business cards

****As Alice pointed out, I have begun to design business cards,

If any of you ever need a new design, I work very hard to get into your thoughts on how it should look.

My designs are in color, and I try always to make them stand out

so they will be noticed. So, email me when you would like me

to design business cards for you.
I will be developing a line of greeting cards in the near future, you will be able to buy them at my shop on the web, at: www.cafepress.com/TamarMag
Tamar Mag

A photo of me.

I went to San Diego's Wildlife Animal Park in the
summer of 2004. This is one nice shot of me.  

Winter 2005 Newsletter; Dance Of Life

The Dance Of Life
by
Tamar Mag Raine
tamarmag@earthlink.net

Photo by Tamar Raine
Photo is available on merchandise at my store. http://www.cafepress.com/TamarMag

Well, it's that time of the year again. I hope this letter finds each of you and your family healthy and happy.

I am healthy and fairly happy. I am still in process of getting my paperwork and stuff gathered so I can eventually buy a condo or loft. So, I'm excited about that. Thanks so much to everybody who helped contribute to my deposit fund! Crazy SSI rules. Anyway, we got the job done. Being low income and trying to buy a place will be tricky. However, because builders use federal, state and city funds, they are required to set aside a certain percentage of units for sale to low income people, and in the East Bay there are many condos being built. I hope to buy one in Emeryville or at Oakland's Jack London Square.

Recently I joined a Jewish Renewal Temple that moved from Berkeley to a few blocks away from me in Piedmont. I am really enjoying it. Renewal is a lot more fun than the Reform Temple I grew up with. Much more singing and dancing. There's a lot of joy there, and we all need that in these troubled times.

Bowery Songs
I recently went to two Joan Baez concerts. One was in Redwood City, the other in Santa Rosa. The concerts were unbelievably wonderful! My Feldenkrais teacher and friend, drove me to the one on Saturday, and Joan was just stellar. Every song was perfect ~ She must have gone just under two hours straight with no intermission. Joan's son, Gabe Harris, who is a drummer and leader of an African folk band, Rhythm Village, opened for Joan at both concerts. His wife, who is a native of South Africa, and is a professional African dancer, came up to do a couple of dances with the other woman who also plays percussion in the band.

Joan's voice sounds like it did way back in the 60s, maybe even better because it has deeper, richer tones. I saw some friends from the Joan Baez listserv and that was great. Then at Santa Rosa I met other friends from the listserv whom I'd never met before. One came from Colorado, the other two from Texas, Then there are some Californians who follow the concerts up and down the coast. I think two in a row is definitely plenty for me! It is always wonderful to meet like-minded friends and put faces to names.

About a dozen of us hung around after the concert. My assistant, Lauren, was drinking coffee so she could drive us home. Crook, Joan's sweetheart of a tour manager came out to let us know that yes, Joan will come out "to chat for a several minutes." He went back and brought her out. As she was walking across the stage, she waved a long finger and smiled as she saw me, and said affectionately, "I know this one," I smiled back at her. She got off the stage and said to me, "Now don't get all excited now." And I tried to relax and be calm and said, "Okay-okay" and we had a good hug, and then she said; "The public was great tonight wasn't it?" I said "It was, it was great, and you were great," she laughed and smiled and hugged me again at which point I said softly and clearly into her ear, "I love you." She gave me a beautiful smile, and I moved out of her way so she could greet the others. She went on to hug others and shake hands. A sixteen year-old fan, began massaging Joan's shoulders and I said, "You can sit in my lap anytime!" And that too was said clear as a bell. So Joan replies, "This one always gets so wild," and gave me another smile. Crook came out to gently lead Joan back to the bus at that point.

I could not believe what had just occurred. Yes, I have hugged her before, but always got too tense to get any words out, but I think the combination of working with my Feldenkrais teacher over the summer on my talking, and the fact that I have gotten used to being with Joan, with my friends, all contributed to something I have always wanted to do- talk to Joan, and kid around a bit, without a machine or a translator. So, out in the parking lot, I just began to cry for several reasons... I cried Monday morning when I woke up and it hit me again...

Bowery Songs is Joan's first live CD in a decade. This CD has 14 songs on it, with wonderfully fresh musical backing, but the prime sound is Joan's fabulous voice, front and center. It includes new songs too, by Steve Earle and Gillian Welch. It contains the new peace anthem Finlandia, as well as several other songs previously unrecorded by Joan, like Dink's Song, a song that has its roots in slavery, which Bob Dylan recorded at one time, which is truly heartfelt when sung by Joan.

East Bay Innovations
EBI continues to be my chosen service provider for Supported Living services. Next year, I hope to take on something called Self-Determination, where I would have a greater say in how my funds from Regional Center are spent, but I would still hire EBI to act as my HR department and for dealing with In Home Support Services.

EBI continues to employ my services as one of the trainers for new hires. I help present the Philosophy of Supported Living. In this training, we look at the history of care for people with disabilities, from the institutional model, to group homes, to Independent Living, and Supported Living. In 2006 we can add the Self-Determination model to the mix as well. My part of the job is to present the consumer's point of view, as well as add comments to the EBI staff doing the presentation.

One example I give of something assistants should not do, relates to one of my ex workers attitudes about how I was using the fan in my living room. It was a hot summer day, and she kept turning it off, disregarding how my body functions in the heat. She kept saying it would not help cool the room. She turned my fan off four times, I kept turning it back on. This showed me she did not respect me, and did not respect the fact that it is my house, and my energy bill. So I fired her.

The Mayor's Commission
I am still on the Oakland Mayor's Commission on People With Disabilities; after three years of frustrating slowness, our massive sidewalk and curb ramp survey is finally underway. A company has been hired to walk every single block in Oakland. They will note in PDA (handheld computers) each and every crack of broken sidewalk and curb ramp. This info will let the City figure out which sidewalks need repairing and will help them track whose responsibility it is to fix them. If a homeowner or business owner refuse to pay for the repair, a lien may be taken out on their property. We believe this project is the most extensive one ever undertaken anywhere.

In 2005, we had our first awards program for teens who have been nominated by teachers or staff, who exemplify carrying the torch for disability activism because the older generation is getting older.

The commission also sponsors various jobs and arts fairs and every October we also present art by people with disabilities in a show at City hall. In 2006, we will change it a little bit in that it will be a juried show by those who actually are professional artists with disabilities, rather than just showing art work by people who are clients at an arts day program for people with developmental disabilities.

The city ADA coordinator has an extraordinary commitment to us all. She pushed hard for, and was granted the full budget she requested. Many other commissions had to scale back their budgets. Of course it may have helped that lawsuits over people falling on broken sidewalks, are the City's #2 expenditure. We also have allocated funds for various playgrounds to be made accessible. Also we have the green light to repair 90+ curb ramps throughout the city.

Tamar's Soapbox
It has been a goal of mine to become able to support myself financially. It makes absolutely no sense for somebody like me, who is well educated and who has in front of her the means by which to break the chains of poverty, in other words ~ a computer and the knowledge of how to use it, to be living on $9,000 a year. It has always bothered me. When you live on SSI you have to abide by the government's rules. Before the advent of personal computers I was pretty much a slave to either living in poverty, or finding the rare job where I would not need to use a phone, or lift heavy items, or type 60 words a minute. As it happens, I can type as fast as most hunt-n-peckers when I know what it is I am typing. I always thought the typing tests were unfair to those who have hand-eye coordination problems.

As most of you know, I have tried various home businesses without much success due in part to a lack of knowledge about how to market them. Or, as in the case of my liquidations business, I needed somebody to help make phone calls, and do the leg work of going out to warehouses to check out the merchandise. I tried doing the whole writing for magazines thing for a full year. Even though I had some wins there, by the time I paid for postage and self-addressed, stamped envelopes for 93 submissions, the three articles I did get published for $25.00 each -- and many of these places never even returned my envelopes, I said; "This is not for me." It's too time-consuming and not profitable enough at my level."

Several years ago, I started making greeting cards on the computer for various occasions, and I became quite good at it. Then I branched out to making business cards for myself and family and friends. I think the thing about business cards and other USEFUL products, is just THAT. Let me make things that actually have a use!

It has to be the simplest idea in the world. Make or invent something of actual, tangible use, and people will want to buy that thing. Tonight on PBS, this was the second time in six months they have shown a program about how Micro-enterprise is helping millions of women in the poorest countries lift themselves out of poverty, be able to send their kids to school, buy animals that make milk or produce eggs, or buy equipment with which to make clothes and other items for sale. Turns out that women repay those loans much more often then men do.

When I was in Sacramento year before last, and again this year, I attended seminars in which a particular company has helped many people with developmental disabilities find out what they love to do, and then they help set them up in business. A few examples; a man loves cars, they got him set up at a detail shop where he takes cars apart, and cleans the parts. He is not so good at putting them back, but okay, they can use his skills! Another man wanted to paint homes, but as he progressed, he learned other jobs of construction, even learning to drive tractors, and now he has a flourishing business even though he has no head for numbers. The guy who helped him set it up, said, "Oh boy, this is great, but tell me, how do you handle doing the math and payroll?" The man said, "I hired a guy." So, this is how micro-enterprise is changing the lives of people with severe disabilities.

Even if employers do not want to hire people with disabilities, I believe there are ways we can become fully contributing members of society. In my way of thinking, poverty equals powerlessness, so, if we have the means, and the desire to be truly free of government restrictions, then our lives will be truly free. Nobody benefits from poverty. If you want to help the poor or the "less fortunate," being poor yourself only limits you, it does nothing to help others, and drains the resources from those who truly are unable to work. So, I am redesigning my business: It is now called, Creative Designs by Tamar. I will still write, but I'm thinking of other ways to sell my writing directly to people, via PDF over the internet, or putting my photos or poetry on such items as mugs, shopping bags and tee-shirts.

UPDATE! Come see my new store! Http://www.cafepress.com/TamarMag

Katrina Unveils The Truth
My heart breaks at the untold stories
of racism and classism
Dead bodies from the wrath of nature
in the form of Katrina,
The president blithely plays golf,
rides bikes and eats cake,
His FEMA director completely incompetent,
This administration lies repeatedly,
And the media, good and compassionate;
Now buys the PR lies and exaggeration,
The local officials allowed this to happen,
It was not a question of if, but when!
The neocheaters stole the funds,
Every level of government
Screwed over the poor people.
My heart wrenches as I see
people drowning, clinging to rooftops,
Overwhelming joy mixed with pity
as I read news of 5,000 animals
being rescued from rooftops,
volunteers are breaking down doors,
Saving trapped, wet, hungry, terrified pets.
I completely understand--
Pet guardians not wanting to leave
Their beloved furry friends behind;
Thus far only 200 have been reunited
with their human guardians,
It breaks my heart to think
Of the ones who will never
See their furry or human friend again.
Katrina unveils the truth, exposes the lies,
shatters Martin Luther King's dream,
Shatters my dreams of equality,
Shatters the myth that powerful America
Is prepared for another terror strike,
As an American I am so ashamed,
As I learn that it's the elderly, the ill,
the disabled, and the very poor
Who were left to fend for themselves,
Many have died, perished in
the poisoned waters,
Many have been ripped from
living independently
Far from their wheelchairs, service animals,
their support staff, from their families,
and their support circles.
A sea of scrambled emotions:
The overwhelming joy seeing the
goodness and generosity of most Americans,
But the business interests
And corrupt public officials
Who all allowed the levees to
Get old and weak, will need to
Be swept out of office en masse.

Tamar Raine