backyardConcentrating on the events stories and business opportuni-ties that abound in the community can make a bigger impactDiscover-The-Region magazine showcase the success of howlocal content can bring greater success and joy to the commu-nity A solid content well-written persuasive copy concentrat-ed on the community will generate an endless stream ofcustomers to your business and more importantly throughyour doors

Letrsquos take a look at the impact and pros of localpublishedlocal contents

The Pros of Local PublishedLocal Content

I Connections

Local publishers bring more active participation to the com-munity by keeping them aware of their immediate environ-ment they make them aware of events ldquoplaces to spendfamily time together Local Festivals and Farmers MarketsSports schedules or local hidden treasuresrdquo thereby fosteringconnections in the community

II Accessibility

In this case both the content publisher and the end-users whoare the readers are both reachable A businessman does nothave to look hard to find where to advert his business a localpolitician will not have to travel from Arizona to New York toget across to his people Local publishers make sure the infor-mation gets to the community

III Trust

Local content publishers bring to people in the region storiesand opportunities they can trust they know the publisherthey know the region and they know the story It is easier totrust a brand promoted by the locals for the locals

IV Cost Effective

Concentrating on publishing to the communityregion can bemore cost-effective to your business while it is cheaper topublish in this scenario people can easily identify what youare talking about and are more likely to take an action or buyyour product

Conclusion

Local content publishers are very important in a communitythey are the cornerstone of the community the connectionsand the awareness they create are priceless They can leverageon the opportunities that are abound in the community to de-velop relevant valuable content that is based on their commu-nity

Our DepartmentsHealth Wellness Business

Leisure Lifestyle FinancialCoaching Nutrition Fashion

Bret W

ilson P

eggy Marshall

Nassim

Sana E

boni Lacey

Jodie Wilson

StaffC

ynthia Richm

ond

Kim

berley Ashley

Kathryn H

enneman

Sunday Larson

Contents

04 Chiropractic Care and HeadachesDr Bret Wilson

08 How to use Meditation for Pain ReliefNassim Sana

10 Building Your ldquoCOTErdquo of Amour Dr Peggy Marshall

12 A Fabulous Awakening-The Alchemical Age of a Woman Sunday Larson

15 DreamPowerCynthia Richmond

118 The Identity of SheEboni Lacey

20 Billy Travillarsquos WorldKimberley Ashley

23 Locally Published

Chiropractic Care amp Headaches By Dr Bret Wilson

wwwbellwestchirocom

Do you suffer from constant or severe headaches If so you may do what most Americansdo That is simply just reach for the medicine cabinet Yes most over-the-counter productscan relieve headache pains but that relief is short-lived Instead of masking the pain withover-the-counter products seek a proper diagnosis and long-term relief You can do so withchiropractic care

What is chiropractic care It is a field of health care Some classify it as alternative medi-cine Traditional physicians rely on their knowledge medical tools and medication to treatpain Chiropractors focus on manual therapy and lifestyle modification to treat conditionsand restore health

Doesnrsquot a chiropractoronly specialize in backpains This is a com-mon misconceptionChiropractors tend tofocus on the spine butyou may be surprisedhow many ways thespine and its conditionimpacts our body

Many chiropractors have years of experience helping pa-tients diagnose treat and manage all types of pain in-cluding headache pain

Why should you see a chiropractor if you suffer from se-vere or constant headaches Headaches have manycauses Daily stress cause most but there may be a moreserious underlying problem For example those whohave chronic muscle contractions may experience a spinaldistortion a cause of headaches Car accident victimscommonly suffer from whiplash If improperly treatedthis can also lead to headaches Without treatment thepain will continue and it may get worse overtime

How does chiropractic care help headaches It all de-pends on their cause If everyday stress is to blame a chi-ropractor may suggest relaxing exercises at home orregular in-office therapeutic massages If headaches arecaused by spinal distortion a vertebrae alignment may beperformed This alleviates the pressure from nerveswhich should reduce headache pain and frequency

Will the headaches stop after seeking chiropractic careYes and no First it is important to remember that head-aches are caused by many factors If your cause is due tospinal distortion vertebrae realignment will help Thiswill reduce the frequency of headaches caused by this spe-cific problem But you may get another headache fromjust having a bad day at work You and your chiropractorwill work together to achieve long-term pain relief Inaddition to therapeutic massages trigger factors will bediscussed You will later need to avoid these triggers

What should you ask your chiropractor after treatmentMany patients mistakenly believe they are treated and nolonger need to seek treatment Chiropractic care does notmean long-term care Before parting ways however pickyour chiropractorrsquos brain for suggestions to later preventheadache pain or lessens the severity As previously stat-ed trigger factors need to be eliminated Not only thatproper posture is important This is a chiropractorrsquos spe-

cialty Ask them about natural ways to prevent pain in-cluding relaxation and proper posture

In short headaches have many causes Daily stress is notthe only cause Donrsquot mask the pain See what you cando to get long-term and long-lasting relief So the nexttime you get a severe long-lasting or recurring headachedonrsquot head to the medicine cabinet Instead find the con-tact information for a local chiropractic care specialist andsee what they can do for you

Yours in Health

Dr Bret Wilson

Dr Bret Wilson wants you to move play and live freefrom neck and back pain For more information about chi-ropractic posture exercise and how to make better choic-es about your health visit wwwbellwestchirocom

Find a chiropractor in your area to help you with safe andeffective health care

Find out more

Headaches and Chiropractic

Pain Medication Safety

wwwfindbeautyintruthcom

Close your eyes and begin taking long slow deep breaths fromyour abdomen and imaging a beautiful spring day Imagine your-self sitting on grassy ground soft spring breeze washing over yousunlight gently wrapping your body birds singing smell springflowers all around you the soft rustling of tree branches and the

sound of a babbling brook nearby

Nassim Sana MC CC

In life we experience many things and with most chal-lenges we learn to adapt to or learn to live with How-ever there are some things in life like back pain thatlimits our quality of life According to University ofMaryland Medical Center low back pain is one of themost common problems people have About 60 - 80of the adult US population has low back pain and itis the second most common reason people go to thedoctor Back pain is the leading cause of disability inAmericans under 45 years old Each year 13 millionpeople go to the doctor for chronic back pain Thecondition leaves about 24 million Americans chroni-cally disabled and another 24 million temporarilydisabled With these statistics alone we can see thatback pain affects so many peopleBenefits of Meditation for back pain I know throughout the time that I have been practic-ing I have seen firsthand how chronic back pain con-tinues to affect my clientrsquos emotional well-being Myview in life is that just because the quality of life ischanged that doesnrsquot mean we give in and give upYes we may have to make many adjustments and re-define how we live that just doesnrsquot mean that youhave to stop being yourself My main focus with myclients is how we can increase overall emotionalhealth One of the skills and techniques that I loveteaching my clients is how to meditate Mediation is avery powerful tool for everyone and especially forthose who suffer from chronic pain Using this prac-tice you can begin relieving your back pain1 The meditative technique based on increasedawareness and staying in the moment called mind-fulness meditation has been successfully used intreatment programs to reduce pain and improvemood in patients with chronic pain from a variety ofconditions including facial pain coronary and non-coronary chest pain gastrointestinal pain low backneck and shoulder pain and headache (Kabat-Zinn1982)

2 Meditation helps you relax and check in withyourself which in turn can unclench tense back mus-cles It can also help decrease your perception of painby allowing you to concentrate on something otherthan the pain

3 Breathing exercises and meditation techniquesare safe ways that can help relieve and prevent backpain Although they arent considered physical activi-ty its still a good idea to have a conversation withyour doctor before incorporating them into your rou-tine

Your daily 5 minute mediationMy recommendation is for one week meditates for atleast 5 minutes Meditating for one week will allowyou to see how your body responds and begins to feelless pain and stress1 First decide when and where you want to medi-tate then make a commitment to yourself and put itin your calendar

2 Next step find the place you want to meditateonce you get comfortable Depending on the level ofyour back pain you can meditate sitting in comfort-able position using pillows to support you or lay downin a comfortable position

3 Close your eyes and begin taking long slow deepbreaths from your abdomen and imaging a beautifulspring day Imagine yourself sitting on grassy groundsoft spring breeze washing over you sunlight gentlywrapping your body birds singing smell spring flow-ers all around you the soft rustling of tree branchesand the sound of a babbling brook nearby Continueto be in that space for as long as you can During themeditation you can create a clearing in your mindand visualize your body being completely relaxed

4 Once you are ready to come back open your eyesslowly and once again become aware of your sur-roundings Have a pen and paper ready to journalwhat yoursquore becoming aware of and how your bodyfeels in that relaxed state Remember honor your in-ner self and take yourself on as a partnerndash yoursquoreworth it It is important to remember you donrsquot have to sufferfrom back pain alone reaching out to professionalscan help and give you valuable life change techniquesAs a life coach I love teaching and providing the nec-essary tools to my clients like meditation so that theycan live healthier life holis-tically The first step to-wards healing is learninghow to connect andstrengthen our mind bodyand spirit

Building Your ldquoCOTErdquoof Amour

Last month we discussed the myths that surroundperforming under pressure Hopefully you wereable to examine the myths as they relate to your ownlife and began to refute at least one of them so thatyou could enhance your performance This monthwe will explore the ldquoCOTErdquo of amour that Weisingerin ldquoPerformance Under Pressurerdquo presents as a wayto addressing the myths to performance and pres-sureLetrsquos start with the ldquoCrdquo which stands for confidenceWeisinger suggests that confidence is the degree towhich you believe you can influence a specific out-come The good news about confidence is that is itmalleable and can change over time so focusing onbuilding confidence can bring about results Bren-dan Burchard in ldquoThe Chargerdquo supports this beliefand adds that competence and confidence are tied toperformance success He offers that there is a ldquocom-petence-confidence looprdquo that builds upon compe-tence The more competence you feel the moreconfidence you feel which motivates you to take onmore challenges successfully resulting in more con-fidence Weisinger encourages us to evaluate ourown levels of competence and then create a startingpoint for developing more confidence Suggestionshe makes to building confidence include be at yourbest physically and mentally seek feedback createmicro-successes by chunking down your goals andtake responsibility for your actions Canfield in ldquoThePrinciples of Success also shares these beliefs mostemphatically in the idea of taking responsibility forour actions When we take responsibility for our ac-

tions we can effect change when we do not we actu-ally give our power away

The ldquoOrdquo represents optimism Weisinger contendsthat confidence shows up in the moment while opti-mism shows up on either side of confidence Thinkabout a recent activity that you may not have feltconfident about Your thoughts may have taken youinto what wouldnrsquot be possible instead of what wasAnd then if we are less successful than we had want-ed to be we beat ourselves up after the event Weis-inger encourages us to build an optimismvocabulary so when events happen when we are feel-ing a little less confident we are using words thatspur confidence rather than diminish it Achor inldquoThe Happiness Advantagerdquo calls this ldquopriming thebrainrdquo by flooding the brain with messages of opti-mism instead of negativity Think about the wordsyou are using on a daily basis to describe events inyour life and determine where you might be able totake advantage of the ldquopriming the brainrdquo effect Be-yond basic words you might consider using grati-tude as a way of ldquopriming the brainrdquo Just thinkingabout what you are grateful for prior to a difficultinteraction or difficult event can increase your opti-mism quotient

Next comes tenacity Tenacity requires us to seesetbacks as opportunities leverage agility when ex-periences are not what we anticipated or wantedand encourages us to keep an open mind to learningnew things In order for us to be tenacious we haveto know where we are going Where are you focus-ing and do you maintain vigilance towards thethings that are important to you Have you estab-lished rituals that help you maintain effort towardsyour ultimate mission or goal For example if yougoal is to write a new book attain a new position oreven to lose weight you have to have rituals that willtake you into success Tenacity also requires us topotentially take a new direction when we are notsuccessful If you would like a new role in your or-ganization but are not offered it what else could youdo How could you use your skills to be successfulin another area

Finally the ldquoErdquo represents enthusiasm and the ener-gy we bring to our endeavor Enthusiasm is conta-gious and draws people to us When we are notenthusiastic we appear cold indifferent lethargicor even pessimistic The energy we generate to-wards that which matters to us provides us with theboost that can take us into greater success It alsocould enlist others in helping us achieve our goalsWeisinger suggest that we can increase our enthusi-

asm by doing things that energize us such as listen-ing to music that motivates recalling positive eventsfrom our past and even taking a walk Many of theleaders that I work with have a song they play whenthey need to generate energy and also know thesongs that bring the energy up for their teams

When you think about what you can do to strength-en your ldquoCOTErdquo of amour what might be the firststep Which letter can you get most excited aboutand would you have the most success with if youtried to develop in that area As always I recom-mend that you find a small idea or behavior to workon as you manifest the best version of you

To Your Success

Dr Peggy

Door 1 Door 2

In Your DreamsBy Cynthia Richmond

Cynthia Richmond is an author speaker and sought-after media expert on thetopics of sleep dreams and their meanings Contact Cynthia Richmondat CynthiaDreamPowernet

For more information visit wwwDreamPowernet and visit her facebook page atwwwfacebookcompagesDream-Power

Stings May Represent Hurtful Remarks

Send your dream to

CynthiaDreamPowernet

Visit wwwDreamPowernet OrLike my page on Facebook

Dear Cynthia

I had a dream in which I was walking through a forest andsomeone was walking behind me possibly my sister-in-law

Then I was stung repeatedly on my arms and legs by aswarm of bees It was very uncomfortable I kept pulling outthe stingers but couldnrsquot pull them out as fast as I was beingstung

I thought the dream was about taking responsibility forovercoming adversity but I am not certain about the sym-bolic meaning of bees Thanks for your help

~Karen San Tan

Dear Karen

The dream takes place in a forest which is symbolic for theunconscious mind as we cannot possibly know what is inthe forest by looking at the first rows of trees It is home forall of the inhabitants it feeds and shelters and is also associ-ated with balance and the need to provide protection and

sustenance Bees have several symbolic meanings Theysting but they also make honey so like the forest they areassociated with balance Little in life is all bad or all goodEven the worst things offer an opportunity to learn valuablelessons and to grow Bee stings since they penetrate or getunder your skin can represent stinging hurtful comments orjudgments directed your way You remove them but canrsquotkeep up with the pace of the stings or jabs

In the language of dreams arms represent embracing lifewhile legs are what we stand on and for our foundation andour mobility

What role does your sister-in-law play in your life Is shebehind you and supportive or do her comments and criti-cisms hurt your feelings

When criticism is directed our way we are wise to con-sider if there is any truth to it Ask yourself does thiscomment apply to memdashis it accurate If yes then mental-ly thank the critic for showing you something valuableNext learn and grow ask what action would I like to takeregarding this new awareness

However if the judgmental comment does not apply toyou let it go It is much more about the speaker and hisor her projections than it is about you As Taylor Swifthas sung ldquoShake it Offrdquo

If you are in doubt or having insecure or confused feel-ings about the verbal stings ask a trusted friend or familymember for his or her thoughts We can all improve bybeing open to personal growth Then again constant ex-posure to chronically negative people depletes us and canhave devastating effects of our own health and wellbeing

If you need to be around negative Nellies or Neds thisholiday season protect yourself with your own positivethoughts and find things that you are sincerely gratefulfor to focus on Find the balance The best news is thatyou are in control of your own thoughts

Send your dream toCynthiaDreamPowernet

Visit wwwDreamPowernet OrLike my page on Facebook

A Fabulous Awakening

VIGNETTE

The Second of nine posts -My blogwill be accompanied by vignettes from

my forthcoming novelldquoA Fabulous Awakeningrdquo

The Alchemical Age of a WomanWhen we reach the Alchemical Age of a Wom-an wersquore initiated us into a realm of woman-hood wersquove only dreamed about The seasonedstate of maturity when wersquore no longer tetheredby the lsquoshoulds and oughtsrsquo of our earlier yearsWhen being proper can mean behaving justbarely

Midlife brings change be it arrive by choice orby chance But it can start out looking as formi-dable as did our other era of change our teenswhen we woke up to discover we were no lon-ger the rambunctious rabble-rousing ruckus-making girl we once were but not yet the wom-an we would become

But waithellipchange-making is what we Boomersdo best Wersquore of the invincible ldquoI Am WomanrsquoGeneration the shape-shifting change-makingalchemists of reinvention Wersquove experiencedlife from many points of view Yes we are thestoried ones held up to acclaim and ridicule forour ideals passions and our daring to walk themargins and push boundaries to the limits Ourcreeds have evolved First came life is about sav-ing the world then life is about being equal andfair to life is all about me to hear us roar tolife is about gathering lots of stuff to why is thishappening to me

The times yes they are changing Wersquore experi-encing an Age Quake Women over 50 are apower group that must be reckoned with sowrote Ben Brantley of the NY Times

What was typical is no more Women of Expe-rience are now strutting past the ingeacutenues withnary a glance

We have been tagged eldersirens silver foxesand seasoned women We are those who havegiven and taken loved left regretted and re-joiced Historian Gerda Lerner wrote that sucha critical mass of women with a tradition of re-

bellion and independence has not occurred be-fore in history

There comes a day at the launch of lifersquos fabu-lous third when we realize it is now or never Afully embodied awareness of our mortality givesus permission to live all out or all in in the styleof our choice

We all know HER the quintessential Woman ofExperience By her powerful presence we knowshe will not be made invisible or be left unheardShe has found the charm of her fearless voiceShe no longer goes along to get along Shespeaks truth and paves the way for other wom-en to emerge from the shadows Her experienc-es show Her story is evident And the evidenceof her life reveals that she has received hershare of magic and of misery By the tilt of herchin you know this woman will not be corsetedin body or in expressivity

Welcome to thefabulous

AlchemicalAge of aWoman

VignetteAfter being rejected by her prince of a husbandAurora B Rose stepped forth toward her new lifefeeling both trepidation and thrill Upon her de-parture from Savannah her former mother-in-lawoffered sage advice when she told Aurora to getlostAfter taking several unintended detours on hercross-country journey to San Francisco Auroracelebrated her birthday in Sedona Arizona Afterthree days of being pampered at a posh spa in anunforgiving moment she caught a glance of herhands and saw the well-used hands of her grand-mother

A bolt of Zeusian lightning would have beeneasier to bear

Someday Irsquom going to die My voice willnever be heard again My touch wonrsquot be felt Myeyes wonrsquot see my ears wonrsquot hear my mindwonrsquot think my heart wonrsquot feel my feet wonrsquottake steps

The fact that her life would end somedaywas no longer an abstraction

Later as the red rocks faded to an inky sil-houette against the starry sky in her divine limi-nal state of not quite awake and not quite asleepthe Milky Way became a swirling island of starsan oasis of nurture a womb for the mind to growwith wonder She silently asked the stars ldquoI feellike Irsquom coming out of a deep sleep And if I donrsquotwake up now I never willrdquo

From the dark space between the stars thesilky breeze carried a message ldquoYou Aurora Yesyou It all matters Rejoin the dancerdquo

Until next month please connect with me on Face-book or stop by wwwSundayLarsoncom andwwwPluckyGirlscom

A Fabulous Awakening is available

The Identity of SHEAs we can clearly see in thenews a new generation ofracism has arisen From po-lice brutality to racial slursbeing thrown on campuseven to an African-Ameri-can church being bombedItrsquos like the civil rightsmovement all over again

But there is a unique opportunity here that we have as-black people Other races are hearing our cries and arefighting with us Some police forces have taken racialmatters into their own hands and are requiring diversitytraining Campuses are taking extra precaution (letrsquostake Mizzou for example) by not allowing racism tocontinue on campus even if it means forcing resigna-tions Now even predominately white areas and regionsare fighting for black people

Here is our chance to reunite black culture Because letrsquosbe honest unity hasnrsquot always been on our priority listWe scream ldquoblack lives matterrdquo at the top of our lungsyet still pick up guns and kill each other Black peoplekill each other far more than cops kill us So who exact-ly should we be crucifying

Unity begins first with eliminating our own racially de-structive stigmas And the first one that should be elimi-nated completely among all black people is the beliefthat lighter skin is the better skin meaning pulling thetrigger on this ldquougly black girlrdquo stigma

I recently saw some disgustingly racist posts on socialmedia discriminating black women One was a commentmade by a black man that resides in Phoenix (aka theworst place for a black woman to find a man but thatrsquosa whole separate article) stating plain ignorance aboutblack women

ldquoDo nobody want no nappy headed no fatherhavinhellipdonrsquot want to go to college bad credit havinghetto black womanrdquo

And hersquos not the only ignorant black man that thinkslike this Since residing in Phoenix I have ran into sev-eral black men that donrsquot date black women nor find

them attractive Some of them actually believe that dat-ing a lighter skin especially white gives them a higherstatus

I also saw this account whitesmattertoo that postedseveral pictures degrading black women On a post witha full figured black woman wearing a shirt that saidldquomagicrdquo the comment read

ldquoNothing magic about a smelly woman with big legsand bingo wings and brown skin Blacks are only inAmerica because Whites transported them here fromAfrica to be used as slaveshelliprdquo

The account was created months ago and just recentlywas taken off Instagram

Now there are going to be ignorant people out there andbecause of social media we will run into these idiots atsome point The only bad influence social media has isthat it gives ignorance an audience But it also allowsindividuals to speak against it ndash if we care enough to doso

We need to be taking bold stands in our defense of blackwomen Why Because black women are the ones beingvictimized and a lot of this is by our own race

Darker skin black women are still stuck playing secondbest There are thousands of brands across the nationthat donrsquot advertise to black people or use full African-American people within their campaigns such as Amer-ican Apparel Abercrombie amp Fitch Hollister and JCrew to name a few

Rappers continue to amp up this light skin vs dark skindebate in their lyrics Take Young Jeezy Lil WayneFuture and Asap Rocky for example

ldquoFor instance I get-get my dick lickedRed bone com-plexion like a piglet kiss kissrdquo -A$AP Rocky ldquoKeep ItGrdquo Feat Chase Infinite amp Spaceghostpurrp

Not to mention that black rappers continue to exploitthe body of a black woman by constantly using thesame type of black woman in their videos ndash half nakedwith a ridiculously big butt a small waist and long fakehair Canrsquot they use a naturally shaped black womanwith her real hair

Why is it necessary for black rappers to constantly gloatabout their sexual preferences as it completely de-grades black culture

The point is that right now we as black people are be-ginning to become a true voice in society as well ashistory We are beginning to have more influence in theworld something that our ancestors fought so hard forus to have

For this reason itrsquos now more important than ever to beaware of what we are listening to speaking about andwhat we are allowing on our social feeds If we see in-justice of any kind we need to speak on it and repost itblog about talk about it Donrsquot ignore it

I find it astounding that in these last 10 years more darkskin black women have been nominated and have wonOscars over any other time in history (Jennifer HudsonMorsquoNique Octavia Spencer Lupita Nyoungrsquoo) But thebiggest reason of this is because of black producers anddirectors such as Lee Daniels Steve McQueen andShonda Rhimes It was their influence that made thispossible

It takes an influential black person to make these gainsin our society and to fight stigmas Thatrsquos the type ofblack person all of us should want to be

We need to take a stand against all racial slurs and stig-mas especially those given by black people We need tocontinue to evolve as a people and we canrsquot afford tolet ignorant comments about big lips big thighs andlight skin tones deflect the media from real issues

Eboni Laceywwwtheidentityofshecom

Billy Travilla amp Marilyn MonroersquosLast Stop

The Bus Stop In Arizona

KIMBERLEY ASHLEYHAUTE COUTURE

The sizzling sun in Arizona is as hot as a studio spotlight inHollywood

It could be said however that the intense heat of eachshare much in common The blonde actress who herselfraised temperatures in films like Some Like it Hot hellip actual-ly experienced both Hollywood spotlights and Arizona sun

While as a designer I began my career in Arizona BillyTravilla and his muse Marilyn Monroe did the oppositeThey ended theirs in the sunshine state Billy Travilla de-signed the incredible costumes for many of Monroersquos filmsand Arizona was the shooting location for the last stop onTravillarsquos train of iconic Marilyn Monroe styles

In the middle of a mild March in 1956 Director Joshua Lo-gan and Producer Buddy Adler set up camp in Phoenix atthe Arizona State Fair Grounds The duo was here to filmMarilyn Monroe in the role of saloon singer Cherie oppositeDon Murray as Beauregard Decker in his first film role

For the costume designers 93rd film credit Billy Travilla de-signed three well thought out pieces that a Los AngelesTimes reporter once called simple They certainly may haveappeared simple to anyone outside of the film industry butto a costume designer and anyone who understands this artmore deeply those 3 costumes were sheer perfection Ap-parently even the reporter understood that stating ldquo[BillyTravillarsquos] three-piece wardrobe [for Marilyn Monroersquosfilm] consists of an abbreviated theatrical costume a sim-ple [skirt amp blouse] and a raincoat It was one of the small-est wardrobes ever called for in a major film productionbut each piece of clothing she wears helps establish thecharacter of Cherie ldquochantoosierdquo in the Blue Dragon Cafeacute

It has been accurately said that clothes maymake the man or woman but costumes makethe actor or actress In a movie costumes playvital supporting roles Billyrsquos Bus Stop cos-tumes played as much a vital role in telling thatfilmrsquos story as did the acrid Arizona sun

The significance of film costumes were long ignoredby both film fans and the film industry itself hellip untilhellip Debbie Reynolds made a vital point of showing theworld otherwise She did so in Beverly Hills in 2012when her sale of Billyrsquos ldquolittle white halter dressrdquoworn by Marilyn in The Seven Year Itch sold at auc-tion That fetching Travilla confection fetched justunder six million dollars

Although Billy Travilla appreciated the significance ofhis costumesrsquo contribution to a filmrsquos plotline like theformer movie studios themselves he did NOT recog-nize their eventual financial value

Less than a decade after Marilyn Monroersquos 1962death Billy made an emotional decision that had helived until friend Debbie Reynolds 2012 auction hewould have severely regretted ldquoI used to have six ofMarilyns dressesrdquo he said in a 1980rsquos interview ldquobutwhen I went into temporary retirement in 1970 andleft the [country] I cleared out my factory andthrew her garments outrdquo

Knowing Billy and his life story as I do I under-stand that to him those dresses represented a painfulloss of love in his life NOT a financial asset Al-though Billy may have found his Marilyn costumestoo emotional to possess a man named Gene Londondid not He has owned several of Marilynrsquos costumesincluding this particular black lace top and satin skirt

from Bus Stop Madonna reportedly borrowed thisoriginal Travilla from Gene posing in it in her 1980rsquosTruth or Dare poster

I wonder if either Madonna or the costumes newowner knew that this same green top with black-laceoverlay had originally been designed by Travilla to beworn by Susan Hayward several years earlier in Foxs1952 film With a Song in my Heart

It was after filming this Arizona film that for Billyeverything came to a stop one could say he had hisown personal lsquoBus Stoprsquo The designer who hadworked for 20th Century-Fox for 7 yearsmdashreachedhis own 7-year-itch with his studio Fox scratchedthat itch by effectively cutting out completely thecostume department as did all other movie studiosduring that time

And while Billy continued seamlessly to design filmcostumes as an independent contractor his workwith Marilyn Monroe had come to a full stop withthe very film named Bus Stop Although the moviemagic he created for the film star ended the mys-tique of their magic on film did not ldquoI worked withMarilyn on eight of her moviesldquo Billy once said ldquoShewas the love of my life that girlrdquo

Billy had no way of knowing that the ldquolove of his liferdquowould use one of those costumes in dangerous waysDuring filming Marilyn overplayed a scene in whichshe had to smack Murray with the sequined tail of herchanteuse costume The actor suffered painful faciallacerations from being slapped by those strings of se-quins

If Col Parkers influence over his star hadnrsquot preventedit from happening the young and naive cowboy playedby Don Murray would have been played by a mannamed Elvis It absolutely would have been a shame toscar THAT beautiful face Elvis however certainlywould have helped things to heat up onscreen

When it comes to ldquoheating things uprdquo the sizzling sunin Arizona certainly IS as hot as the studio spotlights ofHollywood

So for the blonde actress who could raise a manrsquos tem-perature and for the legendary costume designerwhose skills could raise a womanrsquos star power the landwhere mercury rises may have been the perfect placefor the sizzling sun to set on their cool collaboration

After all hellip in the world of celebrity when it comes toHollywood spotlights and Arizona sun some actuallyDO ldquoLike it hotrdquo

Locally publishedLocal Contentwwwdiscovertheregioncom

Local content publishers bring to the people the stories andevents that happened in their community as it happens It isthe cornerstone of a community that is necessary in building acommunity Local publishers gear content towards the peoplein your own backyard

Local content exposes the opportunity for an individual in thecommunity to access this to say it brings an opportunity toyour doorstep No need to go miles-around the world to getinvolved in the opportunities that are being made known toyou through published local content

Too many times we see a small website trying to make moresales or bring more people by concentrating outside of theircommunity leaving out the opportunity in his own backyardConcentrating on the events stories and business opportuni-ties that abound in the community can make a bigger impactDiscover-The-Region magazine showcase the success of howlocal content can bring greater success and joy to the commu-nity A solid content well-written persuasive copy concentrat-ed on the community will generate an endless stream ofcustomers to your business and more importantly throughyour doors

Letrsquos take a look at the impact and pros of localpublishedlocal contents

The Pros of Local PublishedLocal Content

I Connections

Local publishers bring more active participation to the com-munity by keeping them aware of their immediate environ-ment they make them aware of events ldquoplaces to spendfamily time together Local Festivals and Farmers MarketsSports schedules or local hidden treasuresrdquo thereby fosteringconnections in the community

II Accessibility

In this case both the content publisher and the end-users whoare the readers are both reachable A businessman does nothave to look hard to find where to advert his business a localpolitician will not have to travel from Arizona to New York toget across to his people Local publishers make sure the infor-mation gets to the community

III Trust

Local content publishers bring to people in the region storiesand opportunities they can trust they know the publisherthey know the region and they know the story It is easier totrust a brand promoted by the locals for the locals

IV Cost Effective

Concentrating on publishing to the communityregion can bemore cost-effective to your business while it is cheaper topublish in this scenario people can easily identify what youare talking about and are more likely to take an action or buyyour product

Conclusion

Local content publishers are very important in a communitythey are the cornerstone of the community the connectionsand the awareness they create are priceless They can leverageon the opportunities that are abound in the community to de-velop relevant valuable content that is based on their commu-nity

Contents

04 Chiropractic Care and HeadachesDr Bret Wilson

08 How to use Meditation for Pain ReliefNassim Sana

10 Building Your ldquoCOTErdquo of Amour Dr Peggy Marshall

12 A Fabulous Awakening-The Alchemical Age of a Woman Sunday Larson

15 DreamPowerCynthia Richmond

118 The Identity of SheEboni Lacey

20 Billy Travillarsquos WorldKimberley Ashley

23 Locally Published

Chiropractic Care amp Headaches By Dr Bret Wilson

wwwbellwestchirocom

Do you suffer from constant or severe headaches If so you may do what most Americansdo That is simply just reach for the medicine cabinet Yes most over-the-counter productscan relieve headache pains but that relief is short-lived Instead of masking the pain withover-the-counter products seek a proper diagnosis and long-term relief You can do so withchiropractic care

What is chiropractic care It is a field of health care Some classify it as alternative medi-cine Traditional physicians rely on their knowledge medical tools and medication to treatpain Chiropractors focus on manual therapy and lifestyle modification to treat conditionsand restore health

Doesnrsquot a chiropractoronly specialize in backpains This is a com-mon misconceptionChiropractors tend tofocus on the spine butyou may be surprisedhow many ways thespine and its conditionimpacts our body

Many chiropractors have years of experience helping pa-tients diagnose treat and manage all types of pain in-cluding headache pain

Why should you see a chiropractor if you suffer from se-vere or constant headaches Headaches have manycauses Daily stress cause most but there may be a moreserious underlying problem For example those whohave chronic muscle contractions may experience a spinaldistortion a cause of headaches Car accident victimscommonly suffer from whiplash If improperly treatedthis can also lead to headaches Without treatment thepain will continue and it may get worse overtime

How does chiropractic care help headaches It all de-pends on their cause If everyday stress is to blame a chi-ropractor may suggest relaxing exercises at home orregular in-office therapeutic massages If headaches arecaused by spinal distortion a vertebrae alignment may beperformed This alleviates the pressure from nerveswhich should reduce headache pain and frequency

Will the headaches stop after seeking chiropractic careYes and no First it is important to remember that head-aches are caused by many factors If your cause is due tospinal distortion vertebrae realignment will help Thiswill reduce the frequency of headaches caused by this spe-cific problem But you may get another headache fromjust having a bad day at work You and your chiropractorwill work together to achieve long-term pain relief Inaddition to therapeutic massages trigger factors will bediscussed You will later need to avoid these triggers

What should you ask your chiropractor after treatmentMany patients mistakenly believe they are treated and nolonger need to seek treatment Chiropractic care does notmean long-term care Before parting ways however pickyour chiropractorrsquos brain for suggestions to later preventheadache pain or lessens the severity As previously stat-ed trigger factors need to be eliminated Not only thatproper posture is important This is a chiropractorrsquos spe-

cialty Ask them about natural ways to prevent pain in-cluding relaxation and proper posture

In short headaches have many causes Daily stress is notthe only cause Donrsquot mask the pain See what you cando to get long-term and long-lasting relief So the nexttime you get a severe long-lasting or recurring headachedonrsquot head to the medicine cabinet Instead find the con-tact information for a local chiropractic care specialist andsee what they can do for you

Yours in Health

Dr Bret Wilson

Dr Bret Wilson wants you to move play and live freefrom neck and back pain For more information about chi-ropractic posture exercise and how to make better choic-es about your health visit wwwbellwestchirocom

Find a chiropractor in your area to help you with safe andeffective health care

Find out more

Headaches and Chiropractic

Pain Medication Safety

wwwfindbeautyintruthcom

Close your eyes and begin taking long slow deep breaths fromyour abdomen and imaging a beautiful spring day Imagine your-self sitting on grassy ground soft spring breeze washing over yousunlight gently wrapping your body birds singing smell springflowers all around you the soft rustling of tree branches and the

sound of a babbling brook nearby

Nassim Sana MC CC

In life we experience many things and with most chal-lenges we learn to adapt to or learn to live with How-ever there are some things in life like back pain thatlimits our quality of life According to University ofMaryland Medical Center low back pain is one of themost common problems people have About 60 - 80of the adult US population has low back pain and itis the second most common reason people go to thedoctor Back pain is the leading cause of disability inAmericans under 45 years old Each year 13 millionpeople go to the doctor for chronic back pain Thecondition leaves about 24 million Americans chroni-cally disabled and another 24 million temporarilydisabled With these statistics alone we can see thatback pain affects so many peopleBenefits of Meditation for back pain I know throughout the time that I have been practic-ing I have seen firsthand how chronic back pain con-tinues to affect my clientrsquos emotional well-being Myview in life is that just because the quality of life ischanged that doesnrsquot mean we give in and give upYes we may have to make many adjustments and re-define how we live that just doesnrsquot mean that youhave to stop being yourself My main focus with myclients is how we can increase overall emotionalhealth One of the skills and techniques that I loveteaching my clients is how to meditate Mediation is avery powerful tool for everyone and especially forthose who suffer from chronic pain Using this prac-tice you can begin relieving your back pain1 The meditative technique based on increasedawareness and staying in the moment called mind-fulness meditation has been successfully used intreatment programs to reduce pain and improvemood in patients with chronic pain from a variety ofconditions including facial pain coronary and non-coronary chest pain gastrointestinal pain low backneck and shoulder pain and headache (Kabat-Zinn1982)

2 Meditation helps you relax and check in withyourself which in turn can unclench tense back mus-cles It can also help decrease your perception of painby allowing you to concentrate on something otherthan the pain

3 Breathing exercises and meditation techniquesare safe ways that can help relieve and prevent backpain Although they arent considered physical activi-ty its still a good idea to have a conversation withyour doctor before incorporating them into your rou-tine

Your daily 5 minute mediationMy recommendation is for one week meditates for atleast 5 minutes Meditating for one week will allowyou to see how your body responds and begins to feelless pain and stress1 First decide when and where you want to medi-tate then make a commitment to yourself and put itin your calendar

2 Next step find the place you want to meditateonce you get comfortable Depending on the level ofyour back pain you can meditate sitting in comfort-able position using pillows to support you or lay downin a comfortable position

3 Close your eyes and begin taking long slow deepbreaths from your abdomen and imaging a beautifulspring day Imagine yourself sitting on grassy groundsoft spring breeze washing over you sunlight gentlywrapping your body birds singing smell spring flow-ers all around you the soft rustling of tree branchesand the sound of a babbling brook nearby Continueto be in that space for as long as you can During themeditation you can create a clearing in your mindand visualize your body being completely relaxed

4 Once you are ready to come back open your eyesslowly and once again become aware of your sur-roundings Have a pen and paper ready to journalwhat yoursquore becoming aware of and how your bodyfeels in that relaxed state Remember honor your in-ner self and take yourself on as a partnerndash yoursquoreworth it It is important to remember you donrsquot have to sufferfrom back pain alone reaching out to professionalscan help and give you valuable life change techniquesAs a life coach I love teaching and providing the nec-essary tools to my clients like meditation so that theycan live healthier life holis-tically The first step to-wards healing is learninghow to connect andstrengthen our mind bodyand spirit

Building Your ldquoCOTErdquoof Amour

Last month we discussed the myths that surroundperforming under pressure Hopefully you wereable to examine the myths as they relate to your ownlife and began to refute at least one of them so thatyou could enhance your performance This monthwe will explore the ldquoCOTErdquo of amour that Weisingerin ldquoPerformance Under Pressurerdquo presents as a wayto addressing the myths to performance and pres-sureLetrsquos start with the ldquoCrdquo which stands for confidenceWeisinger suggests that confidence is the degree towhich you believe you can influence a specific out-come The good news about confidence is that is itmalleable and can change over time so focusing onbuilding confidence can bring about results Bren-dan Burchard in ldquoThe Chargerdquo supports this beliefand adds that competence and confidence are tied toperformance success He offers that there is a ldquocom-petence-confidence looprdquo that builds upon compe-tence The more competence you feel the moreconfidence you feel which motivates you to take onmore challenges successfully resulting in more con-fidence Weisinger encourages us to evaluate ourown levels of competence and then create a startingpoint for developing more confidence Suggestionshe makes to building confidence include be at yourbest physically and mentally seek feedback createmicro-successes by chunking down your goals andtake responsibility for your actions Canfield in ldquoThePrinciples of Success also shares these beliefs mostemphatically in the idea of taking responsibility forour actions When we take responsibility for our ac-

tions we can effect change when we do not we actu-ally give our power away

The ldquoOrdquo represents optimism Weisinger contendsthat confidence shows up in the moment while opti-mism shows up on either side of confidence Thinkabout a recent activity that you may not have feltconfident about Your thoughts may have taken youinto what wouldnrsquot be possible instead of what wasAnd then if we are less successful than we had want-ed to be we beat ourselves up after the event Weis-inger encourages us to build an optimismvocabulary so when events happen when we are feel-ing a little less confident we are using words thatspur confidence rather than diminish it Achor inldquoThe Happiness Advantagerdquo calls this ldquopriming thebrainrdquo by flooding the brain with messages of opti-mism instead of negativity Think about the wordsyou are using on a daily basis to describe events inyour life and determine where you might be able totake advantage of the ldquopriming the brainrdquo effect Be-yond basic words you might consider using grati-tude as a way of ldquopriming the brainrdquo Just thinkingabout what you are grateful for prior to a difficultinteraction or difficult event can increase your opti-mism quotient

Next comes tenacity Tenacity requires us to seesetbacks as opportunities leverage agility when ex-periences are not what we anticipated or wantedand encourages us to keep an open mind to learningnew things In order for us to be tenacious we haveto know where we are going Where are you focus-ing and do you maintain vigilance towards thethings that are important to you Have you estab-lished rituals that help you maintain effort towardsyour ultimate mission or goal For example if yougoal is to write a new book attain a new position oreven to lose weight you have to have rituals that willtake you into success Tenacity also requires us topotentially take a new direction when we are notsuccessful If you would like a new role in your or-ganization but are not offered it what else could youdo How could you use your skills to be successfulin another area

Finally the ldquoErdquo represents enthusiasm and the ener-gy we bring to our endeavor Enthusiasm is conta-gious and draws people to us When we are notenthusiastic we appear cold indifferent lethargicor even pessimistic The energy we generate to-wards that which matters to us provides us with theboost that can take us into greater success It alsocould enlist others in helping us achieve our goalsWeisinger suggest that we can increase our enthusi-

asm by doing things that energize us such as listen-ing to music that motivates recalling positive eventsfrom our past and even taking a walk Many of theleaders that I work with have a song they play whenthey need to generate energy and also know thesongs that bring the energy up for their teams

When you think about what you can do to strength-en your ldquoCOTErdquo of amour what might be the firststep Which letter can you get most excited aboutand would you have the most success with if youtried to develop in that area As always I recom-mend that you find a small idea or behavior to workon as you manifest the best version of you

To Your Success

Dr Peggy

Door 1 Door 2

In Your DreamsBy Cynthia Richmond

Cynthia Richmond is an author speaker and sought-after media expert on thetopics of sleep dreams and their meanings Contact Cynthia Richmondat CynthiaDreamPowernet

For more information visit wwwDreamPowernet and visit her facebook page atwwwfacebookcompagesDream-Power

Stings May Represent Hurtful Remarks

Send your dream to

CynthiaDreamPowernet

Visit wwwDreamPowernet OrLike my page on Facebook

Dear Cynthia

I had a dream in which I was walking through a forest andsomeone was walking behind me possibly my sister-in-law

Then I was stung repeatedly on my arms and legs by aswarm of bees It was very uncomfortable I kept pulling outthe stingers but couldnrsquot pull them out as fast as I was beingstung

I thought the dream was about taking responsibility forovercoming adversity but I am not certain about the sym-bolic meaning of bees Thanks for your help

~Karen San Tan

Dear Karen

The dream takes place in a forest which is symbolic for theunconscious mind as we cannot possibly know what is inthe forest by looking at the first rows of trees It is home forall of the inhabitants it feeds and shelters and is also associ-ated with balance and the need to provide protection and

sustenance Bees have several symbolic meanings Theysting but they also make honey so like the forest they areassociated with balance Little in life is all bad or all goodEven the worst things offer an opportunity to learn valuablelessons and to grow Bee stings since they penetrate or getunder your skin can represent stinging hurtful comments orjudgments directed your way You remove them but canrsquotkeep up with the pace of the stings or jabs

In the language of dreams arms represent embracing lifewhile legs are what we stand on and for our foundation andour mobility

What role does your sister-in-law play in your life Is shebehind you and supportive or do her comments and criti-cisms hurt your feelings

When criticism is directed our way we are wise to con-sider if there is any truth to it Ask yourself does thiscomment apply to memdashis it accurate If yes then mental-ly thank the critic for showing you something valuableNext learn and grow ask what action would I like to takeregarding this new awareness

However if the judgmental comment does not apply toyou let it go It is much more about the speaker and hisor her projections than it is about you As Taylor Swifthas sung ldquoShake it Offrdquo

If you are in doubt or having insecure or confused feel-ings about the verbal stings ask a trusted friend or familymember for his or her thoughts We can all improve bybeing open to personal growth Then again constant ex-posure to chronically negative people depletes us and canhave devastating effects of our own health and wellbeing

If you need to be around negative Nellies or Neds thisholiday season protect yourself with your own positivethoughts and find things that you are sincerely gratefulfor to focus on Find the balance The best news is thatyou are in control of your own thoughts

Send your dream toCynthiaDreamPowernet

Visit wwwDreamPowernet OrLike my page on Facebook

A Fabulous Awakening

VIGNETTE

The Second of nine posts -My blogwill be accompanied by vignettes from

my forthcoming novelldquoA Fabulous Awakeningrdquo

The Alchemical Age of a WomanWhen we reach the Alchemical Age of a Wom-an wersquore initiated us into a realm of woman-hood wersquove only dreamed about The seasonedstate of maturity when wersquore no longer tetheredby the lsquoshoulds and oughtsrsquo of our earlier yearsWhen being proper can mean behaving justbarely

Midlife brings change be it arrive by choice orby chance But it can start out looking as formi-dable as did our other era of change our teenswhen we woke up to discover we were no lon-ger the rambunctious rabble-rousing ruckus-making girl we once were but not yet the wom-an we would become

But waithellipchange-making is what we Boomersdo best Wersquore of the invincible ldquoI Am WomanrsquoGeneration the shape-shifting change-makingalchemists of reinvention Wersquove experiencedlife from many points of view Yes we are thestoried ones held up to acclaim and ridicule forour ideals passions and our daring to walk themargins and push boundaries to the limits Ourcreeds have evolved First came life is about sav-ing the world then life is about being equal andfair to life is all about me to hear us roar tolife is about gathering lots of stuff to why is thishappening to me

The times yes they are changing Wersquore experi-encing an Age Quake Women over 50 are apower group that must be reckoned with sowrote Ben Brantley of the NY Times

What was typical is no more Women of Expe-rience are now strutting past the ingeacutenues withnary a glance

We have been tagged eldersirens silver foxesand seasoned women We are those who havegiven and taken loved left regretted and re-joiced Historian Gerda Lerner wrote that sucha critical mass of women with a tradition of re-

bellion and independence has not occurred be-fore in history

There comes a day at the launch of lifersquos fabu-lous third when we realize it is now or never Afully embodied awareness of our mortality givesus permission to live all out or all in in the styleof our choice

We all know HER the quintessential Woman ofExperience By her powerful presence we knowshe will not be made invisible or be left unheardShe has found the charm of her fearless voiceShe no longer goes along to get along Shespeaks truth and paves the way for other wom-en to emerge from the shadows Her experienc-es show Her story is evident And the evidenceof her life reveals that she has received hershare of magic and of misery By the tilt of herchin you know this woman will not be corsetedin body or in expressivity

Welcome to thefabulous

AlchemicalAge of aWoman

VignetteAfter being rejected by her prince of a husbandAurora B Rose stepped forth toward her new lifefeeling both trepidation and thrill Upon her de-parture from Savannah her former mother-in-lawoffered sage advice when she told Aurora to getlostAfter taking several unintended detours on hercross-country journey to San Francisco Auroracelebrated her birthday in Sedona Arizona Afterthree days of being pampered at a posh spa in anunforgiving moment she caught a glance of herhands and saw the well-used hands of her grand-mother

A bolt of Zeusian lightning would have beeneasier to bear

Someday Irsquom going to die My voice willnever be heard again My touch wonrsquot be felt Myeyes wonrsquot see my ears wonrsquot hear my mindwonrsquot think my heart wonrsquot feel my feet wonrsquottake steps

The fact that her life would end somedaywas no longer an abstraction

Later as the red rocks faded to an inky sil-houette against the starry sky in her divine limi-nal state of not quite awake and not quite asleepthe Milky Way became a swirling island of starsan oasis of nurture a womb for the mind to growwith wonder She silently asked the stars ldquoI feellike Irsquom coming out of a deep sleep And if I donrsquotwake up now I never willrdquo

From the dark space between the stars thesilky breeze carried a message ldquoYou Aurora Yesyou It all matters Rejoin the dancerdquo

Until next month please connect with me on Face-book or stop by wwwSundayLarsoncom andwwwPluckyGirlscom

A Fabulous Awakening is available

The Identity of SHEAs we can clearly see in thenews a new generation ofracism has arisen From po-lice brutality to racial slursbeing thrown on campuseven to an African-Ameri-can church being bombedItrsquos like the civil rightsmovement all over again

But there is a unique opportunity here that we have as-black people Other races are hearing our cries and arefighting with us Some police forces have taken racialmatters into their own hands and are requiring diversitytraining Campuses are taking extra precaution (letrsquostake Mizzou for example) by not allowing racism tocontinue on campus even if it means forcing resigna-tions Now even predominately white areas and regionsare fighting for black people

Here is our chance to reunite black culture Because letrsquosbe honest unity hasnrsquot always been on our priority listWe scream ldquoblack lives matterrdquo at the top of our lungsyet still pick up guns and kill each other Black peoplekill each other far more than cops kill us So who exact-ly should we be crucifying

Unity begins first with eliminating our own racially de-structive stigmas And the first one that should be elimi-nated completely among all black people is the beliefthat lighter skin is the better skin meaning pulling thetrigger on this ldquougly black girlrdquo stigma

I recently saw some disgustingly racist posts on socialmedia discriminating black women One was a commentmade by a black man that resides in Phoenix (aka theworst place for a black woman to find a man but thatrsquosa whole separate article) stating plain ignorance aboutblack women

ldquoDo nobody want no nappy headed no fatherhavinhellipdonrsquot want to go to college bad credit havinghetto black womanrdquo

And hersquos not the only ignorant black man that thinkslike this Since residing in Phoenix I have ran into sev-eral black men that donrsquot date black women nor find

them attractive Some of them actually believe that dat-ing a lighter skin especially white gives them a higherstatus

I also saw this account whitesmattertoo that postedseveral pictures degrading black women On a post witha full figured black woman wearing a shirt that saidldquomagicrdquo the comment read

ldquoNothing magic about a smelly woman with big legsand bingo wings and brown skin Blacks are only inAmerica because Whites transported them here fromAfrica to be used as slaveshelliprdquo

The account was created months ago and just recentlywas taken off Instagram

Now there are going to be ignorant people out there andbecause of social media we will run into these idiots atsome point The only bad influence social media has isthat it gives ignorance an audience But it also allowsindividuals to speak against it ndash if we care enough to doso

We need to be taking bold stands in our defense of blackwomen Why Because black women are the ones beingvictimized and a lot of this is by our own race

Darker skin black women are still stuck playing secondbest There are thousands of brands across the nationthat donrsquot advertise to black people or use full African-American people within their campaigns such as Amer-ican Apparel Abercrombie amp Fitch Hollister and JCrew to name a few

Rappers continue to amp up this light skin vs dark skindebate in their lyrics Take Young Jeezy Lil WayneFuture and Asap Rocky for example

ldquoFor instance I get-get my dick lickedRed bone com-plexion like a piglet kiss kissrdquo -A$AP Rocky ldquoKeep ItGrdquo Feat Chase Infinite amp Spaceghostpurrp

Not to mention that black rappers continue to exploitthe body of a black woman by constantly using thesame type of black woman in their videos ndash half nakedwith a ridiculously big butt a small waist and long fakehair Canrsquot they use a naturally shaped black womanwith her real hair

Why is it necessary for black rappers to constantly gloatabout their sexual preferences as it completely de-grades black culture

The point is that right now we as black people are be-ginning to become a true voice in society as well ashistory We are beginning to have more influence in theworld something that our ancestors fought so hard forus to have

For this reason itrsquos now more important than ever to beaware of what we are listening to speaking about andwhat we are allowing on our social feeds If we see in-justice of any kind we need to speak on it and repost itblog about talk about it Donrsquot ignore it

I find it astounding that in these last 10 years more darkskin black women have been nominated and have wonOscars over any other time in history (Jennifer HudsonMorsquoNique Octavia Spencer Lupita Nyoungrsquoo) But thebiggest reason of this is because of black producers anddirectors such as Lee Daniels Steve McQueen andShonda Rhimes It was their influence that made thispossible

It takes an influential black person to make these gainsin our society and to fight stigmas Thatrsquos the type ofblack person all of us should want to be

We need to take a stand against all racial slurs and stig-mas especially those given by black people We need tocontinue to evolve as a people and we canrsquot afford tolet ignorant comments about big lips big thighs andlight skin tones deflect the media from real issues

Eboni Laceywwwtheidentityofshecom

Billy Travilla amp Marilyn MonroersquosLast Stop

The Bus Stop In Arizona

KIMBERLEY ASHLEYHAUTE COUTURE

The sizzling sun in Arizona is as hot as a studio spotlight inHollywood

It could be said however that the intense heat of eachshare much in common The blonde actress who herselfraised temperatures in films like Some Like it Hot hellip actual-ly experienced both Hollywood spotlights and Arizona sun

While as a designer I began my career in Arizona BillyTravilla and his muse Marilyn Monroe did the oppositeThey ended theirs in the sunshine state Billy Travilla de-signed the incredible costumes for many of Monroersquos filmsand Arizona was the shooting location for the last stop onTravillarsquos train of iconic Marilyn Monroe styles

In the middle of a mild March in 1956 Director Joshua Lo-gan and Producer Buddy Adler set up camp in Phoenix atthe Arizona State Fair Grounds The duo was here to filmMarilyn Monroe in the role of saloon singer Cherie oppositeDon Murray as Beauregard Decker in his first film role

For the costume designers 93rd film credit Billy Travilla de-signed three well thought out pieces that a Los AngelesTimes reporter once called simple They certainly may haveappeared simple to anyone outside of the film industry butto a costume designer and anyone who understands this artmore deeply those 3 costumes were sheer perfection Ap-parently even the reporter understood that stating ldquo[BillyTravillarsquos] three-piece wardrobe [for Marilyn Monroersquosfilm] consists of an abbreviated theatrical costume a sim-ple [skirt amp blouse] and a raincoat It was one of the small-est wardrobes ever called for in a major film productionbut each piece of clothing she wears helps establish thecharacter of Cherie ldquochantoosierdquo in the Blue Dragon Cafeacute

It has been accurately said that clothes maymake the man or woman but costumes makethe actor or actress In a movie costumes playvital supporting roles Billyrsquos Bus Stop cos-tumes played as much a vital role in telling thatfilmrsquos story as did the acrid Arizona sun

The significance of film costumes were long ignoredby both film fans and the film industry itself hellip untilhellip Debbie Reynolds made a vital point of showing theworld otherwise She did so in Beverly Hills in 2012when her sale of Billyrsquos ldquolittle white halter dressrdquoworn by Marilyn in The Seven Year Itch sold at auc-tion That fetching Travilla confection fetched justunder six million dollars

Although Billy Travilla appreciated the significance ofhis costumesrsquo contribution to a filmrsquos plotline like theformer movie studios themselves he did NOT recog-nize their eventual financial value

Less than a decade after Marilyn Monroersquos 1962death Billy made an emotional decision that had helived until friend Debbie Reynolds 2012 auction hewould have severely regretted ldquoI used to have six ofMarilyns dressesrdquo he said in a 1980rsquos interview ldquobutwhen I went into temporary retirement in 1970 andleft the [country] I cleared out my factory andthrew her garments outrdquo

Knowing Billy and his life story as I do I under-stand that to him those dresses represented a painfulloss of love in his life NOT a financial asset Al-though Billy may have found his Marilyn costumestoo emotional to possess a man named Gene Londondid not He has owned several of Marilynrsquos costumesincluding this particular black lace top and satin skirt

from Bus Stop Madonna reportedly borrowed thisoriginal Travilla from Gene posing in it in her 1980rsquosTruth or Dare poster

I wonder if either Madonna or the costumes newowner knew that this same green top with black-laceoverlay had originally been designed by Travilla to beworn by Susan Hayward several years earlier in Foxs1952 film With a Song in my Heart

It was after filming this Arizona film that for Billyeverything came to a stop one could say he had hisown personal lsquoBus Stoprsquo The designer who hadworked for 20th Century-Fox for 7 yearsmdashreachedhis own 7-year-itch with his studio Fox scratchedthat itch by effectively cutting out completely thecostume department as did all other movie studiosduring that time

And while Billy continued seamlessly to design filmcostumes as an independent contractor his workwith Marilyn Monroe had come to a full stop withthe very film named Bus Stop Although the moviemagic he created for the film star ended the mys-tique of their magic on film did not ldquoI worked withMarilyn on eight of her moviesldquo Billy once said ldquoShewas the love of my life that girlrdquo

Billy had no way of knowing that the ldquolove of his liferdquowould use one of those costumes in dangerous waysDuring filming Marilyn overplayed a scene in whichshe had to smack Murray with the sequined tail of herchanteuse costume The actor suffered painful faciallacerations from being slapped by those strings of se-quins

If Col Parkers influence over his star hadnrsquot preventedit from happening the young and naive cowboy playedby Don Murray would have been played by a mannamed Elvis It absolutely would have been a shame toscar THAT beautiful face Elvis however certainlywould have helped things to heat up onscreen

When it comes to ldquoheating things uprdquo the sizzling sunin Arizona certainly IS as hot as the studio spotlights ofHollywood

So for the blonde actress who could raise a manrsquos tem-perature and for the legendary costume designerwhose skills could raise a womanrsquos star power the landwhere mercury rises may have been the perfect placefor the sizzling sun to set on their cool collaboration

After all hellip in the world of celebrity when it comes toHollywood spotlights and Arizona sun some actuallyDO ldquoLike it hotrdquo

Locally publishedLocal Contentwwwdiscovertheregioncom

Local content publishers bring to the people the stories andevents that happened in their community as it happens It isthe cornerstone of a community that is necessary in building acommunity Local publishers gear content towards the peoplein your own backyard

Local content exposes the opportunity for an individual in thecommunity to access this to say it brings an opportunity toyour doorstep No need to go miles-around the world to getinvolved in the opportunities that are being made known toyou through published local content

Too many times we see a small website trying to make moresales or bring more people by concentrating outside of theircommunity leaving out the opportunity in his own backyardConcentrating on the events stories and business opportuni-ties that abound in the community can make a bigger impactDiscover-The-Region magazine showcase the success of howlocal content can bring greater success and joy to the commu-nity A solid content well-written persuasive copy concentrat-ed on the community will generate an endless stream ofcustomers to your business and more importantly throughyour doors

Letrsquos take a look at the impact and pros of localpublishedlocal contents

The Pros of Local PublishedLocal Content

I Connections

Local publishers bring more active participation to the com-munity by keeping them aware of their immediate environ-ment they make them aware of events ldquoplaces to spendfamily time together Local Festivals and Farmers MarketsSports schedules or local hidden treasuresrdquo thereby fosteringconnections in the community

II Accessibility

In this case both the content publisher and the end-users whoare the readers are both reachable A businessman does nothave to look hard to find where to advert his business a localpolitician will not have to travel from Arizona to New York toget across to his people Local publishers make sure the infor-mation gets to the community

III Trust

Local content publishers bring to people in the region storiesand opportunities they can trust they know the publisherthey know the region and they know the story It is easier totrust a brand promoted by the locals for the locals

IV Cost Effective

Concentrating on publishing to the communityregion can bemore cost-effective to your business while it is cheaper topublish in this scenario people can easily identify what youare talking about and are more likely to take an action or buyyour product

Conclusion

Local content publishers are very important in a communitythey are the cornerstone of the community the connectionsand the awareness they create are priceless They can leverageon the opportunities that are abound in the community to de-velop relevant valuable content that is based on their commu-nity

Chiropractic Care amp Headaches By Dr Bret Wilson

wwwbellwestchirocom

Do you suffer from constant or severe headaches If so you may do what most Americansdo That is simply just reach for the medicine cabinet Yes most over-the-counter productscan relieve headache pains but that relief is short-lived Instead of masking the pain withover-the-counter products seek a proper diagnosis and long-term relief You can do so withchiropractic care

What is chiropractic care It is a field of health care Some classify it as alternative medi-cine Traditional physicians rely on their knowledge medical tools and medication to treatpain Chiropractors focus on manual therapy and lifestyle modification to treat conditionsand restore health

Doesnrsquot a chiropractoronly specialize in backpains This is a com-mon misconceptionChiropractors tend tofocus on the spine butyou may be surprisedhow many ways thespine and its conditionimpacts our body

Many chiropractors have years of experience helping pa-tients diagnose treat and manage all types of pain in-cluding headache pain

Why should you see a chiropractor if you suffer from se-vere or constant headaches Headaches have manycauses Daily stress cause most but there may be a moreserious underlying problem For example those whohave chronic muscle contractions may experience a spinaldistortion a cause of headaches Car accident victimscommonly suffer from whiplash If improperly treatedthis can also lead to headaches Without treatment thepain will continue and it may get worse overtime

How does chiropractic care help headaches It all de-pends on their cause If everyday stress is to blame a chi-ropractor may suggest relaxing exercises at home orregular in-office therapeutic massages If headaches arecaused by spinal distortion a vertebrae alignment may beperformed This alleviates the pressure from nerveswhich should reduce headache pain and frequency

Will the headaches stop after seeking chiropractic careYes and no First it is important to remember that head-aches are caused by many factors If your cause is due tospinal distortion vertebrae realignment will help Thiswill reduce the frequency of headaches caused by this spe-cific problem But you may get another headache fromjust having a bad day at work You and your chiropractorwill work together to achieve long-term pain relief Inaddition to therapeutic massages trigger factors will bediscussed You will later need to avoid these triggers

What should you ask your chiropractor after treatmentMany patients mistakenly believe they are treated and nolonger need to seek treatment Chiropractic care does notmean long-term care Before parting ways however pickyour chiropractorrsquos brain for suggestions to later preventheadache pain or lessens the severity As previously stat-ed trigger factors need to be eliminated Not only thatproper posture is important This is a chiropractorrsquos spe-

cialty Ask them about natural ways to prevent pain in-cluding relaxation and proper posture

In short headaches have many causes Daily stress is notthe only cause Donrsquot mask the pain See what you cando to get long-term and long-lasting relief So the nexttime you get a severe long-lasting or recurring headachedonrsquot head to the medicine cabinet Instead find the con-tact information for a local chiropractic care specialist andsee what they can do for you

Yours in Health

Dr Bret Wilson

Dr Bret Wilson wants you to move play and live freefrom neck and back pain For more information about chi-ropractic posture exercise and how to make better choic-es about your health visit wwwbellwestchirocom

Find a chiropractor in your area to help you with safe andeffective health care

Find out more

Headaches and Chiropractic

Pain Medication Safety

wwwfindbeautyintruthcom

Close your eyes and begin taking long slow deep breaths fromyour abdomen and imaging a beautiful spring day Imagine your-self sitting on grassy ground soft spring breeze washing over yousunlight gently wrapping your body birds singing smell springflowers all around you the soft rustling of tree branches and the

sound of a babbling brook nearby

Nassim Sana MC CC

In life we experience many things and with most chal-lenges we learn to adapt to or learn to live with How-ever there are some things in life like back pain thatlimits our quality of life According to University ofMaryland Medical Center low back pain is one of themost common problems people have About 60 - 80of the adult US population has low back pain and itis the second most common reason people go to thedoctor Back pain is the leading cause of disability inAmericans under 45 years old Each year 13 millionpeople go to the doctor for chronic back pain Thecondition leaves about 24 million Americans chroni-cally disabled and another 24 million temporarilydisabled With these statistics alone we can see thatback pain affects so many peopleBenefits of Meditation for back pain I know throughout the time that I have been practic-ing I have seen firsthand how chronic back pain con-tinues to affect my clientrsquos emotional well-being Myview in life is that just because the quality of life ischanged that doesnrsquot mean we give in and give upYes we may have to make many adjustments and re-define how we live that just doesnrsquot mean that youhave to stop being yourself My main focus with myclients is how we can increase overall emotionalhealth One of the skills and techniques that I loveteaching my clients is how to meditate Mediation is avery powerful tool for everyone and especially forthose who suffer from chronic pain Using this prac-tice you can begin relieving your back pain1 The meditative technique based on increasedawareness and staying in the moment called mind-fulness meditation has been successfully used intreatment programs to reduce pain and improvemood in patients with chronic pain from a variety ofconditions including facial pain coronary and non-coronary chest pain gastrointestinal pain low backneck and shoulder pain and headache (Kabat-Zinn1982)

2 Meditation helps you relax and check in withyourself which in turn can unclench tense back mus-cles It can also help decrease your perception of painby allowing you to concentrate on something otherthan the pain

3 Breathing exercises and meditation techniquesare safe ways that can help relieve and prevent backpain Although they arent considered physical activi-ty its still a good idea to have a conversation withyour doctor before incorporating them into your rou-tine

Your daily 5 minute mediationMy recommendation is for one week meditates for atleast 5 minutes Meditating for one week will allowyou to see how your body responds and begins to feelless pain and stress1 First decide when and where you want to medi-tate then make a commitment to yourself and put itin your calendar

2 Next step find the place you want to meditateonce you get comfortable Depending on the level ofyour back pain you can meditate sitting in comfort-able position using pillows to support you or lay downin a comfortable position

3 Close your eyes and begin taking long slow deepbreaths from your abdomen and imaging a beautifulspring day Imagine yourself sitting on grassy groundsoft spring breeze washing over you sunlight gentlywrapping your body birds singing smell spring flow-ers all around you the soft rustling of tree branchesand the sound of a babbling brook nearby Continueto be in that space for as long as you can During themeditation you can create a clearing in your mindand visualize your body being completely relaxed

4 Once you are ready to come back open your eyesslowly and once again become aware of your sur-roundings Have a pen and paper ready to journalwhat yoursquore becoming aware of and how your bodyfeels in that relaxed state Remember honor your in-ner self and take yourself on as a partnerndash yoursquoreworth it It is important to remember you donrsquot have to sufferfrom back pain alone reaching out to professionalscan help and give you valuable life change techniquesAs a life coach I love teaching and providing the nec-essary tools to my clients like meditation so that theycan live healthier life holis-tically The first step to-wards healing is learninghow to connect andstrengthen our mind bodyand spirit

Building Your ldquoCOTErdquoof Amour

Last month we discussed the myths that surroundperforming under pressure Hopefully you wereable to examine the myths as they relate to your ownlife and began to refute at least one of them so thatyou could enhance your performance This monthwe will explore the ldquoCOTErdquo of amour that Weisingerin ldquoPerformance Under Pressurerdquo presents as a wayto addressing the myths to performance and pres-sureLetrsquos start with the ldquoCrdquo which stands for confidenceWeisinger suggests that confidence is the degree towhich you believe you can influence a specific out-come The good news about confidence is that is itmalleable and can change over time so focusing onbuilding confidence can bring about results Bren-dan Burchard in ldquoThe Chargerdquo supports this beliefand adds that competence and confidence are tied toperformance success He offers that there is a ldquocom-petence-confidence looprdquo that builds upon compe-tence The more competence you feel the moreconfidence you feel which motivates you to take onmore challenges successfully resulting in more con-fidence Weisinger encourages us to evaluate ourown levels of competence and then create a startingpoint for developing more confidence Suggestionshe makes to building confidence include be at yourbest physically and mentally seek feedback createmicro-successes by chunking down your goals andtake responsibility for your actions Canfield in ldquoThePrinciples of Success also shares these beliefs mostemphatically in the idea of taking responsibility forour actions When we take responsibility for our ac-

tions we can effect change when we do not we actu-ally give our power away

The ldquoOrdquo represents optimism Weisinger contendsthat confidence shows up in the moment while opti-mism shows up on either side of confidence Thinkabout a recent activity that you may not have feltconfident about Your thoughts may have taken youinto what wouldnrsquot be possible instead of what wasAnd then if we are less successful than we had want-ed to be we beat ourselves up after the event Weis-inger encourages us to build an optimismvocabulary so when events happen when we are feel-ing a little less confident we are using words thatspur confidence rather than diminish it Achor inldquoThe Happiness Advantagerdquo calls this ldquopriming thebrainrdquo by flooding the brain with messages of opti-mism instead of negativity Think about the wordsyou are using on a daily basis to describe events inyour life and determine where you might be able totake advantage of the ldquopriming the brainrdquo effect Be-yond basic words you might consider using grati-tude as a way of ldquopriming the brainrdquo Just thinkingabout what you are grateful for prior to a difficultinteraction or difficult event can increase your opti-mism quotient

Next comes tenacity Tenacity requires us to seesetbacks as opportunities leverage agility when ex-periences are not what we anticipated or wantedand encourages us to keep an open mind to learningnew things In order for us to be tenacious we haveto know where we are going Where are you focus-ing and do you maintain vigilance towards thethings that are important to you Have you estab-lished rituals that help you maintain effort towardsyour ultimate mission or goal For example if yougoal is to write a new book attain a new position oreven to lose weight you have to have rituals that willtake you into success Tenacity also requires us topotentially take a new direction when we are notsuccessful If you would like a new role in your or-ganization but are not offered it what else could youdo How could you use your skills to be successfulin another area

Finally the ldquoErdquo represents enthusiasm and the ener-gy we bring to our endeavor Enthusiasm is conta-gious and draws people to us When we are notenthusiastic we appear cold indifferent lethargicor even pessimistic The energy we generate to-wards that which matters to us provides us with theboost that can take us into greater success It alsocould enlist others in helping us achieve our goalsWeisinger suggest that we can increase our enthusi-

asm by doing things that energize us such as listen-ing to music that motivates recalling positive eventsfrom our past and even taking a walk Many of theleaders that I work with have a song they play whenthey need to generate energy and also know thesongs that bring the energy up for their teams

When you think about what you can do to strength-en your ldquoCOTErdquo of amour what might be the firststep Which letter can you get most excited aboutand would you have the most success with if youtried to develop in that area As always I recom-mend that you find a small idea or behavior to workon as you manifest the best version of you

To Your Success

Dr Peggy

Door 1 Door 2

In Your DreamsBy Cynthia Richmond

Cynthia Richmond is an author speaker and sought-after media expert on thetopics of sleep dreams and their meanings Contact Cynthia Richmondat CynthiaDreamPowernet

For more information visit wwwDreamPowernet and visit her facebook page atwwwfacebookcompagesDream-Power

Stings May Represent Hurtful Remarks

Send your dream to

CynthiaDreamPowernet

Visit wwwDreamPowernet OrLike my page on Facebook

Dear Cynthia

I had a dream in which I was walking through a forest andsomeone was walking behind me possibly my sister-in-law

Then I was stung repeatedly on my arms and legs by aswarm of bees It was very uncomfortable I kept pulling outthe stingers but couldnrsquot pull them out as fast as I was beingstung

I thought the dream was about taking responsibility forovercoming adversity but I am not certain about the sym-bolic meaning of bees Thanks for your help

~Karen San Tan

Dear Karen

The dream takes place in a forest which is symbolic for theunconscious mind as we cannot possibly know what is inthe forest by looking at the first rows of trees It is home forall of the inhabitants it feeds and shelters and is also associ-ated with balance and the need to provide protection and

sustenance Bees have several symbolic meanings Theysting but they also make honey so like the forest they areassociated with balance Little in life is all bad or all goodEven the worst things offer an opportunity to learn valuablelessons and to grow Bee stings since they penetrate or getunder your skin can represent stinging hurtful comments orjudgments directed your way You remove them but canrsquotkeep up with the pace of the stings or jabs

In the language of dreams arms represent embracing lifewhile legs are what we stand on and for our foundation andour mobility

What role does your sister-in-law play in your life Is shebehind you and supportive or do her comments and criti-cisms hurt your feelings

When criticism is directed our way we are wise to con-sider if there is any truth to it Ask yourself does thiscomment apply to memdashis it accurate If yes then mental-ly thank the critic for showing you something valuableNext learn and grow ask what action would I like to takeregarding this new awareness

However if the judgmental comment does not apply toyou let it go It is much more about the speaker and hisor her projections than it is about you As Taylor Swifthas sung ldquoShake it Offrdquo

If you are in doubt or having insecure or confused feel-ings about the verbal stings ask a trusted friend or familymember for his or her thoughts We can all improve bybeing open to personal growth Then again constant ex-posure to chronically negative people depletes us and canhave devastating effects of our own health and wellbeing

If you need to be around negative Nellies or Neds thisholiday season protect yourself with your own positivethoughts and find things that you are sincerely gratefulfor to focus on Find the balance The best news is thatyou are in control of your own thoughts

Send your dream toCynthiaDreamPowernet

Visit wwwDreamPowernet OrLike my page on Facebook

A Fabulous Awakening

VIGNETTE

The Second of nine posts -My blogwill be accompanied by vignettes from

my forthcoming novelldquoA Fabulous Awakeningrdquo

The Alchemical Age of a WomanWhen we reach the Alchemical Age of a Wom-an wersquore initiated us into a realm of woman-hood wersquove only dreamed about The seasonedstate of maturity when wersquore no longer tetheredby the lsquoshoulds and oughtsrsquo of our earlier yearsWhen being proper can mean behaving justbarely

Midlife brings change be it arrive by choice orby chance But it can start out looking as formi-dable as did our other era of change our teenswhen we woke up to discover we were no lon-ger the rambunctious rabble-rousing ruckus-making girl we once were but not yet the wom-an we would become

But waithellipchange-making is what we Boomersdo best Wersquore of the invincible ldquoI Am WomanrsquoGeneration the shape-shifting change-makingalchemists of reinvention Wersquove experiencedlife from many points of view Yes we are thestoried ones held up to acclaim and ridicule forour ideals passions and our daring to walk themargins and push boundaries to the limits Ourcreeds have evolved First came life is about sav-ing the world then life is about being equal andfair to life is all about me to hear us roar tolife is about gathering lots of stuff to why is thishappening to me

The times yes they are changing Wersquore experi-encing an Age Quake Women over 50 are apower group that must be reckoned with sowrote Ben Brantley of the NY Times

What was typical is no more Women of Expe-rience are now strutting past the ingeacutenues withnary a glance

We have been tagged eldersirens silver foxesand seasoned women We are those who havegiven and taken loved left regretted and re-joiced Historian Gerda Lerner wrote that sucha critical mass of women with a tradition of re-

bellion and independence has not occurred be-fore in history

There comes a day at the launch of lifersquos fabu-lous third when we realize it is now or never Afully embodied awareness of our mortality givesus permission to live all out or all in in the styleof our choice

We all know HER the quintessential Woman ofExperience By her powerful presence we knowshe will not be made invisible or be left unheardShe has found the charm of her fearless voiceShe no longer goes along to get along Shespeaks truth and paves the way for other wom-en to emerge from the shadows Her experienc-es show Her story is evident And the evidenceof her life reveals that she has received hershare of magic and of misery By the tilt of herchin you know this woman will not be corsetedin body or in expressivity

Welcome to thefabulous

AlchemicalAge of aWoman

VignetteAfter being rejected by her prince of a husbandAurora B Rose stepped forth toward her new lifefeeling both trepidation and thrill Upon her de-parture from Savannah her former mother-in-lawoffered sage advice when she told Aurora to getlostAfter taking several unintended detours on hercross-country journey to San Francisco Auroracelebrated her birthday in Sedona Arizona Afterthree days of being pampered at a posh spa in anunforgiving moment she caught a glance of herhands and saw the well-used hands of her grand-mother

A bolt of Zeusian lightning would have beeneasier to bear

Someday Irsquom going to die My voice willnever be heard again My touch wonrsquot be felt Myeyes wonrsquot see my ears wonrsquot hear my mindwonrsquot think my heart wonrsquot feel my feet wonrsquottake steps

The fact that her life would end somedaywas no longer an abstraction

Later as the red rocks faded to an inky sil-houette against the starry sky in her divine limi-nal state of not quite awake and not quite asleepthe Milky Way became a swirling island of starsan oasis of nurture a womb for the mind to growwith wonder She silently asked the stars ldquoI feellike Irsquom coming out of a deep sleep And if I donrsquotwake up now I never willrdquo

From the dark space between the stars thesilky breeze carried a message ldquoYou Aurora Yesyou It all matters Rejoin the dancerdquo

Until next month please connect with me on Face-book or stop by wwwSundayLarsoncom andwwwPluckyGirlscom

A Fabulous Awakening is available

The Identity of SHEAs we can clearly see in thenews a new generation ofracism has arisen From po-lice brutality to racial slursbeing thrown on campuseven to an African-Ameri-can church being bombedItrsquos like the civil rightsmovement all over again

But there is a unique opportunity here that we have as-black people Other races are hearing our cries and arefighting with us Some police forces have taken racialmatters into their own hands and are requiring diversitytraining Campuses are taking extra precaution (letrsquostake Mizzou for example) by not allowing racism tocontinue on campus even if it means forcing resigna-tions Now even predominately white areas and regionsare fighting for black people

Here is our chance to reunite black culture Because letrsquosbe honest unity hasnrsquot always been on our priority listWe scream ldquoblack lives matterrdquo at the top of our lungsyet still pick up guns and kill each other Black peoplekill each other far more than cops kill us So who exact-ly should we be crucifying

Unity begins first with eliminating our own racially de-structive stigmas And the first one that should be elimi-nated completely among all black people is the beliefthat lighter skin is the better skin meaning pulling thetrigger on this ldquougly black girlrdquo stigma

I recently saw some disgustingly racist posts on socialmedia discriminating black women One was a commentmade by a black man that resides in Phoenix (aka theworst place for a black woman to find a man but thatrsquosa whole separate article) stating plain ignorance aboutblack women

ldquoDo nobody want no nappy headed no fatherhavinhellipdonrsquot want to go to college bad credit havinghetto black womanrdquo

And hersquos not the only ignorant black man that thinkslike this Since residing in Phoenix I have ran into sev-eral black men that donrsquot date black women nor find

them attractive Some of them actually believe that dat-ing a lighter skin especially white gives them a higherstatus

I also saw this account whitesmattertoo that postedseveral pictures degrading black women On a post witha full figured black woman wearing a shirt that saidldquomagicrdquo the comment read

ldquoNothing magic about a smelly woman with big legsand bingo wings and brown skin Blacks are only inAmerica because Whites transported them here fromAfrica to be used as slaveshelliprdquo

The account was created months ago and just recentlywas taken off Instagram

Now there are going to be ignorant people out there andbecause of social media we will run into these idiots atsome point The only bad influence social media has isthat it gives ignorance an audience But it also allowsindividuals to speak against it ndash if we care enough to doso

We need to be taking bold stands in our defense of blackwomen Why Because black women are the ones beingvictimized and a lot of this is by our own race

Darker skin black women are still stuck playing secondbest There are thousands of brands across the nationthat donrsquot advertise to black people or use full African-American people within their campaigns such as Amer-ican Apparel Abercrombie amp Fitch Hollister and JCrew to name a few

Rappers continue to amp up this light skin vs dark skindebate in their lyrics Take Young Jeezy Lil WayneFuture and Asap Rocky for example

ldquoFor instance I get-get my dick lickedRed bone com-plexion like a piglet kiss kissrdquo -A$AP Rocky ldquoKeep ItGrdquo Feat Chase Infinite amp Spaceghostpurrp

Not to mention that black rappers continue to exploitthe body of a black woman by constantly using thesame type of black woman in their videos ndash half nakedwith a ridiculously big butt a small waist and long fakehair Canrsquot they use a naturally shaped black womanwith her real hair

Why is it necessary for black rappers to constantly gloatabout their sexual preferences as it completely de-grades black culture

The point is that right now we as black people are be-ginning to become a true voice in society as well ashistory We are beginning to have more influence in theworld something that our ancestors fought so hard forus to have

For this reason itrsquos now more important than ever to beaware of what we are listening to speaking about andwhat we are allowing on our social feeds If we see in-justice of any kind we need to speak on it and repost itblog about talk about it Donrsquot ignore it

I find it astounding that in these last 10 years more darkskin black women have been nominated and have wonOscars over any other time in history (Jennifer HudsonMorsquoNique Octavia Spencer Lupita Nyoungrsquoo) But thebiggest reason of this is because of black producers anddirectors such as Lee Daniels Steve McQueen andShonda Rhimes It was their influence that made thispossible

It takes an influential black person to make these gainsin our society and to fight stigmas Thatrsquos the type ofblack person all of us should want to be

We need to take a stand against all racial slurs and stig-mas especially those given by black people We need tocontinue to evolve as a people and we canrsquot afford tolet ignorant comments about big lips big thighs andlight skin tones deflect the media from real issues

Eboni Laceywwwtheidentityofshecom

Billy Travilla amp Marilyn MonroersquosLast Stop

The Bus Stop In Arizona

KIMBERLEY ASHLEYHAUTE COUTURE

The sizzling sun in Arizona is as hot as a studio spotlight inHollywood

It could be said however that the intense heat of eachshare much in common The blonde actress who herselfraised temperatures in films like Some Like it Hot hellip actual-ly experienced both Hollywood spotlights and Arizona sun

While as a designer I began my career in Arizona BillyTravilla and his muse Marilyn Monroe did the oppositeThey ended theirs in the sunshine state Billy Travilla de-signed the incredible costumes for many of Monroersquos filmsand Arizona was the shooting location for the last stop onTravillarsquos train of iconic Marilyn Monroe styles

In the middle of a mild March in 1956 Director Joshua Lo-gan and Producer Buddy Adler set up camp in Phoenix atthe Arizona State Fair Grounds The duo was here to filmMarilyn Monroe in the role of saloon singer Cherie oppositeDon Murray as Beauregard Decker in his first film role

For the costume designers 93rd film credit Billy Travilla de-signed three well thought out pieces that a Los AngelesTimes reporter once called simple They certainly may haveappeared simple to anyone outside of the film industry butto a costume designer and anyone who understands this artmore deeply those 3 costumes were sheer perfection Ap-parently even the reporter understood that stating ldquo[BillyTravillarsquos] three-piece wardrobe [for Marilyn Monroersquosfilm] consists of an abbreviated theatrical costume a sim-ple [skirt amp blouse] and a raincoat It was one of the small-est wardrobes ever called for in a major film productionbut each piece of clothing she wears helps establish thecharacter of Cherie ldquochantoosierdquo in the Blue Dragon Cafeacute

It has been accurately said that clothes maymake the man or woman but costumes makethe actor or actress In a movie costumes playvital supporting roles Billyrsquos Bus Stop cos-tumes played as much a vital role in telling thatfilmrsquos story as did the acrid Arizona sun

The significance of film costumes were long ignoredby both film fans and the film industry itself hellip untilhellip Debbie Reynolds made a vital point of showing theworld otherwise She did so in Beverly Hills in 2012when her sale of Billyrsquos ldquolittle white halter dressrdquoworn by Marilyn in The Seven Year Itch sold at auc-tion That fetching Travilla confection fetched justunder six million dollars

Although Billy Travilla appreciated the significance ofhis costumesrsquo contribution to a filmrsquos plotline like theformer movie studios themselves he did NOT recog-nize their eventual financial value

Less than a decade after Marilyn Monroersquos 1962death Billy made an emotional decision that had helived until friend Debbie Reynolds 2012 auction hewould have severely regretted ldquoI used to have six ofMarilyns dressesrdquo he said in a 1980rsquos interview ldquobutwhen I went into temporary retirement in 1970 andleft the [country] I cleared out my factory andthrew her garments outrdquo

Knowing Billy and his life story as I do I under-stand that to him those dresses represented a painfulloss of love in his life NOT a financial asset Al-though Billy may have found his Marilyn costumestoo emotional to possess a man named Gene Londondid not He has owned several of Marilynrsquos costumesincluding this particular black lace top and satin skirt

from Bus Stop Madonna reportedly borrowed thisoriginal Travilla from Gene posing in it in her 1980rsquosTruth or Dare poster

I wonder if either Madonna or the costumes newowner knew that this same green top with black-laceoverlay had originally been designed by Travilla to beworn by Susan Hayward several years earlier in Foxs1952 film With a Song in my Heart

It was after filming this Arizona film that for Billyeverything came to a stop one could say he had hisown personal lsquoBus Stoprsquo The designer who hadworked for 20th Century-Fox for 7 yearsmdashreachedhis own 7-year-itch with his studio Fox scratchedthat itch by effectively cutting out completely thecostume department as did all other movie studiosduring that time

And while Billy continued seamlessly to design filmcostumes as an independent contractor his workwith Marilyn Monroe had come to a full stop withthe very film named Bus Stop Although the moviemagic he created for the film star ended the mys-tique of their magic on film did not ldquoI worked withMarilyn on eight of her moviesldquo Billy once said ldquoShewas the love of my life that girlrdquo

Billy had no way of knowing that the ldquolove of his liferdquowould use one of those costumes in dangerous waysDuring filming Marilyn overplayed a scene in whichshe had to smack Murray with the sequined tail of herchanteuse costume The actor suffered painful faciallacerations from being slapped by those strings of se-quins

If Col Parkers influence over his star hadnrsquot preventedit from happening the young and naive cowboy playedby Don Murray would have been played by a mannamed Elvis It absolutely would have been a shame toscar THAT beautiful face Elvis however certainlywould have helped things to heat up onscreen

When it comes to ldquoheating things uprdquo the sizzling sunin Arizona certainly IS as hot as the studio spotlights ofHollywood

So for the blonde actress who could raise a manrsquos tem-perature and for the legendary costume designerwhose skills could raise a womanrsquos star power the landwhere mercury rises may have been the perfect placefor the sizzling sun to set on their cool collaboration

After all hellip in the world of celebrity when it comes toHollywood spotlights and Arizona sun some actuallyDO ldquoLike it hotrdquo

Locally publishedLocal Contentwwwdiscovertheregioncom

Local content publishers bring to the people the stories andevents that happened in their community as it happens It isthe cornerstone of a community that is necessary in building acommunity Local publishers gear content towards the peoplein your own backyard

Local content exposes the opportunity for an individual in thecommunity to access this to say it brings an opportunity toyour doorstep No need to go miles-around the world to getinvolved in the opportunities that are being made known toyou through published local content

Too many times we see a small website trying to make moresales or bring more people by concentrating outside of theircommunity leaving out the opportunity in his own backyardConcentrating on the events stories and business opportuni-ties that abound in the community can make a bigger impactDiscover-The-Region magazine showcase the success of howlocal content can bring greater success and joy to the commu-nity A solid content well-written persuasive copy concentrat-ed on the community will generate an endless stream ofcustomers to your business and more importantly throughyour doors

Letrsquos take a look at the impact and pros of localpublishedlocal contents

The Pros of Local PublishedLocal Content

I Connections

Local publishers bring more active participation to the com-munity by keeping them aware of their immediate environ-ment they make them aware of events ldquoplaces to spendfamily time together Local Festivals and Farmers MarketsSports schedules or local hidden treasuresrdquo thereby fosteringconnections in the community

II Accessibility

In this case both the content publisher and the end-users whoare the readers are both reachable A businessman does nothave to look hard to find where to advert his business a localpolitician will not have to travel from Arizona to New York toget across to his people Local publishers make sure the infor-mation gets to the community

III Trust

Local content publishers bring to people in the region storiesand opportunities they can trust they know the publisherthey know the region and they know the story It is easier totrust a brand promoted by the locals for the locals

IV Cost Effective

Concentrating on publishing to the communityregion can bemore cost-effective to your business while it is cheaper topublish in this scenario people can easily identify what youare talking about and are more likely to take an action or buyyour product

Conclusion

Local content publishers are very important in a communitythey are the cornerstone of the community the connectionsand the awareness they create are priceless They can leverageon the opportunities that are abound in the community to de-velop relevant valuable content that is based on their commu-nity

Doesnrsquot a chiropractoronly specialize in backpains This is a com-mon misconceptionChiropractors tend tofocus on the spine butyou may be surprisedhow many ways thespine and its conditionimpacts our body

Many chiropractors have years of experience helping pa-tients diagnose treat and manage all types of pain in-cluding headache pain

Why should you see a chiropractor if you suffer from se-vere or constant headaches Headaches have manycauses Daily stress cause most but there may be a moreserious underlying problem For example those whohave chronic muscle contractions may experience a spinaldistortion a cause of headaches Car accident victimscommonly suffer from whiplash If improperly treatedthis can also lead to headaches Without treatment thepain will continue and it may get worse overtime

How does chiropractic care help headaches It all de-pends on their cause If everyday stress is to blame a chi-ropractor may suggest relaxing exercises at home orregular in-office therapeutic massages If headaches arecaused by spinal distortion a vertebrae alignment may beperformed This alleviates the pressure from nerveswhich should reduce headache pain and frequency

Will the headaches stop after seeking chiropractic careYes and no First it is important to remember that head-aches are caused by many factors If your cause is due tospinal distortion vertebrae realignment will help Thiswill reduce the frequency of headaches caused by this spe-cific problem But you may get another headache fromjust having a bad day at work You and your chiropractorwill work together to achieve long-term pain relief Inaddition to therapeutic massages trigger factors will bediscussed You will later need to avoid these triggers

What should you ask your chiropractor after treatmentMany patients mistakenly believe they are treated and nolonger need to seek treatment Chiropractic care does notmean long-term care Before parting ways however pickyour chiropractorrsquos brain for suggestions to later preventheadache pain or lessens the severity As previously stat-ed trigger factors need to be eliminated Not only thatproper posture is important This is a chiropractorrsquos spe-

cialty Ask them about natural ways to prevent pain in-cluding relaxation and proper posture

In short headaches have many causes Daily stress is notthe only cause Donrsquot mask the pain See what you cando to get long-term and long-lasting relief So the nexttime you get a severe long-lasting or recurring headachedonrsquot head to the medicine cabinet Instead find the con-tact information for a local chiropractic care specialist andsee what they can do for you

Yours in Health

Dr Bret Wilson

Dr Bret Wilson wants you to move play and live freefrom neck and back pain For more information about chi-ropractic posture exercise and how to make better choic-es about your health visit wwwbellwestchirocom

Find a chiropractor in your area to help you with safe andeffective health care

Find out more

Headaches and Chiropractic

Pain Medication Safety

wwwfindbeautyintruthcom

Close your eyes and begin taking long slow deep breaths fromyour abdomen and imaging a beautiful spring day Imagine your-self sitting on grassy ground soft spring breeze washing over yousunlight gently wrapping your body birds singing smell springflowers all around you the soft rustling of tree branches and the

sound of a babbling brook nearby

Nassim Sana MC CC

In life we experience many things and with most chal-lenges we learn to adapt to or learn to live with How-ever there are some things in life like back pain thatlimits our quality of life According to University ofMaryland Medical Center low back pain is one of themost common problems people have About 60 - 80of the adult US population has low back pain and itis the second most common reason people go to thedoctor Back pain is the leading cause of disability inAmericans under 45 years old Each year 13 millionpeople go to the doctor for chronic back pain Thecondition leaves about 24 million Americans chroni-cally disabled and another 24 million temporarilydisabled With these statistics alone we can see thatback pain affects so many peopleBenefits of Meditation for back pain I know throughout the time that I have been practic-ing I have seen firsthand how chronic back pain con-tinues to affect my clientrsquos emotional well-being Myview in life is that just because the quality of life ischanged that doesnrsquot mean we give in and give upYes we may have to make many adjustments and re-define how we live that just doesnrsquot mean that youhave to stop being yourself My main focus with myclients is how we can increase overall emotionalhealth One of the skills and techniques that I loveteaching my clients is how to meditate Mediation is avery powerful tool for everyone and especially forthose who suffer from chronic pain Using this prac-tice you can begin relieving your back pain1 The meditative technique based on increasedawareness and staying in the moment called mind-fulness meditation has been successfully used intreatment programs to reduce pain and improvemood in patients with chronic pain from a variety ofconditions including facial pain coronary and non-coronary chest pain gastrointestinal pain low backneck and shoulder pain and headache (Kabat-Zinn1982)

2 Meditation helps you relax and check in withyourself which in turn can unclench tense back mus-cles It can also help decrease your perception of painby allowing you to concentrate on something otherthan the pain

3 Breathing exercises and meditation techniquesare safe ways that can help relieve and prevent backpain Although they arent considered physical activi-ty its still a good idea to have a conversation withyour doctor before incorporating them into your rou-tine

Your daily 5 minute mediationMy recommendation is for one week meditates for atleast 5 minutes Meditating for one week will allowyou to see how your body responds and begins to feelless pain and stress1 First decide when and where you want to medi-tate then make a commitment to yourself and put itin your calendar

2 Next step find the place you want to meditateonce you get comfortable Depending on the level ofyour back pain you can meditate sitting in comfort-able position using pillows to support you or lay downin a comfortable position

3 Close your eyes and begin taking long slow deepbreaths from your abdomen and imaging a beautifulspring day Imagine yourself sitting on grassy groundsoft spring breeze washing over you sunlight gentlywrapping your body birds singing smell spring flow-ers all around you the soft rustling of tree branchesand the sound of a babbling brook nearby Continueto be in that space for as long as you can During themeditation you can create a clearing in your mindand visualize your body being completely relaxed

4 Once you are ready to come back open your eyesslowly and once again become aware of your sur-roundings Have a pen and paper ready to journalwhat yoursquore becoming aware of and how your bodyfeels in that relaxed state Remember honor your in-ner self and take yourself on as a partnerndash yoursquoreworth it It is important to remember you donrsquot have to sufferfrom back pain alone reaching out to professionalscan help and give you valuable life change techniquesAs a life coach I love teaching and providing the nec-essary tools to my clients like meditation so that theycan live healthier life holis-tically The first step to-wards healing is learninghow to connect andstrengthen our mind bodyand spirit

Building Your ldquoCOTErdquoof Amour

Last month we discussed the myths that surroundperforming under pressure Hopefully you wereable to examine the myths as they relate to your ownlife and began to refute at least one of them so thatyou could enhance your performance This monthwe will explore the ldquoCOTErdquo of amour that Weisingerin ldquoPerformance Under Pressurerdquo presents as a wayto addressing the myths to performance and pres-sureLetrsquos start with the ldquoCrdquo which stands for confidenceWeisinger suggests that confidence is the degree towhich you believe you can influence a specific out-come The good news about confidence is that is itmalleable and can change over time so focusing onbuilding confidence can bring about results Bren-dan Burchard in ldquoThe Chargerdquo supports this beliefand adds that competence and confidence are tied toperformance success He offers that there is a ldquocom-petence-confidence looprdquo that builds upon compe-tence The more competence you feel the moreconfidence you feel which motivates you to take onmore challenges successfully resulting in more con-fidence Weisinger encourages us to evaluate ourown levels of competence and then create a startingpoint for developing more confidence Suggestionshe makes to building confidence include be at yourbest physically and mentally seek feedback createmicro-successes by chunking down your goals andtake responsibility for your actions Canfield in ldquoThePrinciples of Success also shares these beliefs mostemphatically in the idea of taking responsibility forour actions When we take responsibility for our ac-

tions we can effect change when we do not we actu-ally give our power away

The ldquoOrdquo represents optimism Weisinger contendsthat confidence shows up in the moment while opti-mism shows up on either side of confidence Thinkabout a recent activity that you may not have feltconfident about Your thoughts may have taken youinto what wouldnrsquot be possible instead of what wasAnd then if we are less successful than we had want-ed to be we beat ourselves up after the event Weis-inger encourages us to build an optimismvocabulary so when events happen when we are feel-ing a little less confident we are using words thatspur confidence rather than diminish it Achor inldquoThe Happiness Advantagerdquo calls this ldquopriming thebrainrdquo by flooding the brain with messages of opti-mism instead of negativity Think about the wordsyou are using on a daily basis to describe events inyour life and determine where you might be able totake advantage of the ldquopriming the brainrdquo effect Be-yond basic words you might consider using grati-tude as a way of ldquopriming the brainrdquo Just thinkingabout what you are grateful for prior to a difficultinteraction or difficult event can increase your opti-mism quotient

Next comes tenacity Tenacity requires us to seesetbacks as opportunities leverage agility when ex-periences are not what we anticipated or wantedand encourages us to keep an open mind to learningnew things In order for us to be tenacious we haveto know where we are going Where are you focus-ing and do you maintain vigilance towards thethings that are important to you Have you estab-lished rituals that help you maintain effort towardsyour ultimate mission or goal For example if yougoal is to write a new book attain a new position oreven to lose weight you have to have rituals that willtake you into success Tenacity also requires us topotentially take a new direction when we are notsuccessful If you would like a new role in your or-ganization but are not offered it what else could youdo How could you use your skills to be successfulin another area

Finally the ldquoErdquo represents enthusiasm and the ener-gy we bring to our endeavor Enthusiasm is conta-gious and draws people to us When we are notenthusiastic we appear cold indifferent lethargicor even pessimistic The energy we generate to-wards that which matters to us provides us with theboost that can take us into greater success It alsocould enlist others in helping us achieve our goalsWeisinger suggest that we can increase our enthusi-

asm by doing things that energize us such as listen-ing to music that motivates recalling positive eventsfrom our past and even taking a walk Many of theleaders that I work with have a song they play whenthey need to generate energy and also know thesongs that bring the energy up for their teams

When you think about what you can do to strength-en your ldquoCOTErdquo of amour what might be the firststep Which letter can you get most excited aboutand would you have the most success with if youtried to develop in that area As always I recom-mend that you find a small idea or behavior to workon as you manifest the best version of you

To Your Success

Dr Peggy

Door 1 Door 2

In Your DreamsBy Cynthia Richmond

Cynthia Richmond is an author speaker and sought-after media expert on thetopics of sleep dreams and their meanings Contact Cynthia Richmondat CynthiaDreamPowernet

For more information visit wwwDreamPowernet and visit her facebook page atwwwfacebookcompagesDream-Power

Stings May Represent Hurtful Remarks

Send your dream to

CynthiaDreamPowernet

Visit wwwDreamPowernet OrLike my page on Facebook

Dear Cynthia

I had a dream in which I was walking through a forest andsomeone was walking behind me possibly my sister-in-law

Then I was stung repeatedly on my arms and legs by aswarm of bees It was very uncomfortable I kept pulling outthe stingers but couldnrsquot pull them out as fast as I was beingstung

I thought the dream was about taking responsibility forovercoming adversity but I am not certain about the sym-bolic meaning of bees Thanks for your help

~Karen San Tan

Dear Karen

The dream takes place in a forest which is symbolic for theunconscious mind as we cannot possibly know what is inthe forest by looking at the first rows of trees It is home forall of the inhabitants it feeds and shelters and is also associ-ated with balance and the need to provide protection and

sustenance Bees have several symbolic meanings Theysting but they also make honey so like the forest they areassociated with balance Little in life is all bad or all goodEven the worst things offer an opportunity to learn valuablelessons and to grow Bee stings since they penetrate or getunder your skin can represent stinging hurtful comments orjudgments directed your way You remove them but canrsquotkeep up with the pace of the stings or jabs

In the language of dreams arms represent embracing lifewhile legs are what we stand on and for our foundation andour mobility

What role does your sister-in-law play in your life Is shebehind you and supportive or do her comments and criti-cisms hurt your feelings

When criticism is directed our way we are wise to con-sider if there is any truth to it Ask yourself does thiscomment apply to memdashis it accurate If yes then mental-ly thank the critic for showing you something valuableNext learn and grow ask what action would I like to takeregarding this new awareness

However if the judgmental comment does not apply toyou let it go It is much more about the speaker and hisor her projections than it is about you As Taylor Swifthas sung ldquoShake it Offrdquo

If you are in doubt or having insecure or confused feel-ings about the verbal stings ask a trusted friend or familymember for his or her thoughts We can all improve bybeing open to personal growth Then again constant ex-posure to chronically negative people depletes us and canhave devastating effects of our own health and wellbeing

If you need to be around negative Nellies or Neds thisholiday season protect yourself with your own positivethoughts and find things that you are sincerely gratefulfor to focus on Find the balance The best news is thatyou are in control of your own thoughts

Send your dream toCynthiaDreamPowernet

Visit wwwDreamPowernet OrLike my page on Facebook

A Fabulous Awakening

VIGNETTE

The Second of nine posts -My blogwill be accompanied by vignettes from

my forthcoming novelldquoA Fabulous Awakeningrdquo

The Alchemical Age of a WomanWhen we reach the Alchemical Age of a Wom-an wersquore initiated us into a realm of woman-hood wersquove only dreamed about The seasonedstate of maturity when wersquore no longer tetheredby the lsquoshoulds and oughtsrsquo of our earlier yearsWhen being proper can mean behaving justbarely

Midlife brings change be it arrive by choice orby chance But it can start out looking as formi-dable as did our other era of change our teenswhen we woke up to discover we were no lon-ger the rambunctious rabble-rousing ruckus-making girl we once were but not yet the wom-an we would become

But waithellipchange-making is what we Boomersdo best Wersquore of the invincible ldquoI Am WomanrsquoGeneration the shape-shifting change-makingalchemists of reinvention Wersquove experiencedlife from many points of view Yes we are thestoried ones held up to acclaim and ridicule forour ideals passions and our daring to walk themargins and push boundaries to the limits Ourcreeds have evolved First came life is about sav-ing the world then life is about being equal andfair to life is all about me to hear us roar tolife is about gathering lots of stuff to why is thishappening to me

The times yes they are changing Wersquore experi-encing an Age Quake Women over 50 are apower group that must be reckoned with sowrote Ben Brantley of the NY Times

What was typical is no more Women of Expe-rience are now strutting past the ingeacutenues withnary a glance

We have been tagged eldersirens silver foxesand seasoned women We are those who havegiven and taken loved left regretted and re-joiced Historian Gerda Lerner wrote that sucha critical mass of women with a tradition of re-

bellion and independence has not occurred be-fore in history

There comes a day at the launch of lifersquos fabu-lous third when we realize it is now or never Afully embodied awareness of our mortality givesus permission to live all out or all in in the styleof our choice

We all know HER the quintessential Woman ofExperience By her powerful presence we knowshe will not be made invisible or be left unheardShe has found the charm of her fearless voiceShe no longer goes along to get along Shespeaks truth and paves the way for other wom-en to emerge from the shadows Her experienc-es show Her story is evident And the evidenceof her life reveals that she has received hershare of magic and of misery By the tilt of herchin you know this woman will not be corsetedin body or in expressivity

Welcome to thefabulous

AlchemicalAge of aWoman

VignetteAfter being rejected by her prince of a husbandAurora B Rose stepped forth toward her new lifefeeling both trepidation and thrill Upon her de-parture from Savannah her former mother-in-lawoffered sage advice when she told Aurora to getlostAfter taking several unintended detours on hercross-country journey to San Francisco Auroracelebrated her birthday in Sedona Arizona Afterthree days of being pampered at a posh spa in anunforgiving moment she caught a glance of herhands and saw the well-used hands of her grand-mother

A bolt of Zeusian lightning would have beeneasier to bear

Someday Irsquom going to die My voice willnever be heard again My touch wonrsquot be felt Myeyes wonrsquot see my ears wonrsquot hear my mindwonrsquot think my heart wonrsquot feel my feet wonrsquottake steps

The fact that her life would end somedaywas no longer an abstraction

Later as the red rocks faded to an inky sil-houette against the starry sky in her divine limi-nal state of not quite awake and not quite asleepthe Milky Way became a swirling island of starsan oasis of nurture a womb for the mind to growwith wonder She silently asked the stars ldquoI feellike Irsquom coming out of a deep sleep And if I donrsquotwake up now I never willrdquo

From the dark space between the stars thesilky breeze carried a message ldquoYou Aurora Yesyou It all matters Rejoin the dancerdquo

Until next month please connect with me on Face-book or stop by wwwSundayLarsoncom andwwwPluckyGirlscom

A Fabulous Awakening is available

The Identity of SHEAs we can clearly see in thenews a new generation ofracism has arisen From po-lice brutality to racial slursbeing thrown on campuseven to an African-Ameri-can church being bombedItrsquos like the civil rightsmovement all over again

But there is a unique opportunity here that we have as-black people Other races are hearing our cries and arefighting with us Some police forces have taken racialmatters into their own hands and are requiring diversitytraining Campuses are taking extra precaution (letrsquostake Mizzou for example) by not allowing racism tocontinue on campus even if it means forcing resigna-tions Now even predominately white areas and regionsare fighting for black people

Here is our chance to reunite black culture Because letrsquosbe honest unity hasnrsquot always been on our priority listWe scream ldquoblack lives matterrdquo at the top of our lungsyet still pick up guns and kill each other Black peoplekill each other far more than cops kill us So who exact-ly should we be crucifying

Unity begins first with eliminating our own racially de-structive stigmas And the first one that should be elimi-nated completely among all black people is the beliefthat lighter skin is the better skin meaning pulling thetrigger on this ldquougly black girlrdquo stigma

I recently saw some disgustingly racist posts on socialmedia discriminating black women One was a commentmade by a black man that resides in Phoenix (aka theworst place for a black woman to find a man but thatrsquosa whole separate article) stating plain ignorance aboutblack women

ldquoDo nobody want no nappy headed no fatherhavinhellipdonrsquot want to go to college bad credit havinghetto black womanrdquo

And hersquos not the only ignorant black man that thinkslike this Since residing in Phoenix I have ran into sev-eral black men that donrsquot date black women nor find

them attractive Some of them actually believe that dat-ing a lighter skin especially white gives them a higherstatus

I also saw this account whitesmattertoo that postedseveral pictures degrading black women On a post witha full figured black woman wearing a shirt that saidldquomagicrdquo the comment read

ldquoNothing magic about a smelly woman with big legsand bingo wings and brown skin Blacks are only inAmerica because Whites transported them here fromAfrica to be used as slaveshelliprdquo

The account was created months ago and just recentlywas taken off Instagram

Now there are going to be ignorant people out there andbecause of social media we will run into these idiots atsome point The only bad influence social media has isthat it gives ignorance an audience But it also allowsindividuals to speak against it ndash if we care enough to doso

We need to be taking bold stands in our defense of blackwomen Why Because black women are the ones beingvictimized and a lot of this is by our own race

Darker skin black women are still stuck playing secondbest There are thousands of brands across the nationthat donrsquot advertise to black people or use full African-American people within their campaigns such as Amer-ican Apparel Abercrombie amp Fitch Hollister and JCrew to name a few

Rappers continue to amp up this light skin vs dark skindebate in their lyrics Take Young Jeezy Lil WayneFuture and Asap Rocky for example

ldquoFor instance I get-get my dick lickedRed bone com-plexion like a piglet kiss kissrdquo -A$AP Rocky ldquoKeep ItGrdquo Feat Chase Infinite amp Spaceghostpurrp

Not to mention that black rappers continue to exploitthe body of a black woman by constantly using thesame type of black woman in their videos ndash half nakedwith a ridiculously big butt a small waist and long fakehair Canrsquot they use a naturally shaped black womanwith her real hair

Why is it necessary for black rappers to constantly gloatabout their sexual preferences as it completely de-grades black culture

The point is that right now we as black people are be-ginning to become a true voice in society as well ashistory We are beginning to have more influence in theworld something that our ancestors fought so hard forus to have

For this reason itrsquos now more important than ever to beaware of what we are listening to speaking about andwhat we are allowing on our social feeds If we see in-justice of any kind we need to speak on it and repost itblog about talk about it Donrsquot ignore it

I find it astounding that in these last 10 years more darkskin black women have been nominated and have wonOscars over any other time in history (Jennifer HudsonMorsquoNique Octavia Spencer Lupita Nyoungrsquoo) But thebiggest reason of this is because of black producers anddirectors such as Lee Daniels Steve McQueen andShonda Rhimes It was their influence that made thispossible

It takes an influential black person to make these gainsin our society and to fight stigmas Thatrsquos the type ofblack person all of us should want to be

We need to take a stand against all racial slurs and stig-mas especially those given by black people We need tocontinue to evolve as a people and we canrsquot afford tolet ignorant comments about big lips big thighs andlight skin tones deflect the media from real issues

Eboni Laceywwwtheidentityofshecom

Billy Travilla amp Marilyn MonroersquosLast Stop

The Bus Stop In Arizona

KIMBERLEY ASHLEYHAUTE COUTURE

The sizzling sun in Arizona is as hot as a studio spotlight inHollywood

It could be said however that the intense heat of eachshare much in common The blonde actress who herselfraised temperatures in films like Some Like it Hot hellip actual-ly experienced both Hollywood spotlights and Arizona sun

While as a designer I began my career in Arizona BillyTravilla and his muse Marilyn Monroe did the oppositeThey ended theirs in the sunshine state Billy Travilla de-signed the incredible costumes for many of Monroersquos filmsand Arizona was the shooting location for the last stop onTravillarsquos train of iconic Marilyn Monroe styles

In the middle of a mild March in 1956 Director Joshua Lo-gan and Producer Buddy Adler set up camp in Phoenix atthe Arizona State Fair Grounds The duo was here to filmMarilyn Monroe in the role of saloon singer Cherie oppositeDon Murray as Beauregard Decker in his first film role

For the costume designers 93rd film credit Billy Travilla de-signed three well thought out pieces that a Los AngelesTimes reporter once called simple They certainly may haveappeared simple to anyone outside of the film industry butto a costume designer and anyone who understands this artmore deeply those 3 costumes were sheer perfection Ap-parently even the reporter understood that stating ldquo[BillyTravillarsquos] three-piece wardrobe [for Marilyn Monroersquosfilm] consists of an abbreviated theatrical costume a sim-ple [skirt amp blouse] and a raincoat It was one of the small-est wardrobes ever called for in a major film productionbut each piece of clothing she wears helps establish thecharacter of Cherie ldquochantoosierdquo in the Blue Dragon Cafeacute

It has been accurately said that clothes maymake the man or woman but costumes makethe actor or actress In a movie costumes playvital supporting roles Billyrsquos Bus Stop cos-tumes played as much a vital role in telling thatfilmrsquos story as did the acrid Arizona sun

The significance of film costumes were long ignoredby both film fans and the film industry itself hellip untilhellip Debbie Reynolds made a vital point of showing theworld otherwise She did so in Beverly Hills in 2012when her sale of Billyrsquos ldquolittle white halter dressrdquoworn by Marilyn in The Seven Year Itch sold at auc-tion That fetching Travilla confection fetched justunder six million dollars

Although Billy Travilla appreciated the significance ofhis costumesrsquo contribution to a filmrsquos plotline like theformer movie studios themselves he did NOT recog-nize their eventual financial value

Less than a decade after Marilyn Monroersquos 1962death Billy made an emotional decision that had helived until friend Debbie Reynolds 2012 auction hewould have severely regretted ldquoI used to have six ofMarilyns dressesrdquo he said in a 1980rsquos interview ldquobutwhen I went into temporary retirement in 1970 andleft the [country] I cleared out my factory andthrew her garments outrdquo

Knowing Billy and his life story as I do I under-stand that to him those dresses represented a painfulloss of love in his life NOT a financial asset Al-though Billy may have found his Marilyn costumestoo emotional to possess a man named Gene Londondid not He has owned several of Marilynrsquos costumesincluding this particular black lace top and satin skirt

from Bus Stop Madonna reportedly borrowed thisoriginal Travilla from Gene posing in it in her 1980rsquosTruth or Dare poster

I wonder if either Madonna or the costumes newowner knew that this same green top with black-laceoverlay had originally been designed by Travilla to beworn by Susan Hayward several years earlier in Foxs1952 film With a Song in my Heart

It was after filming this Arizona film that for Billyeverything came to a stop one could say he had hisown personal lsquoBus Stoprsquo The designer who hadworked for 20th Century-Fox for 7 yearsmdashreachedhis own 7-year-itch with his studio Fox scratchedthat itch by effectively cutting out completely thecostume department as did all other movie studiosduring that time

And while Billy continued seamlessly to design filmcostumes as an independent contractor his workwith Marilyn Monroe had come to a full stop withthe very film named Bus Stop Although the moviemagic he created for the film star ended the mys-tique of their magic on film did not ldquoI worked withMarilyn on eight of her moviesldquo Billy once said ldquoShewas the love of my life that girlrdquo

Billy had no way of knowing that the ldquolove of his liferdquowould use one of those costumes in dangerous waysDuring filming Marilyn overplayed a scene in whichshe had to smack Murray with the sequined tail of herchanteuse costume The actor suffered painful faciallacerations from being slapped by those strings of se-quins

If Col Parkers influence over his star hadnrsquot preventedit from happening the young and naive cowboy playedby Don Murray would have been played by a mannamed Elvis It absolutely would have been a shame toscar THAT beautiful face Elvis however certainlywould have helped things to heat up onscreen

When it comes to ldquoheating things uprdquo the sizzling sunin Arizona certainly IS as hot as the studio spotlights ofHollywood

So for the blonde actress who could raise a manrsquos tem-perature and for the legendary costume designerwhose skills could raise a womanrsquos star power the landwhere mercury rises may have been the perfect placefor the sizzling sun to set on their cool collaboration

After all hellip in the world of celebrity when it comes toHollywood spotlights and Arizona sun some actuallyDO ldquoLike it hotrdquo

Locally publishedLocal Contentwwwdiscovertheregioncom

Local content publishers bring to the people the stories andevents that happened in their community as it happens It isthe cornerstone of a community that is necessary in building acommunity Local publishers gear content towards the peoplein your own backyard

Local content exposes the opportunity for an individual in thecommunity to access this to say it brings an opportunity toyour doorstep No need to go miles-around the world to getinvolved in the opportunities that are being made known toyou through published local content

Too many times we see a small website trying to make moresales or bring more people by concentrating outside of theircommunity leaving out the opportunity in his own backyardConcentrating on the events stories and business opportuni-ties that abound in the community can make a bigger impactDiscover-The-Region magazine showcase the success of howlocal content can bring greater success and joy to the commu-nity A solid content well-written persuasive copy concentrat-ed on the community will generate an endless stream ofcustomers to your business and more importantly throughyour doors

Letrsquos take a look at the impact and pros of localpublishedlocal contents

The Pros of Local PublishedLocal Content

I Connections

Local publishers bring more active participation to the com-munity by keeping them aware of their immediate environ-ment they make them aware of events ldquoplaces to spendfamily time together Local Festivals and Farmers MarketsSports schedules or local hidden treasuresrdquo thereby fosteringconnections in the community

II Accessibility

In this case both the content publisher and the end-users whoare the readers are both reachable A businessman does nothave to look hard to find where to advert his business a localpolitician will not have to travel from Arizona to New York toget across to his people Local publishers make sure the infor-mation gets to the community

III Trust

Local content publishers bring to people in the region storiesand opportunities they can trust they know the publisherthey know the region and they know the story It is easier totrust a brand promoted by the locals for the locals

IV Cost Effective

Concentrating on publishing to the communityregion can bemore cost-effective to your business while it is cheaper topublish in this scenario people can easily identify what youare talking about and are more likely to take an action or buyyour product

Conclusion

Local content publishers are very important in a communitythey are the cornerstone of the community the connectionsand the awareness they create are priceless They can leverageon the opportunities that are abound in the community to de-velop relevant valuable content that is based on their commu-nity

wwwfindbeautyintruthcom

Close your eyes and begin taking long slow deep breaths fromyour abdomen and imaging a beautiful spring day Imagine your-self sitting on grassy ground soft spring breeze washing over yousunlight gently wrapping your body birds singing smell springflowers all around you the soft rustling of tree branches and the

sound of a babbling brook nearby

Nassim Sana MC CC

In life we experience many things and with most chal-lenges we learn to adapt to or learn to live with How-ever there are some things in life like back pain thatlimits our quality of life According to University ofMaryland Medical Center low back pain is one of themost common problems people have About 60 - 80of the adult US population has low back pain and itis the second most common reason people go to thedoctor Back pain is the leading cause of disability inAmericans under 45 years old Each year 13 millionpeople go to the doctor for chronic back pain Thecondition leaves about 24 million Americans chroni-cally disabled and another 24 million temporarilydisabled With these statistics alone we can see thatback pain affects so many peopleBenefits of Meditation for back pain I know throughout the time that I have been practic-ing I have seen firsthand how chronic back pain con-tinues to affect my clientrsquos emotional well-being Myview in life is that just because the quality of life ischanged that doesnrsquot mean we give in and give upYes we may have to make many adjustments and re-define how we live that just doesnrsquot mean that youhave to stop being yourself My main focus with myclients is how we can increase overall emotionalhealth One of the skills and techniques that I loveteaching my clients is how to meditate Mediation is avery powerful tool for everyone and especially forthose who suffer from chronic pain Using this prac-tice you can begin relieving your back pain1 The meditative technique based on increasedawareness and staying in the moment called mind-fulness meditation has been successfully used intreatment programs to reduce pain and improvemood in patients with chronic pain from a variety ofconditions including facial pain coronary and non-coronary chest pain gastrointestinal pain low backneck and shoulder pain and headache (Kabat-Zinn1982)

2 Meditation helps you relax and check in withyourself which in turn can unclench tense back mus-cles It can also help decrease your perception of painby allowing you to concentrate on something otherthan the pain

3 Breathing exercises and meditation techniquesare safe ways that can help relieve and prevent backpain Although they arent considered physical activi-ty its still a good idea to have a conversation withyour doctor before incorporating them into your rou-tine

Your daily 5 minute mediationMy recommendation is for one week meditates for atleast 5 minutes Meditating for one week will allowyou to see how your body responds and begins to feelless pain and stress1 First decide when and where you want to medi-tate then make a commitment to yourself and put itin your calendar

2 Next step find the place you want to meditateonce you get comfortable Depending on the level ofyour back pain you can meditate sitting in comfort-able position using pillows to support you or lay downin a comfortable position

3 Close your eyes and begin taking long slow deepbreaths from your abdomen and imaging a beautifulspring day Imagine yourself sitting on grassy groundsoft spring breeze washing over you sunlight gentlywrapping your body birds singing smell spring flow-ers all around you the soft rustling of tree branchesand the sound of a babbling brook nearby Continueto be in that space for as long as you can During themeditation you can create a clearing in your mindand visualize your body being completely relaxed

4 Once you are ready to come back open your eyesslowly and once again become aware of your sur-roundings Have a pen and paper ready to journalwhat yoursquore becoming aware of and how your bodyfeels in that relaxed state Remember honor your in-ner self and take yourself on as a partnerndash yoursquoreworth it It is important to remember you donrsquot have to sufferfrom back pain alone reaching out to professionalscan help and give you valuable life change techniquesAs a life coach I love teaching and providing the nec-essary tools to my clients like meditation so that theycan live healthier life holis-tically The first step to-wards healing is learninghow to connect andstrengthen our mind bodyand spirit

Building Your ldquoCOTErdquoof Amour

Last month we discussed the myths that surroundperforming under pressure Hopefully you wereable to examine the myths as they relate to your ownlife and began to refute at least one of them so thatyou could enhance your performance This monthwe will explore the ldquoCOTErdquo of amour that Weisingerin ldquoPerformance Under Pressurerdquo presents as a wayto addressing the myths to performance and pres-sureLetrsquos start with the ldquoCrdquo which stands for confidenceWeisinger suggests that confidence is the degree towhich you believe you can influence a specific out-come The good news about confidence is that is itmalleable and can change over time so focusing onbuilding confidence can bring about results Bren-dan Burchard in ldquoThe Chargerdquo supports this beliefand adds that competence and confidence are tied toperformance success He offers that there is a ldquocom-petence-confidence looprdquo that builds upon compe-tence The more competence you feel the moreconfidence you feel which motivates you to take onmore challenges successfully resulting in more con-fidence Weisinger encourages us to evaluate ourown levels of competence and then create a startingpoint for developing more confidence Suggestionshe makes to building confidence include be at yourbest physically and mentally seek feedback createmicro-successes by chunking down your goals andtake responsibility for your actions Canfield in ldquoThePrinciples of Success also shares these beliefs mostemphatically in the idea of taking responsibility forour actions When we take responsibility for our ac-

tions we can effect change when we do not we actu-ally give our power away

The ldquoOrdquo represents optimism Weisinger contendsthat confidence shows up in the moment while opti-mism shows up on either side of confidence Thinkabout a recent activity that you may not have feltconfident about Your thoughts may have taken youinto what wouldnrsquot be possible instead of what wasAnd then if we are less successful than we had want-ed to be we beat ourselves up after the event Weis-inger encourages us to build an optimismvocabulary so when events happen when we are feel-ing a little less confident we are using words thatspur confidence rather than diminish it Achor inldquoThe Happiness Advantagerdquo calls this ldquopriming thebrainrdquo by flooding the brain with messages of opti-mism instead of negativity Think about the wordsyou are using on a daily basis to describe events inyour life and determine where you might be able totake advantage of the ldquopriming the brainrdquo effect Be-yond basic words you might consider using grati-tude as a way of ldquopriming the brainrdquo Just thinkingabout what you are grateful for prior to a difficultinteraction or difficult event can increase your opti-mism quotient

Next comes tenacity Tenacity requires us to seesetbacks as opportunities leverage agility when ex-periences are not what we anticipated or wantedand encourages us to keep an open mind to learningnew things In order for us to be tenacious we haveto know where we are going Where are you focus-ing and do you maintain vigilance towards thethings that are important to you Have you estab-lished rituals that help you maintain effort towardsyour ultimate mission or goal For example if yougoal is to write a new book attain a new position oreven to lose weight you have to have rituals that willtake you into success Tenacity also requires us topotentially take a new direction when we are notsuccessful If you would like a new role in your or-ganization but are not offered it what else could youdo How could you use your skills to be successfulin another area

Finally the ldquoErdquo represents enthusiasm and the ener-gy we bring to our endeavor Enthusiasm is conta-gious and draws people to us When we are notenthusiastic we appear cold indifferent lethargicor even pessimistic The energy we generate to-wards that which matters to us provides us with theboost that can take us into greater success It alsocould enlist others in helping us achieve our goalsWeisinger suggest that we can increase our enthusi-

asm by doing things that energize us such as listen-ing to music that motivates recalling positive eventsfrom our past and even taking a walk Many of theleaders that I work with have a song they play whenthey need to generate energy and also know thesongs that bring the energy up for their teams

When you think about what you can do to strength-en your ldquoCOTErdquo of amour what might be the firststep Which letter can you get most excited aboutand would you have the most success with if youtried to develop in that area As always I recom-mend that you find a small idea or behavior to workon as you manifest the best version of you

To Your Success

Dr Peggy

Door 1 Door 2

In Your DreamsBy Cynthia Richmond

Cynthia Richmond is an author speaker and sought-after media expert on thetopics of sleep dreams and their meanings Contact Cynthia Richmondat CynthiaDreamPowernet

For more information visit wwwDreamPowernet and visit her facebook page atwwwfacebookcompagesDream-Power

Stings May Represent Hurtful Remarks

Send your dream to

CynthiaDreamPowernet

Visit wwwDreamPowernet OrLike my page on Facebook

Dear Cynthia

I had a dream in which I was walking through a forest andsomeone was walking behind me possibly my sister-in-law

Then I was stung repeatedly on my arms and legs by aswarm of bees It was very uncomfortable I kept pulling outthe stingers but couldnrsquot pull them out as fast as I was beingstung

I thought the dream was about taking responsibility forovercoming adversity but I am not certain about the sym-bolic meaning of bees Thanks for your help

~Karen San Tan

Dear Karen

The dream takes place in a forest which is symbolic for theunconscious mind as we cannot possibly know what is inthe forest by looking at the first rows of trees It is home forall of the inhabitants it feeds and shelters and is also associ-ated with balance and the need to provide protection and

sustenance Bees have several symbolic meanings Theysting but they also make honey so like the forest they areassociated with balance Little in life is all bad or all goodEven the worst things offer an opportunity to learn valuablelessons and to grow Bee stings since they penetrate or getunder your skin can represent stinging hurtful comments orjudgments directed your way You remove them but canrsquotkeep up with the pace of the stings or jabs

In the language of dreams arms represent embracing lifewhile legs are what we stand on and for our foundation andour mobility

What role does your sister-in-law play in your life Is shebehind you and supportive or do her comments and criti-cisms hurt your feelings

When criticism is directed our way we are wise to con-sider if there is any truth to it Ask yourself does thiscomment apply to memdashis it accurate If yes then mental-ly thank the critic for showing you something valuableNext learn and grow ask what action would I like to takeregarding this new awareness

However if the judgmental comment does not apply toyou let it go It is much more about the speaker and hisor her projections than it is about you As Taylor Swifthas sung ldquoShake it Offrdquo

If you are in doubt or having insecure or confused feel-ings about the verbal stings ask a trusted friend or familymember for his or her thoughts We can all improve bybeing open to personal growth Then again constant ex-posure to chronically negative people depletes us and canhave devastating effects of our own health and wellbeing

If you need to be around negative Nellies or Neds thisholiday season protect yourself with your own positivethoughts and find things that you are sincerely gratefulfor to focus on Find the balance The best news is thatyou are in control of your own thoughts

Send your dream toCynthiaDreamPowernet

Visit wwwDreamPowernet OrLike my page on Facebook

A Fabulous Awakening

VIGNETTE

The Second of nine posts -My blogwill be accompanied by vignettes from

my forthcoming novelldquoA Fabulous Awakeningrdquo

The Alchemical Age of a WomanWhen we reach the Alchemical Age of a Wom-an wersquore initiated us into a realm of woman-hood wersquove only dreamed about The seasonedstate of maturity when wersquore no longer tetheredby the lsquoshoulds and oughtsrsquo of our earlier yearsWhen being proper can mean behaving justbarely

Midlife brings change be it arrive by choice orby chance But it can start out looking as formi-dable as did our other era of change our teenswhen we woke up to discover we were no lon-ger the rambunctious rabble-rousing ruckus-making girl we once were but not yet the wom-an we would become

But waithellipchange-making is what we Boomersdo best Wersquore of the invincible ldquoI Am WomanrsquoGeneration the shape-shifting change-makingalchemists of reinvention Wersquove experiencedlife from many points of view Yes we are thestoried ones held up to acclaim and ridicule forour ideals passions and our daring to walk themargins and push boundaries to the limits Ourcreeds have evolved First came life is about sav-ing the world then life is about being equal andfair to life is all about me to hear us roar tolife is about gathering lots of stuff to why is thishappening to me

The times yes they are changing Wersquore experi-encing an Age Quake Women over 50 are apower group that must be reckoned with sowrote Ben Brantley of the NY Times

What was typical is no more Women of Expe-rience are now strutting past the ingeacutenues withnary a glance

We have been tagged eldersirens silver foxesand seasoned women We are those who havegiven and taken loved left regretted and re-joiced Historian Gerda Lerner wrote that sucha critical mass of women with a tradition of re-

bellion and independence has not occurred be-fore in history

There comes a day at the launch of lifersquos fabu-lous third when we realize it is now or never Afully embodied awareness of our mortality givesus permission to live all out or all in in the styleof our choice

We all know HER the quintessential Woman ofExperience By her powerful presence we knowshe will not be made invisible or be left unheardShe has found the charm of her fearless voiceShe no longer goes along to get along Shespeaks truth and paves the way for other wom-en to emerge from the shadows Her experienc-es show Her story is evident And the evidenceof her life reveals that she has received hershare of magic and of misery By the tilt of herchin you know this woman will not be corsetedin body or in expressivity

Welcome to thefabulous

AlchemicalAge of aWoman

VignetteAfter being rejected by her prince of a husbandAurora B Rose stepped forth toward her new lifefeeling both trepidation and thrill Upon her de-parture from Savannah her former mother-in-lawoffered sage advice when she told Aurora to getlostAfter taking several unintended detours on hercross-country journey to San Francisco Auroracelebrated her birthday in Sedona Arizona Afterthree days of being pampered at a posh spa in anunforgiving moment she caught a glance of herhands and saw the well-used hands of her grand-mother

A bolt of Zeusian lightning would have beeneasier to bear

Someday Irsquom going to die My voice willnever be heard again My touch wonrsquot be felt Myeyes wonrsquot see my ears wonrsquot hear my mindwonrsquot think my heart wonrsquot feel my feet wonrsquottake steps

The fact that her life would end somedaywas no longer an abstraction

Later as the red rocks faded to an inky sil-houette against the starry sky in her divine limi-nal state of not quite awake and not quite asleepthe Milky Way became a swirling island of starsan oasis of nurture a womb for the mind to growwith wonder She silently asked the stars ldquoI feellike Irsquom coming out of a deep sleep And if I donrsquotwake up now I never willrdquo

From the dark space between the stars thesilky breeze carried a message ldquoYou Aurora Yesyou It all matters Rejoin the dancerdquo

Until next month please connect with me on Face-book or stop by wwwSundayLarsoncom andwwwPluckyGirlscom

A Fabulous Awakening is available

The Identity of SHEAs we can clearly see in thenews a new generation ofracism has arisen From po-lice brutality to racial slursbeing thrown on campuseven to an African-Ameri-can church being bombedItrsquos like the civil rightsmovement all over again

But there is a unique opportunity here that we have as-black people Other races are hearing our cries and arefighting with us Some police forces have taken racialmatters into their own hands and are requiring diversitytraining Campuses are taking extra precaution (letrsquostake Mizzou for example) by not allowing racism tocontinue on campus even if it means forcing resigna-tions Now even predominately white areas and regionsare fighting for black people

Here is our chance to reunite black culture Because letrsquosbe honest unity hasnrsquot always been on our priority listWe scream ldquoblack lives matterrdquo at the top of our lungsyet still pick up guns and kill each other Black peoplekill each other far more than cops kill us So who exact-ly should we be crucifying

Unity begins first with eliminating our own racially de-structive stigmas And the first one that should be elimi-nated completely among all black people is the beliefthat lighter skin is the better skin meaning pulling thetrigger on this ldquougly black girlrdquo stigma

I recently saw some disgustingly racist posts on socialmedia discriminating black women One was a commentmade by a black man that resides in Phoenix (aka theworst place for a black woman to find a man but thatrsquosa whole separate article) stating plain ignorance aboutblack women

ldquoDo nobody want no nappy headed no fatherhavinhellipdonrsquot want to go to college bad credit havinghetto black womanrdquo

And hersquos not the only ignorant black man that thinkslike this Since residing in Phoenix I have ran into sev-eral black men that donrsquot date black women nor find

them attractive Some of them actually believe that dat-ing a lighter skin especially white gives them a higherstatus

I also saw this account whitesmattertoo that postedseveral pictures degrading black women On a post witha full figured black woman wearing a shirt that saidldquomagicrdquo the comment read

ldquoNothing magic about a smelly woman with big legsand bingo wings and brown skin Blacks are only inAmerica because Whites transported them here fromAfrica to be used as slaveshelliprdquo

The account was created months ago and just recentlywas taken off Instagram

Now there are going to be ignorant people out there andbecause of social media we will run into these idiots atsome point The only bad influence social media has isthat it gives ignorance an audience But it also allowsindividuals to speak against it ndash if we care enough to doso

We need to be taking bold stands in our defense of blackwomen Why Because black women are the ones beingvictimized and a lot of this is by our own race

Darker skin black women are still stuck playing secondbest There are thousands of brands across the nationthat donrsquot advertise to black people or use full African-American people within their campaigns such as Amer-ican Apparel Abercrombie amp Fitch Hollister and JCrew to name a few

Rappers continue to amp up this light skin vs dark skindebate in their lyrics Take Young Jeezy Lil WayneFuture and Asap Rocky for example

ldquoFor instance I get-get my dick lickedRed bone com-plexion like a piglet kiss kissrdquo -A$AP Rocky ldquoKeep ItGrdquo Feat Chase Infinite amp Spaceghostpurrp

Not to mention that black rappers continue to exploitthe body of a black woman by constantly using thesame type of black woman in their videos ndash half nakedwith a ridiculously big butt a small waist and long fakehair Canrsquot they use a naturally shaped black womanwith her real hair

Why is it necessary for black rappers to constantly gloatabout their sexual preferences as it completely de-grades black culture

The point is that right now we as black people are be-ginning to become a true voice in society as well ashistory We are beginning to have more influence in theworld something that our ancestors fought so hard forus to have

For this reason itrsquos now more important than ever to beaware of what we are listening to speaking about andwhat we are allowing on our social feeds If we see in-justice of any kind we need to speak on it and repost itblog about talk about it Donrsquot ignore it

I find it astounding that in these last 10 years more darkskin black women have been nominated and have wonOscars over any other time in history (Jennifer HudsonMorsquoNique Octavia Spencer Lupita Nyoungrsquoo) But thebiggest reason of this is because of black producers anddirectors such as Lee Daniels Steve McQueen andShonda Rhimes It was their influence that made thispossible

It takes an influential black person to make these gainsin our society and to fight stigmas Thatrsquos the type ofblack person all of us should want to be

We need to take a stand against all racial slurs and stig-mas especially those given by black people We need tocontinue to evolve as a people and we canrsquot afford tolet ignorant comments about big lips big thighs andlight skin tones deflect the media from real issues

Eboni Laceywwwtheidentityofshecom

Billy Travilla amp Marilyn MonroersquosLast Stop

The Bus Stop In Arizona

KIMBERLEY ASHLEYHAUTE COUTURE

The sizzling sun in Arizona is as hot as a studio spotlight inHollywood

It could be said however that the intense heat of eachshare much in common The blonde actress who herselfraised temperatures in films like Some Like it Hot hellip actual-ly experienced both Hollywood spotlights and Arizona sun

While as a designer I began my career in Arizona BillyTravilla and his muse Marilyn Monroe did the oppositeThey ended theirs in the sunshine state Billy Travilla de-signed the incredible costumes for many of Monroersquos filmsand Arizona was the shooting location for the last stop onTravillarsquos train of iconic Marilyn Monroe styles

In the middle of a mild March in 1956 Director Joshua Lo-gan and Producer Buddy Adler set up camp in Phoenix atthe Arizona State Fair Grounds The duo was here to filmMarilyn Monroe in the role of saloon singer Cherie oppositeDon Murray as Beauregard Decker in his first film role

For the costume designers 93rd film credit Billy Travilla de-signed three well thought out pieces that a Los AngelesTimes reporter once called simple They certainly may haveappeared simple to anyone outside of the film industry butto a costume designer and anyone who understands this artmore deeply those 3 costumes were sheer perfection Ap-parently even the reporter understood that stating ldquo[BillyTravillarsquos] three-piece wardrobe [for Marilyn Monroersquosfilm] consists of an abbreviated theatrical costume a sim-ple [skirt amp blouse] and a raincoat It was one of the small-est wardrobes ever called for in a major film productionbut each piece of clothing she wears helps establish thecharacter of Cherie ldquochantoosierdquo in the Blue Dragon Cafeacute

It has been accurately said that clothes maymake the man or woman but costumes makethe actor or actress In a movie costumes playvital supporting roles Billyrsquos Bus Stop cos-tumes played as much a vital role in telling thatfilmrsquos story as did the acrid Arizona sun

The significance of film costumes were long ignoredby both film fans and the film industry itself hellip untilhellip Debbie Reynolds made a vital point of showing theworld otherwise She did so in Beverly Hills in 2012when her sale of Billyrsquos ldquolittle white halter dressrdquoworn by Marilyn in The Seven Year Itch sold at auc-tion That fetching Travilla confection fetched justunder six million dollars

Although Billy Travilla appreciated the significance ofhis costumesrsquo contribution to a filmrsquos plotline like theformer movie studios themselves he did NOT recog-nize their eventual financial value

Less than a decade after Marilyn Monroersquos 1962death Billy made an emotional decision that had helived until friend Debbie Reynolds 2012 auction hewould have severely regretted ldquoI used to have six ofMarilyns dressesrdquo he said in a 1980rsquos interview ldquobutwhen I went into temporary retirement in 1970 andleft the [country] I cleared out my factory andthrew her garments outrdquo

Knowing Billy and his life story as I do I under-stand that to him those dresses represented a painfulloss of love in his life NOT a financial asset Al-though Billy may have found his Marilyn costumestoo emotional to possess a man named Gene Londondid not He has owned several of Marilynrsquos costumesincluding this particular black lace top and satin skirt

from Bus Stop Madonna reportedly borrowed thisoriginal Travilla from Gene posing in it in her 1980rsquosTruth or Dare poster

I wonder if either Madonna or the costumes newowner knew that this same green top with black-laceoverlay had originally been designed by Travilla to beworn by Susan Hayward several years earlier in Foxs1952 film With a Song in my Heart

It was after filming this Arizona film that for Billyeverything came to a stop one could say he had hisown personal lsquoBus Stoprsquo The designer who hadworked for 20th Century-Fox for 7 yearsmdashreachedhis own 7-year-itch with his studio Fox scratchedthat itch by effectively cutting out completely thecostume department as did all other movie studiosduring that time

And while Billy continued seamlessly to design filmcostumes as an independent contractor his workwith Marilyn Monroe had come to a full stop withthe very film named Bus Stop Although the moviemagic he created for the film star ended the mys-tique of their magic on film did not ldquoI worked withMarilyn on eight of her moviesldquo Billy once said ldquoShewas the love of my life that girlrdquo

Billy had no way of knowing that the ldquolove of his liferdquowould use one of those costumes in dangerous waysDuring filming Marilyn overplayed a scene in whichshe had to smack Murray with the sequined tail of herchanteuse costume The actor suffered painful faciallacerations from being slapped by those strings of se-quins

If Col Parkers influence over his star hadnrsquot preventedit from happening the young and naive cowboy playedby Don Murray would have been played by a mannamed Elvis It absolutely would have been a shame toscar THAT beautiful face Elvis however certainlywould have helped things to heat up onscreen

When it comes to ldquoheating things uprdquo the sizzling sunin Arizona certainly IS as hot as the studio spotlights ofHollywood

So for the blonde actress who could raise a manrsquos tem-perature and for the legendary costume designerwhose skills could raise a womanrsquos star power the landwhere mercury rises may have been the perfect placefor the sizzling sun to set on their cool collaboration

After all hellip in the world of celebrity when it comes toHollywood spotlights and Arizona sun some actuallyDO ldquoLike it hotrdquo

Locally publishedLocal Contentwwwdiscovertheregioncom

Local content publishers bring to the people the stories andevents that happened in their community as it happens It isthe cornerstone of a community that is necessary in building acommunity Local publishers gear content towards the peoplein your own backyard

Local content exposes the opportunity for an individual in thecommunity to access this to say it brings an opportunity toyour doorstep No need to go miles-around the world to getinvolved in the opportunities that are being made known toyou through published local content

Too many times we see a small website trying to make moresales or bring more people by concentrating outside of theircommunity leaving out the opportunity in his own backyardConcentrating on the events stories and business opportuni-ties that abound in the community can make a bigger impactDiscover-The-Region magazine showcase the success of howlocal content can bring greater success and joy to the commu-nity A solid content well-written persuasive copy concentrat-ed on the community will generate an endless stream ofcustomers to your business and more importantly throughyour doors

Letrsquos take a look at the impact and pros of localpublishedlocal contents

The Pros of Local PublishedLocal Content

I Connections

Local publishers bring more active participation to the com-munity by keeping them aware of their immediate environ-ment they make them aware of events ldquoplaces to spendfamily time together Local Festivals and Farmers MarketsSports schedules or local hidden treasuresrdquo thereby fosteringconnections in the community

II Accessibility

In this case both the content publisher and the end-users whoare the readers are both reachable A businessman does nothave to look hard to find where to advert his business a localpolitician will not have to travel from Arizona to New York toget across to his people Local publishers make sure the infor-mation gets to the community

III Trust

Local content publishers bring to people in the region storiesand opportunities they can trust they know the publisherthey know the region and they know the story It is easier totrust a brand promoted by the locals for the locals

IV Cost Effective

Concentrating on publishing to the communityregion can bemore cost-effective to your business while it is cheaper topublish in this scenario people can easily identify what youare talking about and are more likely to take an action or buyyour product

Conclusion

Local content publishers are very important in a communitythey are the cornerstone of the community the connectionsand the awareness they create are priceless They can leverageon the opportunities that are abound in the community to de-velop relevant valuable content that is based on their commu-nity

In life we experience many things and with most chal-lenges we learn to adapt to or learn to live with How-ever there are some things in life like back pain thatlimits our quality of life According to University ofMaryland Medical Center low back pain is one of themost common problems people have About 60 - 80of the adult US population has low back pain and itis the second most common reason people go to thedoctor Back pain is the leading cause of disability inAmericans under 45 years old Each year 13 millionpeople go to the doctor for chronic back pain Thecondition leaves about 24 million Americans chroni-cally disabled and another 24 million temporarilydisabled With these statistics alone we can see thatback pain affects so many peopleBenefits of Meditation for back pain I know throughout the time that I have been practic-ing I have seen firsthand how chronic back pain con-tinues to affect my clientrsquos emotional well-being Myview in life is that just because the quality of life ischanged that doesnrsquot mean we give in and give upYes we may have to make many adjustments and re-define how we live that just doesnrsquot mean that youhave to stop being yourself My main focus with myclients is how we can increase overall emotionalhealth One of the skills and techniques that I loveteaching my clients is how to meditate Mediation is avery powerful tool for everyone and especially forthose who suffer from chronic pain Using this prac-tice you can begin relieving your back pain1 The meditative technique based on increasedawareness and staying in the moment called mind-fulness meditation has been successfully used intreatment programs to reduce pain and improvemood in patients with chronic pain from a variety ofconditions including facial pain coronary and non-coronary chest pain gastrointestinal pain low backneck and shoulder pain and headache (Kabat-Zinn1982)

2 Meditation helps you relax and check in withyourself which in turn can unclench tense back mus-cles It can also help decrease your perception of painby allowing you to concentrate on something otherthan the pain

3 Breathing exercises and meditation techniquesare safe ways that can help relieve and prevent backpain Although they arent considered physical activi-ty its still a good idea to have a conversation withyour doctor before incorporating them into your rou-tine

Your daily 5 minute mediationMy recommendation is for one week meditates for atleast 5 minutes Meditating for one week will allowyou to see how your body responds and begins to feelless pain and stress1 First decide when and where you want to medi-tate then make a commitment to yourself and put itin your calendar

2 Next step find the place you want to meditateonce you get comfortable Depending on the level ofyour back pain you can meditate sitting in comfort-able position using pillows to support you or lay downin a comfortable position

3 Close your eyes and begin taking long slow deepbreaths from your abdomen and imaging a beautifulspring day Imagine yourself sitting on grassy groundsoft spring breeze washing over you sunlight gentlywrapping your body birds singing smell spring flow-ers all around you the soft rustling of tree branchesand the sound of a babbling brook nearby Continueto be in that space for as long as you can During themeditation you can create a clearing in your mindand visualize your body being completely relaxed

4 Once you are ready to come back open your eyesslowly and once again become aware of your sur-roundings Have a pen and paper ready to journalwhat yoursquore becoming aware of and how your bodyfeels in that relaxed state Remember honor your in-ner self and take yourself on as a partnerndash yoursquoreworth it It is important to remember you donrsquot have to sufferfrom back pain alone reaching out to professionalscan help and give you valuable life change techniquesAs a life coach I love teaching and providing the nec-essary tools to my clients like meditation so that theycan live healthier life holis-tically The first step to-wards healing is learninghow to connect andstrengthen our mind bodyand spirit

Building Your ldquoCOTErdquoof Amour

Last month we discussed the myths that surroundperforming under pressure Hopefully you wereable to examine the myths as they relate to your ownlife and began to refute at least one of them so thatyou could enhance your performance This monthwe will explore the ldquoCOTErdquo of amour that Weisingerin ldquoPerformance Under Pressurerdquo presents as a wayto addressing the myths to performance and pres-sureLetrsquos start with the ldquoCrdquo which stands for confidenceWeisinger suggests that confidence is the degree towhich you believe you can influence a specific out-come The good news about confidence is that is itmalleable and can change over time so focusing onbuilding confidence can bring about results Bren-dan Burchard in ldquoThe Chargerdquo supports this beliefand adds that competence and confidence are tied toperformance success He offers that there is a ldquocom-petence-confidence looprdquo that builds upon compe-tence The more competence you feel the moreconfidence you feel which motivates you to take onmore challenges successfully resulting in more con-fidence Weisinger encourages us to evaluate ourown levels of competence and then create a startingpoint for developing more confidence Suggestionshe makes to building confidence include be at yourbest physically and mentally seek feedback createmicro-successes by chunking down your goals andtake responsibility for your actions Canfield in ldquoThePrinciples of Success also shares these beliefs mostemphatically in the idea of taking responsibility forour actions When we take responsibility for our ac-

tions we can effect change when we do not we actu-ally give our power away

The ldquoOrdquo represents optimism Weisinger contendsthat confidence shows up in the moment while opti-mism shows up on either side of confidence Thinkabout a recent activity that you may not have feltconfident about Your thoughts may have taken youinto what wouldnrsquot be possible instead of what wasAnd then if we are less successful than we had want-ed to be we beat ourselves up after the event Weis-inger encourages us to build an optimismvocabulary so when events happen when we are feel-ing a little less confident we are using words thatspur confidence rather than diminish it Achor inldquoThe Happiness Advantagerdquo calls this ldquopriming thebrainrdquo by flooding the brain with messages of opti-mism instead of negativity Think about the wordsyou are using on a daily basis to describe events inyour life and determine where you might be able totake advantage of the ldquopriming the brainrdquo effect Be-yond basic words you might consider using grati-tude as a way of ldquopriming the brainrdquo Just thinkingabout what you are grateful for prior to a difficultinteraction or difficult event can increase your opti-mism quotient

Next comes tenacity Tenacity requires us to seesetbacks as opportunities leverage agility when ex-periences are not what we anticipated or wantedand encourages us to keep an open mind to learningnew things In order for us to be tenacious we haveto know where we are going Where are you focus-ing and do you maintain vigilance towards thethings that are important to you Have you estab-lished rituals that help you maintain effort towardsyour ultimate mission or goal For example if yougoal is to write a new book attain a new position oreven to lose weight you have to have rituals that willtake you into success Tenacity also requires us topotentially take a new direction when we are notsuccessful If you would like a new role in your or-ganization but are not offered it what else could youdo How could you use your skills to be successfulin another area

Finally the ldquoErdquo represents enthusiasm and the ener-gy we bring to our endeavor Enthusiasm is conta-gious and draws people to us When we are notenthusiastic we appear cold indifferent lethargicor even pessimistic The energy we generate to-wards that which matters to us provides us with theboost that can take us into greater success It alsocould enlist others in helping us achieve our goalsWeisinger suggest that we can increase our enthusi-

asm by doing things that energize us such as listen-ing to music that motivates recalling positive eventsfrom our past and even taking a walk Many of theleaders that I work with have a song they play whenthey need to generate energy and also know thesongs that bring the energy up for their teams

When you think about what you can do to strength-en your ldquoCOTErdquo of amour what might be the firststep Which letter can you get most excited aboutand would you have the most success with if youtried to develop in that area As always I recom-mend that you find a small idea or behavior to workon as you manifest the best version of you

To Your Success

Dr Peggy

Door 1 Door 2

In Your DreamsBy Cynthia Richmond

Cynthia Richmond is an author speaker and sought-after media expert on thetopics of sleep dreams and their meanings Contact Cynthia Richmondat CynthiaDreamPowernet

For more information visit wwwDreamPowernet and visit her facebook page atwwwfacebookcompagesDream-Power

Stings May Represent Hurtful Remarks

Send your dream to

CynthiaDreamPowernet

Visit wwwDreamPowernet OrLike my page on Facebook

Dear Cynthia

I had a dream in which I was walking through a forest andsomeone was walking behind me possibly my sister-in-law

Then I was stung repeatedly on my arms and legs by aswarm of bees It was very uncomfortable I kept pulling outthe stingers but couldnrsquot pull them out as fast as I was beingstung

I thought the dream was about taking responsibility forovercoming adversity but I am not certain about the sym-bolic meaning of bees Thanks for your help

~Karen San Tan

Dear Karen

The dream takes place in a forest which is symbolic for theunconscious mind as we cannot possibly know what is inthe forest by looking at the first rows of trees It is home forall of the inhabitants it feeds and shelters and is also associ-ated with balance and the need to provide protection and

sustenance Bees have several symbolic meanings Theysting but they also make honey so like the forest they areassociated with balance Little in life is all bad or all goodEven the worst things offer an opportunity to learn valuablelessons and to grow Bee stings since they penetrate or getunder your skin can represent stinging hurtful comments orjudgments directed your way You remove them but canrsquotkeep up with the pace of the stings or jabs

In the language of dreams arms represent embracing lifewhile legs are what we stand on and for our foundation andour mobility

What role does your sister-in-law play in your life Is shebehind you and supportive or do her comments and criti-cisms hurt your feelings

When criticism is directed our way we are wise to con-sider if there is any truth to it Ask yourself does thiscomment apply to memdashis it accurate If yes then mental-ly thank the critic for showing you something valuableNext learn and grow ask what action would I like to takeregarding this new awareness

However if the judgmental comment does not apply toyou let it go It is much more about the speaker and hisor her projections than it is about you As Taylor Swifthas sung ldquoShake it Offrdquo

If you are in doubt or having insecure or confused feel-ings about the verbal stings ask a trusted friend or familymember for his or her thoughts We can all improve bybeing open to personal growth Then again constant ex-posure to chronically negative people depletes us and canhave devastating effects of our own health and wellbeing

If you need to be around negative Nellies or Neds thisholiday season protect yourself with your own positivethoughts and find things that you are sincerely gratefulfor to focus on Find the balance The best news is thatyou are in control of your own thoughts

Send your dream toCynthiaDreamPowernet

Visit wwwDreamPowernet OrLike my page on Facebook

A Fabulous Awakening

VIGNETTE

The Second of nine posts -My blogwill be accompanied by vignettes from

my forthcoming novelldquoA Fabulous Awakeningrdquo

The Alchemical Age of a WomanWhen we reach the Alchemical Age of a Wom-an wersquore initiated us into a realm of woman-hood wersquove only dreamed about The seasonedstate of maturity when wersquore no longer tetheredby the lsquoshoulds and oughtsrsquo of our earlier yearsWhen being proper can mean behaving justbarely

Midlife brings change be it arrive by choice orby chance But it can start out looking as formi-dable as did our other era of change our teenswhen we woke up to discover we were no lon-ger the rambunctious rabble-rousing ruckus-making girl we once were but not yet the wom-an we would become

But waithellipchange-making is what we Boomersdo best Wersquore of the invincible ldquoI Am WomanrsquoGeneration the shape-shifting change-makingalchemists of reinvention Wersquove experiencedlife from many points of view Yes we are thestoried ones held up to acclaim and ridicule forour ideals passions and our daring to walk themargins and push boundaries to the limits Ourcreeds have evolved First came life is about sav-ing the world then life is about being equal andfair to life is all about me to hear us roar tolife is about gathering lots of stuff to why is thishappening to me

The times yes they are changing Wersquore experi-encing an Age Quake Women over 50 are apower group that must be reckoned with sowrote Ben Brantley of the NY Times

What was typical is no more Women of Expe-rience are now strutting past the ingeacutenues withnary a glance

We have been tagged eldersirens silver foxesand seasoned women We are those who havegiven and taken loved left regretted and re-joiced Historian Gerda Lerner wrote that sucha critical mass of women with a tradition of re-

bellion and independence has not occurred be-fore in history

There comes a day at the launch of lifersquos fabu-lous third when we realize it is now or never Afully embodied awareness of our mortality givesus permission to live all out or all in in the styleof our choice

We all know HER the quintessential Woman ofExperience By her powerful presence we knowshe will not be made invisible or be left unheardShe has found the charm of her fearless voiceShe no longer goes along to get along Shespeaks truth and paves the way for other wom-en to emerge from the shadows Her experienc-es show Her story is evident And the evidenceof her life reveals that she has received hershare of magic and of misery By the tilt of herchin you know this woman will not be corsetedin body or in expressivity

Welcome to thefabulous

AlchemicalAge of aWoman

VignetteAfter being rejected by her prince of a husbandAurora B Rose stepped forth toward her new lifefeeling both trepidation and thrill Upon her de-parture from Savannah her former mother-in-lawoffered sage advice when she told Aurora to getlostAfter taking several unintended detours on hercross-country journey to San Francisco Auroracelebrated her birthday in Sedona Arizona Afterthree days of being pampered at a posh spa in anunforgiving moment she caught a glance of herhands and saw the well-used hands of her grand-mother

A bolt of Zeusian lightning would have beeneasier to bear

Someday Irsquom going to die My voice willnever be heard again My touch wonrsquot be felt Myeyes wonrsquot see my ears wonrsquot hear my mindwonrsquot think my heart wonrsquot feel my feet wonrsquottake steps

The fact that her life would end somedaywas no longer an abstraction

Later as the red rocks faded to an inky sil-houette against the starry sky in her divine limi-nal state of not quite awake and not quite asleepthe Milky Way became a swirling island of starsan oasis of nurture a womb for the mind to growwith wonder She silently asked the stars ldquoI feellike Irsquom coming out of a deep sleep And if I donrsquotwake up now I never willrdquo

From the dark space between the stars thesilky breeze carried a message ldquoYou Aurora Yesyou It all matters Rejoin the dancerdquo

Until next month please connect with me on Face-book or stop by wwwSundayLarsoncom andwwwPluckyGirlscom

A Fabulous Awakening is available

The Identity of SHEAs we can clearly see in thenews a new generation ofracism has arisen From po-lice brutality to racial slursbeing thrown on campuseven to an African-Ameri-can church being bombedItrsquos like the civil rightsmovement all over again

But there is a unique opportunity here that we have as-black people Other races are hearing our cries and arefighting with us Some police forces have taken racialmatters into their own hands and are requiring diversitytraining Campuses are taking extra precaution (letrsquostake Mizzou for example) by not allowing racism tocontinue on campus even if it means forcing resigna-tions Now even predominately white areas and regionsare fighting for black people

Here is our chance to reunite black culture Because letrsquosbe honest unity hasnrsquot always been on our priority listWe scream ldquoblack lives matterrdquo at the top of our lungsyet still pick up guns and kill each other Black peoplekill each other far more than cops kill us So who exact-ly should we be crucifying

Unity begins first with eliminating our own racially de-structive stigmas And the first one that should be elimi-nated completely among all black people is the beliefthat lighter skin is the better skin meaning pulling thetrigger on this ldquougly black girlrdquo stigma

I recently saw some disgustingly racist posts on socialmedia discriminating black women One was a commentmade by a black man that resides in Phoenix (aka theworst place for a black woman to find a man but thatrsquosa whole separate article) stating plain ignorance aboutblack women

ldquoDo nobody want no nappy headed no fatherhavinhellipdonrsquot want to go to college bad credit havinghetto black womanrdquo

And hersquos not the only ignorant black man that thinkslike this Since residing in Phoenix I have ran into sev-eral black men that donrsquot date black women nor find

them attractive Some of them actually believe that dat-ing a lighter skin especially white gives them a higherstatus

I also saw this account whitesmattertoo that postedseveral pictures degrading black women On a post witha full figured black woman wearing a shirt that saidldquomagicrdquo the comment read

ldquoNothing magic about a smelly woman with big legsand bingo wings and brown skin Blacks are only inAmerica because Whites transported them here fromAfrica to be used as slaveshelliprdquo

The account was created months ago and just recentlywas taken off Instagram

Now there are going to be ignorant people out there andbecause of social media we will run into these idiots atsome point The only bad influence social media has isthat it gives ignorance an audience But it also allowsindividuals to speak against it ndash if we care enough to doso

We need to be taking bold stands in our defense of blackwomen Why Because black women are the ones beingvictimized and a lot of this is by our own race

Darker skin black women are still stuck playing secondbest There are thousands of brands across the nationthat donrsquot advertise to black people or use full African-American people within their campaigns such as Amer-ican Apparel Abercrombie amp Fitch Hollister and JCrew to name a few

Rappers continue to amp up this light skin vs dark skindebate in their lyrics Take Young Jeezy Lil WayneFuture and Asap Rocky for example

ldquoFor instance I get-get my dick lickedRed bone com-plexion like a piglet kiss kissrdquo -A$AP Rocky ldquoKeep ItGrdquo Feat Chase Infinite amp Spaceghostpurrp

Not to mention that black rappers continue to exploitthe body of a black woman by constantly using thesame type of black woman in their videos ndash half nakedwith a ridiculously big butt a small waist and long fakehair Canrsquot they use a naturally shaped black womanwith her real hair

Why is it necessary for black rappers to constantly gloatabout their sexual preferences as it completely de-grades black culture

The point is that right now we as black people are be-ginning to become a true voice in society as well ashistory We are beginning to have more influence in theworld something that our ancestors fought so hard forus to have

For this reason itrsquos now more important than ever to beaware of what we are listening to speaking about andwhat we are allowing on our social feeds If we see in-justice of any kind we need to speak on it and repost itblog about talk about it Donrsquot ignore it

I find it astounding that in these last 10 years more darkskin black women have been nominated and have wonOscars over any other time in history (Jennifer HudsonMorsquoNique Octavia Spencer Lupita Nyoungrsquoo) But thebiggest reason of this is because of black producers anddirectors such as Lee Daniels Steve McQueen andShonda Rhimes It was their influence that made thispossible

It takes an influential black person to make these gainsin our society and to fight stigmas Thatrsquos the type ofblack person all of us should want to be

We need to take a stand against all racial slurs and stig-mas especially those given by black people We need tocontinue to evolve as a people and we canrsquot afford tolet ignorant comments about big lips big thighs andlight skin tones deflect the media from real issues

Eboni Laceywwwtheidentityofshecom

Billy Travilla amp Marilyn MonroersquosLast Stop

The Bus Stop In Arizona

KIMBERLEY ASHLEYHAUTE COUTURE

The sizzling sun in Arizona is as hot as a studio spotlight inHollywood

It could be said however that the intense heat of eachshare much in common The blonde actress who herselfraised temperatures in films like Some Like it Hot hellip actual-ly experienced both Hollywood spotlights and Arizona sun

While as a designer I began my career in Arizona BillyTravilla and his muse Marilyn Monroe did the oppositeThey ended theirs in the sunshine state Billy Travilla de-signed the incredible costumes for many of Monroersquos filmsand Arizona was the shooting location for the last stop onTravillarsquos train of iconic Marilyn Monroe styles

In the middle of a mild March in 1956 Director Joshua Lo-gan and Producer Buddy Adler set up camp in Phoenix atthe Arizona State Fair Grounds The duo was here to filmMarilyn Monroe in the role of saloon singer Cherie oppositeDon Murray as Beauregard Decker in his first film role

For the costume designers 93rd film credit Billy Travilla de-signed three well thought out pieces that a Los AngelesTimes reporter once called simple They certainly may haveappeared simple to anyone outside of the film industry butto a costume designer and anyone who understands this artmore deeply those 3 costumes were sheer perfection Ap-parently even the reporter understood that stating ldquo[BillyTravillarsquos] three-piece wardrobe [for Marilyn Monroersquosfilm] consists of an abbreviated theatrical costume a sim-ple [skirt amp blouse] and a raincoat It was one of the small-est wardrobes ever called for in a major film productionbut each piece of clothing she wears helps establish thecharacter of Cherie ldquochantoosierdquo in the Blue Dragon Cafeacute

It has been accurately said that clothes maymake the man or woman but costumes makethe actor or actress In a movie costumes playvital supporting roles Billyrsquos Bus Stop cos-tumes played as much a vital role in telling thatfilmrsquos story as did the acrid Arizona sun

The significance of film costumes were long ignoredby both film fans and the film industry itself hellip untilhellip Debbie Reynolds made a vital point of showing theworld otherwise She did so in Beverly Hills in 2012when her sale of Billyrsquos ldquolittle white halter dressrdquoworn by Marilyn in The Seven Year Itch sold at auc-tion That fetching Travilla confection fetched justunder six million dollars

Although Billy Travilla appreciated the significance ofhis costumesrsquo contribution to a filmrsquos plotline like theformer movie studios themselves he did NOT recog-nize their eventual financial value

Less than a decade after Marilyn Monroersquos 1962death Billy made an emotional decision that had helived until friend Debbie Reynolds 2012 auction hewould have severely regretted ldquoI used to have six ofMarilyns dressesrdquo he said in a 1980rsquos interview ldquobutwhen I went into temporary retirement in 1970 andleft the [country] I cleared out my factory andthrew her garments outrdquo

Knowing Billy and his life story as I do I under-stand that to him those dresses represented a painfulloss of love in his life NOT a financial asset Al-though Billy may have found his Marilyn costumestoo emotional to possess a man named Gene Londondid not He has owned several of Marilynrsquos costumesincluding this particular black lace top and satin skirt

from Bus Stop Madonna reportedly borrowed thisoriginal Travilla from Gene posing in it in her 1980rsquosTruth or Dare poster

I wonder if either Madonna or the costumes newowner knew that this same green top with black-laceoverlay had originally been designed by Travilla to beworn by Susan Hayward several years earlier in Foxs1952 film With a Song in my Heart

It was after filming this Arizona film that for Billyeverything came to a stop one could say he had hisown personal lsquoBus Stoprsquo The designer who hadworked for 20th Century-Fox for 7 yearsmdashreachedhis own 7-year-itch with his studio Fox scratchedthat itch by effectively cutting out completely thecostume department as did all other movie studiosduring that time

And while Billy continued seamlessly to design filmcostumes as an independent contractor his workwith Marilyn Monroe had come to a full stop withthe very film named Bus Stop Although the moviemagic he created for the film star ended the mys-tique of their magic on film did not ldquoI worked withMarilyn on eight of her moviesldquo Billy once said ldquoShewas the love of my life that girlrdquo

Billy had no way of knowing that the ldquolove of his liferdquowould use one of those costumes in dangerous waysDuring filming Marilyn overplayed a scene in whichshe had to smack Murray with the sequined tail of herchanteuse costume The actor suffered painful faciallacerations from being slapped by those strings of se-quins

If Col Parkers influence over his star hadnrsquot preventedit from happening the young and naive cowboy playedby Don Murray would have been played by a mannamed Elvis It absolutely would have been a shame toscar THAT beautiful face Elvis however certainlywould have helped things to heat up onscreen

When it comes to ldquoheating things uprdquo the sizzling sunin Arizona certainly IS as hot as the studio spotlights ofHollywood

So for the blonde actress who could raise a manrsquos tem-perature and for the legendary costume designerwhose skills could raise a womanrsquos star power the landwhere mercury rises may have been the perfect placefor the sizzling sun to set on their cool collaboration

After all hellip in the world of celebrity when it comes toHollywood spotlights and Arizona sun some actuallyDO ldquoLike it hotrdquo

Locally publishedLocal Contentwwwdiscovertheregioncom

Local content publishers bring to the people the stories andevents that happened in their community as it happens It isthe cornerstone of a community that is necessary in building acommunity Local publishers gear content towards the peoplein your own backyard

Local content exposes the opportunity for an individual in thecommunity to access this to say it brings an opportunity toyour doorstep No need to go miles-around the world to getinvolved in the opportunities that are being made known toyou through published local content

Too many times we see a small website trying to make moresales or bring more people by concentrating outside of theircommunity leaving out the opportunity in his own backyardConcentrating on the events stories and business opportuni-ties that abound in the community can make a bigger impactDiscover-The-Region magazine showcase the success of howlocal content can bring greater success and joy to the commu-nity A solid content well-written persuasive copy concentrat-ed on the community will generate an endless stream ofcustomers to your business and more importantly throughyour doors

Letrsquos take a look at the impact and pros of localpublishedlocal contents

The Pros of Local PublishedLocal Content

I Connections

Local publishers bring more active participation to the com-munity by keeping them aware of their immediate environ-ment they make them aware of events ldquoplaces to spendfamily time together Local Festivals and Farmers MarketsSports schedules or local hidden treasuresrdquo thereby fosteringconnections in the community

II Accessibility

In this case both the content publisher and the end-users whoare the readers are both reachable A businessman does nothave to look hard to find where to advert his business a localpolitician will not have to travel from Arizona to New York toget across to his people Local publishers make sure the infor-mation gets to the community

III Trust

Local content publishers bring to people in the region storiesand opportunities they can trust they know the publisherthey know the region and they know the story It is easier totrust a brand promoted by the locals for the locals

IV Cost Effective

Concentrating on publishing to the communityregion can bemore cost-effective to your business while it is cheaper topublish in this scenario people can easily identify what youare talking about and are more likely to take an action or buyyour product

Conclusion

Local content publishers are very important in a communitythey are the cornerstone of the community the connectionsand the awareness they create are priceless They can leverageon the opportunities that are abound in the community to de-velop relevant valuable content that is based on their commu-nity

Building Your ldquoCOTErdquoof Amour

Last month we discussed the myths that surroundperforming under pressure Hopefully you wereable to examine the myths as they relate to your ownlife and began to refute at least one of them so thatyou could enhance your performance This monthwe will explore the ldquoCOTErdquo of amour that Weisingerin ldquoPerformance Under Pressurerdquo presents as a wayto addressing the myths to performance and pres-sureLetrsquos start with the ldquoCrdquo which stands for confidenceWeisinger suggests that confidence is the degree towhich you believe you can influence a specific out-come The good news about confidence is that is itmalleable and can change over time so focusing onbuilding confidence can bring about results Bren-dan Burchard in ldquoThe Chargerdquo supports this beliefand adds that competence and confidence are tied toperformance success He offers that there is a ldquocom-petence-confidence looprdquo that builds upon compe-tence The more competence you feel the moreconfidence you feel which motivates you to take onmore challenges successfully resulting in more con-fidence Weisinger encourages us to evaluate ourown levels of competence and then create a startingpoint for developing more confidence Suggestionshe makes to building confidence include be at yourbest physically and mentally seek feedback createmicro-successes by chunking down your goals andtake responsibility for your actions Canfield in ldquoThePrinciples of Success also shares these beliefs mostemphatically in the idea of taking responsibility forour actions When we take responsibility for our ac-

tions we can effect change when we do not we actu-ally give our power away

The ldquoOrdquo represents optimism Weisinger contendsthat confidence shows up in the moment while opti-mism shows up on either side of confidence Thinkabout a recent activity that you may not have feltconfident about Your thoughts may have taken youinto what wouldnrsquot be possible instead of what wasAnd then if we are less successful than we had want-ed to be we beat ourselves up after the event Weis-inger encourages us to build an optimismvocabulary so when events happen when we are feel-ing a little less confident we are using words thatspur confidence rather than diminish it Achor inldquoThe Happiness Advantagerdquo calls this ldquopriming thebrainrdquo by flooding the brain with messages of opti-mism instead of negativity Think about the wordsyou are using on a daily basis to describe events inyour life and determine where you might be able totake advantage of the ldquopriming the brainrdquo effect Be-yond basic words you might consider using grati-tude as a way of ldquopriming the brainrdquo Just thinkingabout what you are grateful for prior to a difficultinteraction or difficult event can increase your opti-mism quotient

Next comes tenacity Tenacity requires us to seesetbacks as opportunities leverage agility when ex-periences are not what we anticipated or wantedand encourages us to keep an open mind to learningnew things In order for us to be tenacious we haveto know where we are going Where are you focus-ing and do you maintain vigilance towards thethings that are important to you Have you estab-lished rituals that help you maintain effort towardsyour ultimate mission or goal For example if yougoal is to write a new book attain a new position oreven to lose weight you have to have rituals that willtake you into success Tenacity also requires us topotentially take a new direction when we are notsuccessful If you would like a new role in your or-ganization but are not offered it what else could youdo How could you use your skills to be successfulin another area

Finally the ldquoErdquo represents enthusiasm and the ener-gy we bring to our endeavor Enthusiasm is conta-gious and draws people to us When we are notenthusiastic we appear cold indifferent lethargicor even pessimistic The energy we generate to-wards that which matters to us provides us with theboost that can take us into greater success It alsocould enlist others in helping us achieve our goalsWeisinger suggest that we can increase our enthusi-

asm by doing things that energize us such as listen-ing to music that motivates recalling positive eventsfrom our past and even taking a walk Many of theleaders that I work with have a song they play whenthey need to generate energy and also know thesongs that bring the energy up for their teams

When you think about what you can do to strength-en your ldquoCOTErdquo of amour what might be the firststep Which letter can you get most excited aboutand would you have the most success with if youtried to develop in that area As always I recom-mend that you find a small idea or behavior to workon as you manifest the best version of you

To Your Success

Dr Peggy

Door 1 Door 2

In Your DreamsBy Cynthia Richmond

Cynthia Richmond is an author speaker and sought-after media expert on thetopics of sleep dreams and their meanings Contact Cynthia Richmondat CynthiaDreamPowernet

For more information visit wwwDreamPowernet and visit her facebook page atwwwfacebookcompagesDream-Power

Stings May Represent Hurtful Remarks

Send your dream to

CynthiaDreamPowernet

Visit wwwDreamPowernet OrLike my page on Facebook

Dear Cynthia

I had a dream in which I was walking through a forest andsomeone was walking behind me possibly my sister-in-law

Then I was stung repeatedly on my arms and legs by aswarm of bees It was very uncomfortable I kept pulling outthe stingers but couldnrsquot pull them out as fast as I was beingstung

I thought the dream was about taking responsibility forovercoming adversity but I am not certain about the sym-bolic meaning of bees Thanks for your help

~Karen San Tan

Dear Karen

The dream takes place in a forest which is symbolic for theunconscious mind as we cannot possibly know what is inthe forest by looking at the first rows of trees It is home forall of the inhabitants it feeds and shelters and is also associ-ated with balance and the need to provide protection and

sustenance Bees have several symbolic meanings Theysting but they also make honey so like the forest they areassociated with balance Little in life is all bad or all goodEven the worst things offer an opportunity to learn valuablelessons and to grow Bee stings since they penetrate or getunder your skin can represent stinging hurtful comments orjudgments directed your way You remove them but canrsquotkeep up with the pace of the stings or jabs

In the language of dreams arms represent embracing lifewhile legs are what we stand on and for our foundation andour mobility

What role does your sister-in-law play in your life Is shebehind you and supportive or do her comments and criti-cisms hurt your feelings

When criticism is directed our way we are wise to con-sider if there is any truth to it Ask yourself does thiscomment apply to memdashis it accurate If yes then mental-ly thank the critic for showing you something valuableNext learn and grow ask what action would I like to takeregarding this new awareness

However if the judgmental comment does not apply toyou let it go It is much more about the speaker and hisor her projections than it is about you As Taylor Swifthas sung ldquoShake it Offrdquo

If you are in doubt or having insecure or confused feel-ings about the verbal stings ask a trusted friend or familymember for his or her thoughts We can all improve bybeing open to personal growth Then again constant ex-posure to chronically negative people depletes us and canhave devastating effects of our own health and wellbeing

If you need to be around negative Nellies or Neds thisholiday season protect yourself with your own positivethoughts and find things that you are sincerely gratefulfor to focus on Find the balance The best news is thatyou are in control of your own thoughts

Send your dream toCynthiaDreamPowernet

Visit wwwDreamPowernet OrLike my page on Facebook

A Fabulous Awakening

VIGNETTE

The Second of nine posts -My blogwill be accompanied by vignettes from

my forthcoming novelldquoA Fabulous Awakeningrdquo

The Alchemical Age of a WomanWhen we reach the Alchemical Age of a Wom-an wersquore initiated us into a realm of woman-hood wersquove only dreamed about The seasonedstate of maturity when wersquore no longer tetheredby the lsquoshoulds and oughtsrsquo of our earlier yearsWhen being proper can mean behaving justbarely

Midlife brings change be it arrive by choice orby chance But it can start out looking as formi-dable as did our other era of change our teenswhen we woke up to discover we were no lon-ger the rambunctious rabble-rousing ruckus-making girl we once were but not yet the wom-an we would become

But waithellipchange-making is what we Boomersdo best Wersquore of the invincible ldquoI Am WomanrsquoGeneration the shape-shifting change-makingalchemists of reinvention Wersquove experiencedlife from many points of view Yes we are thestoried ones held up to acclaim and ridicule forour ideals passions and our daring to walk themargins and push boundaries to the limits Ourcreeds have evolved First came life is about sav-ing the world then life is about being equal andfair to life is all about me to hear us roar tolife is about gathering lots of stuff to why is thishappening to me

The times yes they are changing Wersquore experi-encing an Age Quake Women over 50 are apower group that must be reckoned with sowrote Ben Brantley of the NY Times

What was typical is no more Women of Expe-rience are now strutting past the ingeacutenues withnary a glance

We have been tagged eldersirens silver foxesand seasoned women We are those who havegiven and taken loved left regretted and re-joiced Historian Gerda Lerner wrote that sucha critical mass of women with a tradition of re-

bellion and independence has not occurred be-fore in history

There comes a day at the launch of lifersquos fabu-lous third when we realize it is now or never Afully embodied awareness of our mortality givesus permission to live all out or all in in the styleof our choice

We all know HER the quintessential Woman ofExperience By her powerful presence we knowshe will not be made invisible or be left unheardShe has found the charm of her fearless voiceShe no longer goes along to get along Shespeaks truth and paves the way for other wom-en to emerge from the shadows Her experienc-es show Her story is evident And the evidenceof her life reveals that she has received hershare of magic and of misery By the tilt of herchin you know this woman will not be corsetedin body or in expressivity

Welcome to thefabulous

AlchemicalAge of aWoman

VignetteAfter being rejected by her prince of a husbandAurora B Rose stepped forth toward her new lifefeeling both trepidation and thrill Upon her de-parture from Savannah her former mother-in-lawoffered sage advice when she told Aurora to getlostAfter taking several unintended detours on hercross-country journey to San Francisco Auroracelebrated her birthday in Sedona Arizona Afterthree days of being pampered at a posh spa in anunforgiving moment she caught a glance of herhands and saw the well-used hands of her grand-mother

A bolt of Zeusian lightning would have beeneasier to bear

Someday Irsquom going to die My voice willnever be heard again My touch wonrsquot be felt Myeyes wonrsquot see my ears wonrsquot hear my mindwonrsquot think my heart wonrsquot feel my feet wonrsquottake steps

The fact that her life would end somedaywas no longer an abstraction

Later as the red rocks faded to an inky sil-houette against the starry sky in her divine limi-nal state of not quite awake and not quite asleepthe Milky Way became a swirling island of starsan oasis of nurture a womb for the mind to growwith wonder She silently asked the stars ldquoI feellike Irsquom coming out of a deep sleep And if I donrsquotwake up now I never willrdquo

From the dark space between the stars thesilky breeze carried a message ldquoYou Aurora Yesyou It all matters Rejoin the dancerdquo

Until next month please connect with me on Face-book or stop by wwwSundayLarsoncom andwwwPluckyGirlscom

A Fabulous Awakening is available

The Identity of SHEAs we can clearly see in thenews a new generation ofracism has arisen From po-lice brutality to racial slursbeing thrown on campuseven to an African-Ameri-can church being bombedItrsquos like the civil rightsmovement all over again

But there is a unique opportunity here that we have as-black people Other races are hearing our cries and arefighting with us Some police forces have taken racialmatters into their own hands and are requiring diversitytraining Campuses are taking extra precaution (letrsquostake Mizzou for example) by not allowing racism tocontinue on campus even if it means forcing resigna-tions Now even predominately white areas and regionsare fighting for black people

Here is our chance to reunite black culture Because letrsquosbe honest unity hasnrsquot always been on our priority listWe scream ldquoblack lives matterrdquo at the top of our lungsyet still pick up guns and kill each other Black peoplekill each other far more than cops kill us So who exact-ly should we be crucifying

Unity begins first with eliminating our own racially de-structive stigmas And the first one that should be elimi-nated completely among all black people is the beliefthat lighter skin is the better skin meaning pulling thetrigger on this ldquougly black girlrdquo stigma

I recently saw some disgustingly racist posts on socialmedia discriminating black women One was a commentmade by a black man that resides in Phoenix (aka theworst place for a black woman to find a man but thatrsquosa whole separate article) stating plain ignorance aboutblack women

ldquoDo nobody want no nappy headed no fatherhavinhellipdonrsquot want to go to college bad credit havinghetto black womanrdquo

And hersquos not the only ignorant black man that thinkslike this Since residing in Phoenix I have ran into sev-eral black men that donrsquot date black women nor find

them attractive Some of them actually believe that dat-ing a lighter skin especially white gives them a higherstatus

I also saw this account whitesmattertoo that postedseveral pictures degrading black women On a post witha full figured black woman wearing a shirt that saidldquomagicrdquo the comment read

ldquoNothing magic about a smelly woman with big legsand bingo wings and brown skin Blacks are only inAmerica because Whites transported them here fromAfrica to be used as slaveshelliprdquo

The account was created months ago and just recentlywas taken off Instagram

Now there are going to be ignorant people out there andbecause of social media we will run into these idiots atsome point The only bad influence social media has isthat it gives ignorance an audience But it also allowsindividuals to speak against it ndash if we care enough to doso

We need to be taking bold stands in our defense of blackwomen Why Because black women are the ones beingvictimized and a lot of this is by our own race

Darker skin black women are still stuck playing secondbest There are thousands of brands across the nationthat donrsquot advertise to black people or use full African-American people within their campaigns such as Amer-ican Apparel Abercrombie amp Fitch Hollister and JCrew to name a few

Rappers continue to amp up this light skin vs dark skindebate in their lyrics Take Young Jeezy Lil WayneFuture and Asap Rocky for example

ldquoFor instance I get-get my dick lickedRed bone com-plexion like a piglet kiss kissrdquo -A$AP Rocky ldquoKeep ItGrdquo Feat Chase Infinite amp Spaceghostpurrp

Not to mention that black rappers continue to exploitthe body of a black woman by constantly using thesame type of black woman in their videos ndash half nakedwith a ridiculously big butt a small waist and long fakehair Canrsquot they use a naturally shaped black womanwith her real hair

Why is it necessary for black rappers to constantly gloatabout their sexual preferences as it completely de-grades black culture

The point is that right now we as black people are be-ginning to become a true voice in society as well ashistory We are beginning to have more influence in theworld something that our ancestors fought so hard forus to have

For this reason itrsquos now more important than ever to beaware of what we are listening to speaking about andwhat we are allowing on our social feeds If we see in-justice of any kind we need to speak on it and repost itblog about talk about it Donrsquot ignore it

I find it astounding that in these last 10 years more darkskin black women have been nominated and have wonOscars over any other time in history (Jennifer HudsonMorsquoNique Octavia Spencer Lupita Nyoungrsquoo) But thebiggest reason of this is because of black producers anddirectors such as Lee Daniels Steve McQueen andShonda Rhimes It was their influence that made thispossible

It takes an influential black person to make these gainsin our society and to fight stigmas Thatrsquos the type ofblack person all of us should want to be

We need to take a stand against all racial slurs and stig-mas especially those given by black people We need tocontinue to evolve as a people and we canrsquot afford tolet ignorant comments about big lips big thighs andlight skin tones deflect the media from real issues

Eboni Laceywwwtheidentityofshecom

Billy Travilla amp Marilyn MonroersquosLast Stop

The Bus Stop In Arizona

KIMBERLEY ASHLEYHAUTE COUTURE

The sizzling sun in Arizona is as hot as a studio spotlight inHollywood

It could be said however that the intense heat of eachshare much in common The blonde actress who herselfraised temperatures in films like Some Like it Hot hellip actual-ly experienced both Hollywood spotlights and Arizona sun

While as a designer I began my career in Arizona BillyTravilla and his muse Marilyn Monroe did the oppositeThey ended theirs in the sunshine state Billy Travilla de-signed the incredible costumes for many of Monroersquos filmsand Arizona was the shooting location for the last stop onTravillarsquos train of iconic Marilyn Monroe styles

In the middle of a mild March in 1956 Director Joshua Lo-gan and Producer Buddy Adler set up camp in Phoenix atthe Arizona State Fair Grounds The duo was here to filmMarilyn Monroe in the role of saloon singer Cherie oppositeDon Murray as Beauregard Decker in his first film role

For the costume designers 93rd film credit Billy Travilla de-signed three well thought out pieces that a Los AngelesTimes reporter once called simple They certainly may haveappeared simple to anyone outside of the film industry butto a costume designer and anyone who understands this artmore deeply those 3 costumes were sheer perfection Ap-parently even the reporter understood that stating ldquo[BillyTravillarsquos] three-piece wardrobe [for Marilyn Monroersquosfilm] consists of an abbreviated theatrical costume a sim-ple [skirt amp blouse] and a raincoat It was one of the small-est wardrobes ever called for in a major film productionbut each piece of clothing she wears helps establish thecharacter of Cherie ldquochantoosierdquo in the Blue Dragon Cafeacute

It has been accurately said that clothes maymake the man or woman but costumes makethe actor or actress In a movie costumes playvital supporting roles Billyrsquos Bus Stop cos-tumes played as much a vital role in telling thatfilmrsquos story as did the acrid Arizona sun

The significance of film costumes were long ignoredby both film fans and the film industry itself hellip untilhellip Debbie Reynolds made a vital point of showing theworld otherwise She did so in Beverly Hills in 2012when her sale of Billyrsquos ldquolittle white halter dressrdquoworn by Marilyn in The Seven Year Itch sold at auc-tion That fetching Travilla confection fetched justunder six million dollars

Although Billy Travilla appreciated the significance ofhis costumesrsquo contribution to a filmrsquos plotline like theformer movie studios themselves he did NOT recog-nize their eventual financial value

Less than a decade after Marilyn Monroersquos 1962death Billy made an emotional decision that had helived until friend Debbie Reynolds 2012 auction hewould have severely regretted ldquoI used to have six ofMarilyns dressesrdquo he said in a 1980rsquos interview ldquobutwhen I went into temporary retirement in 1970 andleft the [country] I cleared out my factory andthrew her garments outrdquo

Knowing Billy and his life story as I do I under-stand that to him those dresses represented a painfulloss of love in his life NOT a financial asset Al-though Billy may have found his Marilyn costumestoo emotional to possess a man named Gene Londondid not He has owned several of Marilynrsquos costumesincluding this particular black lace top and satin skirt

from Bus Stop Madonna reportedly borrowed thisoriginal Travilla from Gene posing in it in her 1980rsquosTruth or Dare poster

I wonder if either Madonna or the costumes newowner knew that this same green top with black-laceoverlay had originally been designed by Travilla to beworn by Susan Hayward several years earlier in Foxs1952 film With a Song in my Heart

It was after filming this Arizona film that for Billyeverything came to a stop one could say he had hisown personal lsquoBus Stoprsquo The designer who hadworked for 20th Century-Fox for 7 yearsmdashreachedhis own 7-year-itch with his studio Fox scratchedthat itch by effectively cutting out completely thecostume department as did all other movie studiosduring that time

And while Billy continued seamlessly to design filmcostumes as an independent contractor his workwith Marilyn Monroe had come to a full stop withthe very film named Bus Stop Although the moviemagic he created for the film star ended the mys-tique of their magic on film did not ldquoI worked withMarilyn on eight of her moviesldquo Billy once said ldquoShewas the love of my life that girlrdquo

Billy had no way of knowing that the ldquolove of his liferdquowould use one of those costumes in dangerous waysDuring filming Marilyn overplayed a scene in whichshe had to smack Murray with the sequined tail of herchanteuse costume The actor suffered painful faciallacerations from being slapped by those strings of se-quins

If Col Parkers influence over his star hadnrsquot preventedit from happening the young and naive cowboy playedby Don Murray would have been played by a mannamed Elvis It absolutely would have been a shame toscar THAT beautiful face Elvis however certainlywould have helped things to heat up onscreen

When it comes to ldquoheating things uprdquo the sizzling sunin Arizona certainly IS as hot as the studio spotlights ofHollywood

So for the blonde actress who could raise a manrsquos tem-perature and for the legendary costume designerwhose skills could raise a womanrsquos star power the landwhere mercury rises may have been the perfect placefor the sizzling sun to set on their cool collaboration

After all hellip in the world of celebrity when it comes toHollywood spotlights and Arizona sun some actuallyDO ldquoLike it hotrdquo

Locally publishedLocal Contentwwwdiscovertheregioncom

Local content publishers bring to the people the stories andevents that happened in their community as it happens It isthe cornerstone of a community that is necessary in building acommunity Local publishers gear content towards the peoplein your own backyard

Local content exposes the opportunity for an individual in thecommunity to access this to say it brings an opportunity toyour doorstep No need to go miles-around the world to getinvolved in the opportunities that are being made known toyou through published local content

Too many times we see a small website trying to make moresales or bring more people by concentrating outside of theircommunity leaving out the opportunity in his own backyardConcentrating on the events stories and business opportuni-ties that abound in the community can make a bigger impactDiscover-The-Region magazine showcase the success of howlocal content can bring greater success and joy to the commu-nity A solid content well-written persuasive copy concentrat-ed on the community will generate an endless stream ofcustomers to your business and more importantly throughyour doors

Letrsquos take a look at the impact and pros of localpublishedlocal contents

The Pros of Local PublishedLocal Content

I Connections

Local publishers bring more active participation to the com-munity by keeping them aware of their immediate environ-ment they make them aware of events ldquoplaces to spendfamily time together Local Festivals and Farmers MarketsSports schedules or local hidden treasuresrdquo thereby fosteringconnections in the community

II Accessibility

In this case both the content publisher and the end-users whoare the readers are both reachable A businessman does nothave to look hard to find where to advert his business a localpolitician will not have to travel from Arizona to New York toget across to his people Local publishers make sure the infor-mation gets to the community

III Trust

Local content publishers bring to people in the region storiesand opportunities they can trust they know the publisherthey know the region and they know the story It is easier totrust a brand promoted by the locals for the locals

IV Cost Effective

Concentrating on publishing to the communityregion can bemore cost-effective to your business while it is cheaper topublish in this scenario people can easily identify what youare talking about and are more likely to take an action or buyyour product

Conclusion

Local content publishers are very important in a communitythey are the cornerstone of the community the connectionsand the awareness they create are priceless They can leverageon the opportunities that are abound in the community to de-velop relevant valuable content that is based on their commu-nity

Last month we discussed the myths that surroundperforming under pressure Hopefully you wereable to examine the myths as they relate to your ownlife and began to refute at least one of them so thatyou could enhance your performance This monthwe will explore the ldquoCOTErdquo of amour that Weisingerin ldquoPerformance Under Pressurerdquo presents as a wayto addressing the myths to performance and pres-sureLetrsquos start with the ldquoCrdquo which stands for confidenceWeisinger suggests that confidence is the degree towhich you believe you can influence a specific out-come The good news about confidence is that is itmalleable and can change over time so focusing onbuilding confidence can bring about results Bren-dan Burchard in ldquoThe Chargerdquo supports this beliefand adds that competence and confidence are tied toperformance success He offers that there is a ldquocom-petence-confidence looprdquo that builds upon compe-tence The more competence you feel the moreconfidence you feel which motivates you to take onmore challenges successfully resulting in more con-fidence Weisinger encourages us to evaluate ourown levels of competence and then create a startingpoint for developing more confidence Suggestionshe makes to building confidence include be at yourbest physically and mentally seek feedback createmicro-successes by chunking down your goals andtake responsibility for your actions Canfield in ldquoThePrinciples of Success also shares these beliefs mostemphatically in the idea of taking responsibility forour actions When we take responsibility for our ac-

tions we can effect change when we do not we actu-ally give our power away

The ldquoOrdquo represents optimism Weisinger contendsthat confidence shows up in the moment while opti-mism shows up on either side of confidence Thinkabout a recent activity that you may not have feltconfident about Your thoughts may have taken youinto what wouldnrsquot be possible instead of what wasAnd then if we are less successful than we had want-ed to be we beat ourselves up after the event Weis-inger encourages us to build an optimismvocabulary so when events happen when we are feel-ing a little less confident we are using words thatspur confidence rather than diminish it Achor inldquoThe Happiness Advantagerdquo calls this ldquopriming thebrainrdquo by flooding the brain with messages of opti-mism instead of negativity Think about the wordsyou are using on a daily basis to describe events inyour life and determine where you might be able totake advantage of the ldquopriming the brainrdquo effect Be-yond basic words you might consider using grati-tude as a way of ldquopriming the brainrdquo Just thinkingabout what you are grateful for prior to a difficultinteraction or difficult event can increase your opti-mism quotient

Next comes tenacity Tenacity requires us to seesetbacks as opportunities leverage agility when ex-periences are not what we anticipated or wantedand encourages us to keep an open mind to learningnew things In order for us to be tenacious we haveto know where we are going Where are you focus-ing and do you maintain vigilance towards thethings that are important to you Have you estab-lished rituals that help you maintain effort towardsyour ultimate mission or goal For example if yougoal is to write a new book attain a new position oreven to lose weight you have to have rituals that willtake you into success Tenacity also requires us topotentially take a new direction when we are notsuccessful If you would like a new role in your or-ganization but are not offered it what else could youdo How could you use your skills to be successfulin another area

Finally the ldquoErdquo represents enthusiasm and the ener-gy we bring to our endeavor Enthusiasm is conta-gious and draws people to us When we are notenthusiastic we appear cold indifferent lethargicor even pessimistic The energy we generate to-wards that which matters to us provides us with theboost that can take us into greater success It alsocould enlist others in helping us achieve our goalsWeisinger suggest that we can increase our enthusi-

asm by doing things that energize us such as listen-ing to music that motivates recalling positive eventsfrom our past and even taking a walk Many of theleaders that I work with have a song they play whenthey need to generate energy and also know thesongs that bring the energy up for their teams

When you think about what you can do to strength-en your ldquoCOTErdquo of amour what might be the firststep Which letter can you get most excited aboutand would you have the most success with if youtried to develop in that area As always I recom-mend that you find a small idea or behavior to workon as you manifest the best version of you

To Your Success

Dr Peggy

Door 1 Door 2

In Your DreamsBy Cynthia Richmond

Cynthia Richmond is an author speaker and sought-after media expert on thetopics of sleep dreams and their meanings Contact Cynthia Richmondat CynthiaDreamPowernet

For more information visit wwwDreamPowernet and visit her facebook page atwwwfacebookcompagesDream-Power

Stings May Represent Hurtful Remarks

Send your dream to

CynthiaDreamPowernet

Visit wwwDreamPowernet OrLike my page on Facebook

Dear Cynthia

I had a dream in which I was walking through a forest andsomeone was walking behind me possibly my sister-in-law

Then I was stung repeatedly on my arms and legs by aswarm of bees It was very uncomfortable I kept pulling outthe stingers but couldnrsquot pull them out as fast as I was beingstung

I thought the dream was about taking responsibility forovercoming adversity but I am not certain about the sym-bolic meaning of bees Thanks for your help

~Karen San Tan

Dear Karen

The dream takes place in a forest which is symbolic for theunconscious mind as we cannot possibly know what is inthe forest by looking at the first rows of trees It is home forall of the inhabitants it feeds and shelters and is also associ-ated with balance and the need to provide protection and

sustenance Bees have several symbolic meanings Theysting but they also make honey so like the forest they areassociated with balance Little in life is all bad or all goodEven the worst things offer an opportunity to learn valuablelessons and to grow Bee stings since they penetrate or getunder your skin can represent stinging hurtful comments orjudgments directed your way You remove them but canrsquotkeep up with the pace of the stings or jabs

In the language of dreams arms represent embracing lifewhile legs are what we stand on and for our foundation andour mobility

What role does your sister-in-law play in your life Is shebehind you and supportive or do her comments and criti-cisms hurt your feelings

When criticism is directed our way we are wise to con-sider if there is any truth to it Ask yourself does thiscomment apply to memdashis it accurate If yes then mental-ly thank the critic for showing you something valuableNext learn and grow ask what action would I like to takeregarding this new awareness

However if the judgmental comment does not apply toyou let it go It is much more about the speaker and hisor her projections than it is about you As Taylor Swifthas sung ldquoShake it Offrdquo

If you are in doubt or having insecure or confused feel-ings about the verbal stings ask a trusted friend or familymember for his or her thoughts We can all improve bybeing open to personal growth Then again constant ex-posure to chronically negative people depletes us and canhave devastating effects of our own health and wellbeing

If you need to be around negative Nellies or Neds thisholiday season protect yourself with your own positivethoughts and find things that you are sincerely gratefulfor to focus on Find the balance The best news is thatyou are in control of your own thoughts

Send your dream toCynthiaDreamPowernet

Visit wwwDreamPowernet OrLike my page on Facebook

A Fabulous Awakening

VIGNETTE

The Second of nine posts -My blogwill be accompanied by vignettes from

my forthcoming novelldquoA Fabulous Awakeningrdquo

The Alchemical Age of a WomanWhen we reach the Alchemical Age of a Wom-an wersquore initiated us into a realm of woman-hood wersquove only dreamed about The seasonedstate of maturity when wersquore no longer tetheredby the lsquoshoulds and oughtsrsquo of our earlier yearsWhen being proper can mean behaving justbarely

Midlife brings change be it arrive by choice orby chance But it can start out looking as formi-dable as did our other era of change our teenswhen we woke up to discover we were no lon-ger the rambunctious rabble-rousing ruckus-making girl we once were but not yet the wom-an we would become

But waithellipchange-making is what we Boomersdo best Wersquore of the invincible ldquoI Am WomanrsquoGeneration the shape-shifting change-makingalchemists of reinvention Wersquove experiencedlife from many points of view Yes we are thestoried ones held up to acclaim and ridicule forour ideals passions and our daring to walk themargins and push boundaries to the limits Ourcreeds have evolved First came life is about sav-ing the world then life is about being equal andfair to life is all about me to hear us roar tolife is about gathering lots of stuff to why is thishappening to me

The times yes they are changing Wersquore experi-encing an Age Quake Women over 50 are apower group that must be reckoned with sowrote Ben Brantley of the NY Times

What was typical is no more Women of Expe-rience are now strutting past the ingeacutenues withnary a glance

We have been tagged eldersirens silver foxesand seasoned women We are those who havegiven and taken loved left regretted and re-joiced Historian Gerda Lerner wrote that sucha critical mass of women with a tradition of re-

bellion and independence has not occurred be-fore in history

There comes a day at the launch of lifersquos fabu-lous third when we realize it is now or never Afully embodied awareness of our mortality givesus permission to live all out or all in in the styleof our choice

We all know HER the quintessential Woman ofExperience By her powerful presence we knowshe will not be made invisible or be left unheardShe has found the charm of her fearless voiceShe no longer goes along to get along Shespeaks truth and paves the way for other wom-en to emerge from the shadows Her experienc-es show Her story is evident And the evidenceof her life reveals that she has received hershare of magic and of misery By the tilt of herchin you know this woman will not be corsetedin body or in expressivity

Welcome to thefabulous

AlchemicalAge of aWoman

VignetteAfter being rejected by her prince of a husbandAurora B Rose stepped forth toward her new lifefeeling both trepidation and thrill Upon her de-parture from Savannah her former mother-in-lawoffered sage advice when she told Aurora to getlostAfter taking several unintended detours on hercross-country journey to San Francisco Auroracelebrated her birthday in Sedona Arizona Afterthree days of being pampered at a posh spa in anunforgiving moment she caught a glance of herhands and saw the well-used hands of her grand-mother

A bolt of Zeusian lightning would have beeneasier to bear

Someday Irsquom going to die My voice willnever be heard again My touch wonrsquot be felt Myeyes wonrsquot see my ears wonrsquot hear my mindwonrsquot think my heart wonrsquot feel my feet wonrsquottake steps

The fact that her life would end somedaywas no longer an abstraction

Later as the red rocks faded to an inky sil-houette against the starry sky in her divine limi-nal state of not quite awake and not quite asleepthe Milky Way became a swirling island of starsan oasis of nurture a womb for the mind to growwith wonder She silently asked the stars ldquoI feellike Irsquom coming out of a deep sleep And if I donrsquotwake up now I never willrdquo

From the dark space between the stars thesilky breeze carried a message ldquoYou Aurora Yesyou It all matters Rejoin the dancerdquo

Until next month please connect with me on Face-book or stop by wwwSundayLarsoncom andwwwPluckyGirlscom

A Fabulous Awakening is available

The Identity of SHEAs we can clearly see in thenews a new generation ofracism has arisen From po-lice brutality to racial slursbeing thrown on campuseven to an African-Ameri-can church being bombedItrsquos like the civil rightsmovement all over again

But there is a unique opportunity here that we have as-black people Other races are hearing our cries and arefighting with us Some police forces have taken racialmatters into their own hands and are requiring diversitytraining Campuses are taking extra precaution (letrsquostake Mizzou for example) by not allowing racism tocontinue on campus even if it means forcing resigna-tions Now even predominately white areas and regionsare fighting for black people

Here is our chance to reunite black culture Because letrsquosbe honest unity hasnrsquot always been on our priority listWe scream ldquoblack lives matterrdquo at the top of our lungsyet still pick up guns and kill each other Black peoplekill each other far more than cops kill us So who exact-ly should we be crucifying

Unity begins first with eliminating our own racially de-structive stigmas And the first one that should be elimi-nated completely among all black people is the beliefthat lighter skin is the better skin meaning pulling thetrigger on this ldquougly black girlrdquo stigma

I recently saw some disgustingly racist posts on socialmedia discriminating black women One was a commentmade by a black man that resides in Phoenix (aka theworst place for a black woman to find a man but thatrsquosa whole separate article) stating plain ignorance aboutblack women

ldquoDo nobody want no nappy headed no fatherhavinhellipdonrsquot want to go to college bad credit havinghetto black womanrdquo

And hersquos not the only ignorant black man that thinkslike this Since residing in Phoenix I have ran into sev-eral black men that donrsquot date black women nor find

them attractive Some of them actually believe that dat-ing a lighter skin especially white gives them a higherstatus

I also saw this account whitesmattertoo that postedseveral pictures degrading black women On a post witha full figured black woman wearing a shirt that saidldquomagicrdquo the comment read

ldquoNothing magic about a smelly woman with big legsand bingo wings and brown skin Blacks are only inAmerica because Whites transported them here fromAfrica to be used as slaveshelliprdquo

The account was created months ago and just recentlywas taken off Instagram

Now there are going to be ignorant people out there andbecause of social media we will run into these idiots atsome point The only bad influence social media has isthat it gives ignorance an audience But it also allowsindividuals to speak against it ndash if we care enough to doso

We need to be taking bold stands in our defense of blackwomen Why Because black women are the ones beingvictimized and a lot of this is by our own race

Darker skin black women are still stuck playing secondbest There are thousands of brands across the nationthat donrsquot advertise to black people or use full African-American people within their campaigns such as Amer-ican Apparel Abercrombie amp Fitch Hollister and JCrew to name a few

Rappers continue to amp up this light skin vs dark skindebate in their lyrics Take Young Jeezy Lil WayneFuture and Asap Rocky for example

ldquoFor instance I get-get my dick lickedRed bone com-plexion like a piglet kiss kissrdquo -A$AP Rocky ldquoKeep ItGrdquo Feat Chase Infinite amp Spaceghostpurrp

Not to mention that black rappers continue to exploitthe body of a black woman by constantly using thesame type of black woman in their videos ndash half nakedwith a ridiculously big butt a small waist and long fakehair Canrsquot they use a naturally shaped black womanwith her real hair

Why is it necessary for black rappers to constantly gloatabout their sexual preferences as it completely de-grades black culture

The point is that right now we as black people are be-ginning to become a true voice in society as well ashistory We are beginning to have more influence in theworld something that our ancestors fought so hard forus to have

For this reason itrsquos now more important than ever to beaware of what we are listening to speaking about andwhat we are allowing on our social feeds If we see in-justice of any kind we need to speak on it and repost itblog about talk about it Donrsquot ignore it

I find it astounding that in these last 10 years more darkskin black women have been nominated and have wonOscars over any other time in history (Jennifer HudsonMorsquoNique Octavia Spencer Lupita Nyoungrsquoo) But thebiggest reason of this is because of black producers anddirectors such as Lee Daniels Steve McQueen andShonda Rhimes It was their influence that made thispossible

It takes an influential black person to make these gainsin our society and to fight stigmas Thatrsquos the type ofblack person all of us should want to be

We need to take a stand against all racial slurs and stig-mas especially those given by black people We need tocontinue to evolve as a people and we canrsquot afford tolet ignorant comments about big lips big thighs andlight skin tones deflect the media from real issues

Eboni Laceywwwtheidentityofshecom

Billy Travilla amp Marilyn MonroersquosLast Stop

The Bus Stop In Arizona

KIMBERLEY ASHLEYHAUTE COUTURE

The sizzling sun in Arizona is as hot as a studio spotlight inHollywood

It could be said however that the intense heat of eachshare much in common The blonde actress who herselfraised temperatures in films like Some Like it Hot hellip actual-ly experienced both Hollywood spotlights and Arizona sun

While as a designer I began my career in Arizona BillyTravilla and his muse Marilyn Monroe did the oppositeThey ended theirs in the sunshine state Billy Travilla de-signed the incredible costumes for many of Monroersquos filmsand Arizona was the shooting location for the last stop onTravillarsquos train of iconic Marilyn Monroe styles

In the middle of a mild March in 1956 Director Joshua Lo-gan and Producer Buddy Adler set up camp in Phoenix atthe Arizona State Fair Grounds The duo was here to filmMarilyn Monroe in the role of saloon singer Cherie oppositeDon Murray as Beauregard Decker in his first film role

For the costume designers 93rd film credit Billy Travilla de-signed three well thought out pieces that a Los AngelesTimes reporter once called simple They certainly may haveappeared simple to anyone outside of the film industry butto a costume designer and anyone who understands this artmore deeply those 3 costumes were sheer perfection Ap-parently even the reporter understood that stating ldquo[BillyTravillarsquos] three-piece wardrobe [for Marilyn Monroersquosfilm] consists of an abbreviated theatrical costume a sim-ple [skirt amp blouse] and a raincoat It was one of the small-est wardrobes ever called for in a major film productionbut each piece of clothing she wears helps establish thecharacter of Cherie ldquochantoosierdquo in the Blue Dragon Cafeacute

It has been accurately said that clothes maymake the man or woman but costumes makethe actor or actress In a movie costumes playvital supporting roles Billyrsquos Bus Stop cos-tumes played as much a vital role in telling thatfilmrsquos story as did the acrid Arizona sun

The significance of film costumes were long ignoredby both film fans and the film industry itself hellip untilhellip Debbie Reynolds made a vital point of showing theworld otherwise She did so in Beverly Hills in 2012when her sale of Billyrsquos ldquolittle white halter dressrdquoworn by Marilyn in The Seven Year Itch sold at auc-tion That fetching Travilla confection fetched justunder six million dollars

Although Billy Travilla appreciated the significance ofhis costumesrsquo contribution to a filmrsquos plotline like theformer movie studios themselves he did NOT recog-nize their eventual financial value

Less than a decade after Marilyn Monroersquos 1962death Billy made an emotional decision that had helived until friend Debbie Reynolds 2012 auction hewould have severely regretted ldquoI used to have six ofMarilyns dressesrdquo he said in a 1980rsquos interview ldquobutwhen I went into temporary retirement in 1970 andleft the [country] I cleared out my factory andthrew her garments outrdquo

Knowing Billy and his life story as I do I under-stand that to him those dresses represented a painfulloss of love in his life NOT a financial asset Al-though Billy may have found his Marilyn costumestoo emotional to possess a man named Gene Londondid not He has owned several of Marilynrsquos costumesincluding this particular black lace top and satin skirt

from Bus Stop Madonna reportedly borrowed thisoriginal Travilla from Gene posing in it in her 1980rsquosTruth or Dare poster

I wonder if either Madonna or the costumes newowner knew that this same green top with black-laceoverlay had originally been designed by Travilla to beworn by Susan Hayward several years earlier in Foxs1952 film With a Song in my Heart

It was after filming this Arizona film that for Billyeverything came to a stop one could say he had hisown personal lsquoBus Stoprsquo The designer who hadworked for 20th Century-Fox for 7 yearsmdashreachedhis own 7-year-itch with his studio Fox scratchedthat itch by effectively cutting out completely thecostume department as did all other movie studiosduring that time

And while Billy continued seamlessly to design filmcostumes as an independent contractor his workwith Marilyn Monroe had come to a full stop withthe very film named Bus Stop Although the moviemagic he created for the film star ended the mys-tique of their magic on film did not ldquoI worked withMarilyn on eight of her moviesldquo Billy once said ldquoShewas the love of my life that girlrdquo

Billy had no way of knowing that the ldquolove of his liferdquowould use one of those costumes in dangerous waysDuring filming Marilyn overplayed a scene in whichshe had to smack Murray with the sequined tail of herchanteuse costume The actor suffered painful faciallacerations from being slapped by those strings of se-quins

If Col Parkers influence over his star hadnrsquot preventedit from happening the young and naive cowboy playedby Don Murray would have been played by a mannamed Elvis It absolutely would have been a shame toscar THAT beautiful face Elvis however certainlywould have helped things to heat up onscreen

When it comes to ldquoheating things uprdquo the sizzling sunin Arizona certainly IS as hot as the studio spotlights ofHollywood

So for the blonde actress who could raise a manrsquos tem-perature and for the legendary costume designerwhose skills could raise a womanrsquos star power the landwhere mercury rises may have been the perfect placefor the sizzling sun to set on their cool collaboration

After all hellip in the world of celebrity when it comes toHollywood spotlights and Arizona sun some actuallyDO ldquoLike it hotrdquo

Locally publishedLocal Contentwwwdiscovertheregioncom

Local content publishers bring to the people the stories andevents that happened in their community as it happens It isthe cornerstone of a community that is necessary in building acommunity Local publishers gear content towards the peoplein your own backyard

Local content exposes the opportunity for an individual in thecommunity to access this to say it brings an opportunity toyour doorstep No need to go miles-around the world to getinvolved in the opportunities that are being made known toyou through published local content

Too many times we see a small website trying to make moresales or bring more people by concentrating outside of theircommunity leaving out the opportunity in his own backyardConcentrating on the events stories and business opportuni-ties that abound in the community can make a bigger impactDiscover-The-Region magazine showcase the success of howlocal content can bring greater success and joy to the commu-nity A solid content well-written persuasive copy concentrat-ed on the community will generate an endless stream ofcustomers to your business and more importantly throughyour doors

Letrsquos take a look at the impact and pros of localpublishedlocal contents

The Pros of Local PublishedLocal Content

I Connections

Local publishers bring more active participation to the com-munity by keeping them aware of their immediate environ-ment they make them aware of events ldquoplaces to spendfamily time together Local Festivals and Farmers MarketsSports schedules or local hidden treasuresrdquo thereby fosteringconnections in the community

II Accessibility

In this case both the content publisher and the end-users whoare the readers are both reachable A businessman does nothave to look hard to find where to advert his business a localpolitician will not have to travel from Arizona to New York toget across to his people Local publishers make sure the infor-mation gets to the community

III Trust

Local content publishers bring to people in the region storiesand opportunities they can trust they know the publisherthey know the region and they know the story It is easier totrust a brand promoted by the locals for the locals

IV Cost Effective

Concentrating on publishing to the communityregion can bemore cost-effective to your business while it is cheaper topublish in this scenario people can easily identify what youare talking about and are more likely to take an action or buyyour product

Conclusion

Local content publishers are very important in a communitythey are the cornerstone of the community the connectionsand the awareness they create are priceless They can leverageon the opportunities that are abound in the community to de-velop relevant valuable content that is based on their commu-nity

Next comes tenacity Tenacity requires us to seesetbacks as opportunities leverage agility when ex-periences are not what we anticipated or wantedand encourages us to keep an open mind to learningnew things In order for us to be tenacious we haveto know where we are going Where are you focus-ing and do you maintain vigilance towards thethings that are important to you Have you estab-lished rituals that help you maintain effort towardsyour ultimate mission or goal For example if yougoal is to write a new book attain a new position oreven to lose weight you have to have rituals that willtake you into success Tenacity also requires us topotentially take a new direction when we are notsuccessful If you would like a new role in your or-ganization but are not offered it what else could youdo How could you use your skills to be successfulin another area

Finally the ldquoErdquo represents enthusiasm and the ener-gy we bring to our endeavor Enthusiasm is conta-gious and draws people to us When we are notenthusiastic we appear cold indifferent lethargicor even pessimistic The energy we generate to-wards that which matters to us provides us with theboost that can take us into greater success It alsocould enlist others in helping us achieve our goalsWeisinger suggest that we can increase our enthusi-

asm by doing things that energize us such as listen-ing to music that motivates recalling positive eventsfrom our past and even taking a walk Many of theleaders that I work with have a song they play whenthey need to generate energy and also know thesongs that bring the energy up for their teams

When you think about what you can do to strength-en your ldquoCOTErdquo of amour what might be the firststep Which letter can you get most excited aboutand would you have the most success with if youtried to develop in that area As always I recom-mend that you find a small idea or behavior to workon as you manifest the best version of you

To Your Success

Dr Peggy

Door 1 Door 2

In Your DreamsBy Cynthia Richmond

Cynthia Richmond is an author speaker and sought-after media expert on thetopics of sleep dreams and their meanings Contact Cynthia Richmondat CynthiaDreamPowernet

For more information visit wwwDreamPowernet and visit her facebook page atwwwfacebookcompagesDream-Power

Stings May Represent Hurtful Remarks

Send your dream to

CynthiaDreamPowernet

Visit wwwDreamPowernet OrLike my page on Facebook

Dear Cynthia

I had a dream in which I was walking through a forest andsomeone was walking behind me possibly my sister-in-law

Then I was stung repeatedly on my arms and legs by aswarm of bees It was very uncomfortable I kept pulling outthe stingers but couldnrsquot pull them out as fast as I was beingstung

I thought the dream was about taking responsibility forovercoming adversity but I am not certain about the sym-bolic meaning of bees Thanks for your help

~Karen San Tan

Dear Karen

The dream takes place in a forest which is symbolic for theunconscious mind as we cannot possibly know what is inthe forest by looking at the first rows of trees It is home forall of the inhabitants it feeds and shelters and is also associ-ated with balance and the need to provide protection and

sustenance Bees have several symbolic meanings Theysting but they also make honey so like the forest they areassociated with balance Little in life is all bad or all goodEven the worst things offer an opportunity to learn valuablelessons and to grow Bee stings since they penetrate or getunder your skin can represent stinging hurtful comments orjudgments directed your way You remove them but canrsquotkeep up with the pace of the stings or jabs

In the language of dreams arms represent embracing lifewhile legs are what we stand on and for our foundation andour mobility

What role does your sister-in-law play in your life Is shebehind you and supportive or do her comments and criti-cisms hurt your feelings

When criticism is directed our way we are wise to con-sider if there is any truth to it Ask yourself does thiscomment apply to memdashis it accurate If yes then mental-ly thank the critic for showing you something valuableNext learn and grow ask what action would I like to takeregarding this new awareness

However if the judgmental comment does not apply toyou let it go It is much more about the speaker and hisor her projections than it is about you As Taylor Swifthas sung ldquoShake it Offrdquo

If you are in doubt or having insecure or confused feel-ings about the verbal stings ask a trusted friend or familymember for his or her thoughts We can all improve bybeing open to personal growth Then again constant ex-posure to chronically negative people depletes us and canhave devastating effects of our own health and wellbeing

If you need to be around negative Nellies or Neds thisholiday season protect yourself with your own positivethoughts and find things that you are sincerely gratefulfor to focus on Find the balance The best news is thatyou are in control of your own thoughts

Send your dream toCynthiaDreamPowernet

Visit wwwDreamPowernet OrLike my page on Facebook

A Fabulous Awakening

VIGNETTE

The Second of nine posts -My blogwill be accompanied by vignettes from

my forthcoming novelldquoA Fabulous Awakeningrdquo

The Alchemical Age of a WomanWhen we reach the Alchemical Age of a Wom-an wersquore initiated us into a realm of woman-hood wersquove only dreamed about The seasonedstate of maturity when wersquore no longer tetheredby the lsquoshoulds and oughtsrsquo of our earlier yearsWhen being proper can mean behaving justbarely

Midlife brings change be it arrive by choice orby chance But it can start out looking as formi-dable as did our other era of change our teenswhen we woke up to discover we were no lon-ger the rambunctious rabble-rousing ruckus-making girl we once were but not yet the wom-an we would become

But waithellipchange-making is what we Boomersdo best Wersquore of the invincible ldquoI Am WomanrsquoGeneration the shape-shifting change-makingalchemists of reinvention Wersquove experiencedlife from many points of view Yes we are thestoried ones held up to acclaim and ridicule forour ideals passions and our daring to walk themargins and push boundaries to the limits Ourcreeds have evolved First came life is about sav-ing the world then life is about being equal andfair to life is all about me to hear us roar tolife is about gathering lots of stuff to why is thishappening to me

The times yes they are changing Wersquore experi-encing an Age Quake Women over 50 are apower group that must be reckoned with sowrote Ben Brantley of the NY Times

What was typical is no more Women of Expe-rience are now strutting past the ingeacutenues withnary a glance

We have been tagged eldersirens silver foxesand seasoned women We are those who havegiven and taken loved left regretted and re-joiced Historian Gerda Lerner wrote that sucha critical mass of women with a tradition of re-

bellion and independence has not occurred be-fore in history

There comes a day at the launch of lifersquos fabu-lous third when we realize it is now or never Afully embodied awareness of our mortality givesus permission to live all out or all in in the styleof our choice

We all know HER the quintessential Woman ofExperience By her powerful presence we knowshe will not be made invisible or be left unheardShe has found the charm of her fearless voiceShe no longer goes along to get along Shespeaks truth and paves the way for other wom-en to emerge from the shadows Her experienc-es show Her story is evident And the evidenceof her life reveals that she has received hershare of magic and of misery By the tilt of herchin you know this woman will not be corsetedin body or in expressivity

Welcome to thefabulous

AlchemicalAge of aWoman

VignetteAfter being rejected by her prince of a husbandAurora B Rose stepped forth toward her new lifefeeling both trepidation and thrill Upon her de-parture from Savannah her former mother-in-lawoffered sage advice when she told Aurora to getlostAfter taking several unintended detours on hercross-country journey to San Francisco Auroracelebrated her birthday in Sedona Arizona Afterthree days of being pampered at a posh spa in anunforgiving moment she caught a glance of herhands and saw the well-used hands of her grand-mother

A bolt of Zeusian lightning would have beeneasier to bear

Someday Irsquom going to die My voice willnever be heard again My touch wonrsquot be felt Myeyes wonrsquot see my ears wonrsquot hear my mindwonrsquot think my heart wonrsquot feel my feet wonrsquottake steps

The fact that her life would end somedaywas no longer an abstraction

Later as the red rocks faded to an inky sil-houette against the starry sky in her divine limi-nal state of not quite awake and not quite asleepthe Milky Way became a swirling island of starsan oasis of nurture a womb for the mind to growwith wonder She silently asked the stars ldquoI feellike Irsquom coming out of a deep sleep And if I donrsquotwake up now I never willrdquo

From the dark space between the stars thesilky breeze carried a message ldquoYou Aurora Yesyou It all matters Rejoin the dancerdquo

Until next month please connect with me on Face-book or stop by wwwSundayLarsoncom andwwwPluckyGirlscom

A Fabulous Awakening is available

The Identity of SHEAs we can clearly see in thenews a new generation ofracism has arisen From po-lice brutality to racial slursbeing thrown on campuseven to an African-Ameri-can church being bombedItrsquos like the civil rightsmovement all over again

But there is a unique opportunity here that we have as-black people Other races are hearing our cries and arefighting with us Some police forces have taken racialmatters into their own hands and are requiring diversitytraining Campuses are taking extra precaution (letrsquostake Mizzou for example) by not allowing racism tocontinue on campus even if it means forcing resigna-tions Now even predominately white areas and regionsare fighting for black people

Here is our chance to reunite black culture Because letrsquosbe honest unity hasnrsquot always been on our priority listWe scream ldquoblack lives matterrdquo at the top of our lungsyet still pick up guns and kill each other Black peoplekill each other far more than cops kill us So who exact-ly should we be crucifying

Unity begins first with eliminating our own racially de-structive stigmas And the first one that should be elimi-nated completely among all black people is the beliefthat lighter skin is the better skin meaning pulling thetrigger on this ldquougly black girlrdquo stigma

I recently saw some disgustingly racist posts on socialmedia discriminating black women One was a commentmade by a black man that resides in Phoenix (aka theworst place for a black woman to find a man but thatrsquosa whole separate article) stating plain ignorance aboutblack women

ldquoDo nobody want no nappy headed no fatherhavinhellipdonrsquot want to go to college bad credit havinghetto black womanrdquo

And hersquos not the only ignorant black man that thinkslike this Since residing in Phoenix I have ran into sev-eral black men that donrsquot date black women nor find

them attractive Some of them actually believe that dat-ing a lighter skin especially white gives them a higherstatus

I also saw this account whitesmattertoo that postedseveral pictures degrading black women On a post witha full figured black woman wearing a shirt that saidldquomagicrdquo the comment read

ldquoNothing magic about a smelly woman with big legsand bingo wings and brown skin Blacks are only inAmerica because Whites transported them here fromAfrica to be used as slaveshelliprdquo

The account was created months ago and just recentlywas taken off Instagram

Now there are going to be ignorant people out there andbecause of social media we will run into these idiots atsome point The only bad influence social media has isthat it gives ignorance an audience But it also allowsindividuals to speak against it ndash if we care enough to doso

We need to be taking bold stands in our defense of blackwomen Why Because black women are the ones beingvictimized and a lot of this is by our own race

Darker skin black women are still stuck playing secondbest There are thousands of brands across the nationthat donrsquot advertise to black people or use full African-American people within their campaigns such as Amer-ican Apparel Abercrombie amp Fitch Hollister and JCrew to name a few

Rappers continue to amp up this light skin vs dark skindebate in their lyrics Take Young Jeezy Lil WayneFuture and Asap Rocky for example

ldquoFor instance I get-get my dick lickedRed bone com-plexion like a piglet kiss kissrdquo -A$AP Rocky ldquoKeep ItGrdquo Feat Chase Infinite amp Spaceghostpurrp

Not to mention that black rappers continue to exploitthe body of a black woman by constantly using thesame type of black woman in their videos ndash half nakedwith a ridiculously big butt a small waist and long fakehair Canrsquot they use a naturally shaped black womanwith her real hair

Why is it necessary for black rappers to constantly gloatabout their sexual preferences as it completely de-grades black culture

The point is that right now we as black people are be-ginning to become a true voice in society as well ashistory We are beginning to have more influence in theworld something that our ancestors fought so hard forus to have

For this reason itrsquos now more important than ever to beaware of what we are listening to speaking about andwhat we are allowing on our social feeds If we see in-justice of any kind we need to speak on it and repost itblog about talk about it Donrsquot ignore it

I find it astounding that in these last 10 years more darkskin black women have been nominated and have wonOscars over any other time in history (Jennifer HudsonMorsquoNique Octavia Spencer Lupita Nyoungrsquoo) But thebiggest reason of this is because of black producers anddirectors such as Lee Daniels Steve McQueen andShonda Rhimes It was their influence that made thispossible

It takes an influential black person to make these gainsin our society and to fight stigmas Thatrsquos the type ofblack person all of us should want to be

We need to take a stand against all racial slurs and stig-mas especially those given by black people We need tocontinue to evolve as a people and we canrsquot afford tolet ignorant comments about big lips big thighs andlight skin tones deflect the media from real issues

Eboni Laceywwwtheidentityofshecom

Billy Travilla amp Marilyn MonroersquosLast Stop

The Bus Stop In Arizona

KIMBERLEY ASHLEYHAUTE COUTURE

The sizzling sun in Arizona is as hot as a studio spotlight inHollywood

It could be said however that the intense heat of eachshare much in common The blonde actress who herselfraised temperatures in films like Some Like it Hot hellip actual-ly experienced both Hollywood spotlights and Arizona sun

While as a designer I began my career in Arizona BillyTravilla and his muse Marilyn Monroe did the oppositeThey ended theirs in the sunshine state Billy Travilla de-signed the incredible costumes for many of Monroersquos filmsand Arizona was the shooting location for the last stop onTravillarsquos train of iconic Marilyn Monroe styles

In the middle of a mild March in 1956 Director Joshua Lo-gan and Producer Buddy Adler set up camp in Phoenix atthe Arizona State Fair Grounds The duo was here to filmMarilyn Monroe in the role of saloon singer Cherie oppositeDon Murray as Beauregard Decker in his first film role

For the costume designers 93rd film credit Billy Travilla de-signed three well thought out pieces that a Los AngelesTimes reporter once called simple They certainly may haveappeared simple to anyone outside of the film industry butto a costume designer and anyone who understands this artmore deeply those 3 costumes were sheer perfection Ap-parently even the reporter understood that stating ldquo[BillyTravillarsquos] three-piece wardrobe [for Marilyn Monroersquosfilm] consists of an abbreviated theatrical costume a sim-ple [skirt amp blouse] and a raincoat It was one of the small-est wardrobes ever called for in a major film productionbut each piece of clothing she wears helps establish thecharacter of Cherie ldquochantoosierdquo in the Blue Dragon Cafeacute

It has been accurately said that clothes maymake the man or woman but costumes makethe actor or actress In a movie costumes playvital supporting roles Billyrsquos Bus Stop cos-tumes played as much a vital role in telling thatfilmrsquos story as did the acrid Arizona sun

The significance of film costumes were long ignoredby both film fans and the film industry itself hellip untilhellip Debbie Reynolds made a vital point of showing theworld otherwise She did so in Beverly Hills in 2012when her sale of Billyrsquos ldquolittle white halter dressrdquoworn by Marilyn in The Seven Year Itch sold at auc-tion That fetching Travilla confection fetched justunder six million dollars

Although Billy Travilla appreciated the significance ofhis costumesrsquo contribution to a filmrsquos plotline like theformer movie studios themselves he did NOT recog-nize their eventual financial value

Less than a decade after Marilyn Monroersquos 1962death Billy made an emotional decision that had helived until friend Debbie Reynolds 2012 auction hewould have severely regretted ldquoI used to have six ofMarilyns dressesrdquo he said in a 1980rsquos interview ldquobutwhen I went into temporary retirement in 1970 andleft the [country] I cleared out my factory andthrew her garments outrdquo

Knowing Billy and his life story as I do I under-stand that to him those dresses represented a painfulloss of love in his life NOT a financial asset Al-though Billy may have found his Marilyn costumestoo emotional to possess a man named Gene Londondid not He has owned several of Marilynrsquos costumesincluding this particular black lace top and satin skirt

from Bus Stop Madonna reportedly borrowed thisoriginal Travilla from Gene posing in it in her 1980rsquosTruth or Dare poster

I wonder if either Madonna or the costumes newowner knew that this same green top with black-laceoverlay had originally been designed by Travilla to beworn by Susan Hayward several years earlier in Foxs1952 film With a Song in my Heart

It was after filming this Arizona film that for Billyeverything came to a stop one could say he had hisown personal lsquoBus Stoprsquo The designer who hadworked for 20th Century-Fox for 7 yearsmdashreachedhis own 7-year-itch with his studio Fox scratchedthat itch by effectively cutting out completely thecostume department as did all other movie studiosduring that time

And while Billy continued seamlessly to design filmcostumes as an independent contractor his workwith Marilyn Monroe had come to a full stop withthe very film named Bus Stop Although the moviemagic he created for the film star ended the mys-tique of their magic on film did not ldquoI worked withMarilyn on eight of her moviesldquo Billy once said ldquoShewas the love of my life that girlrdquo

Billy had no way of knowing that the ldquolove of his liferdquowould use one of those costumes in dangerous waysDuring filming Marilyn overplayed a scene in whichshe had to smack Murray with the sequined tail of herchanteuse costume The actor suffered painful faciallacerations from being slapped by those strings of se-quins

If Col Parkers influence over his star hadnrsquot preventedit from happening the young and naive cowboy playedby Don Murray would have been played by a mannamed Elvis It absolutely would have been a shame toscar THAT beautiful face Elvis however certainlywould have helped things to heat up onscreen

When it comes to ldquoheating things uprdquo the sizzling sunin Arizona certainly IS as hot as the studio spotlights ofHollywood

So for the blonde actress who could raise a manrsquos tem-perature and for the legendary costume designerwhose skills could raise a womanrsquos star power the landwhere mercury rises may have been the perfect placefor the sizzling sun to set on their cool collaboration

After all hellip in the world of celebrity when it comes toHollywood spotlights and Arizona sun some actuallyDO ldquoLike it hotrdquo

Locally publishedLocal Contentwwwdiscovertheregioncom

Local content publishers bring to the people the stories andevents that happened in their community as it happens It isthe cornerstone of a community that is necessary in building acommunity Local publishers gear content towards the peoplein your own backyard

Local content exposes the opportunity for an individual in thecommunity to access this to say it brings an opportunity toyour doorstep No need to go miles-around the world to getinvolved in the opportunities that are being made known toyou through published local content

Too many times we see a small website trying to make moresales or bring more people by concentrating outside of theircommunity leaving out the opportunity in his own backyardConcentrating on the events stories and business opportuni-ties that abound in the community can make a bigger impactDiscover-The-Region magazine showcase the success of howlocal content can bring greater success and joy to the commu-nity A solid content well-written persuasive copy concentrat-ed on the community will generate an endless stream ofcustomers to your business and more importantly throughyour doors

Letrsquos take a look at the impact and pros of localpublishedlocal contents

The Pros of Local PublishedLocal Content

I Connections

Local publishers bring more active participation to the com-munity by keeping them aware of their immediate environ-ment they make them aware of events ldquoplaces to spendfamily time together Local Festivals and Farmers MarketsSports schedules or local hidden treasuresrdquo thereby fosteringconnections in the community

II Accessibility

In this case both the content publisher and the end-users whoare the readers are both reachable A businessman does nothave to look hard to find where to advert his business a localpolitician will not have to travel from Arizona to New York toget across to his people Local publishers make sure the infor-mation gets to the community

III Trust

Local content publishers bring to people in the region storiesand opportunities they can trust they know the publisherthey know the region and they know the story It is easier totrust a brand promoted by the locals for the locals

IV Cost Effective

Concentrating on publishing to the communityregion can bemore cost-effective to your business while it is cheaper topublish in this scenario people can easily identify what youare talking about and are more likely to take an action or buyyour product

Conclusion

Local content publishers are very important in a communitythey are the cornerstone of the community the connectionsand the awareness they create are priceless They can leverageon the opportunities that are abound in the community to de-velop relevant valuable content that is based on their commu-nity

In Your DreamsBy Cynthia Richmond

Cynthia Richmond is an author speaker and sought-after media expert on thetopics of sleep dreams and their meanings Contact Cynthia Richmondat CynthiaDreamPowernet

For more information visit wwwDreamPowernet and visit her facebook page atwwwfacebookcompagesDream-Power

Stings May Represent Hurtful Remarks

Send your dream to

CynthiaDreamPowernet

Visit wwwDreamPowernet OrLike my page on Facebook

Dear Cynthia

I had a dream in which I was walking through a forest andsomeone was walking behind me possibly my sister-in-law

Then I was stung repeatedly on my arms and legs by aswarm of bees It was very uncomfortable I kept pulling outthe stingers but couldnrsquot pull them out as fast as I was beingstung

I thought the dream was about taking responsibility forovercoming adversity but I am not certain about the sym-bolic meaning of bees Thanks for your help

~Karen San Tan

Dear Karen

The dream takes place in a forest which is symbolic for theunconscious mind as we cannot possibly know what is inthe forest by looking at the first rows of trees It is home forall of the inhabitants it feeds and shelters and is also associ-ated with balance and the need to provide protection and

sustenance Bees have several symbolic meanings Theysting but they also make honey so like the forest they areassociated with balance Little in life is all bad or all goodEven the worst things offer an opportunity to learn valuablelessons and to grow Bee stings since they penetrate or getunder your skin can represent stinging hurtful comments orjudgments directed your way You remove them but canrsquotkeep up with the pace of the stings or jabs

In the language of dreams arms represent embracing lifewhile legs are what we stand on and for our foundation andour mobility

What role does your sister-in-law play in your life Is shebehind you and supportive or do her comments and criti-cisms hurt your feelings

When criticism is directed our way we are wise to con-sider if there is any truth to it Ask yourself does thiscomment apply to memdashis it accurate If yes then mental-ly thank the critic for showing you something valuableNext learn and grow ask what action would I like to takeregarding this new awareness

However if the judgmental comment does not apply toyou let it go It is much more about the speaker and hisor her projections than it is about you As Taylor Swifthas sung ldquoShake it Offrdquo

If you are in doubt or having insecure or confused feel-ings about the verbal stings ask a trusted friend or familymember for his or her thoughts We can all improve bybeing open to personal growth Then again constant ex-posure to chronically negative people depletes us and canhave devastating effects of our own health and wellbeing

If you need to be around negative Nellies or Neds thisholiday season protect yourself with your own positivethoughts and find things that you are sincerely gratefulfor to focus on Find the balance The best news is thatyou are in control of your own thoughts

Send your dream toCynthiaDreamPowernet

Visit wwwDreamPowernet OrLike my page on Facebook

A Fabulous Awakening

VIGNETTE

The Second of nine posts -My blogwill be accompanied by vignettes from

my forthcoming novelldquoA Fabulous Awakeningrdquo

The Alchemical Age of a WomanWhen we reach the Alchemical Age of a Wom-an wersquore initiated us into a realm of woman-hood wersquove only dreamed about The seasonedstate of maturity when wersquore no longer tetheredby the lsquoshoulds and oughtsrsquo of our earlier yearsWhen being proper can mean behaving justbarely

Midlife brings change be it arrive by choice orby chance But it can start out looking as formi-dable as did our other era of change our teenswhen we woke up to discover we were no lon-ger the rambunctious rabble-rousing ruckus-making girl we once were but not yet the wom-an we would become

But waithellipchange-making is what we Boomersdo best Wersquore of the invincible ldquoI Am WomanrsquoGeneration the shape-shifting change-makingalchemists of reinvention Wersquove experiencedlife from many points of view Yes we are thestoried ones held up to acclaim and ridicule forour ideals passions and our daring to walk themargins and push boundaries to the limits Ourcreeds have evolved First came life is about sav-ing the world then life is about being equal andfair to life is all about me to hear us roar tolife is about gathering lots of stuff to why is thishappening to me

The times yes they are changing Wersquore experi-encing an Age Quake Women over 50 are apower group that must be reckoned with sowrote Ben Brantley of the NY Times

What was typical is no more Women of Expe-rience are now strutting past the ingeacutenues withnary a glance

We have been tagged eldersirens silver foxesand seasoned women We are those who havegiven and taken loved left regretted and re-joiced Historian Gerda Lerner wrote that sucha critical mass of women with a tradition of re-

bellion and independence has not occurred be-fore in history

There comes a day at the launch of lifersquos fabu-lous third when we realize it is now or never Afully embodied awareness of our mortality givesus permission to live all out or all in in the styleof our choice

We all know HER the quintessential Woman ofExperience By her powerful presence we knowshe will not be made invisible or be left unheardShe has found the charm of her fearless voiceShe no longer goes along to get along Shespeaks truth and paves the way for other wom-en to emerge from the shadows Her experienc-es show Her story is evident And the evidenceof her life reveals that she has received hershare of magic and of misery By the tilt of herchin you know this woman will not be corsetedin body or in expressivity

Welcome to thefabulous

AlchemicalAge of aWoman

VignetteAfter being rejected by her prince of a husbandAurora B Rose stepped forth toward her new lifefeeling both trepidation and thrill Upon her de-parture from Savannah her former mother-in-lawoffered sage advice when she told Aurora to getlostAfter taking several unintended detours on hercross-country journey to San Francisco Auroracelebrated her birthday in Sedona Arizona Afterthree days of being pampered at a posh spa in anunforgiving moment she caught a glance of herhands and saw the well-used hands of her grand-mother

A bolt of Zeusian lightning would have beeneasier to bear

Someday Irsquom going to die My voice willnever be heard again My touch wonrsquot be felt Myeyes wonrsquot see my ears wonrsquot hear my mindwonrsquot think my heart wonrsquot feel my feet wonrsquottake steps

The fact that her life would end somedaywas no longer an abstraction

Later as the red rocks faded to an inky sil-houette against the starry sky in her divine limi-nal state of not quite awake and not quite asleepthe Milky Way became a swirling island of starsan oasis of nurture a womb for the mind to growwith wonder She silently asked the stars ldquoI feellike Irsquom coming out of a deep sleep And if I donrsquotwake up now I never willrdquo

From the dark space between the stars thesilky breeze carried a message ldquoYou Aurora Yesyou It all matters Rejoin the dancerdquo

Until next month please connect with me on Face-book or stop by wwwSundayLarsoncom andwwwPluckyGirlscom

A Fabulous Awakening is available

The Identity of SHEAs we can clearly see in thenews a new generation ofracism has arisen From po-lice brutality to racial slursbeing thrown on campuseven to an African-Ameri-can church being bombedItrsquos like the civil rightsmovement all over again

But there is a unique opportunity here that we have as-black people Other races are hearing our cries and arefighting with us Some police forces have taken racialmatters into their own hands and are requiring diversitytraining Campuses are taking extra precaution (letrsquostake Mizzou for example) by not allowing racism tocontinue on campus even if it means forcing resigna-tions Now even predominately white areas and regionsare fighting for black people

Here is our chance to reunite black culture Because letrsquosbe honest unity hasnrsquot always been on our priority listWe scream ldquoblack lives matterrdquo at the top of our lungsyet still pick up guns and kill each other Black peoplekill each other far more than cops kill us So who exact-ly should we be crucifying

Unity begins first with eliminating our own racially de-structive stigmas And the first one that should be elimi-nated completely among all black people is the beliefthat lighter skin is the better skin meaning pulling thetrigger on this ldquougly black girlrdquo stigma

I recently saw some disgustingly racist posts on socialmedia discriminating black women One was a commentmade by a black man that resides in Phoenix (aka theworst place for a black woman to find a man but thatrsquosa whole separate article) stating plain ignorance aboutblack women

ldquoDo nobody want no nappy headed no fatherhavinhellipdonrsquot want to go to college bad credit havinghetto black womanrdquo

And hersquos not the only ignorant black man that thinkslike this Since residing in Phoenix I have ran into sev-eral black men that donrsquot date black women nor find

them attractive Some of them actually believe that dat-ing a lighter skin especially white gives them a higherstatus

I also saw this account whitesmattertoo that postedseveral pictures degrading black women On a post witha full figured black woman wearing a shirt that saidldquomagicrdquo the comment read

ldquoNothing magic about a smelly woman with big legsand bingo wings and brown skin Blacks are only inAmerica because Whites transported them here fromAfrica to be used as slaveshelliprdquo

The account was created months ago and just recentlywas taken off Instagram

Now there are going to be ignorant people out there andbecause of social media we will run into these idiots atsome point The only bad influence social media has isthat it gives ignorance an audience But it also allowsindividuals to speak against it ndash if we care enough to doso

We need to be taking bold stands in our defense of blackwomen Why Because black women are the ones beingvictimized and a lot of this is by our own race

Darker skin black women are still stuck playing secondbest There are thousands of brands across the nationthat donrsquot advertise to black people or use full African-American people within their campaigns such as Amer-ican Apparel Abercrombie amp Fitch Hollister and JCrew to name a few

Rappers continue to amp up this light skin vs dark skindebate in their lyrics Take Young Jeezy Lil WayneFuture and Asap Rocky for example

ldquoFor instance I get-get my dick lickedRed bone com-plexion like a piglet kiss kissrdquo -A$AP Rocky ldquoKeep ItGrdquo Feat Chase Infinite amp Spaceghostpurrp

Not to mention that black rappers continue to exploitthe body of a black woman by constantly using thesame type of black woman in their videos ndash half nakedwith a ridiculously big butt a small waist and long fakehair Canrsquot they use a naturally shaped black womanwith her real hair

Why is it necessary for black rappers to constantly gloatabout their sexual preferences as it completely de-grades black culture

The point is that right now we as black people are be-ginning to become a true voice in society as well ashistory We are beginning to have more influence in theworld something that our ancestors fought so hard forus to have

For this reason itrsquos now more important than ever to beaware of what we are listening to speaking about andwhat we are allowing on our social feeds If we see in-justice of any kind we need to speak on it and repost itblog about talk about it Donrsquot ignore it

I find it astounding that in these last 10 years more darkskin black women have been nominated and have wonOscars over any other time in history (Jennifer HudsonMorsquoNique Octavia Spencer Lupita Nyoungrsquoo) But thebiggest reason of this is because of black producers anddirectors such as Lee Daniels Steve McQueen andShonda Rhimes It was their influence that made thispossible

It takes an influential black person to make these gainsin our society and to fight stigmas Thatrsquos the type ofblack person all of us should want to be

We need to take a stand against all racial slurs and stig-mas especially those given by black people We need tocontinue to evolve as a people and we canrsquot afford tolet ignorant comments about big lips big thighs andlight skin tones deflect the media from real issues

Eboni Laceywwwtheidentityofshecom

Billy Travilla amp Marilyn MonroersquosLast Stop

The Bus Stop In Arizona

KIMBERLEY ASHLEYHAUTE COUTURE

The sizzling sun in Arizona is as hot as a studio spotlight inHollywood

It could be said however that the intense heat of eachshare much in common The blonde actress who herselfraised temperatures in films like Some Like it Hot hellip actual-ly experienced both Hollywood spotlights and Arizona sun

While as a designer I began my career in Arizona BillyTravilla and his muse Marilyn Monroe did the oppositeThey ended theirs in the sunshine state Billy Travilla de-signed the incredible costumes for many of Monroersquos filmsand Arizona was the shooting location for the last stop onTravillarsquos train of iconic Marilyn Monroe styles

In the middle of a mild March in 1956 Director Joshua Lo-gan and Producer Buddy Adler set up camp in Phoenix atthe Arizona State Fair Grounds The duo was here to filmMarilyn Monroe in the role of saloon singer Cherie oppositeDon Murray as Beauregard Decker in his first film role

For the costume designers 93rd film credit Billy Travilla de-signed three well thought out pieces that a Los AngelesTimes reporter once called simple They certainly may haveappeared simple to anyone outside of the film industry butto a costume designer and anyone who understands this artmore deeply those 3 costumes were sheer perfection Ap-parently even the reporter understood that stating ldquo[BillyTravillarsquos] three-piece wardrobe [for Marilyn Monroersquosfilm] consists of an abbreviated theatrical costume a sim-ple [skirt amp blouse] and a raincoat It was one of the small-est wardrobes ever called for in a major film productionbut each piece of clothing she wears helps establish thecharacter of Cherie ldquochantoosierdquo in the Blue Dragon Cafeacute

It has been accurately said that clothes maymake the man or woman but costumes makethe actor or actress In a movie costumes playvital supporting roles Billyrsquos Bus Stop cos-tumes played as much a vital role in telling thatfilmrsquos story as did the acrid Arizona sun

The significance of film costumes were long ignoredby both film fans and the film industry itself hellip untilhellip Debbie Reynolds made a vital point of showing theworld otherwise She did so in Beverly Hills in 2012when her sale of Billyrsquos ldquolittle white halter dressrdquoworn by Marilyn in The Seven Year Itch sold at auc-tion That fetching Travilla confection fetched justunder six million dollars

Although Billy Travilla appreciated the significance ofhis costumesrsquo contribution to a filmrsquos plotline like theformer movie studios themselves he did NOT recog-nize their eventual financial value

Less than a decade after Marilyn Monroersquos 1962death Billy made an emotional decision that had helived until friend Debbie Reynolds 2012 auction hewould have severely regretted ldquoI used to have six ofMarilyns dressesrdquo he said in a 1980rsquos interview ldquobutwhen I went into temporary retirement in 1970 andleft the [country] I cleared out my factory andthrew her garments outrdquo

Knowing Billy and his life story as I do I under-stand that to him those dresses represented a painfulloss of love in his life NOT a financial asset Al-though Billy may have found his Marilyn costumestoo emotional to possess a man named Gene Londondid not He has owned several of Marilynrsquos costumesincluding this particular black lace top and satin skirt

from Bus Stop Madonna reportedly borrowed thisoriginal Travilla from Gene posing in it in her 1980rsquosTruth or Dare poster

I wonder if either Madonna or the costumes newowner knew that this same green top with black-laceoverlay had originally been designed by Travilla to beworn by Susan Hayward several years earlier in Foxs1952 film With a Song in my Heart

It was after filming this Arizona film that for Billyeverything came to a stop one could say he had hisown personal lsquoBus Stoprsquo The designer who hadworked for 20th Century-Fox for 7 yearsmdashreachedhis own 7-year-itch with his studio Fox scratchedthat itch by effectively cutting out completely thecostume department as did all other movie studiosduring that time

And while Billy continued seamlessly to design filmcostumes as an independent contractor his workwith Marilyn Monroe had come to a full stop withthe very film named Bus Stop Although the moviemagic he created for the film star ended the mys-tique of their magic on film did not ldquoI worked withMarilyn on eight of her moviesldquo Billy once said ldquoShewas the love of my life that girlrdquo

Billy had no way of knowing that the ldquolove of his liferdquowould use one of those costumes in dangerous waysDuring filming Marilyn overplayed a scene in whichshe had to smack Murray with the sequined tail of herchanteuse costume The actor suffered painful faciallacerations from being slapped by those strings of se-quins

If Col Parkers influence over his star hadnrsquot preventedit from happening the young and naive cowboy playedby Don Murray would have been played by a mannamed Elvis It absolutely would have been a shame toscar THAT beautiful face Elvis however certainlywould have helped things to heat up onscreen

When it comes to ldquoheating things uprdquo the sizzling sunin Arizona certainly IS as hot as the studio spotlights ofHollywood

So for the blonde actress who could raise a manrsquos tem-perature and for the legendary costume designerwhose skills could raise a womanrsquos star power the landwhere mercury rises may have been the perfect placefor the sizzling sun to set on their cool collaboration

After all hellip in the world of celebrity when it comes toHollywood spotlights and Arizona sun some actuallyDO ldquoLike it hotrdquo

Locally publishedLocal Contentwwwdiscovertheregioncom

Local content publishers bring to the people the stories andevents that happened in their community as it happens It isthe cornerstone of a community that is necessary in building acommunity Local publishers gear content towards the peoplein your own backyard

Local content exposes the opportunity for an individual in thecommunity to access this to say it brings an opportunity toyour doorstep No need to go miles-around the world to getinvolved in the opportunities that are being made known toyou through published local content

Too many times we see a small website trying to make moresales or bring more people by concentrating outside of theircommunity leaving out the opportunity in his own backyardConcentrating on the events stories and business opportuni-ties that abound in the community can make a bigger impactDiscover-The-Region magazine showcase the success of howlocal content can bring greater success and joy to the commu-nity A solid content well-written persuasive copy concentrat-ed on the community will generate an endless stream ofcustomers to your business and more importantly throughyour doors

Letrsquos take a look at the impact and pros of localpublishedlocal contents

The Pros of Local PublishedLocal Content

I Connections

Local publishers bring more active participation to the com-munity by keeping them aware of their immediate environ-ment they make them aware of events ldquoplaces to spendfamily time together Local Festivals and Farmers MarketsSports schedules or local hidden treasuresrdquo thereby fosteringconnections in the community

II Accessibility

In this case both the content publisher and the end-users whoare the readers are both reachable A businessman does nothave to look hard to find where to advert his business a localpolitician will not have to travel from Arizona to New York toget across to his people Local publishers make sure the infor-mation gets to the community

III Trust

Local content publishers bring to people in the region storiesand opportunities they can trust they know the publisherthey know the region and they know the story It is easier totrust a brand promoted by the locals for the locals

IV Cost Effective

Concentrating on publishing to the communityregion can bemore cost-effective to your business while it is cheaper topublish in this scenario people can easily identify what youare talking about and are more likely to take an action or buyyour product

Conclusion

Local content publishers are very important in a communitythey are the cornerstone of the community the connectionsand the awareness they create are priceless They can leverageon the opportunities that are abound in the community to de-velop relevant valuable content that is based on their commu-nity

When criticism is directed our way we are wise to con-sider if there is any truth to it Ask yourself does thiscomment apply to memdashis it accurate If yes then mental-ly thank the critic for showing you something valuableNext learn and grow ask what action would I like to takeregarding this new awareness

However if the judgmental comment does not apply toyou let it go It is much more about the speaker and hisor her projections than it is about you As Taylor Swifthas sung ldquoShake it Offrdquo

If you are in doubt or having insecure or confused feel-ings about the verbal stings ask a trusted friend or familymember for his or her thoughts We can all improve bybeing open to personal growth Then again constant ex-posure to chronically negative people depletes us and canhave devastating effects of our own health and wellbeing

If you need to be around negative Nellies or Neds thisholiday season protect yourself with your own positivethoughts and find things that you are sincerely gratefulfor to focus on Find the balance The best news is thatyou are in control of your own thoughts

Send your dream toCynthiaDreamPowernet

Visit wwwDreamPowernet OrLike my page on Facebook

A Fabulous Awakening

VIGNETTE

The Second of nine posts -My blogwill be accompanied by vignettes from

my forthcoming novelldquoA Fabulous Awakeningrdquo

The Alchemical Age of a WomanWhen we reach the Alchemical Age of a Wom-an wersquore initiated us into a realm of woman-hood wersquove only dreamed about The seasonedstate of maturity when wersquore no longer tetheredby the lsquoshoulds and oughtsrsquo of our earlier yearsWhen being proper can mean behaving justbarely

Midlife brings change be it arrive by choice orby chance But it can start out looking as formi-dable as did our other era of change our teenswhen we woke up to discover we were no lon-ger the rambunctious rabble-rousing ruckus-making girl we once were but not yet the wom-an we would become

But waithellipchange-making is what we Boomersdo best Wersquore of the invincible ldquoI Am WomanrsquoGeneration the shape-shifting change-makingalchemists of reinvention Wersquove experiencedlife from many points of view Yes we are thestoried ones held up to acclaim and ridicule forour ideals passions and our daring to walk themargins and push boundaries to the limits Ourcreeds have evolved First came life is about sav-ing the world then life is about being equal andfair to life is all about me to hear us roar tolife is about gathering lots of stuff to why is thishappening to me

The times yes they are changing Wersquore experi-encing an Age Quake Women over 50 are apower group that must be reckoned with sowrote Ben Brantley of the NY Times

What was typical is no more Women of Expe-rience are now strutting past the ingeacutenues withnary a glance

We have been tagged eldersirens silver foxesand seasoned women We are those who havegiven and taken loved left regretted and re-joiced Historian Gerda Lerner wrote that sucha critical mass of women with a tradition of re-

bellion and independence has not occurred be-fore in history

There comes a day at the launch of lifersquos fabu-lous third when we realize it is now or never Afully embodied awareness of our mortality givesus permission to live all out or all in in the styleof our choice

We all know HER the quintessential Woman ofExperience By her powerful presence we knowshe will not be made invisible or be left unheardShe has found the charm of her fearless voiceShe no longer goes along to get along Shespeaks truth and paves the way for other wom-en to emerge from the shadows Her experienc-es show Her story is evident And the evidenceof her life reveals that she has received hershare of magic and of misery By the tilt of herchin you know this woman will not be corsetedin body or in expressivity

Welcome to thefabulous

AlchemicalAge of aWoman

VignetteAfter being rejected by her prince of a husbandAurora B Rose stepped forth toward her new lifefeeling both trepidation and thrill Upon her de-parture from Savannah her former mother-in-lawoffered sage advice when she told Aurora to getlostAfter taking several unintended detours on hercross-country journey to San Francisco Auroracelebrated her birthday in Sedona Arizona Afterthree days of being pampered at a posh spa in anunforgiving moment she caught a glance of herhands and saw the well-used hands of her grand-mother

A bolt of Zeusian lightning would have beeneasier to bear

Someday Irsquom going to die My voice willnever be heard again My touch wonrsquot be felt Myeyes wonrsquot see my ears wonrsquot hear my mindwonrsquot think my heart wonrsquot feel my feet wonrsquottake steps

The fact that her life would end somedaywas no longer an abstraction

Later as the red rocks faded to an inky sil-houette against the starry sky in her divine limi-nal state of not quite awake and not quite asleepthe Milky Way became a swirling island of starsan oasis of nurture a womb for the mind to growwith wonder She silently asked the stars ldquoI feellike Irsquom coming out of a deep sleep And if I donrsquotwake up now I never willrdquo

From the dark space between the stars thesilky breeze carried a message ldquoYou Aurora Yesyou It all matters Rejoin the dancerdquo

Until next month please connect with me on Face-book or stop by wwwSundayLarsoncom andwwwPluckyGirlscom

A Fabulous Awakening is available

The Identity of SHEAs we can clearly see in thenews a new generation ofracism has arisen From po-lice brutality to racial slursbeing thrown on campuseven to an African-Ameri-can church being bombedItrsquos like the civil rightsmovement all over again

But there is a unique opportunity here that we have as-black people Other races are hearing our cries and arefighting with us Some police forces have taken racialmatters into their own hands and are requiring diversitytraining Campuses are taking extra precaution (letrsquostake Mizzou for example) by not allowing racism tocontinue on campus even if it means forcing resigna-tions Now even predominately white areas and regionsare fighting for black people

Here is our chance to reunite black culture Because letrsquosbe honest unity hasnrsquot always been on our priority listWe scream ldquoblack lives matterrdquo at the top of our lungsyet still pick up guns and kill each other Black peoplekill each other far more than cops kill us So who exact-ly should we be crucifying

Unity begins first with eliminating our own racially de-structive stigmas And the first one that should be elimi-nated completely among all black people is the beliefthat lighter skin is the better skin meaning pulling thetrigger on this ldquougly black girlrdquo stigma

I recently saw some disgustingly racist posts on socialmedia discriminating black women One was a commentmade by a black man that resides in Phoenix (aka theworst place for a black woman to find a man but thatrsquosa whole separate article) stating plain ignorance aboutblack women

ldquoDo nobody want no nappy headed no fatherhavinhellipdonrsquot want to go to college bad credit havinghetto black womanrdquo

And hersquos not the only ignorant black man that thinkslike this Since residing in Phoenix I have ran into sev-eral black men that donrsquot date black women nor find

them attractive Some of them actually believe that dat-ing a lighter skin especially white gives them a higherstatus

I also saw this account whitesmattertoo that postedseveral pictures degrading black women On a post witha full figured black woman wearing a shirt that saidldquomagicrdquo the comment read

ldquoNothing magic about a smelly woman with big legsand bingo wings and brown skin Blacks are only inAmerica because Whites transported them here fromAfrica to be used as slaveshelliprdquo

The account was created months ago and just recentlywas taken off Instagram

Now there are going to be ignorant people out there andbecause of social media we will run into these idiots atsome point The only bad influence social media has isthat it gives ignorance an audience But it also allowsindividuals to speak against it ndash if we care enough to doso

We need to be taking bold stands in our defense of blackwomen Why Because black women are the ones beingvictimized and a lot of this is by our own race

Darker skin black women are still stuck playing secondbest There are thousands of brands across the nationthat donrsquot advertise to black people or use full African-American people within their campaigns such as Amer-ican Apparel Abercrombie amp Fitch Hollister and JCrew to name a few

Rappers continue to amp up this light skin vs dark skindebate in their lyrics Take Young Jeezy Lil WayneFuture and Asap Rocky for example

ldquoFor instance I get-get my dick lickedRed bone com-plexion like a piglet kiss kissrdquo -A$AP Rocky ldquoKeep ItGrdquo Feat Chase Infinite amp Spaceghostpurrp

Not to mention that black rappers continue to exploitthe body of a black woman by constantly using thesame type of black woman in their videos ndash half nakedwith a ridiculously big butt a small waist and long fakehair Canrsquot they use a naturally shaped black womanwith her real hair

Why is it necessary for black rappers to constantly gloatabout their sexual preferences as it completely de-grades black culture

The point is that right now we as black people are be-ginning to become a true voice in society as well ashistory We are beginning to have more influence in theworld something that our ancestors fought so hard forus to have

For this reason itrsquos now more important than ever to beaware of what we are listening to speaking about andwhat we are allowing on our social feeds If we see in-justice of any kind we need to speak on it and repost itblog about talk about it Donrsquot ignore it

I find it astounding that in these last 10 years more darkskin black women have been nominated and have wonOscars over any other time in history (Jennifer HudsonMorsquoNique Octavia Spencer Lupita Nyoungrsquoo) But thebiggest reason of this is because of black producers anddirectors such as Lee Daniels Steve McQueen andShonda Rhimes It was their influence that made thispossible

It takes an influential black person to make these gainsin our society and to fight stigmas Thatrsquos the type ofblack person all of us should want to be

We need to take a stand against all racial slurs and stig-mas especially those given by black people We need tocontinue to evolve as a people and we canrsquot afford tolet ignorant comments about big lips big thighs andlight skin tones deflect the media from real issues

Eboni Laceywwwtheidentityofshecom

Billy Travilla amp Marilyn MonroersquosLast Stop

The Bus Stop In Arizona

KIMBERLEY ASHLEYHAUTE COUTURE

The sizzling sun in Arizona is as hot as a studio spotlight inHollywood

It could be said however that the intense heat of eachshare much in common The blonde actress who herselfraised temperatures in films like Some Like it Hot hellip actual-ly experienced both Hollywood spotlights and Arizona sun

While as a designer I began my career in Arizona BillyTravilla and his muse Marilyn Monroe did the oppositeThey ended theirs in the sunshine state Billy Travilla de-signed the incredible costumes for many of Monroersquos filmsand Arizona was the shooting location for the last stop onTravillarsquos train of iconic Marilyn Monroe styles

In the middle of a mild March in 1956 Director Joshua Lo-gan and Producer Buddy Adler set up camp in Phoenix atthe Arizona State Fair Grounds The duo was here to filmMarilyn Monroe in the role of saloon singer Cherie oppositeDon Murray as Beauregard Decker in his first film role

For the costume designers 93rd film credit Billy Travilla de-signed three well thought out pieces that a Los AngelesTimes reporter once called simple They certainly may haveappeared simple to anyone outside of the film industry butto a costume designer and anyone who understands this artmore deeply those 3 costumes were sheer perfection Ap-parently even the reporter understood that stating ldquo[BillyTravillarsquos] three-piece wardrobe [for Marilyn Monroersquosfilm] consists of an abbreviated theatrical costume a sim-ple [skirt amp blouse] and a raincoat It was one of the small-est wardrobes ever called for in a major film productionbut each piece of clothing she wears helps establish thecharacter of Cherie ldquochantoosierdquo in the Blue Dragon Cafeacute

It has been accurately said that clothes maymake the man or woman but costumes makethe actor or actress In a movie costumes playvital supporting roles Billyrsquos Bus Stop cos-tumes played as much a vital role in telling thatfilmrsquos story as did the acrid Arizona sun

The significance of film costumes were long ignoredby both film fans and the film industry itself hellip untilhellip Debbie Reynolds made a vital point of showing theworld otherwise She did so in Beverly Hills in 2012when her sale of Billyrsquos ldquolittle white halter dressrdquoworn by Marilyn in The Seven Year Itch sold at auc-tion That fetching Travilla confection fetched justunder six million dollars

Although Billy Travilla appreciated the significance ofhis costumesrsquo contribution to a filmrsquos plotline like theformer movie studios themselves he did NOT recog-nize their eventual financial value

Less than a decade after Marilyn Monroersquos 1962death Billy made an emotional decision that had helived until friend Debbie Reynolds 2012 auction hewould have severely regretted ldquoI used to have six ofMarilyns dressesrdquo he said in a 1980rsquos interview ldquobutwhen I went into temporary retirement in 1970 andleft the [country] I cleared out my factory andthrew her garments outrdquo

Knowing Billy and his life story as I do I under-stand that to him those dresses represented a painfulloss of love in his life NOT a financial asset Al-though Billy may have found his Marilyn costumestoo emotional to possess a man named Gene Londondid not He has owned several of Marilynrsquos costumesincluding this particular black lace top and satin skirt

from Bus Stop Madonna reportedly borrowed thisoriginal Travilla from Gene posing in it in her 1980rsquosTruth or Dare poster

I wonder if either Madonna or the costumes newowner knew that this same green top with black-laceoverlay had originally been designed by Travilla to beworn by Susan Hayward several years earlier in Foxs1952 film With a Song in my Heart

It was after filming this Arizona film that for Billyeverything came to a stop one could say he had hisown personal lsquoBus Stoprsquo The designer who hadworked for 20th Century-Fox for 7 yearsmdashreachedhis own 7-year-itch with his studio Fox scratchedthat itch by effectively cutting out completely thecostume department as did all other movie studiosduring that time

And while Billy continued seamlessly to design filmcostumes as an independent contractor his workwith Marilyn Monroe had come to a full stop withthe very film named Bus Stop Although the moviemagic he created for the film star ended the mys-tique of their magic on film did not ldquoI worked withMarilyn on eight of her moviesldquo Billy once said ldquoShewas the love of my life that girlrdquo

Billy had no way of knowing that the ldquolove of his liferdquowould use one of those costumes in dangerous waysDuring filming Marilyn overplayed a scene in whichshe had to smack Murray with the sequined tail of herchanteuse costume The actor suffered painful faciallacerations from being slapped by those strings of se-quins

If Col Parkers influence over his star hadnrsquot preventedit from happening the young and naive cowboy playedby Don Murray would have been played by a mannamed Elvis It absolutely would have been a shame toscar THAT beautiful face Elvis however certainlywould have helped things to heat up onscreen

When it comes to ldquoheating things uprdquo the sizzling sunin Arizona certainly IS as hot as the studio spotlights ofHollywood

So for the blonde actress who could raise a manrsquos tem-perature and for the legendary costume designerwhose skills could raise a womanrsquos star power the landwhere mercury rises may have been the perfect placefor the sizzling sun to set on their cool collaboration

After all hellip in the world of celebrity when it comes toHollywood spotlights and Arizona sun some actuallyDO ldquoLike it hotrdquo

Locally publishedLocal Contentwwwdiscovertheregioncom

Local content publishers bring to the people the stories andevents that happened in their community as it happens It isthe cornerstone of a community that is necessary in building acommunity Local publishers gear content towards the peoplein your own backyard

Local content exposes the opportunity for an individual in thecommunity to access this to say it brings an opportunity toyour doorstep No need to go miles-around the world to getinvolved in the opportunities that are being made known toyou through published local content

Too many times we see a small website trying to make moresales or bring more people by concentrating outside of theircommunity leaving out the opportunity in his own backyardConcentrating on the events stories and business opportuni-ties that abound in the community can make a bigger impactDiscover-The-Region magazine showcase the success of howlocal content can bring greater success and joy to the commu-nity A solid content well-written persuasive copy concentrat-ed on the community will generate an endless stream ofcustomers to your business and more importantly throughyour doors

Letrsquos take a look at the impact and pros of localpublishedlocal contents

The Pros of Local PublishedLocal Content

I Connections

Local publishers bring more active participation to the com-munity by keeping them aware of their immediate environ-ment they make them aware of events ldquoplaces to spendfamily time together Local Festivals and Farmers MarketsSports schedules or local hidden treasuresrdquo thereby fosteringconnections in the community

II Accessibility

In this case both the content publisher and the end-users whoare the readers are both reachable A businessman does nothave to look hard to find where to advert his business a localpolitician will not have to travel from Arizona to New York toget across to his people Local publishers make sure the infor-mation gets to the community

III Trust

Local content publishers bring to people in the region storiesand opportunities they can trust they know the publisherthey know the region and they know the story It is easier totrust a brand promoted by the locals for the locals

IV Cost Effective

Concentrating on publishing to the communityregion can bemore cost-effective to your business while it is cheaper topublish in this scenario people can easily identify what youare talking about and are more likely to take an action or buyyour product

Conclusion

Local content publishers are very important in a communitythey are the cornerstone of the community the connectionsand the awareness they create are priceless They can leverageon the opportunities that are abound in the community to de-velop relevant valuable content that is based on their commu-nity

A Fabulous Awakening

VIGNETTE

The Second of nine posts -My blogwill be accompanied by vignettes from

my forthcoming novelldquoA Fabulous Awakeningrdquo

The Alchemical Age of a WomanWhen we reach the Alchemical Age of a Wom-an wersquore initiated us into a realm of woman-hood wersquove only dreamed about The seasonedstate of maturity when wersquore no longer tetheredby the lsquoshoulds and oughtsrsquo of our earlier yearsWhen being proper can mean behaving justbarely

Midlife brings change be it arrive by choice orby chance But it can start out looking as formi-dable as did our other era of change our teenswhen we woke up to discover we were no lon-ger the rambunctious rabble-rousing ruckus-making girl we once were but not yet the wom-an we would become

But waithellipchange-making is what we Boomersdo best Wersquore of the invincible ldquoI Am WomanrsquoGeneration the shape-shifting change-makingalchemists of reinvention Wersquove experiencedlife from many points of view Yes we are thestoried ones held up to acclaim and ridicule forour ideals passions and our daring to walk themargins and push boundaries to the limits Ourcreeds have evolved First came life is about sav-ing the world then life is about being equal andfair to life is all about me to hear us roar tolife is about gathering lots of stuff to why is thishappening to me

The times yes they are changing Wersquore experi-encing an Age Quake Women over 50 are apower group that must be reckoned with sowrote Ben Brantley of the NY Times

What was typical is no more Women of Expe-rience are now strutting past the ingeacutenues withnary a glance

We have been tagged eldersirens silver foxesand seasoned women We are those who havegiven and taken loved left regretted and re-joiced Historian Gerda Lerner wrote that sucha critical mass of women with a tradition of re-

bellion and independence has not occurred be-fore in history

There comes a day at the launch of lifersquos fabu-lous third when we realize it is now or never Afully embodied awareness of our mortality givesus permission to live all out or all in in the styleof our choice

We all know HER the quintessential Woman ofExperience By her powerful presence we knowshe will not be made invisible or be left unheardShe has found the charm of her fearless voiceShe no longer goes along to get along Shespeaks truth and paves the way for other wom-en to emerge from the shadows Her experienc-es show Her story is evident And the evidenceof her life reveals that she has received hershare of magic and of misery By the tilt of herchin you know this woman will not be corsetedin body or in expressivity

Welcome to thefabulous

AlchemicalAge of aWoman

VignetteAfter being rejected by her prince of a husbandAurora B Rose stepped forth toward her new lifefeeling both trepidation and thrill Upon her de-parture from Savannah her former mother-in-lawoffered sage advice when she told Aurora to getlostAfter taking several unintended detours on hercross-country journey to San Francisco Auroracelebrated her birthday in Sedona Arizona Afterthree days of being pampered at a posh spa in anunforgiving moment she caught a glance of herhands and saw the well-used hands of her grand-mother

A bolt of Zeusian lightning would have beeneasier to bear

Someday Irsquom going to die My voice willnever be heard again My touch wonrsquot be felt Myeyes wonrsquot see my ears wonrsquot hear my mindwonrsquot think my heart wonrsquot feel my feet wonrsquottake steps

The fact that her life would end somedaywas no longer an abstraction

Later as the red rocks faded to an inky sil-houette against the starry sky in her divine limi-nal state of not quite awake and not quite asleepthe Milky Way became a swirling island of starsan oasis of nurture a womb for the mind to growwith wonder She silently asked the stars ldquoI feellike Irsquom coming out of a deep sleep And if I donrsquotwake up now I never willrdquo

From the dark space between the stars thesilky breeze carried a message ldquoYou Aurora Yesyou It all matters Rejoin the dancerdquo

Until next month please connect with me on Face-book or stop by wwwSundayLarsoncom andwwwPluckyGirlscom

A Fabulous Awakening is available

The Identity of SHEAs we can clearly see in thenews a new generation ofracism has arisen From po-lice brutality to racial slursbeing thrown on campuseven to an African-Ameri-can church being bombedItrsquos like the civil rightsmovement all over again

But there is a unique opportunity here that we have as-black people Other races are hearing our cries and arefighting with us Some police forces have taken racialmatters into their own hands and are requiring diversitytraining Campuses are taking extra precaution (letrsquostake Mizzou for example) by not allowing racism tocontinue on campus even if it means forcing resigna-tions Now even predominately white areas and regionsare fighting for black people

Here is our chance to reunite black culture Because letrsquosbe honest unity hasnrsquot always been on our priority listWe scream ldquoblack lives matterrdquo at the top of our lungsyet still pick up guns and kill each other Black peoplekill each other far more than cops kill us So who exact-ly should we be crucifying

Unity begins first with eliminating our own racially de-structive stigmas And the first one that should be elimi-nated completely among all black people is the beliefthat lighter skin is the better skin meaning pulling thetrigger on this ldquougly black girlrdquo stigma

I recently saw some disgustingly racist posts on socialmedia discriminating black women One was a commentmade by a black man that resides in Phoenix (aka theworst place for a black woman to find a man but thatrsquosa whole separate article) stating plain ignorance aboutblack women

ldquoDo nobody want no nappy headed no fatherhavinhellipdonrsquot want to go to college bad credit havinghetto black womanrdquo

And hersquos not the only ignorant black man that thinkslike this Since residing in Phoenix I have ran into sev-eral black men that donrsquot date black women nor find

them attractive Some of them actually believe that dat-ing a lighter skin especially white gives them a higherstatus

I also saw this account whitesmattertoo that postedseveral pictures degrading black women On a post witha full figured black woman wearing a shirt that saidldquomagicrdquo the comment read

ldquoNothing magic about a smelly woman with big legsand bingo wings and brown skin Blacks are only inAmerica because Whites transported them here fromAfrica to be used as slaveshelliprdquo

The account was created months ago and just recentlywas taken off Instagram

Now there are going to be ignorant people out there andbecause of social media we will run into these idiots atsome point The only bad influence social media has isthat it gives ignorance an audience But it also allowsindividuals to speak against it ndash if we care enough to doso

We need to be taking bold stands in our defense of blackwomen Why Because black women are the ones beingvictimized and a lot of this is by our own race

Darker skin black women are still stuck playing secondbest There are thousands of brands across the nationthat donrsquot advertise to black people or use full African-American people within their campaigns such as Amer-ican Apparel Abercrombie amp Fitch Hollister and JCrew to name a few

Rappers continue to amp up this light skin vs dark skindebate in their lyrics Take Young Jeezy Lil WayneFuture and Asap Rocky for example

ldquoFor instance I get-get my dick lickedRed bone com-plexion like a piglet kiss kissrdquo -A$AP Rocky ldquoKeep ItGrdquo Feat Chase Infinite amp Spaceghostpurrp

Not to mention that black rappers continue to exploitthe body of a black woman by constantly using thesame type of black woman in their videos ndash half nakedwith a ridiculously big butt a small waist and long fakehair Canrsquot they use a naturally shaped black womanwith her real hair

Why is it necessary for black rappers to constantly gloatabout their sexual preferences as it completely de-grades black culture

The point is that right now we as black people are be-ginning to become a true voice in society as well ashistory We are beginning to have more influence in theworld something that our ancestors fought so hard forus to have

For this reason itrsquos now more important than ever to beaware of what we are listening to speaking about andwhat we are allowing on our social feeds If we see in-justice of any kind we need to speak on it and repost itblog about talk about it Donrsquot ignore it

I find it astounding that in these last 10 years more darkskin black women have been nominated and have wonOscars over any other time in history (Jennifer HudsonMorsquoNique Octavia Spencer Lupita Nyoungrsquoo) But thebiggest reason of this is because of black producers anddirectors such as Lee Daniels Steve McQueen andShonda Rhimes It was their influence that made thispossible

It takes an influential black person to make these gainsin our society and to fight stigmas Thatrsquos the type ofblack person all of us should want to be

We need to take a stand against all racial slurs and stig-mas especially those given by black people We need tocontinue to evolve as a people and we canrsquot afford tolet ignorant comments about big lips big thighs andlight skin tones deflect the media from real issues

Eboni Laceywwwtheidentityofshecom

Billy Travilla amp Marilyn MonroersquosLast Stop

The Bus Stop In Arizona

KIMBERLEY ASHLEYHAUTE COUTURE

The sizzling sun in Arizona is as hot as a studio spotlight inHollywood

It could be said however that the intense heat of eachshare much in common The blonde actress who herselfraised temperatures in films like Some Like it Hot hellip actual-ly experienced both Hollywood spotlights and Arizona sun

While as a designer I began my career in Arizona BillyTravilla and his muse Marilyn Monroe did the oppositeThey ended theirs in the sunshine state Billy Travilla de-signed the incredible costumes for many of Monroersquos filmsand Arizona was the shooting location for the last stop onTravillarsquos train of iconic Marilyn Monroe styles

In the middle of a mild March in 1956 Director Joshua Lo-gan and Producer Buddy Adler set up camp in Phoenix atthe Arizona State Fair Grounds The duo was here to filmMarilyn Monroe in the role of saloon singer Cherie oppositeDon Murray as Beauregard Decker in his first film role

For the costume designers 93rd film credit Billy Travilla de-signed three well thought out pieces that a Los AngelesTimes reporter once called simple They certainly may haveappeared simple to anyone outside of the film industry butto a costume designer and anyone who understands this artmore deeply those 3 costumes were sheer perfection Ap-parently even the reporter understood that stating ldquo[BillyTravillarsquos] three-piece wardrobe [for Marilyn Monroersquosfilm] consists of an abbreviated theatrical costume a sim-ple [skirt amp blouse] and a raincoat It was one of the small-est wardrobes ever called for in a major film productionbut each piece of clothing she wears helps establish thecharacter of Cherie ldquochantoosierdquo in the Blue Dragon Cafeacute

It has been accurately said that clothes maymake the man or woman but costumes makethe actor or actress In a movie costumes playvital supporting roles Billyrsquos Bus Stop cos-tumes played as much a vital role in telling thatfilmrsquos story as did the acrid Arizona sun

The significance of film costumes were long ignoredby both film fans and the film industry itself hellip untilhellip Debbie Reynolds made a vital point of showing theworld otherwise She did so in Beverly Hills in 2012when her sale of Billyrsquos ldquolittle white halter dressrdquoworn by Marilyn in The Seven Year Itch sold at auc-tion That fetching Travilla confection fetched justunder six million dollars

Although Billy Travilla appreciated the significance ofhis costumesrsquo contribution to a filmrsquos plotline like theformer movie studios themselves he did NOT recog-nize their eventual financial value

Less than a decade after Marilyn Monroersquos 1962death Billy made an emotional decision that had helived until friend Debbie Reynolds 2012 auction hewould have severely regretted ldquoI used to have six ofMarilyns dressesrdquo he said in a 1980rsquos interview ldquobutwhen I went into temporary retirement in 1970 andleft the [country] I cleared out my factory andthrew her garments outrdquo

Knowing Billy and his life story as I do I under-stand that to him those dresses represented a painfulloss of love in his life NOT a financial asset Al-though Billy may have found his Marilyn costumestoo emotional to possess a man named Gene Londondid not He has owned several of Marilynrsquos costumesincluding this particular black lace top and satin skirt

from Bus Stop Madonna reportedly borrowed thisoriginal Travilla from Gene posing in it in her 1980rsquosTruth or Dare poster

I wonder if either Madonna or the costumes newowner knew that this same green top with black-laceoverlay had originally been designed by Travilla to beworn by Susan Hayward several years earlier in Foxs1952 film With a Song in my Heart

It was after filming this Arizona film that for Billyeverything came to a stop one could say he had hisown personal lsquoBus Stoprsquo The designer who hadworked for 20th Century-Fox for 7 yearsmdashreachedhis own 7-year-itch with his studio Fox scratchedthat itch by effectively cutting out completely thecostume department as did all other movie studiosduring that time

And while Billy continued seamlessly to design filmcostumes as an independent contractor his workwith Marilyn Monroe had come to a full stop withthe very film named Bus Stop Although the moviemagic he created for the film star ended the mys-tique of their magic on film did not ldquoI worked withMarilyn on eight of her moviesldquo Billy once said ldquoShewas the love of my life that girlrdquo

Billy had no way of knowing that the ldquolove of his liferdquowould use one of those costumes in dangerous waysDuring filming Marilyn overplayed a scene in whichshe had to smack Murray with the sequined tail of herchanteuse costume The actor suffered painful faciallacerations from being slapped by those strings of se-quins

If Col Parkers influence over his star hadnrsquot preventedit from happening the young and naive cowboy playedby Don Murray would have been played by a mannamed Elvis It absolutely would have been a shame toscar THAT beautiful face Elvis however certainlywould have helped things to heat up onscreen

When it comes to ldquoheating things uprdquo the sizzling sunin Arizona certainly IS as hot as the studio spotlights ofHollywood

So for the blonde actress who could raise a manrsquos tem-perature and for the legendary costume designerwhose skills could raise a womanrsquos star power the landwhere mercury rises may have been the perfect placefor the sizzling sun to set on their cool collaboration

After all hellip in the world of celebrity when it comes toHollywood spotlights and Arizona sun some actuallyDO ldquoLike it hotrdquo

Locally publishedLocal Contentwwwdiscovertheregioncom

Local content publishers bring to the people the stories andevents that happened in their community as it happens It isthe cornerstone of a community that is necessary in building acommunity Local publishers gear content towards the peoplein your own backyard

Local content exposes the opportunity for an individual in thecommunity to access this to say it brings an opportunity toyour doorstep No need to go miles-around the world to getinvolved in the opportunities that are being made known toyou through published local content

Too many times we see a small website trying to make moresales or bring more people by concentrating outside of theircommunity leaving out the opportunity in his own backyardConcentrating on the events stories and business opportuni-ties that abound in the community can make a bigger impactDiscover-The-Region magazine showcase the success of howlocal content can bring greater success and joy to the commu-nity A solid content well-written persuasive copy concentrat-ed on the community will generate an endless stream ofcustomers to your business and more importantly throughyour doors

Letrsquos take a look at the impact and pros of localpublishedlocal contents

The Pros of Local PublishedLocal Content

I Connections

Local publishers bring more active participation to the com-munity by keeping them aware of their immediate environ-ment they make them aware of events ldquoplaces to spendfamily time together Local Festivals and Farmers MarketsSports schedules or local hidden treasuresrdquo thereby fosteringconnections in the community

II Accessibility

In this case both the content publisher and the end-users whoare the readers are both reachable A businessman does nothave to look hard to find where to advert his business a localpolitician will not have to travel from Arizona to New York toget across to his people Local publishers make sure the infor-mation gets to the community

III Trust

Local content publishers bring to people in the region storiesand opportunities they can trust they know the publisherthey know the region and they know the story It is easier totrust a brand promoted by the locals for the locals

IV Cost Effective

Concentrating on publishing to the communityregion can bemore cost-effective to your business while it is cheaper topublish in this scenario people can easily identify what youare talking about and are more likely to take an action or buyyour product

Conclusion

Local content publishers are very important in a communitythey are the cornerstone of the community the connectionsand the awareness they create are priceless They can leverageon the opportunities that are abound in the community to de-velop relevant valuable content that is based on their commu-nity

The Alchemical Age of a WomanWhen we reach the Alchemical Age of a Wom-an wersquore initiated us into a realm of woman-hood wersquove only dreamed about The seasonedstate of maturity when wersquore no longer tetheredby the lsquoshoulds and oughtsrsquo of our earlier yearsWhen being proper can mean behaving justbarely

Midlife brings change be it arrive by choice orby chance But it can start out looking as formi-dable as did our other era of change our teenswhen we woke up to discover we were no lon-ger the rambunctious rabble-rousing ruckus-making girl we once were but not yet the wom-an we would become

But waithellipchange-making is what we Boomersdo best Wersquore of the invincible ldquoI Am WomanrsquoGeneration the shape-shifting change-makingalchemists of reinvention Wersquove experiencedlife from many points of view Yes we are thestoried ones held up to acclaim and ridicule forour ideals passions and our daring to walk themargins and push boundaries to the limits Ourcreeds have evolved First came life is about sav-ing the world then life is about being equal andfair to life is all about me to hear us roar tolife is about gathering lots of stuff to why is thishappening to me

The times yes they are changing Wersquore experi-encing an Age Quake Women over 50 are apower group that must be reckoned with sowrote Ben Brantley of the NY Times

What was typical is no more Women of Expe-rience are now strutting past the ingeacutenues withnary a glance

We have been tagged eldersirens silver foxesand seasoned women We are those who havegiven and taken loved left regretted and re-joiced Historian Gerda Lerner wrote that sucha critical mass of women with a tradition of re-

bellion and independence has not occurred be-fore in history

There comes a day at the launch of lifersquos fabu-lous third when we realize it is now or never Afully embodied awareness of our mortality givesus permission to live all out or all in in the styleof our choice

We all know HER the quintessential Woman ofExperience By her powerful presence we knowshe will not be made invisible or be left unheardShe has found the charm of her fearless voiceShe no longer goes along to get along Shespeaks truth and paves the way for other wom-en to emerge from the shadows Her experienc-es show Her story is evident And the evidenceof her life reveals that she has received hershare of magic and of misery By the tilt of herchin you know this woman will not be corsetedin body or in expressivity

Welcome to thefabulous

AlchemicalAge of aWoman

VignetteAfter being rejected by her prince of a husbandAurora B Rose stepped forth toward her new lifefeeling both trepidation and thrill Upon her de-parture from Savannah her former mother-in-lawoffered sage advice when she told Aurora to getlostAfter taking several unintended detours on hercross-country journey to San Francisco Auroracelebrated her birthday in Sedona Arizona Afterthree days of being pampered at a posh spa in anunforgiving moment she caught a glance of herhands and saw the well-used hands of her grand-mother

A bolt of Zeusian lightning would have beeneasier to bear

Someday Irsquom going to die My voice willnever be heard again My touch wonrsquot be felt Myeyes wonrsquot see my ears wonrsquot hear my mindwonrsquot think my heart wonrsquot feel my feet wonrsquottake steps

The fact that her life would end somedaywas no longer an abstraction

Later as the red rocks faded to an inky sil-houette against the starry sky in her divine limi-nal state of not quite awake and not quite asleepthe Milky Way became a swirling island of starsan oasis of nurture a womb for the mind to growwith wonder She silently asked the stars ldquoI feellike Irsquom coming out of a deep sleep And if I donrsquotwake up now I never willrdquo

From the dark space between the stars thesilky breeze carried a message ldquoYou Aurora Yesyou It all matters Rejoin the dancerdquo

Until next month please connect with me on Face-book or stop by wwwSundayLarsoncom andwwwPluckyGirlscom

A Fabulous Awakening is available

The Identity of SHEAs we can clearly see in thenews a new generation ofracism has arisen From po-lice brutality to racial slursbeing thrown on campuseven to an African-Ameri-can church being bombedItrsquos like the civil rightsmovement all over again

But there is a unique opportunity here that we have as-black people Other races are hearing our cries and arefighting with us Some police forces have taken racialmatters into their own hands and are requiring diversitytraining Campuses are taking extra precaution (letrsquostake Mizzou for example) by not allowing racism tocontinue on campus even if it means forcing resigna-tions Now even predominately white areas and regionsare fighting for black people

Here is our chance to reunite black culture Because letrsquosbe honest unity hasnrsquot always been on our priority listWe scream ldquoblack lives matterrdquo at the top of our lungsyet still pick up guns and kill each other Black peoplekill each other far more than cops kill us So who exact-ly should we be crucifying

Unity begins first with eliminating our own racially de-structive stigmas And the first one that should be elimi-nated completely among all black people is the beliefthat lighter skin is the better skin meaning pulling thetrigger on this ldquougly black girlrdquo stigma

I recently saw some disgustingly racist posts on socialmedia discriminating black women One was a commentmade by a black man that resides in Phoenix (aka theworst place for a black woman to find a man but thatrsquosa whole separate article) stating plain ignorance aboutblack women

ldquoDo nobody want no nappy headed no fatherhavinhellipdonrsquot want to go to college bad credit havinghetto black womanrdquo

And hersquos not the only ignorant black man that thinkslike this Since residing in Phoenix I have ran into sev-eral black men that donrsquot date black women nor find

them attractive Some of them actually believe that dat-ing a lighter skin especially white gives them a higherstatus

I also saw this account whitesmattertoo that postedseveral pictures degrading black women On a post witha full figured black woman wearing a shirt that saidldquomagicrdquo the comment read

ldquoNothing magic about a smelly woman with big legsand bingo wings and brown skin Blacks are only inAmerica because Whites transported them here fromAfrica to be used as slaveshelliprdquo

The account was created months ago and just recentlywas taken off Instagram

Now there are going to be ignorant people out there andbecause of social media we will run into these idiots atsome point The only bad influence social media has isthat it gives ignorance an audience But it also allowsindividuals to speak against it ndash if we care enough to doso

We need to be taking bold stands in our defense of blackwomen Why Because black women are the ones beingvictimized and a lot of this is by our own race

Darker skin black women are still stuck playing secondbest There are thousands of brands across the nationthat donrsquot advertise to black people or use full African-American people within their campaigns such as Amer-ican Apparel Abercrombie amp Fitch Hollister and JCrew to name a few

Rappers continue to amp up this light skin vs dark skindebate in their lyrics Take Young Jeezy Lil WayneFuture and Asap Rocky for example

ldquoFor instance I get-get my dick lickedRed bone com-plexion like a piglet kiss kissrdquo -A$AP Rocky ldquoKeep ItGrdquo Feat Chase Infinite amp Spaceghostpurrp

Not to mention that black rappers continue to exploitthe body of a black woman by constantly using thesame type of black woman in their videos ndash half nakedwith a ridiculously big butt a small waist and long fakehair Canrsquot they use a naturally shaped black womanwith her real hair

Why is it necessary for black rappers to constantly gloatabout their sexual preferences as it completely de-grades black culture

The point is that right now we as black people are be-ginning to become a true voice in society as well ashistory We are beginning to have more influence in theworld something that our ancestors fought so hard forus to have

For this reason itrsquos now more important than ever to beaware of what we are listening to speaking about andwhat we are allowing on our social feeds If we see in-justice of any kind we need to speak on it and repost itblog about talk about it Donrsquot ignore it

I find it astounding that in these last 10 years more darkskin black women have been nominated and have wonOscars over any other time in history (Jennifer HudsonMorsquoNique Octavia Spencer Lupita Nyoungrsquoo) But thebiggest reason of this is because of black producers anddirectors such as Lee Daniels Steve McQueen andShonda Rhimes It was their influence that made thispossible

It takes an influential black person to make these gainsin our society and to fight stigmas Thatrsquos the type ofblack person all of us should want to be

We need to take a stand against all racial slurs and stig-mas especially those given by black people We need tocontinue to evolve as a people and we canrsquot afford tolet ignorant comments about big lips big thighs andlight skin tones deflect the media from real issues

Eboni Laceywwwtheidentityofshecom

Billy Travilla amp Marilyn MonroersquosLast Stop

The Bus Stop In Arizona

KIMBERLEY ASHLEYHAUTE COUTURE

The sizzling sun in Arizona is as hot as a studio spotlight inHollywood

It could be said however that the intense heat of eachshare much in common The blonde actress who herselfraised temperatures in films like Some Like it Hot hellip actual-ly experienced both Hollywood spotlights and Arizona sun

While as a designer I began my career in Arizona BillyTravilla and his muse Marilyn Monroe did the oppositeThey ended theirs in the sunshine state Billy Travilla de-signed the incredible costumes for many of Monroersquos filmsand Arizona was the shooting location for the last stop onTravillarsquos train of iconic Marilyn Monroe styles

In the middle of a mild March in 1956 Director Joshua Lo-gan and Producer Buddy Adler set up camp in Phoenix atthe Arizona State Fair Grounds The duo was here to filmMarilyn Monroe in the role of saloon singer Cherie oppositeDon Murray as Beauregard Decker in his first film role

For the costume designers 93rd film credit Billy Travilla de-signed three well thought out pieces that a Los AngelesTimes reporter once called simple They certainly may haveappeared simple to anyone outside of the film industry butto a costume designer and anyone who understands this artmore deeply those 3 costumes were sheer perfection Ap-parently even the reporter understood that stating ldquo[BillyTravillarsquos] three-piece wardrobe [for Marilyn Monroersquosfilm] consists of an abbreviated theatrical costume a sim-ple [skirt amp blouse] and a raincoat It was one of the small-est wardrobes ever called for in a major film productionbut each piece of clothing she wears helps establish thecharacter of Cherie ldquochantoosierdquo in the Blue Dragon Cafeacute

It has been accurately said that clothes maymake the man or woman but costumes makethe actor or actress In a movie costumes playvital supporting roles Billyrsquos Bus Stop cos-tumes played as much a vital role in telling thatfilmrsquos story as did the acrid Arizona sun

The significance of film costumes were long ignoredby both film fans and the film industry itself hellip untilhellip Debbie Reynolds made a vital point of showing theworld otherwise She did so in Beverly Hills in 2012when her sale of Billyrsquos ldquolittle white halter dressrdquoworn by Marilyn in The Seven Year Itch sold at auc-tion That fetching Travilla confection fetched justunder six million dollars

Although Billy Travilla appreciated the significance ofhis costumesrsquo contribution to a filmrsquos plotline like theformer movie studios themselves he did NOT recog-nize their eventual financial value

Less than a decade after Marilyn Monroersquos 1962death Billy made an emotional decision that had helived until friend Debbie Reynolds 2012 auction hewould have severely regretted ldquoI used to have six ofMarilyns dressesrdquo he said in a 1980rsquos interview ldquobutwhen I went into temporary retirement in 1970 andleft the [country] I cleared out my factory andthrew her garments outrdquo

Knowing Billy and his life story as I do I under-stand that to him those dresses represented a painfulloss of love in his life NOT a financial asset Al-though Billy may have found his Marilyn costumestoo emotional to possess a man named Gene Londondid not He has owned several of Marilynrsquos costumesincluding this particular black lace top and satin skirt

from Bus Stop Madonna reportedly borrowed thisoriginal Travilla from Gene posing in it in her 1980rsquosTruth or Dare poster

I wonder if either Madonna or the costumes newowner knew that this same green top with black-laceoverlay had originally been designed by Travilla to beworn by Susan Hayward several years earlier in Foxs1952 film With a Song in my Heart

It was after filming this Arizona film that for Billyeverything came to a stop one could say he had hisown personal lsquoBus Stoprsquo The designer who hadworked for 20th Century-Fox for 7 yearsmdashreachedhis own 7-year-itch with his studio Fox scratchedthat itch by effectively cutting out completely thecostume department as did all other movie studiosduring that time

And while Billy continued seamlessly to design filmcostumes as an independent contractor his workwith Marilyn Monroe had come to a full stop withthe very film named Bus Stop Although the moviemagic he created for the film star ended the mys-tique of their magic on film did not ldquoI worked withMarilyn on eight of her moviesldquo Billy once said ldquoShewas the love of my life that girlrdquo

Billy had no way of knowing that the ldquolove of his liferdquowould use one of those costumes in dangerous waysDuring filming Marilyn overplayed a scene in whichshe had to smack Murray with the sequined tail of herchanteuse costume The actor suffered painful faciallacerations from being slapped by those strings of se-quins

If Col Parkers influence over his star hadnrsquot preventedit from happening the young and naive cowboy playedby Don Murray would have been played by a mannamed Elvis It absolutely would have been a shame toscar THAT beautiful face Elvis however certainlywould have helped things to heat up onscreen

When it comes to ldquoheating things uprdquo the sizzling sunin Arizona certainly IS as hot as the studio spotlights ofHollywood

So for the blonde actress who could raise a manrsquos tem-perature and for the legendary costume designerwhose skills could raise a womanrsquos star power the landwhere mercury rises may have been the perfect placefor the sizzling sun to set on their cool collaboration

After all hellip in the world of celebrity when it comes toHollywood spotlights and Arizona sun some actuallyDO ldquoLike it hotrdquo

Locally publishedLocal Contentwwwdiscovertheregioncom

Local content publishers bring to the people the stories andevents that happened in their community as it happens It isthe cornerstone of a community that is necessary in building acommunity Local publishers gear content towards the peoplein your own backyard

Local content exposes the opportunity for an individual in thecommunity to access this to say it brings an opportunity toyour doorstep No need to go miles-around the world to getinvolved in the opportunities that are being made known toyou through published local content

Too many times we see a small website trying to make moresales or bring more people by concentrating outside of theircommunity leaving out the opportunity in his own backyardConcentrating on the events stories and business opportuni-ties that abound in the community can make a bigger impactDiscover-The-Region magazine showcase the success of howlocal content can bring greater success and joy to the commu-nity A solid content well-written persuasive copy concentrat-ed on the community will generate an endless stream ofcustomers to your business and more importantly throughyour doors

Letrsquos take a look at the impact and pros of localpublishedlocal contents

The Pros of Local PublishedLocal Content

I Connections

Local publishers bring more active participation to the com-munity by keeping them aware of their immediate environ-ment they make them aware of events ldquoplaces to spendfamily time together Local Festivals and Farmers MarketsSports schedules or local hidden treasuresrdquo thereby fosteringconnections in the community

II Accessibility

In this case both the content publisher and the end-users whoare the readers are both reachable A businessman does nothave to look hard to find where to advert his business a localpolitician will not have to travel from Arizona to New York toget across to his people Local publishers make sure the infor-mation gets to the community

III Trust

Local content publishers bring to people in the region storiesand opportunities they can trust they know the publisherthey know the region and they know the story It is easier totrust a brand promoted by the locals for the locals

IV Cost Effective

Concentrating on publishing to the communityregion can bemore cost-effective to your business while it is cheaper topublish in this scenario people can easily identify what youare talking about and are more likely to take an action or buyyour product

Conclusion

Local content publishers are very important in a communitythey are the cornerstone of the community the connectionsand the awareness they create are priceless They can leverageon the opportunities that are abound in the community to de-velop relevant valuable content that is based on their commu-nity

VignetteAfter being rejected by her prince of a husbandAurora B Rose stepped forth toward her new lifefeeling both trepidation and thrill Upon her de-parture from Savannah her former mother-in-lawoffered sage advice when she told Aurora to getlostAfter taking several unintended detours on hercross-country journey to San Francisco Auroracelebrated her birthday in Sedona Arizona Afterthree days of being pampered at a posh spa in anunforgiving moment she caught a glance of herhands and saw the well-used hands of her grand-mother

A bolt of Zeusian lightning would have beeneasier to bear

Someday Irsquom going to die My voice willnever be heard again My touch wonrsquot be felt Myeyes wonrsquot see my ears wonrsquot hear my mindwonrsquot think my heart wonrsquot feel my feet wonrsquottake steps

The fact that her life would end somedaywas no longer an abstraction

Later as the red rocks faded to an inky sil-houette against the starry sky in her divine limi-nal state of not quite awake and not quite asleepthe Milky Way became a swirling island of starsan oasis of nurture a womb for the mind to growwith wonder She silently asked the stars ldquoI feellike Irsquom coming out of a deep sleep And if I donrsquotwake up now I never willrdquo

From the dark space between the stars thesilky breeze carried a message ldquoYou Aurora Yesyou It all matters Rejoin the dancerdquo

Until next month please connect with me on Face-book or stop by wwwSundayLarsoncom andwwwPluckyGirlscom

A Fabulous Awakening is available

The Identity of SHEAs we can clearly see in thenews a new generation ofracism has arisen From po-lice brutality to racial slursbeing thrown on campuseven to an African-Ameri-can church being bombedItrsquos like the civil rightsmovement all over again

But there is a unique opportunity here that we have as-black people Other races are hearing our cries and arefighting with us Some police forces have taken racialmatters into their own hands and are requiring diversitytraining Campuses are taking extra precaution (letrsquostake Mizzou for example) by not allowing racism tocontinue on campus even if it means forcing resigna-tions Now even predominately white areas and regionsare fighting for black people

Here is our chance to reunite black culture Because letrsquosbe honest unity hasnrsquot always been on our priority listWe scream ldquoblack lives matterrdquo at the top of our lungsyet still pick up guns and kill each other Black peoplekill each other far more than cops kill us So who exact-ly should we be crucifying

Unity begins first with eliminating our own racially de-structive stigmas And the first one that should be elimi-nated completely among all black people is the beliefthat lighter skin is the better skin meaning pulling thetrigger on this ldquougly black girlrdquo stigma

I recently saw some disgustingly racist posts on socialmedia discriminating black women One was a commentmade by a black man that resides in Phoenix (aka theworst place for a black woman to find a man but thatrsquosa whole separate article) stating plain ignorance aboutblack women

ldquoDo nobody want no nappy headed no fatherhavinhellipdonrsquot want to go to college bad credit havinghetto black womanrdquo

And hersquos not the only ignorant black man that thinkslike this Since residing in Phoenix I have ran into sev-eral black men that donrsquot date black women nor find

them attractive Some of them actually believe that dat-ing a lighter skin especially white gives them a higherstatus

I also saw this account whitesmattertoo that postedseveral pictures degrading black women On a post witha full figured black woman wearing a shirt that saidldquomagicrdquo the comment read

ldquoNothing magic about a smelly woman with big legsand bingo wings and brown skin Blacks are only inAmerica because Whites transported them here fromAfrica to be used as slaveshelliprdquo

The account was created months ago and just recentlywas taken off Instagram

Now there are going to be ignorant people out there andbecause of social media we will run into these idiots atsome point The only bad influence social media has isthat it gives ignorance an audience But it also allowsindividuals to speak against it ndash if we care enough to doso

We need to be taking bold stands in our defense of blackwomen Why Because black women are the ones beingvictimized and a lot of this is by our own race

Darker skin black women are still stuck playing secondbest There are thousands of brands across the nationthat donrsquot advertise to black people or use full African-American people within their campaigns such as Amer-ican Apparel Abercrombie amp Fitch Hollister and JCrew to name a few

Rappers continue to amp up this light skin vs dark skindebate in their lyrics Take Young Jeezy Lil WayneFuture and Asap Rocky for example

ldquoFor instance I get-get my dick lickedRed bone com-plexion like a piglet kiss kissrdquo -A$AP Rocky ldquoKeep ItGrdquo Feat Chase Infinite amp Spaceghostpurrp

Not to mention that black rappers continue to exploitthe body of a black woman by constantly using thesame type of black woman in their videos ndash half nakedwith a ridiculously big butt a small waist and long fakehair Canrsquot they use a naturally shaped black womanwith her real hair

Why is it necessary for black rappers to constantly gloatabout their sexual preferences as it completely de-grades black culture

The point is that right now we as black people are be-ginning to become a true voice in society as well ashistory We are beginning to have more influence in theworld something that our ancestors fought so hard forus to have

For this reason itrsquos now more important than ever to beaware of what we are listening to speaking about andwhat we are allowing on our social feeds If we see in-justice of any kind we need to speak on it and repost itblog about talk about it Donrsquot ignore it

I find it astounding that in these last 10 years more darkskin black women have been nominated and have wonOscars over any other time in history (Jennifer HudsonMorsquoNique Octavia Spencer Lupita Nyoungrsquoo) But thebiggest reason of this is because of black producers anddirectors such as Lee Daniels Steve McQueen andShonda Rhimes It was their influence that made thispossible

It takes an influential black person to make these gainsin our society and to fight stigmas Thatrsquos the type ofblack person all of us should want to be

We need to take a stand against all racial slurs and stig-mas especially those given by black people We need tocontinue to evolve as a people and we canrsquot afford tolet ignorant comments about big lips big thighs andlight skin tones deflect the media from real issues

Eboni Laceywwwtheidentityofshecom

Billy Travilla amp Marilyn MonroersquosLast Stop

The Bus Stop In Arizona

KIMBERLEY ASHLEYHAUTE COUTURE

The sizzling sun in Arizona is as hot as a studio spotlight inHollywood

It could be said however that the intense heat of eachshare much in common The blonde actress who herselfraised temperatures in films like Some Like it Hot hellip actual-ly experienced both Hollywood spotlights and Arizona sun

While as a designer I began my career in Arizona BillyTravilla and his muse Marilyn Monroe did the oppositeThey ended theirs in the sunshine state Billy Travilla de-signed the incredible costumes for many of Monroersquos filmsand Arizona was the shooting location for the last stop onTravillarsquos train of iconic Marilyn Monroe styles

In the middle of a mild March in 1956 Director Joshua Lo-gan and Producer Buddy Adler set up camp in Phoenix atthe Arizona State Fair Grounds The duo was here to filmMarilyn Monroe in the role of saloon singer Cherie oppositeDon Murray as Beauregard Decker in his first film role

For the costume designers 93rd film credit Billy Travilla de-signed three well thought out pieces that a Los AngelesTimes reporter once called simple They certainly may haveappeared simple to anyone outside of the film industry butto a costume designer and anyone who understands this artmore deeply those 3 costumes were sheer perfection Ap-parently even the reporter understood that stating ldquo[BillyTravillarsquos] three-piece wardrobe [for Marilyn Monroersquosfilm] consists of an abbreviated theatrical costume a sim-ple [skirt amp blouse] and a raincoat It was one of the small-est wardrobes ever called for in a major film productionbut each piece of clothing she wears helps establish thecharacter of Cherie ldquochantoosierdquo in the Blue Dragon Cafeacute

It has been accurately said that clothes maymake the man or woman but costumes makethe actor or actress In a movie costumes playvital supporting roles Billyrsquos Bus Stop cos-tumes played as much a vital role in telling thatfilmrsquos story as did the acrid Arizona sun

The significance of film costumes were long ignoredby both film fans and the film industry itself hellip untilhellip Debbie Reynolds made a vital point of showing theworld otherwise She did so in Beverly Hills in 2012when her sale of Billyrsquos ldquolittle white halter dressrdquoworn by Marilyn in The Seven Year Itch sold at auc-tion That fetching Travilla confection fetched justunder six million dollars

Although Billy Travilla appreciated the significance ofhis costumesrsquo contribution to a filmrsquos plotline like theformer movie studios themselves he did NOT recog-nize their eventual financial value

Less than a decade after Marilyn Monroersquos 1962death Billy made an emotional decision that had helived until friend Debbie Reynolds 2012 auction hewould have severely regretted ldquoI used to have six ofMarilyns dressesrdquo he said in a 1980rsquos interview ldquobutwhen I went into temporary retirement in 1970 andleft the [country] I cleared out my factory andthrew her garments outrdquo

Knowing Billy and his life story as I do I under-stand that to him those dresses represented a painfulloss of love in his life NOT a financial asset Al-though Billy may have found his Marilyn costumestoo emotional to possess a man named Gene Londondid not He has owned several of Marilynrsquos costumesincluding this particular black lace top and satin skirt

from Bus Stop Madonna reportedly borrowed thisoriginal Travilla from Gene posing in it in her 1980rsquosTruth or Dare poster

I wonder if either Madonna or the costumes newowner knew that this same green top with black-laceoverlay had originally been designed by Travilla to beworn by Susan Hayward several years earlier in Foxs1952 film With a Song in my Heart

It was after filming this Arizona film that for Billyeverything came to a stop one could say he had hisown personal lsquoBus Stoprsquo The designer who hadworked for 20th Century-Fox for 7 yearsmdashreachedhis own 7-year-itch with his studio Fox scratchedthat itch by effectively cutting out completely thecostume department as did all other movie studiosduring that time

And while Billy continued seamlessly to design filmcostumes as an independent contractor his workwith Marilyn Monroe had come to a full stop withthe very film named Bus Stop Although the moviemagic he created for the film star ended the mys-tique of their magic on film did not ldquoI worked withMarilyn on eight of her moviesldquo Billy once said ldquoShewas the love of my life that girlrdquo

Billy had no way of knowing that the ldquolove of his liferdquowould use one of those costumes in dangerous waysDuring filming Marilyn overplayed a scene in whichshe had to smack Murray with the sequined tail of herchanteuse costume The actor suffered painful faciallacerations from being slapped by those strings of se-quins

If Col Parkers influence over his star hadnrsquot preventedit from happening the young and naive cowboy playedby Don Murray would have been played by a mannamed Elvis It absolutely would have been a shame toscar THAT beautiful face Elvis however certainlywould have helped things to heat up onscreen

When it comes to ldquoheating things uprdquo the sizzling sunin Arizona certainly IS as hot as the studio spotlights ofHollywood

So for the blonde actress who could raise a manrsquos tem-perature and for the legendary costume designerwhose skills could raise a womanrsquos star power the landwhere mercury rises may have been the perfect placefor the sizzling sun to set on their cool collaboration

After all hellip in the world of celebrity when it comes toHollywood spotlights and Arizona sun some actuallyDO ldquoLike it hotrdquo

Locally publishedLocal Contentwwwdiscovertheregioncom

Local content publishers bring to the people the stories andevents that happened in their community as it happens It isthe cornerstone of a community that is necessary in building acommunity Local publishers gear content towards the peoplein your own backyard

Local content exposes the opportunity for an individual in thecommunity to access this to say it brings an opportunity toyour doorstep No need to go miles-around the world to getinvolved in the opportunities that are being made known toyou through published local content

Too many times we see a small website trying to make moresales or bring more people by concentrating outside of theircommunity leaving out the opportunity in his own backyardConcentrating on the events stories and business opportuni-ties that abound in the community can make a bigger impactDiscover-The-Region magazine showcase the success of howlocal content can bring greater success and joy to the commu-nity A solid content well-written persuasive copy concentrat-ed on the community will generate an endless stream ofcustomers to your business and more importantly throughyour doors

Letrsquos take a look at the impact and pros of localpublishedlocal contents

The Pros of Local PublishedLocal Content

I Connections

Local publishers bring more active participation to the com-munity by keeping them aware of their immediate environ-ment they make them aware of events ldquoplaces to spendfamily time together Local Festivals and Farmers MarketsSports schedules or local hidden treasuresrdquo thereby fosteringconnections in the community

II Accessibility

In this case both the content publisher and the end-users whoare the readers are both reachable A businessman does nothave to look hard to find where to advert his business a localpolitician will not have to travel from Arizona to New York toget across to his people Local publishers make sure the infor-mation gets to the community

III Trust

Local content publishers bring to people in the region storiesand opportunities they can trust they know the publisherthey know the region and they know the story It is easier totrust a brand promoted by the locals for the locals

IV Cost Effective

Concentrating on publishing to the communityregion can bemore cost-effective to your business while it is cheaper topublish in this scenario people can easily identify what youare talking about and are more likely to take an action or buyyour product

Conclusion

Local content publishers are very important in a communitythey are the cornerstone of the community the connectionsand the awareness they create are priceless They can leverageon the opportunities that are abound in the community to de-velop relevant valuable content that is based on their commu-nity

The Identity of SHEAs we can clearly see in thenews a new generation ofracism has arisen From po-lice brutality to racial slursbeing thrown on campuseven to an African-Ameri-can church being bombedItrsquos like the civil rightsmovement all over again

But there is a unique opportunity here that we have as-black people Other races are hearing our cries and arefighting with us Some police forces have taken racialmatters into their own hands and are requiring diversitytraining Campuses are taking extra precaution (letrsquostake Mizzou for example) by not allowing racism tocontinue on campus even if it means forcing resigna-tions Now even predominately white areas and regionsare fighting for black people

Here is our chance to reunite black culture Because letrsquosbe honest unity hasnrsquot always been on our priority listWe scream ldquoblack lives matterrdquo at the top of our lungsyet still pick up guns and kill each other Black peoplekill each other far more than cops kill us So who exact-ly should we be crucifying

Unity begins first with eliminating our own racially de-structive stigmas And the first one that should be elimi-nated completely among all black people is the beliefthat lighter skin is the better skin meaning pulling thetrigger on this ldquougly black girlrdquo stigma

I recently saw some disgustingly racist posts on socialmedia discriminating black women One was a commentmade by a black man that resides in Phoenix (aka theworst place for a black woman to find a man but thatrsquosa whole separate article) stating plain ignorance aboutblack women

ldquoDo nobody want no nappy headed no fatherhavinhellipdonrsquot want to go to college bad credit havinghetto black womanrdquo

And hersquos not the only ignorant black man that thinkslike this Since residing in Phoenix I have ran into sev-eral black men that donrsquot date black women nor find

them attractive Some of them actually believe that dat-ing a lighter skin especially white gives them a higherstatus

I also saw this account whitesmattertoo that postedseveral pictures degrading black women On a post witha full figured black woman wearing a shirt that saidldquomagicrdquo the comment read

ldquoNothing magic about a smelly woman with big legsand bingo wings and brown skin Blacks are only inAmerica because Whites transported them here fromAfrica to be used as slaveshelliprdquo

The account was created months ago and just recentlywas taken off Instagram

Now there are going to be ignorant people out there andbecause of social media we will run into these idiots atsome point The only bad influence social media has isthat it gives ignorance an audience But it also allowsindividuals to speak against it ndash if we care enough to doso

We need to be taking bold stands in our defense of blackwomen Why Because black women are the ones beingvictimized and a lot of this is by our own race

Darker skin black women are still stuck playing secondbest There are thousands of brands across the nationthat donrsquot advertise to black people or use full African-American people within their campaigns such as Amer-ican Apparel Abercrombie amp Fitch Hollister and JCrew to name a few

Rappers continue to amp up this light skin vs dark skindebate in their lyrics Take Young Jeezy Lil WayneFuture and Asap Rocky for example

ldquoFor instance I get-get my dick lickedRed bone com-plexion like a piglet kiss kissrdquo -A$AP Rocky ldquoKeep ItGrdquo Feat Chase Infinite amp Spaceghostpurrp

Not to mention that black rappers continue to exploitthe body of a black woman by constantly using thesame type of black woman in their videos ndash half nakedwith a ridiculously big butt a small waist and long fakehair Canrsquot they use a naturally shaped black womanwith her real hair

Why is it necessary for black rappers to constantly gloatabout their sexual preferences as it completely de-grades black culture

The point is that right now we as black people are be-ginning to become a true voice in society as well ashistory We are beginning to have more influence in theworld something that our ancestors fought so hard forus to have

For this reason itrsquos now more important than ever to beaware of what we are listening to speaking about andwhat we are allowing on our social feeds If we see in-justice of any kind we need to speak on it and repost itblog about talk about it Donrsquot ignore it

I find it astounding that in these last 10 years more darkskin black women have been nominated and have wonOscars over any other time in history (Jennifer HudsonMorsquoNique Octavia Spencer Lupita Nyoungrsquoo) But thebiggest reason of this is because of black producers anddirectors such as Lee Daniels Steve McQueen andShonda Rhimes It was their influence that made thispossible

It takes an influential black person to make these gainsin our society and to fight stigmas Thatrsquos the type ofblack person all of us should want to be

We need to take a stand against all racial slurs and stig-mas especially those given by black people We need tocontinue to evolve as a people and we canrsquot afford tolet ignorant comments about big lips big thighs andlight skin tones deflect the media from real issues

Eboni Laceywwwtheidentityofshecom

Billy Travilla amp Marilyn MonroersquosLast Stop

The Bus Stop In Arizona

KIMBERLEY ASHLEYHAUTE COUTURE

The sizzling sun in Arizona is as hot as a studio spotlight inHollywood

It could be said however that the intense heat of eachshare much in common The blonde actress who herselfraised temperatures in films like Some Like it Hot hellip actual-ly experienced both Hollywood spotlights and Arizona sun

While as a designer I began my career in Arizona BillyTravilla and his muse Marilyn Monroe did the oppositeThey ended theirs in the sunshine state Billy Travilla de-signed the incredible costumes for many of Monroersquos filmsand Arizona was the shooting location for the last stop onTravillarsquos train of iconic Marilyn Monroe styles

In the middle of a mild March in 1956 Director Joshua Lo-gan and Producer Buddy Adler set up camp in Phoenix atthe Arizona State Fair Grounds The duo was here to filmMarilyn Monroe in the role of saloon singer Cherie oppositeDon Murray as Beauregard Decker in his first film role

For the costume designers 93rd film credit Billy Travilla de-signed three well thought out pieces that a Los AngelesTimes reporter once called simple They certainly may haveappeared simple to anyone outside of the film industry butto a costume designer and anyone who understands this artmore deeply those 3 costumes were sheer perfection Ap-parently even the reporter understood that stating ldquo[BillyTravillarsquos] three-piece wardrobe [for Marilyn Monroersquosfilm] consists of an abbreviated theatrical costume a sim-ple [skirt amp blouse] and a raincoat It was one of the small-est wardrobes ever called for in a major film productionbut each piece of clothing she wears helps establish thecharacter of Cherie ldquochantoosierdquo in the Blue Dragon Cafeacute

It has been accurately said that clothes maymake the man or woman but costumes makethe actor or actress In a movie costumes playvital supporting roles Billyrsquos Bus Stop cos-tumes played as much a vital role in telling thatfilmrsquos story as did the acrid Arizona sun

The significance of film costumes were long ignoredby both film fans and the film industry itself hellip untilhellip Debbie Reynolds made a vital point of showing theworld otherwise She did so in Beverly Hills in 2012when her sale of Billyrsquos ldquolittle white halter dressrdquoworn by Marilyn in The Seven Year Itch sold at auc-tion That fetching Travilla confection fetched justunder six million dollars

Although Billy Travilla appreciated the significance ofhis costumesrsquo contribution to a filmrsquos plotline like theformer movie studios themselves he did NOT recog-nize their eventual financial value

Less than a decade after Marilyn Monroersquos 1962death Billy made an emotional decision that had helived until friend Debbie Reynolds 2012 auction hewould have severely regretted ldquoI used to have six ofMarilyns dressesrdquo he said in a 1980rsquos interview ldquobutwhen I went into temporary retirement in 1970 andleft the [country] I cleared out my factory andthrew her garments outrdquo

Knowing Billy and his life story as I do I under-stand that to him those dresses represented a painfulloss of love in his life NOT a financial asset Al-though Billy may have found his Marilyn costumestoo emotional to possess a man named Gene Londondid not He has owned several of Marilynrsquos costumesincluding this particular black lace top and satin skirt

from Bus Stop Madonna reportedly borrowed thisoriginal Travilla from Gene posing in it in her 1980rsquosTruth or Dare poster

I wonder if either Madonna or the costumes newowner knew that this same green top with black-laceoverlay had originally been designed by Travilla to beworn by Susan Hayward several years earlier in Foxs1952 film With a Song in my Heart

It was after filming this Arizona film that for Billyeverything came to a stop one could say he had hisown personal lsquoBus Stoprsquo The designer who hadworked for 20th Century-Fox for 7 yearsmdashreachedhis own 7-year-itch with his studio Fox scratchedthat itch by effectively cutting out completely thecostume department as did all other movie studiosduring that time

And while Billy continued seamlessly to design filmcostumes as an independent contractor his workwith Marilyn Monroe had come to a full stop withthe very film named Bus Stop Although the moviemagic he created for the film star ended the mys-tique of their magic on film did not ldquoI worked withMarilyn on eight of her moviesldquo Billy once said ldquoShewas the love of my life that girlrdquo

Billy had no way of knowing that the ldquolove of his liferdquowould use one of those costumes in dangerous waysDuring filming Marilyn overplayed a scene in whichshe had to smack Murray with the sequined tail of herchanteuse costume The actor suffered painful faciallacerations from being slapped by those strings of se-quins

If Col Parkers influence over his star hadnrsquot preventedit from happening the young and naive cowboy playedby Don Murray would have been played by a mannamed Elvis It absolutely would have been a shame toscar THAT beautiful face Elvis however certainlywould have helped things to heat up onscreen

When it comes to ldquoheating things uprdquo the sizzling sunin Arizona certainly IS as hot as the studio spotlights ofHollywood

So for the blonde actress who could raise a manrsquos tem-perature and for the legendary costume designerwhose skills could raise a womanrsquos star power the landwhere mercury rises may have been the perfect placefor the sizzling sun to set on their cool collaboration

After all hellip in the world of celebrity when it comes toHollywood spotlights and Arizona sun some actuallyDO ldquoLike it hotrdquo

Locally publishedLocal Contentwwwdiscovertheregioncom

Local content publishers bring to the people the stories andevents that happened in their community as it happens It isthe cornerstone of a community that is necessary in building acommunity Local publishers gear content towards the peoplein your own backyard

Local content exposes the opportunity for an individual in thecommunity to access this to say it brings an opportunity toyour doorstep No need to go miles-around the world to getinvolved in the opportunities that are being made known toyou through published local content

Too many times we see a small website trying to make moresales or bring more people by concentrating outside of theircommunity leaving out the opportunity in his own backyardConcentrating on the events stories and business opportuni-ties that abound in the community can make a bigger impactDiscover-The-Region magazine showcase the success of howlocal content can bring greater success and joy to the commu-nity A solid content well-written persuasive copy concentrat-ed on the community will generate an endless stream ofcustomers to your business and more importantly throughyour doors

Letrsquos take a look at the impact and pros of localpublishedlocal contents

The Pros of Local PublishedLocal Content

I Connections

Local publishers bring more active participation to the com-munity by keeping them aware of their immediate environ-ment they make them aware of events ldquoplaces to spendfamily time together Local Festivals and Farmers MarketsSports schedules or local hidden treasuresrdquo thereby fosteringconnections in the community

II Accessibility

In this case both the content publisher and the end-users whoare the readers are both reachable A businessman does nothave to look hard to find where to advert his business a localpolitician will not have to travel from Arizona to New York toget across to his people Local publishers make sure the infor-mation gets to the community

III Trust

Local content publishers bring to people in the region storiesand opportunities they can trust they know the publisherthey know the region and they know the story It is easier totrust a brand promoted by the locals for the locals

IV Cost Effective

Concentrating on publishing to the communityregion can bemore cost-effective to your business while it is cheaper topublish in this scenario people can easily identify what youare talking about and are more likely to take an action or buyyour product

Conclusion

Local content publishers are very important in a communitythey are the cornerstone of the community the connectionsand the awareness they create are priceless They can leverageon the opportunities that are abound in the community to de-velop relevant valuable content that is based on their commu-nity

Darker skin black women are still stuck playing secondbest There are thousands of brands across the nationthat donrsquot advertise to black people or use full African-American people within their campaigns such as Amer-ican Apparel Abercrombie amp Fitch Hollister and JCrew to name a few

Rappers continue to amp up this light skin vs dark skindebate in their lyrics Take Young Jeezy Lil WayneFuture and Asap Rocky for example

ldquoFor instance I get-get my dick lickedRed bone com-plexion like a piglet kiss kissrdquo -A$AP Rocky ldquoKeep ItGrdquo Feat Chase Infinite amp Spaceghostpurrp

Not to mention that black rappers continue to exploitthe body of a black woman by constantly using thesame type of black woman in their videos ndash half nakedwith a ridiculously big butt a small waist and long fakehair Canrsquot they use a naturally shaped black womanwith her real hair

Why is it necessary for black rappers to constantly gloatabout their sexual preferences as it completely de-grades black culture

The point is that right now we as black people are be-ginning to become a true voice in society as well ashistory We are beginning to have more influence in theworld something that our ancestors fought so hard forus to have

For this reason itrsquos now more important than ever to beaware of what we are listening to speaking about andwhat we are allowing on our social feeds If we see in-justice of any kind we need to speak on it and repost itblog about talk about it Donrsquot ignore it

I find it astounding that in these last 10 years more darkskin black women have been nominated and have wonOscars over any other time in history (Jennifer HudsonMorsquoNique Octavia Spencer Lupita Nyoungrsquoo) But thebiggest reason of this is because of black producers anddirectors such as Lee Daniels Steve McQueen andShonda Rhimes It was their influence that made thispossible

It takes an influential black person to make these gainsin our society and to fight stigmas Thatrsquos the type ofblack person all of us should want to be

We need to take a stand against all racial slurs and stig-mas especially those given by black people We need tocontinue to evolve as a people and we canrsquot afford tolet ignorant comments about big lips big thighs andlight skin tones deflect the media from real issues

Eboni Laceywwwtheidentityofshecom

Billy Travilla amp Marilyn MonroersquosLast Stop

The Bus Stop In Arizona

KIMBERLEY ASHLEYHAUTE COUTURE

The sizzling sun in Arizona is as hot as a studio spotlight inHollywood

It could be said however that the intense heat of eachshare much in common The blonde actress who herselfraised temperatures in films like Some Like it Hot hellip actual-ly experienced both Hollywood spotlights and Arizona sun

While as a designer I began my career in Arizona BillyTravilla and his muse Marilyn Monroe did the oppositeThey ended theirs in the sunshine state Billy Travilla de-signed the incredible costumes for many of Monroersquos filmsand Arizona was the shooting location for the last stop onTravillarsquos train of iconic Marilyn Monroe styles

In the middle of a mild March in 1956 Director Joshua Lo-gan and Producer Buddy Adler set up camp in Phoenix atthe Arizona State Fair Grounds The duo was here to filmMarilyn Monroe in the role of saloon singer Cherie oppositeDon Murray as Beauregard Decker in his first film role

For the costume designers 93rd film credit Billy Travilla de-signed three well thought out pieces that a Los AngelesTimes reporter once called simple They certainly may haveappeared simple to anyone outside of the film industry butto a costume designer and anyone who understands this artmore deeply those 3 costumes were sheer perfection Ap-parently even the reporter understood that stating ldquo[BillyTravillarsquos] three-piece wardrobe [for Marilyn Monroersquosfilm] consists of an abbreviated theatrical costume a sim-ple [skirt amp blouse] and a raincoat It was one of the small-est wardrobes ever called for in a major film productionbut each piece of clothing she wears helps establish thecharacter of Cherie ldquochantoosierdquo in the Blue Dragon Cafeacute

It has been accurately said that clothes maymake the man or woman but costumes makethe actor or actress In a movie costumes playvital supporting roles Billyrsquos Bus Stop cos-tumes played as much a vital role in telling thatfilmrsquos story as did the acrid Arizona sun

The significance of film costumes were long ignoredby both film fans and the film industry itself hellip untilhellip Debbie Reynolds made a vital point of showing theworld otherwise She did so in Beverly Hills in 2012when her sale of Billyrsquos ldquolittle white halter dressrdquoworn by Marilyn in The Seven Year Itch sold at auc-tion That fetching Travilla confection fetched justunder six million dollars

Although Billy Travilla appreciated the significance ofhis costumesrsquo contribution to a filmrsquos plotline like theformer movie studios themselves he did NOT recog-nize their eventual financial value

Less than a decade after Marilyn Monroersquos 1962death Billy made an emotional decision that had helived until friend Debbie Reynolds 2012 auction hewould have severely regretted ldquoI used to have six ofMarilyns dressesrdquo he said in a 1980rsquos interview ldquobutwhen I went into temporary retirement in 1970 andleft the [country] I cleared out my factory andthrew her garments outrdquo

Knowing Billy and his life story as I do I under-stand that to him those dresses represented a painfulloss of love in his life NOT a financial asset Al-though Billy may have found his Marilyn costumestoo emotional to possess a man named Gene Londondid not He has owned several of Marilynrsquos costumesincluding this particular black lace top and satin skirt

from Bus Stop Madonna reportedly borrowed thisoriginal Travilla from Gene posing in it in her 1980rsquosTruth or Dare poster

I wonder if either Madonna or the costumes newowner knew that this same green top with black-laceoverlay had originally been designed by Travilla to beworn by Susan Hayward several years earlier in Foxs1952 film With a Song in my Heart

It was after filming this Arizona film that for Billyeverything came to a stop one could say he had hisown personal lsquoBus Stoprsquo The designer who hadworked for 20th Century-Fox for 7 yearsmdashreachedhis own 7-year-itch with his studio Fox scratchedthat itch by effectively cutting out completely thecostume department as did all other movie studiosduring that time

And while Billy continued seamlessly to design filmcostumes as an independent contractor his workwith Marilyn Monroe had come to a full stop withthe very film named Bus Stop Although the moviemagic he created for the film star ended the mys-tique of their magic on film did not ldquoI worked withMarilyn on eight of her moviesldquo Billy once said ldquoShewas the love of my life that girlrdquo

Billy had no way of knowing that the ldquolove of his liferdquowould use one of those costumes in dangerous waysDuring filming Marilyn overplayed a scene in whichshe had to smack Murray with the sequined tail of herchanteuse costume The actor suffered painful faciallacerations from being slapped by those strings of se-quins

If Col Parkers influence over his star hadnrsquot preventedit from happening the young and naive cowboy playedby Don Murray would have been played by a mannamed Elvis It absolutely would have been a shame toscar THAT beautiful face Elvis however certainlywould have helped things to heat up onscreen

When it comes to ldquoheating things uprdquo the sizzling sunin Arizona certainly IS as hot as the studio spotlights ofHollywood

So for the blonde actress who could raise a manrsquos tem-perature and for the legendary costume designerwhose skills could raise a womanrsquos star power the landwhere mercury rises may have been the perfect placefor the sizzling sun to set on their cool collaboration

After all hellip in the world of celebrity when it comes toHollywood spotlights and Arizona sun some actuallyDO ldquoLike it hotrdquo

Locally publishedLocal Contentwwwdiscovertheregioncom

Local content publishers bring to the people the stories andevents that happened in their community as it happens It isthe cornerstone of a community that is necessary in building acommunity Local publishers gear content towards the peoplein your own backyard

Local content exposes the opportunity for an individual in thecommunity to access this to say it brings an opportunity toyour doorstep No need to go miles-around the world to getinvolved in the opportunities that are being made known toyou through published local content

Too many times we see a small website trying to make moresales or bring more people by concentrating outside of theircommunity leaving out the opportunity in his own backyardConcentrating on the events stories and business opportuni-ties that abound in the community can make a bigger impactDiscover-The-Region magazine showcase the success of howlocal content can bring greater success and joy to the commu-nity A solid content well-written persuasive copy concentrat-ed on the community will generate an endless stream ofcustomers to your business and more importantly throughyour doors

Letrsquos take a look at the impact and pros of localpublishedlocal contents

The Pros of Local PublishedLocal Content

I Connections

Local publishers bring more active participation to the com-munity by keeping them aware of their immediate environ-ment they make them aware of events ldquoplaces to spendfamily time together Local Festivals and Farmers MarketsSports schedules or local hidden treasuresrdquo thereby fosteringconnections in the community

II Accessibility

In this case both the content publisher and the end-users whoare the readers are both reachable A businessman does nothave to look hard to find where to advert his business a localpolitician will not have to travel from Arizona to New York toget across to his people Local publishers make sure the infor-mation gets to the community

III Trust

Local content publishers bring to people in the region storiesand opportunities they can trust they know the publisherthey know the region and they know the story It is easier totrust a brand promoted by the locals for the locals

IV Cost Effective

Concentrating on publishing to the communityregion can bemore cost-effective to your business while it is cheaper topublish in this scenario people can easily identify what youare talking about and are more likely to take an action or buyyour product

Conclusion

Local content publishers are very important in a communitythey are the cornerstone of the community the connectionsand the awareness they create are priceless They can leverageon the opportunities that are abound in the community to de-velop relevant valuable content that is based on their commu-nity

Billy Travilla amp Marilyn MonroersquosLast Stop

The Bus Stop In Arizona

KIMBERLEY ASHLEYHAUTE COUTURE

The sizzling sun in Arizona is as hot as a studio spotlight inHollywood

It could be said however that the intense heat of eachshare much in common The blonde actress who herselfraised temperatures in films like Some Like it Hot hellip actual-ly experienced both Hollywood spotlights and Arizona sun

While as a designer I began my career in Arizona BillyTravilla and his muse Marilyn Monroe did the oppositeThey ended theirs in the sunshine state Billy Travilla de-signed the incredible costumes for many of Monroersquos filmsand Arizona was the shooting location for the last stop onTravillarsquos train of iconic Marilyn Monroe styles

In the middle of a mild March in 1956 Director Joshua Lo-gan and Producer Buddy Adler set up camp in Phoenix atthe Arizona State Fair Grounds The duo was here to filmMarilyn Monroe in the role of saloon singer Cherie oppositeDon Murray as Beauregard Decker in his first film role

For the costume designers 93rd film credit Billy Travilla de-signed three well thought out pieces that a Los AngelesTimes reporter once called simple They certainly may haveappeared simple to anyone outside of the film industry butto a costume designer and anyone who understands this artmore deeply those 3 costumes were sheer perfection Ap-parently even the reporter understood that stating ldquo[BillyTravillarsquos] three-piece wardrobe [for Marilyn Monroersquosfilm] consists of an abbreviated theatrical costume a sim-ple [skirt amp blouse] and a raincoat It was one of the small-est wardrobes ever called for in a major film productionbut each piece of clothing she wears helps establish thecharacter of Cherie ldquochantoosierdquo in the Blue Dragon Cafeacute

It has been accurately said that clothes maymake the man or woman but costumes makethe actor or actress In a movie costumes playvital supporting roles Billyrsquos Bus Stop cos-tumes played as much a vital role in telling thatfilmrsquos story as did the acrid Arizona sun

The significance of film costumes were long ignoredby both film fans and the film industry itself hellip untilhellip Debbie Reynolds made a vital point of showing theworld otherwise She did so in Beverly Hills in 2012when her sale of Billyrsquos ldquolittle white halter dressrdquoworn by Marilyn in The Seven Year Itch sold at auc-tion That fetching Travilla confection fetched justunder six million dollars

Although Billy Travilla appreciated the significance ofhis costumesrsquo contribution to a filmrsquos plotline like theformer movie studios themselves he did NOT recog-nize their eventual financial value

Less than a decade after Marilyn Monroersquos 1962death Billy made an emotional decision that had helived until friend Debbie Reynolds 2012 auction hewould have severely regretted ldquoI used to have six ofMarilyns dressesrdquo he said in a 1980rsquos interview ldquobutwhen I went into temporary retirement in 1970 andleft the [country] I cleared out my factory andthrew her garments outrdquo

Knowing Billy and his life story as I do I under-stand that to him those dresses represented a painfulloss of love in his life NOT a financial asset Al-though Billy may have found his Marilyn costumestoo emotional to possess a man named Gene Londondid not He has owned several of Marilynrsquos costumesincluding this particular black lace top and satin skirt

from Bus Stop Madonna reportedly borrowed thisoriginal Travilla from Gene posing in it in her 1980rsquosTruth or Dare poster

I wonder if either Madonna or the costumes newowner knew that this same green top with black-laceoverlay had originally been designed by Travilla to beworn by Susan Hayward several years earlier in Foxs1952 film With a Song in my Heart

It was after filming this Arizona film that for Billyeverything came to a stop one could say he had hisown personal lsquoBus Stoprsquo The designer who hadworked for 20th Century-Fox for 7 yearsmdashreachedhis own 7-year-itch with his studio Fox scratchedthat itch by effectively cutting out completely thecostume department as did all other movie studiosduring that time

And while Billy continued seamlessly to design filmcostumes as an independent contractor his workwith Marilyn Monroe had come to a full stop withthe very film named Bus Stop Although the moviemagic he created for the film star ended the mys-tique of their magic on film did not ldquoI worked withMarilyn on eight of her moviesldquo Billy once said ldquoShewas the love of my life that girlrdquo

Billy had no way of knowing that the ldquolove of his liferdquowould use one of those costumes in dangerous waysDuring filming Marilyn overplayed a scene in whichshe had to smack Murray with the sequined tail of herchanteuse costume The actor suffered painful faciallacerations from being slapped by those strings of se-quins

If Col Parkers influence over his star hadnrsquot preventedit from happening the young and naive cowboy playedby Don Murray would have been played by a mannamed Elvis It absolutely would have been a shame toscar THAT beautiful face Elvis however certainlywould have helped things to heat up onscreen

When it comes to ldquoheating things uprdquo the sizzling sunin Arizona certainly IS as hot as the studio spotlights ofHollywood

So for the blonde actress who could raise a manrsquos tem-perature and for the legendary costume designerwhose skills could raise a womanrsquos star power the landwhere mercury rises may have been the perfect placefor the sizzling sun to set on their cool collaboration

After all hellip in the world of celebrity when it comes toHollywood spotlights and Arizona sun some actuallyDO ldquoLike it hotrdquo

Locally publishedLocal Contentwwwdiscovertheregioncom

Local content publishers bring to the people the stories andevents that happened in their community as it happens It isthe cornerstone of a community that is necessary in building acommunity Local publishers gear content towards the peoplein your own backyard

Local content exposes the opportunity for an individual in thecommunity to access this to say it brings an opportunity toyour doorstep No need to go miles-around the world to getinvolved in the opportunities that are being made known toyou through published local content

Too many times we see a small website trying to make moresales or bring more people by concentrating outside of theircommunity leaving out the opportunity in his own backyardConcentrating on the events stories and business opportuni-ties that abound in the community can make a bigger impactDiscover-The-Region magazine showcase the success of howlocal content can bring greater success and joy to the commu-nity A solid content well-written persuasive copy concentrat-ed on the community will generate an endless stream ofcustomers to your business and more importantly throughyour doors

Letrsquos take a look at the impact and pros of localpublishedlocal contents

The Pros of Local PublishedLocal Content

I Connections

Local publishers bring more active participation to the com-munity by keeping them aware of their immediate environ-ment they make them aware of events ldquoplaces to spendfamily time together Local Festivals and Farmers MarketsSports schedules or local hidden treasuresrdquo thereby fosteringconnections in the community

II Accessibility

In this case both the content publisher and the end-users whoare the readers are both reachable A businessman does nothave to look hard to find where to advert his business a localpolitician will not have to travel from Arizona to New York toget across to his people Local publishers make sure the infor-mation gets to the community

III Trust

Local content publishers bring to people in the region storiesand opportunities they can trust they know the publisherthey know the region and they know the story It is easier totrust a brand promoted by the locals for the locals

IV Cost Effective

Concentrating on publishing to the communityregion can bemore cost-effective to your business while it is cheaper topublish in this scenario people can easily identify what youare talking about and are more likely to take an action or buyyour product

Conclusion

Local content publishers are very important in a communitythey are the cornerstone of the community the connectionsand the awareness they create are priceless They can leverageon the opportunities that are abound in the community to de-velop relevant valuable content that is based on their commu-nity

The significance of film costumes were long ignoredby both film fans and the film industry itself hellip untilhellip Debbie Reynolds made a vital point of showing theworld otherwise She did so in Beverly Hills in 2012when her sale of Billyrsquos ldquolittle white halter dressrdquoworn by Marilyn in The Seven Year Itch sold at auc-tion That fetching Travilla confection fetched justunder six million dollars

Although Billy Travilla appreciated the significance ofhis costumesrsquo contribution to a filmrsquos plotline like theformer movie studios themselves he did NOT recog-nize their eventual financial value

Less than a decade after Marilyn Monroersquos 1962death Billy made an emotional decision that had helived until friend Debbie Reynolds 2012 auction hewould have severely regretted ldquoI used to have six ofMarilyns dressesrdquo he said in a 1980rsquos interview ldquobutwhen I went into temporary retirement in 1970 andleft the [country] I cleared out my factory andthrew her garments outrdquo

Knowing Billy and his life story as I do I under-stand that to him those dresses represented a painfulloss of love in his life NOT a financial asset Al-though Billy may have found his Marilyn costumestoo emotional to possess a man named Gene Londondid not He has owned several of Marilynrsquos costumesincluding this particular black lace top and satin skirt

from Bus Stop Madonna reportedly borrowed thisoriginal Travilla from Gene posing in it in her 1980rsquosTruth or Dare poster

I wonder if either Madonna or the costumes newowner knew that this same green top with black-laceoverlay had originally been designed by Travilla to beworn by Susan Hayward several years earlier in Foxs1952 film With a Song in my Heart

It was after filming this Arizona film that for Billyeverything came to a stop one could say he had hisown personal lsquoBus Stoprsquo The designer who hadworked for 20th Century-Fox for 7 yearsmdashreachedhis own 7-year-itch with his studio Fox scratchedthat itch by effectively cutting out completely thecostume department as did all other movie studiosduring that time

And while Billy continued seamlessly to design filmcostumes as an independent contractor his workwith Marilyn Monroe had come to a full stop withthe very film named Bus Stop Although the moviemagic he created for the film star ended the mys-tique of their magic on film did not ldquoI worked withMarilyn on eight of her moviesldquo Billy once said ldquoShewas the love of my life that girlrdquo

Billy had no way of knowing that the ldquolove of his liferdquowould use one of those costumes in dangerous waysDuring filming Marilyn overplayed a scene in whichshe had to smack Murray with the sequined tail of herchanteuse costume The actor suffered painful faciallacerations from being slapped by those strings of se-quins

If Col Parkers influence over his star hadnrsquot preventedit from happening the young and naive cowboy playedby Don Murray would have been played by a mannamed Elvis It absolutely would have been a shame toscar THAT beautiful face Elvis however certainlywould have helped things to heat up onscreen

When it comes to ldquoheating things uprdquo the sizzling sunin Arizona certainly IS as hot as the studio spotlights ofHollywood

So for the blonde actress who could raise a manrsquos tem-perature and for the legendary costume designerwhose skills could raise a womanrsquos star power the landwhere mercury rises may have been the perfect placefor the sizzling sun to set on their cool collaboration

After all hellip in the world of celebrity when it comes toHollywood spotlights and Arizona sun some actuallyDO ldquoLike it hotrdquo

Locally publishedLocal Contentwwwdiscovertheregioncom

Local content publishers bring to the people the stories andevents that happened in their community as it happens It isthe cornerstone of a community that is necessary in building acommunity Local publishers gear content towards the peoplein your own backyard

Local content exposes the opportunity for an individual in thecommunity to access this to say it brings an opportunity toyour doorstep No need to go miles-around the world to getinvolved in the opportunities that are being made known toyou through published local content

Too many times we see a small website trying to make moresales or bring more people by concentrating outside of theircommunity leaving out the opportunity in his own backyardConcentrating on the events stories and business opportuni-ties that abound in the community can make a bigger impactDiscover-The-Region magazine showcase the success of howlocal content can bring greater success and joy to the commu-nity A solid content well-written persuasive copy concentrat-ed on the community will generate an endless stream ofcustomers to your business and more importantly throughyour doors

Letrsquos take a look at the impact and pros of localpublishedlocal contents

The Pros of Local PublishedLocal Content

I Connections

Local publishers bring more active participation to the com-munity by keeping them aware of their immediate environ-ment they make them aware of events ldquoplaces to spendfamily time together Local Festivals and Farmers MarketsSports schedules or local hidden treasuresrdquo thereby fosteringconnections in the community

II Accessibility

In this case both the content publisher and the end-users whoare the readers are both reachable A businessman does nothave to look hard to find where to advert his business a localpolitician will not have to travel from Arizona to New York toget across to his people Local publishers make sure the infor-mation gets to the community

III Trust

Local content publishers bring to people in the region storiesand opportunities they can trust they know the publisherthey know the region and they know the story It is easier totrust a brand promoted by the locals for the locals

IV Cost Effective

Concentrating on publishing to the communityregion can bemore cost-effective to your business while it is cheaper topublish in this scenario people can easily identify what youare talking about and are more likely to take an action or buyyour product

Conclusion

Local content publishers are very important in a communitythey are the cornerstone of the community the connectionsand the awareness they create are priceless They can leverageon the opportunities that are abound in the community to de-velop relevant valuable content that is based on their commu-nity

Billy had no way of knowing that the ldquolove of his liferdquowould use one of those costumes in dangerous waysDuring filming Marilyn overplayed a scene in whichshe had to smack Murray with the sequined tail of herchanteuse costume The actor suffered painful faciallacerations from being slapped by those strings of se-quins

If Col Parkers influence over his star hadnrsquot preventedit from happening the young and naive cowboy playedby Don Murray would have been played by a mannamed Elvis It absolutely would have been a shame toscar THAT beautiful face Elvis however certainlywould have helped things to heat up onscreen

When it comes to ldquoheating things uprdquo the sizzling sunin Arizona certainly IS as hot as the studio spotlights ofHollywood

So for the blonde actress who could raise a manrsquos tem-perature and for the legendary costume designerwhose skills could raise a womanrsquos star power the landwhere mercury rises may have been the perfect placefor the sizzling sun to set on their cool collaboration

After all hellip in the world of celebrity when it comes toHollywood spotlights and Arizona sun some actuallyDO ldquoLike it hotrdquo

Locally publishedLocal Contentwwwdiscovertheregioncom

Local content publishers bring to the people the stories andevents that happened in their community as it happens It isthe cornerstone of a community that is necessary in building acommunity Local publishers gear content towards the peoplein your own backyard

Local content exposes the opportunity for an individual in thecommunity to access this to say it brings an opportunity toyour doorstep No need to go miles-around the world to getinvolved in the opportunities that are being made known toyou through published local content

Too many times we see a small website trying to make moresales or bring more people by concentrating outside of theircommunity leaving out the opportunity in his own backyardConcentrating on the events stories and business opportuni-ties that abound in the community can make a bigger impactDiscover-The-Region magazine showcase the success of howlocal content can bring greater success and joy to the commu-nity A solid content well-written persuasive copy concentrat-ed on the community will generate an endless stream ofcustomers to your business and more importantly throughyour doors

Letrsquos take a look at the impact and pros of localpublishedlocal contents

The Pros of Local PublishedLocal Content

I Connections

Local publishers bring more active participation to the com-munity by keeping them aware of their immediate environ-ment they make them aware of events ldquoplaces to spendfamily time together Local Festivals and Farmers MarketsSports schedules or local hidden treasuresrdquo thereby fosteringconnections in the community

II Accessibility

In this case both the content publisher and the end-users whoare the readers are both reachable A businessman does nothave to look hard to find where to advert his business a localpolitician will not have to travel from Arizona to New York toget across to his people Local publishers make sure the infor-mation gets to the community

III Trust

Local content publishers bring to people in the region storiesand opportunities they can trust they know the publisherthey know the region and they know the story It is easier totrust a brand promoted by the locals for the locals

IV Cost Effective

Concentrating on publishing to the communityregion can bemore cost-effective to your business while it is cheaper topublish in this scenario people can easily identify what youare talking about and are more likely to take an action or buyyour product

Conclusion

Local content publishers are very important in a communitythey are the cornerstone of the community the connectionsand the awareness they create are priceless They can leverageon the opportunities that are abound in the community to de-velop relevant valuable content that is based on their commu-nity

Locally publishedLocal Contentwwwdiscovertheregioncom

Local content publishers bring to the people the stories andevents that happened in their community as it happens It isthe cornerstone of a community that is necessary in building acommunity Local publishers gear content towards the peoplein your own backyard

Local content exposes the opportunity for an individual in thecommunity to access this to say it brings an opportunity toyour doorstep No need to go miles-around the world to getinvolved in the opportunities that are being made known toyou through published local content

Too many times we see a small website trying to make moresales or bring more people by concentrating outside of theircommunity leaving out the opportunity in his own backyardConcentrating on the events stories and business opportuni-ties that abound in the community can make a bigger impactDiscover-The-Region magazine showcase the success of howlocal content can bring greater success and joy to the commu-nity A solid content well-written persuasive copy concentrat-ed on the community will generate an endless stream ofcustomers to your business and more importantly throughyour doors

Letrsquos take a look at the impact and pros of localpublishedlocal contents

The Pros of Local PublishedLocal Content

I Connections

Local publishers bring more active participation to the com-munity by keeping them aware of their immediate environ-ment they make them aware of events ldquoplaces to spendfamily time together Local Festivals and Farmers MarketsSports schedules or local hidden treasuresrdquo thereby fosteringconnections in the community

II Accessibility

In this case both the content publisher and the end-users whoare the readers are both reachable A businessman does nothave to look hard to find where to advert his business a localpolitician will not have to travel from Arizona to New York toget across to his people Local publishers make sure the infor-mation gets to the community

III Trust

Local content publishers bring to people in the region storiesand opportunities they can trust they know the publisherthey know the region and they know the story It is easier totrust a brand promoted by the locals for the locals

IV Cost Effective

Concentrating on publishing to the communityregion can bemore cost-effective to your business while it is cheaper topublish in this scenario people can easily identify what youare talking about and are more likely to take an action or buyyour product

Conclusion

Local content publishers are very important in a communitythey are the cornerstone of the community the connectionsand the awareness they create are priceless They can leverageon the opportunities that are abound in the community to de-velop relevant valuable content that is based on their commu-nity