Teresa Jade LeYung's BLOG

Posts Tagged ‘California’

Sunday August 1, 2010

I’m organizing photos from yesterday’s Northern California Storybook & Literature Festival.

Women's National Book Association members Margie Yee Webb, Mary E. Knippel, B. Lynn Goodwin, Sarbjit Rai, Teresa LeYung Ryan

I had a good time on the panel with other fiction authors. Gail, thank you for moderating. Nathan, thank you for taking photos. Delightful audience.

authors Jeff Carlson, Laurel Anne Hill, Tanya Egan Gibson, Teresa LeYung Ryan, Jack L. Parker with Library Specialist Gail McGrath & Library Advocate Nathan

Authors Susan Osborn & Margie Yee Webb cheer for the Friends of the Roseville Library

Also I presented “Transform Your Personal Experiences Into Potent Stories” Thank you to the participant-writers.  Here are some comments from them:

I asked: What did you value most about the workshop?

• “Verbalizing what my readers will learn from my story.”

• “Good comments & tools from Teresa for moving forward.”
• “Handouts so organized.”

Your next steps with your stories?

• “Bring my stories out and start again—with your ideas for tools”
• “Find a publisher.”
• “Re-read my favorite novel & mark it up. Thank you, Teresa!”

My colleagues  (Catharine Bramkamp, Laurel Anne Hill, Antoinette May, Susan M. Osborn) also presented their writing workshops.

Special thanks to Jamie Finley, Dena Grover, Gail McGrath, Lynn Brown and everyone at Roseville Libraries, Margie Yee Webb and colleagues at California Writers Club, Mary Knippel & Sarbjit Rai & fellow members of Women’s National Book Association, bookseller James Van Eaton of Winston Smith Books, friends old and new, readers and writers, and everyone who made the festival a celebration of literature.

Teresa LeYung Ryan, Mary E. Knippel, Margie Yee Webb advocate for public libraries.

http://www.roseville.ca.us/library/

3 branches in Roseville, CA

Maidu Library & Maidu Community Center

Martha Riley Community Library

Downtown Library

Gail McGrath (Library Specialist) holding Teresa's novel Love Made of Heart, Bob Quinlan author of Earn It: Empower Yourself for Love, and Margie Yee Webb author of Cat Mulan

Sincerely,

Teresa LeYung Ryan

As an author and community spirit, Teresa LeYung Ryan speaks out for public libraries, honors immigrant-stories, advocates compassion for mental illness, and helps survivors of violence find their own voices through writing.

“To comment on any of my columns (blog posts), just click on the color title-bar of the post, fill in the boxes and press ‘submit.’  Thank you.”

http://lovemadeofheart.com/blog/

Mentally Disabled & Being a Non-consentable Person

This is Post #3 to follow-up on my two posts published on July 25 & 27, 2010

My cousin’s brother is one of the primary advocates for my cousin.  My cousin’s sister (who lives a thousand miles away) is another primary advocate.

This is the email I received today Tuesday, July 27, 2010 from my cousin’s brother (San Francisco):

“I just got off the phone with Detective ____ from Alameda County Sheriff’s department.

He told me that he will be handling the case. First thing he will do is to contact BART for the video. I already told him it’s from Contra Costa County (not Alameda County).

He mentioned that other than Sis’s mental capacity, there is no crime because she went willingly and based on Sis’s statements, the suspect stopped when asked to.

I told him that the SFGH examiner said Sis is a non-consentable person, meaning her “yes” answers do not qualify as consent. This is similar to a child consenting for sex. It still does not qualify as a real “yes”.

He will contact me after investigating.

I asked for a case number but he has not generated one yet because it is not yet determined how this will be handled.”

* * *

We are not going to give up on our family member or our community. The man in the car who stopped my cousin (between late night July 22 and early morning of July 23) asked her “Do you need help?” and she said “Yes.”  His not calling the police but taking her to his home, sexually battering her, and keeping her there until morning is helping ???

My cousins are brave and I am going to continue to support their efforts. I am contacting NAMI http://www.nami.org ,  Community Violence Solutions  http://www.cvsolutions.org/ and other agencies.

Sincerely,

Teresa LeYung Ryan

http://lovemadeofheart.com/blog/

From the National Alliance on Mental Illness NAMI’s website, I found the “How You Can Help” page http://www.nami.org/Template.cfm?section=Take_Action :

Contact Your Representatives

It is important that you contact your state and national representatives to ensure they are working for people with mental illness.

A list of current legislation impacting mental health is available along with an easy way to contact your representative with just a few clicks of a mouse.

(For California  http://www.ca.gov http://www.senate.ca.gov/ http://www.assembly.ca.gov/)

Issues and Legislation http://capwiz.com/nami/issues/

The NAMI Newsroom http://www.nami.org/template.cfm?section=press_room the place for reporters, advocates and other media professionals. NAMI’s communications services team is available around-the-clock to news media for:

• Expert analysis on a wide range of issues related to severe mental illnesses or brain disorders such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder/manic-depression, major depression, and anxiety disorders.
• Current data on research, treatments, rates of prevalence
• Interviews with national spokespersons and technical experts
• Access to persons with serious mental illness and their families who are willing to share personal stories with the media
• Comment on breaking news

Christine Armstrong, Media Relations Associate
Colonial Place Three
2107 Wilson Blvd., Suite 300
Arlington, VA 22201-3042
Telephone: (703) 524-7600 · FAX: (703) 516-7238  ·
Email:  christinea@nami.org

Artist Who Is a Writer Who Expresses Profound Beauty

http://flyingpaintproductions.blogspot.com/

Chandra Garsson’s artwork has been shown both nationally and internationally. Her paintings and sculptures have been featured at the Bedroom Gallery in Prague, Czech Republic, Berlin, Germany, Manukan City, New Zealand, and Art Forum Gallery in Singapore. Closer to home, her art has been seen over the years at Morphos Gallery, Olga Dollar Gallery, Fobbo Gallery, in San Francisco, and more recently at Expressions Gallery, in Berkeley. The Union Gallery featured Chandra’s work in a solo exhibition at San Jose State University. Her art has also been exhibited at the Oakland Museum Sculpture court, The Jewish Museum in San Francisco, and The Triton Museum in Santa Clara, California. Chandra’s artwork and writing also features prominently in Bittersweet Legacy, Creative responses to the Holocaust, an anthology edited by Cynthia Brody, forwarded by Michael Berenbaum, University Press of America. Her book, Insomnia (Awakening), was published by Meridian PressWorks in conjunction with a major retrospective exhibition of the same title at ProArts Gallery in Oakland, California in 2004. www.darksecretlove.com/chandra www.vspcity.com/insomnia

The photo above shows colleagues Mary E. Knippel, Luisa Adams, Martha Alderson, Lori Noack, Linda Lee, Rebecca Martin and me with the magnificent bookcase painted by Chandra Garsson.  The face of the Asian woman and side panels are Chandra’s interpretation of my novel Love Made of Heart. Thank you, Chandra, for turning an unfinished piece of furniture into exquisite treasure.

Sincerely,

Teresa

Teresa LeYung Ryan uses her novel Love Made of Heart to:

• celebrate immigrants
• inspire adult-children of mentally-ill parents to speak openly about the stigmas that their parents suffer
• help survivors of family violence find their own voices

http://www.lovemadeofheart.com/

Dear Mary Knippel  http://openuptoyourcreativity.com/,
Thank you for an empowering day (Saturday, January 30, 2010) at the Creativity Workshop for Women’s National Book Association.

I had a good time with the dozen fellow writers as you led us in “Decide, Declare, Design Your writing life for 2010!”

I’m a writing career coach who helps my clients build their names/platforms by identifying the themes in their books (pre and post publication).  I thought I would put all my energy in promoting my new workbook the first half of this year.   Not.  While creating my vision board at your workshop, the message [ that I need to continue using my novel Love Made of Heart to shed light on stigmas on mental illness ] appeared “loudly and clearly”  in words and pictures.   My new mission statement:  I, Teresa LeYung Ryan, use my novel to shed light on the secret agonies suffered by women with mental illness.
Thank you, Mary and WNBA colleagues!
Sincerely,
Teresa LeYung Ryan
a.k.a. Coach Teresa
Creator of Build Your Name, Beat the Game: Be Happily Published
http://WritingCoachTeresa.com

Coach Teresa here with my resolutions for February 2010:

• Finish up January resolutions

• Attend “Other Voices TV: Why Haiti collapsed – More than an earthquake” A conversation with Seth Donnelly and Walter Riley (Paul George as moderator) on Feb. 2nd at Community Media Center in Palo Alto  http://www.peaceandjustice.org/.

• Meet with Kim McMillon playwright, first mentor; Elisa Southard http://breakthroughthenoise.com/ to rehearse for our session at San Francisco Writers Conference

• Attend Margaret Davis’s book launch  http://margaretdavisbooks.com/;

• Present at SFWC with Elisa Southard on Feb. 12, 2010 and help attendees at Ask-A-Pro and Book Doctor consultations on Feb. 12 & Feb. 13  http://sfwriters.org/;

• Celebrate Chinese New Year 2010 with cousins;

• Celebrate Library Lovers’ Month  http://savethelibraries.spaces.live.com;

• Celebrate Plant the Seeds of Greatness Month;

• Help WNBA-SF Chapter promote “Meet the Agents & Publishers” March 27, 2010 http://wnba-sfchapter.org/

• Submit proposals (Major League Tryouts with Coach Teresa for Writers to Build Their Names) to Writing Salon http://www.writingsalons.com, Book Passage  http://bookpassage.com/, Media Bistro  http://www.mediabistro.com/.

• Submit comments to blogs relating to women and mental illness.

• Contact WNBA colleague Elizabeth Maynard Schaefer, author of Write Out of Depression (who was also at the Jan. 30th workshop) regarding creating a workshop together  http://writeoutofdepression.blogspot.com/

http://www.youtube.com/savethelibraries  Click on “Chandra’s Story”

Beloved libraries are homes and community centers for kids, teens, seniors, job-seekers, you and me–anyone who needs a place to access books, resources, the Internet, and, especially librarians’ expertise.
Visit: http://savethelibraries.spaces.live.com/

We can all help and have fun at the same time.

In Oakland, CA?

1.  Attend any portion of the June 30, 2009 meeting, 5:00pm–late evening

Oakland City Council Meeting
Check   http://savethelibraries.spaces.live.com   for change in meeting time

City Council Chambers at Oakland City Hall
1 Frank H Ogawa Plaza
1 City Hall Plaza (the building with clock tower)
Oakland, CA 94612

2.  Tell friends about:  http://savethelibraries.spaces.live.com/

3.  Attend the next Save-the-Library advocacy meeting:

6:00 to 8:00 PM, Oakland Main Library-West Auditorium.   125 14th Street, Oakland, CA

http://savethelibraries.spaces.live.com/

Please act now.  June 2009

Who Needs Our Mighty Voices? Library patrons everywhere:

• Kids who go to these safe places to read and do homework
• Seniors who make communities solid
• Unemployed adults using resources and the Internet for job-search

Visit: http://savethelibraries.spaces.live.com/

Example:  In Oakland, CA

Elmhurst, Lakeview, Temescal, Golden Gate, Martin Luther King and Melrose branches would only open 2 or 3 days per week!

77.2% of Alameda County voters had voted YES to Measure Q to increase library hours and services, not cut them.

Time sensitive. City of Oakland is scheduled to adopt the two-year budget June 30, impacting 6 libraries.

Council members working hard to do “the right thing” by all Oakland residents. Library advocates say “Thank you!”

HOW CAN WE HELP ?

1.  Attend the Library Advocacy meeting on Thursday, June 25th, 6:00PM to 8:00PM, Oakland Main Library West Auditorium (125 14th Street, Oakland)

2. Sign the on-line petition on http://savethelibraries.spaces.live.com/

3.   Email or call  the mayor and council members and tell them to keep all Oakland libraries open at least 5 or 6 days a week.  Their names, phone numbers and email addresses listed below.

4.  Bring friends and neighbors to public meetings about the proposed budget and tell  City of Oakland Council Members in person.  Next meeting  Tuesday, June 30, 2009   Check   http://savethelibraries.spaces.live.com for meeting dates/times, how to sign up to speak, and print a sign: Save the Libraries.

City Council Chambers at Oakland City Hall
1 Frank H Ogawa Plaza
1 City Hall Plaza
Oakland, CA 94612

Mayor Ron Dellums (510)238-3141 officeofthemayor@oaklandnet.com
Larry Reid (510) 238-7007 lreid@oaklandnet.com
Nancy Nadel (510) 238-7003 nnadel@oaklandnet.com
Jean Quan (510) 238-7004 jquan@oaklandnet.com
Ignacio De La Fuente (510) 238-7005 idelafuente@oaklandnet.com
Desley Brooks (510) 238-7006 dbrooks@oaklandnet.com
Jane Brunner (510) 238-7001 jbrunner@oaklandnet.com
Patricia Kernighan (510) 238-7002 pkernighan@oaklandnet.com
Rebecca Kaplan (510) 238-7008 atlarge@oaklandnet.com
Director of Library Services Carmen Martinez (510) 238-3141 cmartinez@oaklandnet.com
Karen Boyd, PR Contact (510) 449-4401 KBoyd@oaklandnet.com

Tell your neighbors, friends, co-workers, colleagues about http://savethelibraries.spaces.live.com/

Tell your favorite television, radio, newspaper, on-line celebrities about   http://savethelibraries.spaces.live.com/

Library Advocates Patrick Camacho, Lakshmi Kerner, Olga Malyj, and author Teresa LeYung Ryan

Background:

77.2% of Alameda County voters had voted YES to Measure Q in 2004. http://www.smartvoter.org/2004/03/02/ca/alm/meas/Q/

Let’s remind our mayor and council members that Measure Q was passed to:
(1) maintain and expand neighborhood branch library services, days, and hours; (2) maintain after school homework and tutoring programs; (3) maintain literacy and children’s programs; (4) increase librarian services to schools; (5) increase computer and technology access and (6) acquire new books and materials.

Please keep all Oakland libraries open 5  or 6 days a week!

http://savethelibraries.spaces.live.com/