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"The Elephant Queen", Faces Magazine, January 2012
Max was hit by an eighteen-wheel truck and dragged fifteen feet along a Thai highway. Malai Tong had part of her foot blown off by a landmine while hauling timber. Jokia is blind. A badly aimed slingshot by her mahout (elephant handler) blinded one eye. Her cruel owner blinded the other when Jokia broke his arm. These are some of the elephants rescued by Sangduen Chailert. Known as Lek (which means “small”), she has made it her mission to save hurt, abused, and orphaned elephants, earning her the nickname, “The Elephant Queen.”
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"DAVID WEITZMAN, CHILDREN'S BOOK AUTHOR AND ILLUSTRATOR", Mendocino Arts Magazine, Fall 2011
David Weitzman lives in the quintessential cabin in the woods. It is the workplace of every writer’s fantasy. Set on a bluff in the wooded hills above Covelo, it’s a far cry from the bustling city of Chicago where he used to hop on a train after school to attend art classes at the Art Institute.
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"CURTAIN CALL", Mendocino Arts Magazine, Spring 2011
It’s opening night, and a palpable excitement hangs in the air. Actors review lines backstage. Directors make last minute adjustments. The auditorium hums with conversation. Is this a new Broadway play? A much-anticipated Andrew Lloyd Webber production? No, it’s the annual New Plays Festival at Mendocino College.
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"Horses Helping Others", Appleseeds Magazine, May 2011
FREYA, KISS, EASY, GINGER, AND ROBIN are horses with a very important job. They help
kids with special needs.
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Dragons Race on Water, Highlights for Children, June 2010
Growing up in Hong Kong, I can still rernember how I felt when I heard the thundering drumbeats. Boom-be-boom! Boom-be-boom! How my heart pounded with those drums. I cheered on my favorite boat as the rowers dipped and sliced their oars in rhythm with the beats. The oarsmen bent and pulled in perfect timing.
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"Into The Woods", a theatre review, Ukiah Daily Journal, October 2009
Ukiah Players Theater and Mendocino College’s collaboration of Stephen Sondheims’ Tony-award winning musical, Into the Woods, is a campy journey through a fairy tale land peppered with familiar, albeit more darkly flawed, characters like dim-witted giant killer, Jack (of Beanstalk fame), an emotionally dysfunctional Rapunzel (presumably due to being locked in the tower for years), two adulterous Prince Charmings, Little Red Riding Hood with bite, and Cinderella. It most certainly is not your Mother’s fairy tale. It is, however, as one theater goer said, “the goofiest thing I have ever seen.” In a good way.
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"The Hobbit", a theatre review, Ukiah Daily Journal, September 2009
When you take your seat at Ukiah Players’ Theatre’s production of “The Hobbit”, you are visually greeted by a very prominent round Hobbit door. Movie director Peter Jackson once lamented that the circular design of the Hobbit door provided some significant challenges to his Lord of the Rings set design team. And they’re the pros. So, to see it reproduced on the stage of our local theater (with working hinges) is remarkable indeed–as is most everything about this youth production.
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"How Safe Is Your Dentist?", Vibrant Life Magazine
It was a tragic picture. How could a vibrant young girl be struck down by the HIV virus? The nation was mesmerized as the story of 22-year-old Kimberly Bergalis’ battle with AIDS unfolded.
...continue reading"How Safe Is Your Dentist?", Vibrant Life Magazine
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"TEEN ABUSERS – INDIAN CREEK RANCH FIGHTING DRUG DEPENDENCY", The Valley Sun
It sits tucked away on a 17-acre Philo lot of pine and redwood with a pampas grass-lined pond and sprawling half acre lawn.
Indian Creek Ranch’s quiet location and seclusiveness lends it the stately atmosphere of a country estate and belies its purpose of helping drug and alcohol dependent youth straighten themselves out.
“Being out here in the country is more of a deterrent to runaways than our program in Santa Rosa,” says Michelle Brink, a counselor in the girls’ program at Indian Creek. She adds with a laugh, “We tell them there are wild animals out there.”
...continue reading"TEEN ABUSERS – INDIAN CREEK RANCH FIGHTING DRUG DEPENDENCY", The Valley Sun
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"ANDERSON CHARGED WITH CHILD ABUSE, POOR DRIVING", The Valley Sun
Controversial local editor, assembly candidate and aspiring foster parent Bruce Anderson spent some more time before a judge last week when a session was convened to hear Anderson’a appeal of a recent decision denying him a foster home license.
...continue reading"ANDERSON CHARGED WITH CHILD ABUSE, POOR DRIVING", The Valley Sun
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"IT’S ‘BEGINNING TO FEEL LIKE CHRISTMAS’ FOR MAN WHO PLAYED SANTA AT TRINITY", The Ukiah Daily Journal
It began with a simple letter to Santa Claus.
The letter was written by a young man at Trinity School, a residential treatment facility for emotionally disturbed youth, who along with 20 or 30 others like himself had no place to go for the holidays.
...continue reading"IT’S ‘BEGINNING TO FEEL LIKE CHRISTMAS’ FOR MAN WHO PLAYED SANTA AT TRINITY", The Ukiah Daily Journal
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"FINAL TOUCHES PUT ON HOLIDAY SHOW", The Valley Sun
Standing in for the Prince, shuffling chairs around, taking notes for the director and yelling an occasional, “Quiet, please!” were all in a night’s work for stage manager David Giesen as he helped Gloriana Opera Company get ready for its holiday production of Cinderella.
...continue reading"FINAL TOUCHES PUT ON HOLIDAY SHOW", The Valley Sun
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