Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Main Street

Mary Ann Cook

Women's works see print, thanks to Los Gatan

'A MAD NOTION came over me. I sat bolt upright in bed." That's Janet McEwan talking, and thus was her publishing house, Running Deer Press, born. McEwan is publisher/editor--indeed, the entire staff--of Writing for Our Lives , a magazine of poetry, short fiction, autobiographical pieces and journal entries from women. In her nonpublishing life McEwan is a psychiatric and mental health nurse and clinical specialist at Good Sam, and has been for 26 years. She also ran a psychotherapy practice in downtown Los Gatos for 10 years, now the home of Running Deer Press.

So impressed was she with her colleagues' work in writing courses that she wanted them to have a further outlet and decided she could provide that outlet. Running Deer was a name she had picked for herself on a backpacking trek. Writing for Our Lives appears twice a year, summer and winter, and the 11th volume is just out. McEwan receives so many submissions that she uses only 5 percent of material received, but her enthusiasm hasn't flagged in five years: "I love my mailbox." Running Deer pays in copies, and its address is 647 N. Santa Cruz Ave., annex. Phone: 354-8604.

CAN'T STOP DANCIN': The audience enjoyed the Scotch and Irish tunes at a recent Music in the Plaza Sunday, but was really enthralled by the impromptu dancing of a youngster in the audience. So enchanting was her performance that the trio Paradise Lost invited Bridget Blackwell, 7, of Saratoga, to come on stage with them. Bridgit has taken step dancing at a Willow Glen dance studio, and that training clearly showed, said onlookers. "Not only was she skilled and professional, but also cute as could be," was one appraisal heard. No, not from her father, Greg, who owns a building business in Los Gatos. At intermission, Mary Foster named the winners of this year's poetry awards and announced that henceforth the competition sponsored by Poetry for Everyone would be named the Bob Aldrich Poetry Competition, to commemorate the former Weekly-Times columnist who was twice named the town's poet laureate.

MODEL ORIENTATION: Four male models will be part of the Los Gatos Community Foundation's fundraiser, Elegance in Nature, on Sept. 13. Along with the 14 female models, they needed to get oriented to the '97 site of the gala, Blair House, and to each other. So Adu Bagley held a dinner party to map out site plans. Men's clothes will be from Joey's; women's clothes from Sue's, R.K. Shugart, Backdoor Boutique, Jennifer Croll and Romantique. Firemen and policemen will serve as models' escorts during the fashion show. Two husband-and-wife teams will trip down the garden path: Lita and Gordon Langlois and Teri Hope and Jan Hutchins. Councilmember Hutchins gave some pointers to the males on walking. For tickets to the event, a sellout last year, call 792-3233.

REUNION: Seven Girl Scouts went to Europe 14 years ago on a seven-week tour, and last month they held a reunion at Vasona Park, arranged by Julie Nunez and Leslie Fries. Now three are married and have one child each--Kathleen Langley, Tiffany Yuen and Dee Finelli (who couldn't come). Michele Dwyer and Joan Hunter were the other Girl Scouts involved; and Nunez, MarLyn Rasmussen and Bobbi Fries, originally the group's chaperones, attended the reunion. In the intervening years, the Berlin Wall--one stop on the tour--has fallen, but another, the Blarney Stone, remains. AFTERMATH MATH: Jean DuBois and his wife, Pat, overlook Vasona Reservoir, and from their deck they could plot the timing of the CDF helicopters used in the Cats fire. The trip took 312 minutes from the time the buckets were loaded until the copters' return, reports DuBois. Thus could he reckon how far away the conflagration (which he couldn't see) was. He estimated three miles, since helicopters clock 100 mph speeds. There were five helicopters used, not four, as the reports had it, DuBois adds. DuBois is a retired real estate appraiser, not math teacher, as I suspected.

CHILDREN'S AUTHOR Marissa Moss will donate a portion of the royalties from her latest book, Amelia Hits the Road, to Neighbors for Responsible Logging's initiative campaign. NRL's initiative would give counties jurisdiction over logging in their areas. NRL is based in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Moss' book will be in stores by late September. She says, "Preserving our environment for future generations should be a top priority for us all." Marissa, who lives in the Berkeley hills, is the sister of NRL member Elise Moss of the Los Gatos hills.

TAKE A TRIP TO PROVENCE via a Hillsborough mansion. The former Stetson House is the American Cancer Society's '97 Designer Show Case House through Sept. 28. Alexis Ulrich, L.G. interior designer, decorated the master suite, sitting room and master bath with the elegance and ease of Provence. For directions, call 415/578-9902, ext. 353.

RECEPTION for the show at the Los Gatos Museum on Tait Avenue is Sunday, Sept. 7, 1-4 p.m. Featured are pastels by Sheri Drake sculpture by Andree Parker and photographs by Anne Bement of San Francisco.

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