Ok It seems as we get older it is good to have health care. Having health tests and check-ups is the way to see how things are going with the facts, figures, and statistics.

Yet we also are individuals. We are authentic living human beings.

A doctor needs to collaborate with the person, not just the average.

I was recently put on a statin to reduce my cholesterol. It was like having a noose tide around my neck. My blood pressure and cholesterol are normally higher for woman my age. Since it is a natural ageing progression.

So, I gave the drug a visit to my body.
I am grateful but realize there are other ways to be responsible for my health and my aging. So, here is my transformation.

I will let my doctor know how it goes and continue to be under observation. Yet as many women are losing their health care here are some delightful books that have helped me in the past.

My blood pressure and cholesterol were far worse after menopause than now. But it is nice the doctors get all excited to hand out their helpful pills.

I feel so much better off the statin. My throat and sternum have softened. My anxiety has left.

I realize sometimes drugs are needed and I respect this, but doctors know about women and their health and should be more upfront and inclusive on this part of our aging.
This is why I am sharing this today on International Women’s Day.

A few Books I had on my shelves that I am revisiting and working with again as I did in the past to help and support me now. And to help another gal along her journey.

A common issue for women aging.
Loss of estrogen will lead to high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

1. Reducing Inflammation, Enhancing Vitality, and Aging with Grace Anti-Inflammatory Diet for Women over 70 ~ Olivia Stokes
2. American Heart Ass. Cookbook
3. Healing Hypertension – Man
4. The HeartMath approach to managing Hypertension ~ Wilson Childre
5. Vegas Nerve Yoga Stimulation ~ Mary Dorn
6. Walking the Tiger Healing Trama~ Levine
7. Chakra Empowerment for Women – Erikson
8. Live Young Forever – Jack Lalanne
9. Abundantly Well: The Complementary Integrated Medicine Revolution
   (Wise Woman Herbal Series) ~ Susan Weed (New Publication)
10. Listen to your favorite songs a lot.

Only the last few weeks a memory came forth. Days on the east coast living in Rochester New York. Taking the bus to see my patients as a Home Health Aide. Trained through the Red Cross.

There was a bus stop there where I would stop between buses. A coffee shop. It was small with a round platform. I would get a piece of pie and cup of coffee.

Here is where I met Betty MaCusic.

I was sitting alone and she sat next to me. Then she asked me a question,

“Are those Kachinas on your arm?”

They were two figures, tattoos, that do resemble Kachinas.

This is where a beautiful friendship grew over the years. Even until I moved back to California.

We talked about Native Americans, and the Medicine Wheel. A name came up that amazed her.

“Yes, I met Sun Bear. I went to a Medicine Wheel Gathering in the late 80s.”

I told her it was in northern California where I went for a week to a Medicine Wheel gathering. It was near the Russian River in Northern California. I was dropped off while the rest of the Flipside Crew went back to San Fransico for a show and distribution of our fanzine. Staying with Maximumrocknroll.

She told me her story. That her son and daughter-in-law were fans of Sun Bear. They did a recording for him of singing and drumming. They sent a tape to him. But they never got a reply. That saddened me. Later their marriage did not last and they divorced.

The probability of us meeting and talking about Sun Bear is a remarkable one. Now I realize that somehow, I was meant to assure them that the Medicine Wheel is real and part of our connection. I met her son but only briefly.

I don’t know where I found his original book published in the 1980s. But this is one that was published when I was in fact living in Rochester New York. Funny how I did not make this connection until recently.

It has been on my mind lately.

Sun Bear often said that “Shit Happens.”

He told me a story once where many people would call him and ask for help with their life problems. He would listen for a long time. Not sharing a word. Then he would break the conversation with these words,

“Go out into your garden. Dig a big deep hole. Throw some seeds into that deep hole. Then scream everything into the hole. Everything you just told me. Cover it up and see what grows.”

Then he would hang up.

It is amazing to think about how a book, place or person was found back in the middle of the 1980s. I guess following one’s intuition and going to the local bookstore was a way to find new things. I did a lot of correspondence back then. Writing, reading, and meeting people.

While I appreciate the ease of finding information today, I am surprised at my past experience of taking a bus to patients’ homes in Rochester and how I managed to find and attend appointments without even knowing the area. I was always on time.

Part of the Strong Women Postcards Series

“Wise One,” eponymous Mother Goddess of the Medes. Like Medusa and Metis, she was named from the Sanskrit concept of medha,”female wisdom.” (1.) She was a fount of the feminine art of healing, and her name was related to “medicine.”

(2.) She could restore the dead to life in her magic cauldron, as shown by the myth of Aeson, who was so restored. Pliny called Medea a Goddess whose magic arts could control the sun, moon, and stars. (3.)

She rode in a chariot drawn by serpents; it also had wings, to show that she ruled both earth and heaven. (4.)

According to Herodotus, Medea was the Great Goddess of all the Aryan tribes of Parthia. (5.) She was all-wise, and never died, but dwelt forever in heaven. (6.)

She seems to have been remembered in Ireland as the Goddess Medana, associated with a sacred tree and a regenerative well, whose waters were reputed to cure sore eyes. She was artificially canonized as a saint, and her Christian legend was copied from that of the equally bogus St. Lucy? (7.)

The classic story of Medea’s ill-starred marriage to Jason apparently was based on a captured idol of the Goddess. Her rites were imported into Greece but proved too sanguinary for Hellenic taste. {Play by Euripides.}

The Woman’s Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets by Barara G. Walker. Pg. 628.

1. Larouse, 312. 2. Briffault 1, 486. 3. Hawkins, 139. 4. Graves, G.M. 2, 253.

5. Herodotus, 390. 6. Graves, G.M. 2, 252, 257. 7. Gifford, 131.

1. Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology. London: Hamlyn Publishing Group
2. Briffault, Robert. The Mothers (3 Vols.) New York Macmillan, 1927
3. `Hawkins, Gerald S. Stonehenge Decoded. New York: Dell Publishing Co.
4. Graves, Robert. The White Goddess. New York: Vintage Books. 1958
5. Herodotus. The Histories (Henry Cary, trans) New York: Hawthorne
6. *Graves, Robert. The White Goddess. New York: Vintage Books. 1958
7. Gifford, Edward S. Jr. The Evil Eye. New York: Macmillan, 1958
8. Internet Archive: Digital Library of Free & Borrowable Texts, Movies, Music & Wayback Machine (Find some of the books above here for free viewing)
   • * Could Also so be Grave, Robert: The Greek Myths (2 Vols) New York: Penguin Books Inc. or Graves, Robert, and Patai, Raphael. Hebrew Myths, New York: Doubleday & Co.1964.

I find myself passionately reflecting on certain projects from long ago, reminiscent of the vibrant local pub that has been gone for at least ten years. The gifts of our punk scene continue to resonate, echoing the raw energy and innovation they once radiated. What was once fresh and bold now carries years of rich history and nostalgia. Happy Holidays!

Dianne Chai

The Alley Cats

Photo by Hudley Flipside at the Whiskey A GO GO. 1980s

Tape Eleven 11/10/84

Tape Eleven 11/10/84.

THE 10% EXPERIENCE.

A KISS IN THE WIND.

Once at the local pub a woman in her twenties looked over at me. She was talking to a friend, and I heard her say,

“I don’t know what the big deal is. That magazine came out over thirty years ago?”

She then looked over at me again. I looked back at her. I raised my shoulders and rolled my eyes as if to say,

“I know what you mean.”

This pub, the Scotland Yard in Canoga Park California, is considered a music pub. The founder Patrick Fairley (rip) was in Marmalade a 1960s Scottish pop rock band.

Here is a legendary line of DJs who just happened to play 1980s punk rock.

Punk rock is a unique genre and like jazz we all rejoice in the impressive sound of its originators. Going to the pub is kind of like going to church. The sociology of religion states that 90% of people going to church do so for social reasons. Only 10% go to have a religious experience. A pub is the same way. When you add some great music and beer this is the place to be to do the 90% thing or the 10 % thing.

As the spirituals gave birth to the Blues and then Jazz, so does it inspire the music we listen to today?

I don’t go to church anymore, but I do go to pubs. For me it is a 10% experience.

In the 1700s pubs often held meetings under the convert of drunks but in reality, it was the beginning of revolution.

It was about individuals who came together, who opposed the Church of England and their government. They sang their pub songs or hymns around the fireplace and hidden in these songs were the lyrics and tunes that inspired the people.

Punk rock can be like going to church and it can be a 90% social thing. To me it has always been about the 10% punk rock experience.

It is inspirational, thrilling and has the ability to awaken one to wild possibilities of hope and creativity as any good ‘old jazz song does.

Sharing these tapes is like sharing an old jazz tune or inspirational religious experience. It has its place in the continuity of the punk rock experience of 1984.

Track One Tape 11

Track Two Tape 11