Try this friend's e-book on aromatherapy

E-books are out there on every topic, but there are few on aromatherapy. Fellow aromatherapy practitioner Andrea Butje, who runs the Aromatherapy Institute, has come out with a new book available on Kindle. Essential Living: Aromatherapy Recipes for Health and Home is required reading for those who want to lift their spirits, beautify the vibration of their homes and enhance their quality of life (see more benefits below).

Aromatherapy is all about the therapeutic use of essential oils—highly aromatic substances that naturally occur in plants.

Essential Living: Aromatherapy Recipes for Health and Home is convenient as an e-book, since you can quickly turn to certain recipes on your tablet and create your own easy-to-make aromatherapy products to use yourself or give as gifts.

Andrea brings the therapeutic use of essential oils to your home in Essential Living: Aromatherapy Recipes for Health and Home. Her easy-to-follow recipes teach beginners and experts alike how to create natural, safe products to replace synthetic chemicals and toxic ingredients found in many store brands. With a modest collection of essential oils and tools from around the kitchen, learn how to create cleaning scrubs, natural air fresheners and healthy body products. Neatly organized by room and purpose, these recipes give readers the power to replace unwanted chemicals with handmade, effective, aromatic products.

This beautiful aromatherapy recipes book offers everything a beginner needs to get started with simple aromatherapy for health and home. The book includes 60 easy recipes to help you create natural, safe and environmentally-friendly products for beauty and skin care, health, travel, emotional wellness and for cleaning and caring for every room in your home.

~ Build your collection. Learn what you need to build a basic essential oils kit for your home – including key essential oils and carriers.
~ Blending basics. Discover and practice basic blending techniques that you can perform in your own kitchen, at your own table.
~ A safe, non-toxic home. Find safe alternatives to toxic supermarket synthetic cleaners. Blend your own disinfectants, deodorizers, antifungals and scrubs for even your toughest cleaning problems.
~ Fresh, healthy skin. Keep your skin beautiful and chemical free, using gentle, safe and natural moisturizers, cleansers, scrubs, perfumes and lotions that you create yourself.
~ A healthier body. Stay healthy using simple, effective and natural preventative measures against common ailments like cold and flu.
~ Safe kids & pets. Blend safe products for your home and family that are free of synthetic chemicals, common allergens and abrasive chemicals.

Find out more about Essential Living: Aromatherapy for Health and Home
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Try this friend's e-book on aromatherapy

An Up-Close & Personal Q&A with Poetry Slam Founder Marc Kelly Smith

Marc Kelly Smith, founder of the original Uptown Poetry Slam in Chicago, recently answered some questions posed by Frugal Poet's Guide to Life. Starting in the summer of 1986, Marc has held the slam every Sunday night at the Green Mill Cocktail Lounge on Broadway near Lawrence. The slam concept has since gone international, with slam events held at venues around the world.

Over the years, Marc has graciously invited my husband Carlos Cumpian and me to be featured readers at the venue, most recently last month when I read from my new chapbook "Omnivore Odes: Poems About Food, Herbs and Spices." Marc himself even performed a couple of times at my place of work, making a sensation at our company's lunch-and-learn employee events.

Frugal Poet’s Guide to Life: Before you started the Uptown Poetry Slam at the Green Mill, you used to hold readings at the Get Me High Lounge in Chicago. What was the difference between readings at Get Me High and the Green Mill? What do you think was the key reason the Uptown Poetry Slam took off so spectacularly?

Marc Smith: Actually, once the Monday night show at the Get Me High took hold it had some spectacular nights itself. I started the Get Me High show in November 1984 and ran it like the old-style poetry readings for several months and got frustrated by the self-centered behavior of the poets participating. I quit doing it for a couple months in summer and fall of 1985 and then was pestered by Butchie the owner to start it up again in the winter.

When I restarted the Get Me High show in the winter of 1985/86 I did so with a new philosophy that the audience was the most important element of the show and that the poets should (and must) be in service to the audience. No poet was allowed to belabor the audience with self-centered blathering. Poets were allowed to read no more than two or three poems and if those poems sucked the audience was allowed to let them know how bad they were.

It was at this time that I also realized that performance was the key to the successful communication of a poem to an audience in a public setting. The art of performing had been ignored by poets in the later 20th century, indeed, it was a taboo to most poetry circles to dare to perform poems. I knew that there was no sound reasoning behind such a position and encourage (sometimes demanded) that the poet learn how to perform poems rather than just muttering them on stage.

Of course, there were some individuals in Chicago like David Hernandez and Mary Shen Barnidge who had been performing their poems for years. I sought them out and brought them to the Get Me High as featured guests and examples of what was coined “performance poetry.”

I do not claim to be the one who came up with the idea of performing poetry. Poetry as you know began as a performance art long before the human species scratch a written word into a clay slate. What I did do was to focus a new collective attention to the art of performing poetry and to announce to the world that it was as important an ingredient (performing) to effective communication of poetry to a public audience as the writing of the text is.

And despite all the criticism leveled at me from the old guard poetry establishments then and now I think I was right.

Frugal Poet’s Guide to Life: As a poet and worker in Chicago previous to the slam, did you everdream that life as an impresario might take front and center?

Marc Smith: Very few people believe me when I tell them that I’m for the most part a shy person. I learned how to be at ease on stage by struggling with stage fright and the demons of insecurity and low self-esteem. My success as a performance poet and impresario is a testimony to the fact that performing is an art form like any other that can be learned and mastered.

Frugal Poet’s Guide to Life: What role does drama and theater play in your life?

Marc Smith: I love the stage and the theater. I have had roles in a few stage productions and love the ritual nature of rehearsal and performing the same actions and lines over and over through the run of the play. The same, yet totally different every night. And for shy Marc (unlike nightclub performing) I get to disappear backstage after the performance and become almost anonymous to the public who just a few minutes before saw me (and applauded) in the footlights.

Now that I am a little more financially secure (and older) I would love to do more and more theater production. And if I stop being so lazy, maybe I will. ##
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An Up-Close & Personal Q&A with Poetry Slam Founder Marc Kelly Smith

Spiritual, Creative & Dream Journaling Retreat in November 2013

Save the weekend before Thanksgiving and take special time for yourself before the holidays. Head up to beautiful, peaceful central Wisconsin for my Spiritual, Creative and Dream Journaling Retreat at the Christine Center.

Spiritual, Creative and Dream Journaling Retreat
Three-day journal writing exploration
November 22-24, 2013
Christine Center
Facilitator: Cynthia Gallaher

Deepen your spirituality, better understand relationships, foster creativity and delve into your nightly dreams with more focus through journal writing. Over the course of this three-day retreat, leader Cynthia Gallaher will help you uncover the journaling method or methods that best suit your personality. You’ll take part in hands-on explorations of journal dialogs, Japanese haibun (journal entries that end in a short poem) and naikan gratitude journal methods, Leonardo Da Vinci-style notebooks, artists’ journals, modern dream journaling techniques and more.

This retreat provides a stimulating and non-judgmental atmosphere for both newer and long-time journal writers. By the end of the retreat, participants can experience more clear direction toward spiritual, creative and emotional renewal through journal writing, and be motivated to develop a regular journal writing practice. Tuition is on a sliding scale basis. Range is from $85-$125, plus meals and lodging.

Friday night, November 22, 7 p.m.-9 p.m.: Journal writing introduction, overview personality quiz and getting started.
Saturday morning, November 23, 9 a.m. to noon: Stepping Stones and Dialogues as the basis of modern journaling.
Saturday afternoon, 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.: Japanese techniques, artist and creative journals, and what would Leonardo da Vinci do?
Saturday evening, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.: Dream journaling intensive -- plus, what do you do when life gives you synchronicities, serendipity, coincidences or confirmations?
Sunday morning, November 24, 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.: Final thoughts for future journaling.

Cynthia will also present a few PowerPoint presentations, provide handouts and display selected books on journal writing.

At the completion of this retreat, participants will be able to:
•Focus on the type of journal writing to fit his or her personality.
•Access their own list of numerous, personal journal writing topics and questions.
•Use journaling methods of Stepping Stones and Dialogues to address personal and creative issues.
•Understand and use the Japanese methods of haibun and naikan.
•Create a Leonardo da Vinci-style notebook, artist’s journal or other type of creative journal.
•Create an active, personal dream journal.
•Use journaling to explore and understand personal values, issues and memories.

The Christine Center is a natural sanctuary for spiritual deepening and global transformation near Willard, Wisconsin. It is situated in a tranquil forest setting with a guest house, small hermitages (cabins) and camping on 125 secluded acres. Besides the workshop programming, there are opportunities to take part in trail hiking, morning and evening guided and silent meditations, vegetarian meals, a wood-fired sauna and more.

Bio:
Retreat leader Cynthia Gallaher is a poet, playwright, nonfiction writer and journal writer. She leads journal writing workshops in libraries, schools, centers and spas throughout the Midwest, and teaches an online course on journal writing at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

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Spiritual, Creative & Dream Journaling Retreat in November 2013

Chicago tattoo artist & muralist addresses urban themes

The Taste of Chicago addresses the palates of visitors with delicious foods distinctly Chicago. In turn, what satisfies the hungry eye with the urban visual wonders, themes and issues of Chicago? A good place to start is at the studio of Camilo Cumpián, Chicago-based tattoo artist, muralist, creator of wooden miniatures and paintings of every size.

According to Cumpián, whose tattoo art measures from the smallest original icon placed on a woman’s delicate ankle to full scenes spanning the arms and chest of the burliest male, such work was influenced largely by the traditions of Chicano art from both the Southwest and Midwest. “I’ve made images that are all my own, put my own twists on subject matter and think of my tattoos as ‘new school’ Chicano art,” he said.

Cumpián also reworks and enhances tattoos on clients who have been unhappy or disappointed with ones they’ve received from other tattoo artists. “A number of clients have approached me with tattoos they’ve had done elsewhere that look muddy, out of proportion and without focus. Sometimes I can ‘repair’ them with more defined, dramatic emphasis and color. Other times, I can create something completely new around and through what was there before. I’m pleased that I can help out so many of these clients, who are thrilled with the transformations,” he said.

Born and schooled mainly in Chicago, Cumpián also spent many years out east, and is now back in his hometown, busy not only taking on clients for his tattoo art, but also creating paintings on urban themes with original characters, and three-dimensional wooden miniatures of spray cans, trains and boxcars wrapped with whimsical creatures.

Crayons2Cans is Cumpián’s signature handle and name of the website where you can enjoy slideshows of his tattoos, artwork and wooden miniatures portfolios. “The name Crayons2Cans comes from my life-long journey as an artist, starting as a child using crayons to a teen and then adult exploring wide-ranges of media and mastering skills in acrylics, mural paint, spray cans and ultimately tattoo inks.”

Visit Camilo Cumpián’s Crayons2Cans website to see his work first-hand. Tattoos at his private studio are available by appointment.
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Chicago tattoo artist & muralist addresses urban themes

Remembering Chicago poet David Hernandez

When I first saw David Hernandez and Street Sounds perform in the 1970s, I hadn’t yet graduated from college as an undergrad. I had only written a handful of “contemporary” poems in school in addition to some sappy love poems I kept trying to get published in Glamour magazine (at one time, this fashion mag actually published poetry – and fiction!). Up until then, poets such as Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman were pretty much my reading mainstay, though one of my mentor-like girlfriends had previously introduced me to Ginsberg’s “Howl” and Codrescu’s “License to Carry a Gun.”

Nothing had yet really hit me, or hipped me, to the notion that poetry was and could be more out-of-the-box than I’d imagined right here in Chicago until I went to a cultural extravaganza in what was then called the Midland Hotel on West Adams (now “W Chicago City Center”).

Someone or some group had transformed the hotel’s grand ballroom into an almost pitch black atmosphere. Here, they strung together nonexistent rooms or sections that each loosely housed a different genre – a two-sided film-screening room showed the latest in locally crafted short subject movies, a gallery of abstract and naïve and tribal-inspired paintings hung from temporary canvas banners, a bevy of women in multi-colored diaphanous outfits wound through the crowds performing modern dance movements to pan-pipe music, a collection of handcrafted books climbed the staircases, a magnificent array of mobiles suspended from the ceiling, a bar of headphones beckoned you listen to groundbreaking compositions by Chicago musicians. It was like a haunted house, but an enlightening instead of scary one. It was like a carnival, but full of earnest and eccentric art over cheap thrills.

Then, along the center wall, they fired up. The live band with horns and congas slowly drew every eye toward them as their Latino sound pierced the air like a pop-top then wrapped snake-like around the crowd’s previously distracted attention span. Then the guy in the straw fedora and sunglasses stood up. He was short and stocky like the Mayor Daley Sr. then in office. But this particular mayor was on a tropical vacation, complete with Hawaiian shirt and sandals. He had a few things of his own on his mind that he just had to get off his chest. And without reservation, he did, sparring with the air in front of him, shifting the paradigm of the room by the vibrato of his delivery. Each word was like a song, a truth, an invitation to agree with the urging of the easy-handed, smile-striking opinions of this powerful pontificator.

“Just who is that?” I asked my date. And surprisingly, my non-poet, photographer date knew. “That’s David Hernandez and his group Street Sounds,” he whispered to me as David piped on about pigeons and the Sun-Times and waking up. “They’re a poetry band and he’s the most popular poet in Chicago.”

A poetry band? There is such a thing as a poetry band? And before I could even question myself further, I was surrounded by the sights and sounds of these Street Sounds guys and another poem from this Chi-town Brown, this famous poet, this “unofficial poet laureate.” We stood spellbound until their set was through. I have no recollection what happened afterward that night. That night’s memory is frozen in that time and place and performance. My mind’s eye opened several f-stops during the experience. After seeing David Hernandez and Street Sounds that evening, I realized that you could do anything you wanted as a poet in Chicago...just as long as you were good. ##

David Hernandez passed away on February 25, 2013. My sincere condolences go out to his wife Batya, his daughter Matea, and his brother Eliud. ◦

Remembering Chicago poet David Hernandez

Punxsutawney Phil Groundhog Day Poem

Punxsutawney Phil
Seer of Seers, Sage of Sages, Weather Reporter Extraordinaire

Halfway between the dawn and sunset of winter,
it’s the high noon of the season.
Will old sol wear sunglasses today
and keep his rays of warmth and wisdom to himself,
or take Punxsy Phil by surprise?

Phil ascends with bleary eyes
from watching “Groundhog Day” over or over
again last night in his public library lair,
and looks as puzzled and ruffled haired as Bill Murray
as he pokes his head out of the tree stump, wondering,
“What did I get myself in the middle of?”

He stands on hind legs and raises his paws
you’d think he were Santa Claus the way the cameras flash,
causing artificial shadows of himself
to loom in every direction,
like a dozen enormous cut-outs of T-rex, vexed.

Halfway between Christmas and Easter,
between the solstice and equinox,
between a native ritual and a European tradition,
between a squirrel and a woodchuck,
Phil’s stuck,
here, with all these people.
He keeps looking over the crowd
for Andie MacDowell, but only faces strangers.

Then Phil sees the sun peeking out from behind
a billowy cumulus cloud,
and hears the sudden roar of the crowd,
because everyone finally notices his real shadow
is what’s on the ground,
and think he’s afraid when he looks where they’re looking,
then exits the other way back down the tree stump hole.

But he’s not scared at all,
just plain tired of all the fuss
and from staying up so groundhog, doggone late,
when any other rodent worth his fur
would know to hibernate.
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~ Cynthia Gallaher ◦

Punxsutawney Phil Groundhog Day Poem

Omnivore Odes: Poems About Food, Herbs and Spices

Cynthia Gallaher’s chapbook Omnivore Odes: Poems About Food, Herbs and Spices brings together poetry, foodie fantasy and herbal healing into one collection.

After some glorious hours of kitchen testing at the Culinary Suite of the Writers Colony at Dairy Hollow in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, a workshop at the Culinary Institute of New England in Vermont, and time spent cultivating organic fruits and vegetables at Lisa Fishman’s Poetry Farm in Wisconsin, I wrote Omnivore Odes to celebrate superfoods and wonder herbs in our era of otherwise fast food and depleted nutrients.

The poems span foods from carrots to tempeh, herbs from black cohosh to turmeric, and spices from cayenne to cinnamon.

Cinnamon: The First Shall Be Last, and Last First

Cinnamon radiates like sun-warmed brick
in Sri Lankan woods,
where bark curls into little scrolls
where the world writes childhood memories.

Its beguiling fragrance
beckons grown-up customers into shops,
quickly sells market-listed houses
as heated ovens exude its allure.

Cinnamon, once the spice
that launched a thousand ships,
its coppery payload, darling hostage
of world trade and exploration.

To those from India, cinnamon
tastes like curry,
to Cincinnatians, chili,
to Mexicans, café canela,

But to most western tongues
its dozens of dessert appearances
seem to form their own
12 days of cinnamon Christmas.

Between sweet homemade apple pie,
crock-pot mulled cider and
oversized rolls sold in airports,
it’s the all things nice part about

This spice,
an insulin stand-in
to lower
blood sugar levels.

Did we not notice until now
its covert worth behind kitchen cabinets,
when it dropped its rolled-up-in-a-rug disguise,
to reveal its power to metabolize.

~ Cynthia Gallaher

Omnivore Odes: Poems About Food, Herbs and Spicescan be ordered through Finishing Line Press. It also makes a unique gift for your poetry-loving, foodie or natural healer friends.

Order Omnivore Odes

Here are a few comments on Omnivore Odesfrom authors I admire:

“What fun! In Omnivore Odes, Cynthia Gallaher uses wit and deft language to sing the music of the kitchen larder. Gallaher’s whimsy wanders from Popeye landlocked in the Texas spinach capital of the world to peanuts, ‘like the elephant, what many of us work for.’ In her gifted hands, the foods and spices of everyday life undergo transformation into fairy tales and new mythologies.”
~ Linda Rodriguez, author of Every Last Secret (St. Martin’s Press), Heart’s Migration (Tia Chucha Press) and The “I Don’t Know How to Cook” Book – Mexican (Adams Media)

“Cynthia Gallaher weaves threads of science with seeds of the sacred. The result – a walk along a path that informs with delight. Certainly the best herbal poetry since Shakespeare.”
~Steven Foster, senior author of National Geographic’s A Desk Reference of Nature’s Medicine and Peterson’s A Field Guide to Medicinal Plants and Herbs

“Omnivore Odes by Cynthia Gallaher is now one of my favorite books of poetry -- giving voice to food, herbs and spices. The poems are so well-crafted she succeeds in making them simple, and in that simplicity lies richness. She paints with words -- and the paintings she leaves are vivid and bright. Especially inspired by the line in the poem ‘Black Cohosh Cool’ – ‘That a certain age can’t be played in a minor note.’ Her poems make me hungry for such wisdom.”
~ David Hernandez, the “unofficial” poet laureate of Chicago and founder of “Street Sounds” poetry musical performance ensemble

Cynthia Gallaher, a Chicago-based poet and writer, is author of three full poetry collections and a writing workshop leader. She is on the Chicago Public Library’s list of “Top Ten Requested Chicago Poets” and named one of “100 Women Making a Difference” by Today’s Chicago Woman Magazine. She tweets about food and poetry at http://twitter.com/swimmerpoet. ◦

Omnivore Odes: Poems About Food, Herbs and Spices