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Today was another step on the natural birth journey. I went to a 'tea' with the doula collective I hired to meet their wonderful doulas, one of whom will help during our delivery of Baby Gurl!
What is a doula? A birth doula is a trained professional who provides physical comfort measures, emotional support, and information to help parents make informed decisions during labor and birth.
Essentially, given Brent and my's 1 experience at childbirth was medicated and very clinical, we're pretty much dumb when it comes to natural childbirth. I really felt unsure how to handle the experience without some help from someone who knew what they were doing. Ashlee and Heather, who both had natural births, talked about how key it was to have a support person. So I asked my midwife what she thought, and she agreed that it is essential to have someone whose sole job is to ensure you get the birth you want {or as much as it's possible}. She recommended Get Babied. I spent just a little bit of time on their website and was hooked, ha. They have several opportunities throughout the month to get to know them, and tonight I went to their tea. It was awesome! What was funny was I was the only mommy there without their partner. And I wasn't wearing my wedding ring. I felt so awkward, haha.
What is so amazing about a doula is their job is to help you have the birth experience you want. Whether it's a natural or medicated birth, a c-section, a hospital or home birth, their job is to support YOU!
So one more thing checked off our list!
12 Aralık 2012 Çarşamba
JJ Abram's Super 8
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Hollywood has been incredibly disappointing for the last few years, or maybe I'm just getting old and jaded. Or both. JJ Abrams is one of the few bright spots left in Tinsel Town, and his latest effort, Super 8, brought me out to the movies again.
Take a father-son relationship story, fold in first love and a coming of age tale, and top off with an angry alien that just wants to go home and you have a quality summer outing. Abrams is a story-teller, and this semi-autobiographical yarn recalls the innocence of youth, the purity of love, the joy of friendship, and all that we risk losing once we grow up.
Set in the summer of 1979, Super 8 is the story of five friend making a zombie movie. Charles (the Abrams character played by Riley Griffiths) is the writer and director; Joe Lamb (Joel Courtney) is his best friend special effects and make up guru; Carey (Ryan Lee), Martin (Gabriel Basso), and Preston (Zach Mills) round out the main gang. The introduction of Alice Dainard (Elle Fanning) as the wife of the detective changes everything. When they sneak out to film a scene and unexpectedly witness a train crash, their lives will never be the same.
Best of all are the performances of the young actors. Ryan Lee was my favorite, probably because he reminded me of so many of my students from my teaching days. He's the kid with the energy to make the battery powered bunny look lazy. His infatuation with fireworks, guns, and cars is the very definition of boy-ness. Its just one example of Abrams' deft touch with his writer's pen.
Super 8 is part ET, part Stand By Me, part Goonies, and all fun. Bring the kids or leave them at home, either way you're sure to enjoy the show.
Hollywood has been incredibly disappointing for the last few years, or maybe I'm just getting old and jaded. Or both. JJ Abrams is one of the few bright spots left in Tinsel Town, and his latest effort, Super 8, brought me out to the movies again.Take a father-son relationship story, fold in first love and a coming of age tale, and top off with an angry alien that just wants to go home and you have a quality summer outing. Abrams is a story-teller, and this semi-autobiographical yarn recalls the innocence of youth, the purity of love, the joy of friendship, and all that we risk losing once we grow up.
Set in the summer of 1979, Super 8 is the story of five friend making a zombie movie. Charles (the Abrams character played by Riley Griffiths) is the writer and director; Joe Lamb (Joel Courtney) is his best friend special effects and make up guru; Carey (Ryan Lee), Martin (Gabriel Basso), and Preston (Zach Mills) round out the main gang. The introduction of Alice Dainard (Elle Fanning) as the wife of the detective changes everything. When they sneak out to film a scene and unexpectedly witness a train crash, their lives will never be the same.
Best of all are the performances of the young actors. Ryan Lee was my favorite, probably because he reminded me of so many of my students from my teaching days. He's the kid with the energy to make the battery powered bunny look lazy. His infatuation with fireworks, guns, and cars is the very definition of boy-ness. Its just one example of Abrams' deft touch with his writer's pen.Super 8 is part ET, part Stand By Me, part Goonies, and all fun. Bring the kids or leave them at home, either way you're sure to enjoy the show.
Justin Cronin's The Twelve
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I love post-apocalyptic literature, and I love vampires, as anyone who knows me well can attest. Combining the two, as Justin Cronin did in The Passage is a dream come true. Waiting fifteen months for the second installment proved difficult at times. As it turned out, The Twelve was well worth the wait.
The genius of The Passage was Cronin's willingness to play with the traditions of vampire literature. By identifying vampirism with an ancient virus from deep in the valleys of South America, Cronin broke from the tradition of Bram Stoker and and breathed new life into a genre of literature that had been consumed by the sparkly, vegetarian pretenders with whom teens today have been inundated.
Cronin's viral vampires are shorn of any romantic notions; they are blood thirsty creatures bioengineered by the American military. Where in the first book we learned about a single community that survived the apocalypse, only glimpsing the rest of the country ever so briefly at the end, in this second volume, we learn the sometimes gruesome details of the lives of the other survivors. Exploring life in the new Republic of Texas and in a slave city run by vampire familiars, we are introduced to the rest of the story.
Five years later, and we meet up again with Peter, Alicia, Michael, Hollis, Sara, and the others who escaped from the California sanctuary that had held for nearly a century. And Amy, the Girl from No Where. Life has attained a new normal, with Peter and Alicia hunting the eleven remaining original virals (convicted felons, each worse than the next weaponized by the US military in an off the books operation in Denver). The others are scattered, each embracing new lives, some of their choosing, some not.
In The Twelve, Justin Cronin returns to the original apocalyptic moment, introducing new characters who will interact in different ways with the original characters from The Passage. Easily one of my favorite new characters is Bernard Kittridge, better known as Last Stand in Denver. A poignant portrait of a wounded warrior faced with surviving the apocalypse. The description of the man, his motivation, his intensity, and redemption are spot on.
Cronin's gift as a writer is creating characters the reader cares about deeply, but also characters who are real, they are people we know. He is able to capture the mundane, as well as the very best and very worst of humanity. One of his new characters, Danny Chayes is an autistic man (though Cronin never uses the word, the description is pretty text book) who is responsible for saving at least a dozen lives, and even the start of a new generation. It is the first time I have seen such a brilliant and positive portrayal of an autistic character in the fiction that I have read.
My only regret in reading The Twelve is that I did not go back and read The Passage again to refresh my memory on the details. Now, I wait, less than patiently, for the final installment and the confrontation with Zero.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
I love post-apocalyptic literature, and I love vampires, as anyone who knows me well can attest. Combining the two, as Justin Cronin did in The Passage is a dream come true. Waiting fifteen months for the second installment proved difficult at times. As it turned out, The Twelve was well worth the wait.The genius of The Passage was Cronin's willingness to play with the traditions of vampire literature. By identifying vampirism with an ancient virus from deep in the valleys of South America, Cronin broke from the tradition of Bram Stoker and and breathed new life into a genre of literature that had been consumed by the sparkly, vegetarian pretenders with whom teens today have been inundated.
Cronin's viral vampires are shorn of any romantic notions; they are blood thirsty creatures bioengineered by the American military. Where in the first book we learned about a single community that survived the apocalypse, only glimpsing the rest of the country ever so briefly at the end, in this second volume, we learn the sometimes gruesome details of the lives of the other survivors. Exploring life in the new Republic of Texas and in a slave city run by vampire familiars, we are introduced to the rest of the story.
Five years later, and we meet up again with Peter, Alicia, Michael, Hollis, Sara, and the others who escaped from the California sanctuary that had held for nearly a century. And Amy, the Girl from No Where. Life has attained a new normal, with Peter and Alicia hunting the eleven remaining original virals (convicted felons, each worse than the next weaponized by the US military in an off the books operation in Denver). The others are scattered, each embracing new lives, some of their choosing, some not.
In The Twelve, Justin Cronin returns to the original apocalyptic moment, introducing new characters who will interact in different ways with the original characters from The Passage. Easily one of my favorite new characters is Bernard Kittridge, better known as Last Stand in Denver. A poignant portrait of a wounded warrior faced with surviving the apocalypse. The description of the man, his motivation, his intensity, and redemption are spot on.
Cronin's gift as a writer is creating characters the reader cares about deeply, but also characters who are real, they are people we know. He is able to capture the mundane, as well as the very best and very worst of humanity. One of his new characters, Danny Chayes is an autistic man (though Cronin never uses the word, the description is pretty text book) who is responsible for saving at least a dozen lives, and even the start of a new generation. It is the first time I have seen such a brilliant and positive portrayal of an autistic character in the fiction that I have read.
My only regret in reading The Twelve is that I did not go back and read The Passage again to refresh my memory on the details. Now, I wait, less than patiently, for the final installment and the confrontation with Zero.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
11 Aralık 2012 Salı
Locals Lead The Nutcracker Ballet This Weekend
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This weekend's community production of Makaroff Youth Ballet's The Nutcracker casts talent with local ties in the spotlight at the Fox Cities P.A.C. Along with the young dancers in Makaroff Youth Ballet, the production features live music by the Fox Valley Symphony and members of the White Heron Chorale.

In the leading roles, Makaroff Youth Ballet has cast professional dancer with strong local ties, and we are thrilled to have them grace our stage!
Kyle Davis, a Green Bay native and former student of Jeanette Makaroff, will dance the lead role of the Cavalier. Davis currently performs with the Pacific Northwest Ballet, and his dancing partner, Leta Biasucci, will join him in this production as the Sugar Plum Fairy.
Tickets to see Makaroff Youth Ballet's The Nutcracker on Saturday, December 8 and Sunday, December 9 start at $20. Great seats are still available for both performances, so don't miss this classic holiday adventure!_______________________________________________
KYLE DAVIS* (Cavalier) is from Green Bay, Wisconsin. He trained at Makaroff School of Ballet and on scholarship at Rock School for Dance Education and North Carolina School of the Arts, and he attended summer courses on scholarship at Milwaukee Ballet School, the School of American Ballet and Pacific Northwest Ballet School. He has also studied with Ethan Stiefel and Warren Conover. In 2008, Davis won the Prix de Lausanne competition in Lausanne, Switzerland. He also won various awards in the Youth America Grand Prix Regional and Finals in 2005 and 2006. He was a 2007-2008 recipient of the Elizabeth Harriet Weaver Memorial Scholarship and the Martha and Spencer Love Foundation Scholarship for Excellence in the Arts at the North Carolina School of the Arts. Davis joined Pacific Northwest Ballet as an apprentice in 2008 and was promoted to corps de ballet in 2009. Davis has performed leading roles in George Balanchine’s Divertimento from Le Baiser de la Fée, Marco Goecke’s Place a Chill, Ronald Hynd’s The Sleeping Beauty (Bluebird pas de deux, Gold and Silver pas de trois), Jean-Christophe Maillot’s Roméo et Juliette (Benvolio), Annabelle Lopez Ochoa’s Cylindrical Shadows and Kent Stowell’s Cinderella (Jester) and Swan Lake (Jester). He has performed featured roles in George Balanchine’s Symphony in C and Stowell’s Carmina Burana and Nutcracker.
LETA BIASUCCI* (Sugar Plum Fairy) is from Carlisle, Pennsylvania. She studied under Marcia Dale Weary at Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet and became a trainee at San Francisco Ballet School in 2006. She joined Oregon Ballet Theatre in 2008. Biasucci joined Pacific Northwest Ballet as a member of the corps de ballet in 2011. Biasucci has performed leading roles in George Balanchine’s Coppélia (Swanilda, Waltz of the Golden Hours) and Divertimento from Le Baiser de la Fée, Alexei Ratmansky’s Don Quixote (Cupid), Kent Stowell’s Carmina Burana and Cinderella, and Christopher Wheeldon’s Variations Sérieuses (Young Girl). She has also danced featured roles in Ronald Hynd’s The Sleeping Beauty (Red Riding Hood). At Oregon Ballet Theatre, Biasucci performed leading and featured roles in George Balanchine’s Emeralds, The Four Temperaments, The Nutcracker, and Tarantella; Nicolo Fonte’s Left Unsaid; James Kudelka’s Hush; Trey McIntyre’s Speak; Yuri Possokov’s Raymonda and Dennis Spaight’s Gloria. She originated leading roles in the collaborative Stravinsky Project by Jamey Hampton, Anne Mueller, Ashley Roland, and Rachel Tess and Christopher Stowell’s A Holiday Revue.
ASHLEE BORMES (Snow Queen) Growing up in Neenah, Wisconsin, Ashlee began dancing and became a devoted student at Makaroff School of Ballet, where she trained for ten years. She supplemented her training at various summer programs including Gelsey Kirkland Academy, Martha Graham School, Ellison Ballet, San Francisco Ballet School, Joffrey Chicago, and Royal Winnipeg Ballet School. While dancing with Makaroff Youth Ballet, she performed in The Nutcracker, The Brementown Musicians, Renderings and many others. Currently, Ashlee attends Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX, where she pursues a degree in Dance as well as Biochemistry. Her most recent performances include Mel Tomlinson’s premier of Le Coeur de Ballet as well as a premiere choreographed by Adam Hougland entitled, Five Preludes. She is thrilled to return and perform The Nutcracker with Makaroff Youth Ballet and hopes the magical performance leaves the audience filled with the joyful passion of the holiday season.
MJ MARSH (Herr Drosselmeyer) is happy to be home. A native of Appleton, he has been living in Minneapolis for three years performing with Bearded Men Improv and is a new addition to Comedy Sportz Twin Cities. He would like to thank the Makaroff Youth Ballet for having him back to play one of his favorite roles.

TERRY L. IRWIN (Grandfather) started his ballroom dancing career as a dance instructor at Arthur Murray Dance Studio in Cincinnati, Ohio 35 years ago and has since developed numerous ballroom dancers into national champions with whom he shares several titles. Terry has been the principal choreographer for TC Dance Club and the Dayton Arthur Murray Studio stage productions for 16 years. Terry has also choreographed and performed in Bob Hopes’ last U.S. Tour, as well as several Miss America Pageants, and the Franki Valli and the Four Seasons tour. Terry owns and operates TC Dance Club in Appleton.
JUANITA MAKAROFF (Grandmother), along with her husband Nikolai, taught ballet in the Fox Cities beginning in 1960. She directed the Children’s Ballet Theatre which became the precursor to the Makaroff Youth Ballet. Many of their students and subsequent company members continued to dance with companies throughout the United States and the world. Since 2003, the company is now in the capable hands of their daughter Jeanette who had returned after many years of dancing with the North Carolina Dance Theater and the Milwaukee Ballet Company as soloist, ballet mistress and teacher.
** Leta Biasucci and Kyle Davis appear courtesy of Pacific Northwest Ballet.
Headshots courtesy of Angela Sterling and Bob Rueckl

In the leading roles, Makaroff Youth Ballet has cast professional dancer with strong local ties, and we are thrilled to have them grace our stage!
Kyle Davis, a Green Bay native and former student of Jeanette Makaroff, will dance the lead role of the Cavalier. Davis currently performs with the Pacific Northwest Ballet, and his dancing partner, Leta Biasucci, will join him in this production as the Sugar Plum Fairy.
Tickets to see Makaroff Youth Ballet's The Nutcracker on Saturday, December 8 and Sunday, December 9 start at $20. Great seats are still available for both performances, so don't miss this classic holiday adventure!_______________________________________________
TERRY L. IRWIN (Grandfather) started his ballroom dancing career as a dance instructor at Arthur Murray Dance Studio in Cincinnati, Ohio 35 years ago and has since developed numerous ballroom dancers into national champions with whom he shares several titles. Terry has been the principal choreographer for TC Dance Club and the Dayton Arthur Murray Studio stage productions for 16 years. Terry has also choreographed and performed in Bob Hopes’ last U.S. Tour, as well as several Miss America Pageants, and the Franki Valli and the Four Seasons tour. Terry owns and operates TC Dance Club in Appleton.
JUANITA MAKAROFF (Grandmother), along with her husband Nikolai, taught ballet in the Fox Cities beginning in 1960. She directed the Children’s Ballet Theatre which became the precursor to the Makaroff Youth Ballet. Many of their students and subsequent company members continued to dance with companies throughout the United States and the world. Since 2003, the company is now in the capable hands of their daughter Jeanette who had returned after many years of dancing with the North Carolina Dance Theater and the Milwaukee Ballet Company as soloist, ballet mistress and teacher.
** Leta Biasucci and Kyle Davis appear courtesy of Pacific Northwest Ballet.
Headshots courtesy of Angela Sterling and Bob Rueckl
Annual Partners Are Like Snowflakes
To contact us Click HERE
With giving levels starting at $50, become an Annual Partnerthis holiday season and add to the excitement at the Fox Cities P.A.C.
Annual Partners:
Discover how you can make an impact at the Fox Cities PerformingArts Center. Visit foxcitiespac.com/annual-partners to learn more and make a gift online!
With giving levels starting at $50, become an Annual Partnerthis holiday season and add to the excitement at the Fox Cities P.A.C.
Annual Partners:
- Are Unique
Annual Partners include people of all ages, backgrounds and interests who give from the heart.
- Support a Common Cause
While giving at many levels and for many different reasons, Annual Partners want to support live performing arts in the Fox Cities.
- Make a Big Impact
The more, the merrier. Together, support from Annual Partners creates a theater wonderland!
Discover how you can make an impact at the Fox Cities PerformingArts Center. Visit foxcitiespac.com/annual-partners to learn more and make a gift online!
"It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas"
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Nothing sparks the holiday spirit like Miracle on 34th Street. For many, the film is a yearly tradition, but did you know it has a long history onstage too?
In 1963 Meredith Willson (The Music Man, The Unsinkable Molly Brown) wrote the book, music and lyrics for a new Broadway show called Here's Love based on "Miracle on 34th Street."
With songs like "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" and other festive favorites, the show was a hit and had everyone, not just Susan, believing in the holiday spirit.
On Tuesday, December 11, Willson's creation will be brought to life again onstage at the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center in Appleton. Great seats are still available, so gather the family together for a special holiday show!
Nothing sparks the holiday spirit like Miracle on 34th Street. For many, the film is a yearly tradition, but did you know it has a long history onstage too?In 1963 Meredith Willson (The Music Man, The Unsinkable Molly Brown) wrote the book, music and lyrics for a new Broadway show called Here's Love based on "Miracle on 34th Street."
With songs like "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" and other festive favorites, the show was a hit and had everyone, not just Susan, believing in the holiday spirit.
On Tuesday, December 11, Willson's creation will be brought to life again onstage at the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center in Appleton. Great seats are still available, so gather the family together for a special holiday show!
It's Raining Free Tickets: Congratulations To Latest SOB Contest Winner!
To contact us Click HERE

It's Raining Free Tickets: Congratulations To Latest SOB Contest Winner!
Remember how much I told you I loved Rain - A Tribute To The Beatles?
Today, I'm thrilled to send a lucky Steve On Broadway reader to see the show. Congratulations to Eleah Burman from New York, New York, who has just won two free tickets to see Rain - A Tribute To The Beatles at Broadway's Neil Simon Theatre!
Eligible entries for this SOB Contest needed to subscribe to this blog, follow me on Twitter (and then retweet one of my contest messages) and follow me on Facebook.
Congratulations again, Eleah!
Thank you to everyone who entered the contest. By subscribing to Steve On Broadway, you'll automatically be entered in all future contests!
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
In keeping with the new Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regulations that unfairly discriminate against bloggers, who are now required by law to disclose when they have received anything of value they might write about, please note that I have received nothing of value in exchange for this post. However, in conjunction with SpotCo, two tickets for Rain: A Tribute To The Beatles will be given away to one lucky reader. http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping

Remember how much I told you I loved Rain - A Tribute To The Beatles?
Today, I'm thrilled to send a lucky Steve On Broadway reader to see the show. Congratulations to Eleah Burman from New York, New York, who has just won two free tickets to see Rain - A Tribute To The Beatles at Broadway's Neil Simon Theatre!
Eligible entries for this SOB Contest needed to subscribe to this blog, follow me on Twitter (and then retweet one of my contest messages) and follow me on Facebook.
Congratulations again, Eleah!
Thank you to everyone who entered the contest. By subscribing to Steve On Broadway, you'll automatically be entered in all future contests!
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
In keeping with the new Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regulations that unfairly discriminate against bloggers, who are now required by law to disclose when they have received anything of value they might write about, please note that I have received nothing of value in exchange for this post. However, in conjunction with SpotCo, two tickets for Rain: A Tribute To The Beatles will be given away to one lucky reader. http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping
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