Monday, August 18, 2014

"Never Done"

A friendly reminder that "Never Done" - stories of women's work is tonight at Club Passim. AUG 18th at 7pm. Some fabulous performers are joining me to create a great show and raise some do-re-mi for massmouth

http://massmouth.org/2014/08/never-done-stories-about-women-at-work/ “Never Done”- Real stories from women at work in the world. We lean in, lean out, bend over, fall down and get back up. Come listen to a collection of stories about women’s work that are as varied as the women who tell them. Aug 18th at 7pm in a fund raiser for massmouth featuring cofounder Norah Dooley and friends: Devin Bramhall, Cheryl Hamilton, Cindy Pierce, Sue Schmidt, and Carolyn Stearns, at legendary Club Passim. The 1st Person Plural series is hosted by our honorary sister and stay-at-home dad, HR Britton.

Teaching artist:Young Audiences
Storyteller/producer
In this special edition of 1st person Plural the stories are longer and there is no distracting competition. Lean back or lean in, your choice; just come and listen. Doors at 6:30 show at 7PM TIX are $15 at the door $12 online: http://passim.org/club/1st-person-plural-0. Students/ seniors: $7 at the door only  A bit of back story about our Performers:Cindy Pierce is an innkeeper, storyteller and mother of three. Sue Schmidt is a therapist, drummer and mother of two. Carolyn Stearns is a full-time storyteller and lives on a family dairy farm and is a mother of four. Cheryl Hamilton works in Refugee Protection Devin Bramhall is a social media marketer and manager, HR Britton is an actor, storyteller, producer, educator and stay-at-home dad. Feature Norah Dooley is a storyteller, gadfly,educator and mother of four.Here is a teaser from my (Norah's) story: One Woman's Search for Right Livelihood:
Right Livelihood is a way of making a living that does no harm to others.
My first real job was working as a counter waitress at Brigham's Ice Cream Shop - making cones and sundaes while eating as much product as I could without getting fired. I got the job after my mother gave me a stinging wake up call. I was miserable, had just had my little toe broken by some hellions I had been baby sitting when she came to walk me home. She looked my me deeply in the eye - "You don't like taking care of children, do you?" She sounded a little surprised or bemused. If I was honest I say I didn't. I'd say simple the truth had wanted a job and some money. And I liked kids who liked me. But these kids were so tough and I liked kids. Their mom, a nurse working her doctor husband's way through a medical residency, was desperate so the pay was better than average.
Right Livelihood is, also, a way to earn a living without compromising the Precepts.
A few of which state:
No killing
No stealing
No misusing sex
We built a house, a barn and a shed
But I hated the babysitting job. And hated myself for hating it. That day, the kids broke my toe by slamming the bathroom door on it and locking themselves in after I had jerked my foot out. As they screeched with laughter and I hopped in pain, I was feeling quite out of alignment with the Precepts of the Buddha. In fact I was in a sputtering homicidal and ultimately powerless rage. "No killing?" Really. Clearly the freakin' Buddha had never babysat.
When my mother had asked me I exploded a, "Yes" that even surprised me. Then my mother said ,"No one who hates taking care of kids should ever be alone doing that work." Yeah. She knew what she was talking about. Skipping over the deep irony here, I quit babysitting; watching children for pay and never looked back. Until I had my own children....
To learn  more about Right Livelihood  Tickets at the Door are $15 http://passim.org/club/1st-person-plural-0.
Students/ seniors: $7 at the door only.




Organic farming Apprentice - Bittersweet Farm

Gadfly, Boston Public Library, 2010.