Teaching at Rangeley Region Fitness Center

Going to be in the Rangeley Lakes region over Christmas and New Years?

Get out of the cold and come warm up at my yoga class at the Rangeley Region Fitness Center!

I’ll be teaching a “yoga-lates” class.  (It’s really more of a Core Flow, but I guess “yoga-lates” is better marketing.)

Class times are:
Monday 12/28 –  9am

Tuesday 12/29 — 5pm

Wednesday 12/30 — 9am

Hope to see you there!

Heartbroken for Maine

For once, I am praying that the old saying “as Maine goes, so goes the nation” does not hold true.

Born and raised in the state of Maine, I have always been a proud Mainiac.  Many friends would say my pride goes to the point of snobbishness and they would be right.  Maine is, in my opinion, a great state.

Until today.  Today, 53% of Maine voters repealed a law to allow same-sex marriages.  The law would have redefined “marriage” as a the “legally recognized union of two people” rather than that solely of a man and woman.

The outcome of this vote  sickens me with disappointment in the people of my state, a state I have long touted as being warm, open-minded and thoughtful.

It also feels like my own upcoming marriage in Maine has been lessened, cheapened and made slightly sordid because many, many people I know will not be able to choose to make this same commitment.  A commitment of the heart, soul and mind.

A comment on Facebook this morning pointed out that many people used to feel the same way about interracial marriages.  The Loving vs. Virginia case in1963 legally declared that interracial couples could marry and that laws prohibiting couples from marrying were in violation of “one of the ‘basic civil rights of man’”.

During the initial trial in Virginia, Judge Leo Bazile declared:

Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, malay and red, and he placed them on separate continents. And but for the interference with his arrangement there would be no cause for such marriages. The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix.

Does this not echo the very same arguments being made against same-sex marriage?   Bazile’s view of racial division and interracial marriage seems almost quaint and certainly bigoted and old-fashioned by today’s standards.

Perhaps that’s our challenge here in this century – in this decade.   To overcome the bigotry that prevents a group of individuals from having the same rights as others.  To stand up against this blatant discrimination.  To make right what has gone so very wrong in the state of Maine, so that someday we can look back at this issue, with a shadow of shame, and comment on how foolish and quaint it once seemed to deny people the right to marry.

 

Back from the Great White North

No, not quite Canada … about 60 minutes from the border by car, though. The holiday break in Rangeley was fantastic, and I didn’t crumble into a tiny, broken pool of humanity at the lack of internet connection. In fact, I’m quite proud of how I did!

What did I do instead?

I went skiing:

Snowshoeing:

Skating:

Watched the deer out the windows:

Celebrated the holiday with silly headgear:

Watched sunsets set the sky on fire:

And contemplated the brevity of life:

Nope. Didn’t miss the internet at all. Which must be the reason I’ve been online since I got home and my eyes feel like their going to fall out of my head. Must be.