Picking Peg O'Brien's Brain

Q: Where are you from, and how did you find your way to Woody Creek?

A: I grew up on a diversified family farm in an Irish-Catholic community near Dubuque, Iowa. When it was time for me to strike out on my own, professionally and personally, about 7 years ago, I ended up trailer-sitting for a friend here in Woody Creek.  I planned on moving out of Colorado back to the mid-west or out-of-the-country for a while, to establish a practice in a place that could use it, or pursue further education.  Within a few months i realized, to my surprise, that Woody Creek offered potential for both of those.

Q: For what reasons are you still in Woody Creek...what is it about WC3 and the area that mean so much to you?

A: The neighbors here.  Whether we talk or not, whether they still live here or not, I love to be near them or their legacy.

Q: What's the best book you've ever read?  What do you most like about WC3's bookstore?

A: Right now I have two favorite books: "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" illustrated by Sylvia Long (picked up at the WC3), and "Aspen Cooks - recipes from the Thrift Shop of Aspen" (given to me by Patti Stranahan).  I like the WC3 bookstore because Pickett has winnowed out and only presents for consideration the books with truth and beauty.

Q: What would someone not know about you at first glance?

A: I love to sing, curse, smoke cigars, and play poker.  At the same time.

Q: If you were a super-hero, what powers would you have?

A: Protecting others from harm. 

Q:  What do you think will happen in 2012  - (Mayan prophecy, end of the world, or just the beginnining? )

A: An opportunity for more light and intelligence in our culture.  Of course, that happens every year, every day.  The trick is for individuals, i.e. me, to connect with it.  So I think I'll have that chance.

More about Missy

 

 

 

 

Q:  How did you come to be in and around WC3?

A: I moved to Woody Creek in 1976 when the Tavern was a post office, store and gas station. The train still came to Woody Creek once a week to pick up iron ore that came from a mine above Ashcroft.  Woody Creek was an active ranching area.  WC3 had some time before coming to fruition.  I have been a part of it since the Stranahans and Ann Owlsley got it going.  Meanwhile I am a first and second grade teacher at Aspen Community School.

Q:What's your favorite leisure-time activity? 

A:My favorite leisure time activity is a combination of hiking/walking/ xc skiing/ in the woods with my binoculars and journal with a small water color set of paints or with friends.

Q: What would be a perfect 24 hours? (money, obligations, travel constraints don't apply...).

A: A day at the Margie Hut in the summer with my favorite friends or family, great food, including chocolate cake, and the peak of wildflower season.

Q; Any profession you've always wondered about...something you've always wanted to be?

A: I have always wondered about being a weather reporter; sort of like Jim Santori on the weather channel when he is reporting on a hurricane and looks like he might blow away at any minute.

Q: Why is Woody Creek/WC3 important to you? 

A: I think a place that provides community is the best kind of place there is. I love seeing the variety of people, the delicious food, the books, the opportunity to show my art, and the various gatherings. 

Q: Favorite Song/Album/Band ?

A: My favorite song are from the Sound of Music and Simon and Garfunkle.

Q: Will you share a  guilty pleasure?

A: My guilty pleasure is eating a piece of chocolate cake just because it tastes so great  and cloud watching in the evening summer sky.

Q: If you were a super-hero, what powers would you have?  

A: If I were a super hero I would use my powers to slow the world down and reduce the amount of just plain stuff.

Visit: woodyc3.org for more info about WC³ and all it has to offer you, the community.

Ornamentally Yours, WC3

The Gallery at Woody Creek Community Center, aka WC3, is a unique place to experience art.  Every month, a new artist calls The Gallery home, decking The Gallery walls with a body of work that reaches an interested  - and interesting - audience.  Because truly, WC3 is a unique gathering place in our valley.  With a steady stream of quality used books, Hunter S. Thompson collectibles, wholesome, natural cooking and ever-inspiring organic fair trade coffee, WC3 remains a welcoming, cell-phone free break in a busy day, and a place for locals and visitors to get together and share. 

WC3 is non-profit and member-supported, and also features a multitude of community-oriented, completely free health and wellness programs, all open to the public.   From free flu shots to dental screenings, relationship health and nutritional outlines, the Neighborhood Clinic Woody Creek pledges “to promote the well-being of individuals in the Roaring Fork Valley, by providing free health services to all.”  There are slide presentations and talks about Hunter S. Thompson’s The Rum Diary; there are lectures and cultural events, and community happenings such as potlucks, music evenings and Cross-Country dinners. 

This month, The Gallery comes to life with the collected entries of the First Annual WC3 Juried Ornament Exhibition and Benefit.  Brainchild of board member and committed WC3-goer Cindy Kahn, the community was invited to hand-make holiday ornaments to be reviewed before a juried panel of creative movers and shakers, with prizes awarded across suggested categories.  All ornaments are now on display and for sale in The Gallery, and all proceeds will benefit WC3’s free, ongoing cultural events and health and wellness programs.

“In my former life, in the late 80s, I worked for a development company called Horwitz Matthews.  One of my projects involved a renovation of five industrial spaces into a huge, mixed-use mall,” says Kahn, recalling the origins of the Ornament Exhibition. “Our design team came up with the idea and the Ornament Exhibition was launched. It grew in size, talent and creativity, and every year, we raised more and more money for charity.  And that’s our hope, to raise more and more money for the community programs of WC3.”

As the ornaments fill the air and their shadows bounce around the room, be tempted to take one – or many – home.  And know that each and every purchase will help preserve the community essence of WC3.  

But also know, the jurors will be sad to see them go.

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The actual judging and awarding was a serious matter, involving lively discussion and deliberation.  Says architect and industrial designer Bob Blaich,“I’ve been involved in close to 150 juries all around the world, but this one was by far the most fun!”  While categories encouraged entries ranging from “Most Unusual”, “Most Green”, to “Most Newsworthy”, overall, entrants seemed to follow their own individual muse.  Shares artist and juror Isa Catto Shaw: “Being on this jury has been the highlight of my year; for it truly underscores my love of being a member of this community.”

How Running Saved My Life

How I love running on an autumn afternoon.   The cooler temperatures mean my face turns rosy amber, vs. its habitual purple, and I find the motivation to run a little farther with a cooler breeze at my back.

Running is freedom.  At the risk of sounding melodramatic, I daresay it saves my life every now and then.  Really, there’s no other way to talk about something so transformative without being melodramatic so I’ll continue to expand on the gravity of the situation.

I can go for a run anywhere.  Anytime.  Safe neighborhoods, highways, dark of night and climate change notwithstanding, all I need is a pair of shoes and a pair of socks and some sort of hair clip, and I’m on my way.   I may give you the impression that I run for miles on end, that the hours fly by and I own a fancy new pair of Nike heart-rate monitoring athletic shoes.

Au contraire.

Sometimes, especially when I’m getting back into running after running around the world doing other things, I can barely run for 21 minutes.   My breathing is labored and my pace is kind of hobbly, and my face is always a darker shade of something red, no matter the outside temperature.  Sometimes I run in sad little fitness rooms, in discounted online motels near airports, knowing the 6 a.m. shuttle will be a mere iota more tolerable if I simply run 12 minutes on the treadmill.  I always feel better, even after that little bit of effort. Then, I treat myself to Flashdance on TNT; who loves me, baby?

As adventurous and gear-intensive as my other athletic pursuits can be, I always come back to running.   Shoes, socks, endorphins to follow; running is the basis for a well-adjusted relationship to the world.  In my world, I’m sure of this.

The act of running makes me want to run more; good begets better and the positivity feeds on itself, as goodwill is prone to do.   Run 21 minutes one day, run 27 the next.  Just a few more blocks and suddenly, I’ve done 40 minutes, round-trip.  Every part of me responds to the surge of energy.   

Especially my appetite. 

After a run, it feels good to feed my body what it craves, and it always seems to crave something good for me.   The more I run, the more I burn up the occasional beer, girl’s night out debauchery or decadent dessert with no real ado.  A good pair of running shoes and Flashdance waiting on the box:  the inner – and outer – beauty secret that the magazines don’t mention.

The more I run, the more my perspective shifts, to let in a little more light and a little more width, height, scope of outlook.

It’s more like a panorama of perspective.   I feel like I’m able to examine things as they pass across my psyche, like a movie reel feeding image after image across the screen, and become a casual observer rather than a reactive participant.   Sometimes 21 minutes is all it takes.  Literally stepping away from something lets me see it a little differently, and each step out leads me back to where I left off  with more energy, and less clutter.

Fall is my favorite season, once I discovered what seasons were.  Growing up in California, the most perfect weather I’ve ever known, I couldn’t imagine what all the “change of seasons” hype was about.  What’s not to like about 80 degrees, every day? Still, there’s that umpteenth day when you wake up to another blue sky, another flawless yellow sun-filled world and you wonder what it’d be like to feel a strong breeze, or rain on your head or maybe even an overcast day so you can – daydream?  Get some work done? Make a hot chocolate?

Having lived in Colorado for almost 20 years, I get it.  I get the ebb and flow of the seasons, appreciate the natural variety that Mother Nature imposes, four times a year.   There’s still nothing wrong with 80 degrees all year round, I’m holding fast to my initial impression of the world, but I do love the crisp air of autumn in the mountains and the frequently uninterrupted sunshine, so different from those hot summer afternoons punctuated with sudden showers and thunderstorms.

As I move towards nesting, I love feeling my appetite change.   Like clockwork, I crave something warm to drink and something thicker to eat.   Beef and Red Wine Stew at the Woody Creek Community Center tops my list of “change of season” cravings and after working up a hearty appetite, I look forward to stopping by the café.  

Thank goodness WC3 is within running distance.

Dear Mr. President

THOUGHTS FROM WOODY CREEK

SUNDAY, AUGUST 21, 2011

I await with baited breath to hear Obama’s economic message when Congress returns after Labor Day. The trouble is that it's a political ploy. Obama is not going to seriously talk about re- building our economy; he is going to lay out talking points he knows the Republican Congress will not vote in just to build a case for re-election in 2012.

Why bother!?

Mr President, let's be serious and lay out a vision for a tax structure that is simple and fair.

Oops... I forgot; the Republicans have all signed pledges to support a tax structure that is archaic and regressive.

Mr. President, please lay out a future foreign policy that is based on peace and not war. A policy that will allow us to invest in the Peace Corps and not the Armed Forces. A policy that will reduce military spending.

I forgot again... those Republicans. How can we reduce our military and still dominate the world?

Mr President, please paint a vision of an economy structured to grow with common sense regulations and rules.

Of course both parties have their special interests to protect.

Mr. President, show us the way to work together and get things done!

Oops and double Oops... those pesky republicans who's only agenda is to get you out of office will be troublesome when it comes to getting positive stuff done.

I guess that speech will just be political after all.

There is some shit we won't eat... and there is so much shit we are starving to death.

Gandhi and Obama

Gandhi and Obama

We were visiting the residence of Gandhi in Mumbai…. It had been turned into a museum. It is amazing the power that the life of one person can have.

I had been puzzling over the role of religion or a better word might be spirituality in a person’s life. It has seemed to me that people who pursued the spiritual side of their being had a more complete persona. I am not sure how to describe it and I would not the reader to read “religion”; but perhaps the understanding that there is a higher power is the key.

There are basic aspects to a person; they all compliment each other. I think they are 1. Love 2. Compassion 3. Physical being as in fitness 4. Health 5. Intellect and 6. Spirituality or the acceptance of a higher power.

Gandhi said he was a Hindu, a Moslem, a Christian, a Gin, a Zoroastrian; he never said he was an Atheist. He recognized in importance of the acceptance of a higher power in the complete construction of the human being.

Obama is a Gandhi to the people here…. Or better put has the potential, read hope, of being a change agent like Gandhi. The view we get of the election of Obama is quite interesting. There are those that hope he can straighten out the economic mess as everything here in India is about economics. In Dubai, I think the hope is more political. The are looking for someone to change the Mid East Policies of Bush

However, as you read the press, there is a subtlety underlying all the words about our new president. I think the world really sees the United States as the place where dreams come true. The old Horatio Alger story. They also see the US as the place where all humans are equal, a place where the people want to help the rest of the world and not just dominate it. Our wars to these people were the great world wars where the US saved the world from evil empires. The Bush years belied all that. The hope is that Obama will bring back the “city on the hill”.

I think Gandhi would share those sentiments. I hope the power of one person can change many things. He is going to need some help though.

Woody Creek awake!  There is some shit we won't eat!
Where are politicians who will tell us the truth instead of passing blame and pandering to be reelected?

S&P downgraded out credit rate because of a math error? Really!  How about Congress publicly declaring that defaulting on the debt might be a good idea.  What would you do if you were a lender and the person you were lending to declared that maybe they would not pay you back.  I think you would charge them more, right?

We are running huge debt and we should cut expenses.  But tax revenue is at historic lows and needs to be addressed as well.  On top of this.... we still have a recession to dig our way out of; two wars that we financed with debt, a crumbling infrastructure, an education system that can’t even graduate 50% of the students in most large US cities.  What a mess!

Politicians spend their time telling us who is to blame.  Then they stake their own narrow turf.  “No new taxes.”   “Social Security is inviolate.”   “We need deregulation. “Cut taxes."  They sign pledges supporting narrow views that prevent them from compromise.

So...Woody Creatures...this is shit we won't eat!  Write your Congress and Senate today.  Come to the WC3 and express your views..  Above all: be willing to put yourself out there and demand that our leaders find common ground.

Fidel Duke