Welcome to The Dancing Catalystic Dreamer Site! (formerly Dancing Sfardic Dreamer)
Tengo consentida perfecta para mi. Soy feliz. I have the perfect lady whom I hope to marry, if she will have me. I am content. May, 2004
I will be updating my home page less, probably, since I have been persuaded by a friend to join LiveJournal -but you will need to register and add me as a friend in order to see my friends-only posts, which are generally the most interesting.
testing my newly installed Tsalagi (Cherokee) Font which does not work on my LiveJournal but does work here... Many Thanks to the Cherokee Nation which makes this font available for download here: http://www.cherokee.org/Extras/Downloads/Font/syllabarytest.htm

Image Font
tsalagi 1
osiyo 2
wado 3

"INTJs enjoy developing unique solutions to complex problems." As an I but sometimes E on the MBTI this statement fits me to a T!

new photo 30 mar 2005

My bookmarks are slowly being backed up on Delicious

Some of my recent travels ...

Kol Bo, a wonderful Jewish store in the Boston area, has a nice selection of Sephardic music.
Judaismo Hoy, about Ladino, a Ladino forum, a surprise photo of me from a 1999 party

My updated resume should focus on sales and solar energy... there is a link further down on this page...

"Oil Color Sky"

The heavens are Her canvas
The Almighty, the Artist
On a background of blue
Her brush strokes clouds

Troubles dispatched,
Fears allayed;
From glorious dawn
to gentle dusk
A beautiful day...

(c) Thursday 4 April 2002

See some of my academic goals for life, thoughts about money and 2001 values .

I was just in a play, and a fellow cast member posted some photos of us. I'll put these on my own home page soon...

I loved it in Turkey so much that I am particularly focusing on finding work there.
De Turkia, me encanta. La gente son hospitable e amable, preguntando muchos cuestions de inmediato, como "cuantos a�os tienes", y "tienes hijos" y asi. Tambi�n, me invitan a beber te con frequencia, y tienen una leyenda, dicen que si bebes te con alguien, estaramos amigos para cuarenta a�os.

Some of my ideas on building just community.
I enjoy the NEFFA festival, and the Lowell Folk Festival.


I've recently joined Servas, a peace-oriented NGO advocating traveling and talking with people from different parts of the world as a way of building the supports for peace. To join, you ought to first become a Servas host, and then write a Letter of Introduction to help hosts get to know you.
I am currently focused on dancing as much as possible, finding opportunities to sing, being active in my Chavurah, and setting my goals for life in Turkey, where I will be moving in late Summer 2004.
I will need to updagte my resume , soon, when I finish my TEFL course.

March, 2004
Sleep can do amazing things for a person, I've recently discovered. Reflection, when not totally exhausted, is much more fruitful than reflection when all one wants to do is stop, and rest.

I have recently traveled for the first time to Barcelona, after a brief stop with a friend of mine in London. I found it a very educational trip, seeing more of people than actual places.

These days, I try to be more simple in my outlooks on various parts of life. I live for the longing reach of the Spanish Guitar, the stretch of the oud, the trill of the mandolin, joined by the wail of the voilin, in accord with the beat of the santouri -my Jewish soul lives in the Mediterranean.

I have finished a MA degree, and am looking to teach overseas. I would like to teach English, math, and basic computer skills to women in poor countries, but I also love the Mediterranean, and eventually want to live in Spain and Italy, after Turkey.
My former persona in the SCA.
An acquaintaince of mine has a horse business.


Pre-November, 2003
I love cooking! :-)
As a long term goal, I hope to help foster a community which is
tolerant, open, just, hard-working, and fun! :-) Some of my ideas on solving the world's problems...

Though I am currently a full time graduate student and sometimes substitute teacher, my top short-term goal is to find work making presentations or doing public speaking, cooking or mentoring.

Hobbies

I love international folk dance, singing, cooking, writing poetry, and like to ice skate, cross-country ski, and work on solutions to people's problems. I also like to do arts and
crafts (particualarly inkle and small card/tablet loom weaving), and am working on learning to read and play music.
I am an INTJ, on the Myers-Briggs personality indicator scale.

I have very much enjoyed teaching Hebrew and Jewish studies at a reform synagogue in New Hampshire.
In addition to studying Spanish, I am looking into taking classes in American Sign Language (ASL), and have been working on Hebrew finger spelling. I find that learning the sign language for many words (such as izquierda/left, and derecho/right) in ASL helped me to learn them in Spanish. Probably because I am a strongly kinesthetic learner.

I love the idea of Eco-Kashrut! As for worship style, I actually prefer the Reconstructionist and Jewish Renewal movement philosophies.

In terms of prayer, I vastly prefer the gender neutral prayers adopted by many progressive Jewish congregations over the traditional masculine gender prayers. For me, being able to pray to G-d in the feminine makes a huge difference. I love being able to pick up a siddur and pray, since the set liturgy gives me the freedom to insert my own prayers, if I need to, into the context of a tradition that provides both structure and a set of words that I can always use, no matter what mood I am in, or how I feel that day. Despite my on-going struggles with Diety, its existence, benevolence or lack thereof, and its relationship to me, I always have a set of words which have withstood the test of time, and brought comfort to wiser and cooler heads than mine.

I am working on becoming fluent in writing my own movie reviews in Spanish (and translate my site into espan~ol) and Hebrew, and thus am seeking a pen-pal with whom I may email in Spanish via a pen-pal site, primarily, or also in modern Israeli Hebrew.

I may wish to foster and adopt children, somewhere between 5 to 12 years from now. That, of course, will require my finding a compatible partner who also wants to have or adopt children.
While I remain undecided, but open to the idea of raising children, I definitely wish to teach and mentor children.
I have discovered that all of my seemingly scattered interests point me toward teaching mathematics in a Spanish-speaking country where I can be of service to the community. Here is my dream of how I'd like to do it:

If I had all of the money I needed, I would spend four hours per day dancing, four hours per day teaching, and four hours per day reading, writing, thinking, and communicating. I would split my time between dancing with one or two passionate motivated dancers, teaching in a team with a fellow caring earnest teacher, in a school where the students need us, want to learn, and choose to be there, and reflecting upon how to improve myself and the world around me, writing letters, passing on information to help others. I would do all of this in a Jewish enclave of a Spanish-speaking place that feels like the Mediterranean. I would make just enough money to meet my needs comfortably and perhaps save a bit for retirement. Then again, with a life such as this, I wouldn�t need to retire.
My musing about money .

My philosophy on child-rearing continues to evolve as I take graduate classes toward a Master of Arts in teaching and read others work about teaching secondary mathematics, and I also enjoy studying the history of math.

I am told that I should consider ways to reward myself, next year (~summer 2004), with a graduation treat/present/reward. If any of my friends have suggestions, please let me know. Rewarding myself is not, I am told, one of my strong points.
I'm thinking of getting myself the Carlos Santana CD "Shaman" as a present.
I still think that joining the Peace Corp and teaching in Argentina would be a wonderful graduation present, personally. catalan_athens@yahoo.com

I am seeking work as a cook, research analyst, or systems engineer/architect.

I am a Jewess by Choice , keeping Sfardic customs, in search of community.

In the rest of my spare time, I volunteer with various local
community service groups, like Habitat for Humanity, and the
local Soup Kitchen/Shelter.

One book near the top of my current list of books to read is Thomas Kuhn's The Structure of Scientific Revolutions.

Thom Hartmann has written another of my favorite books, Hunter in a Farmer's world.

One of my friends is working on a writers site.

A few years ago I did some fairly extensive note-taking on health .
I also have an interest in astrology from a Jewish perspective as a topic of science and history, as well as from a mathematical perspective.


My personal priorities revolve around living a useful life,
leaving the world a better place for my having been here.

To that end, I try to find underlying issues on which to concentrate.
To me, this means working toward reforms in
the way our society handles learning, political
influence, and the rights of the individual. This translates,
for me, into working on education, campaign finance reform,
and allowing same-sex marriage.


I seek to build a community of friends who pull together toward these goals, dancing
ever closer, and eventually to find a partner with whom to share the
intimacy of these dreams and hopes, along the way.

If you would like to help me in these endeavors, or if I may
be of help to you in similar goals, please contact me:
(This cloak was made by a friend...)

More about my interests below...


Sevgili Arkadaslarim, Maalesef vaktim yok, Turkce'yi yazmaya icin. Onemli seyler Turkce'de yazmayi calisirim ama genelde ingilizce'de yazarim cunku onlari daha basini genismesi lazim, ABD degistermek icin, dunya baris yapmak ve calismak icin, inshallah. Eger bir sey okumak istersen (Turkce'de), lutfen, bana haber verin ve cevermesi calisirim. Haydi optum size, Shira. ---

Queridos Amigos, Mis dato de contacto están aqui:

http://www.livejournal.com/users/shirad/133220.html

Para mis amigos que solamente hablan Español. Soy mujer sencilla y simple. La mayoria de mis puestos son para amigos y escriben en ambos Español y Ingles. Si ustds quieren leer a mis escritos privados deben de firmar en LiveJournal como amigo mio. Serian ustds muy bienvenidos. Eso es sobre yo: Trabajo en PhD sobre la justicia economica y en particular la moneda social en el Mediterraneao y America Latina. Tengo un sueño, y no sé si es practical o no. Si yo tenía todo el dinero y tiempo que necesito, y no tenía que trabajar, yo quisiera trabajar por 4 horas por día en bailar, y otra 4 en enseñar a niños y adultos quien quieren trabajar, aprender, con otra maestra que le importa la gente, y otra 4 horas por día en pensar, escribir, y comunicando como mejorar las cosas. Yo quisiera hacer todo esto en un lugar cerca del mar, donde hay gente de muchos lugares del mundo, quien hablan muchos idiomas, y donde hay comunidad Progresista con otras mujeres. Ahora lo se que es posible, con mucho trabajo. Lograre, con ayuda de mis queridos amigos. -----

Dear Friends, please note: Some of my more interesting posts are friends-only, so if you are a friend of mine, please register and add me as a friend or drop me a message so that İ can add you to my friends list. I am currently working on a PhD in Social Policy focusing on economic justice and alternative currencies in the Mediterranean and Latin America. I tend to be idealistic, hard working, to the point, and sometimes too bouncy for my own good. :-) I love everything about the Mediterranean, love to cook, love to dance, love to sing, love to meet new people and learn new things. I live in the UK (my friends-only contact information), where I am researching social and public policy. Much more about me on my home page personal page section: www.oocities.org/catalan_athens/personal.html. I am also on Orkut, same username.

----- Favorite Story online: Obs for Gands (and how to become a Gand if you're not already one): Eric Frank Russell:

http://www.abelard.org/e-f-russell.htm

-- Major Life Goals:

In addition to simply meeting people with whom I can form a lasting connections, I am seeking to build a network of friends who will form a supportive community of thinking, positive-action honest folk striving to better the world, with whom I can join in those efforts, encourage, and turn to for encouragement, as well as have earnest, safe, fun with.

İmportant Philosophies: Egalitarian Judaism

---- from THE JEWISH COALITION "RESPONDING TO HIV/AIDS IN AFRICA"

Introduction:

The Jewish obligation to respond to the AIDS crisis derives from the Jewish values which require that we not stand idly by when others are suffering, that we help heal the sick. Our obligation is also driven by pikuach nefesh, the mitzvah which requires us "to save life" and the mitzvah of bikkur cholim, visiting and tending to the needs of those who are suffering from illness. We are taught that every person is created betzelem elohim - in the image of God- and therefore deserves basic human rights and dignity. As we learn in the Talmud, "Each person, tall or short, deformed or normal, sinner or non-sinner, has a life whose value is infinite, equal to the value of the entire world." --

And for more recent news: http://www.africaaction.org/newsroom/release.php?op=read&documentid=1843&type=2&issues=11

10 key values, affordable housing, akdeniz, alternative currency, alternative economics, alternative education, altruists, amazons, ancient athens, ancient history, andalucía, aprender, arabic, art, athena, aviation, babylon 5, ballet, barter, bayesian networks, building community, bulerias, cantorial studies, catalan, coalition of essential schools, community currency, comunidades intencionales, cooking, costa rica, cross country skiing, cross stitch, dance as meditation, darkover, demarchy, derechos humanos, economic justice, educational entertainment, egalitarian judaism, egalitarianism, ege, excellence, eşitlik, fair trade, feminism, fencing, flamenco, folk dance, folk music, frida kahlo, friendship, gandhi, gay rights, global civil society, greek, green party, havurat shalom egalitarian siddur, hebrew, herland, historical fiction, history, hittites, horseback riding, human rights, ice skating, idiomas, igualdad, intentional community, international politics, izmir, judaism, justicia, kahlil gibran, ladino, learning about other cultures, learning exchanges, lets, libertad, marathon, meditation, mediterranean, meeting new people, mevlana, modern dance, moneda social, movement, museos, museums, myers-briggs, mysticism, natural resources policy, negative population growth, nigunim, noam chomsky, nonviolence, open borders, pablo neruda, pacifism, peace, personal growth, poesía, poetry, positive peace, preventive health care, psychology, rabbinical studies, reconstructionist judaism, recycling, renewable energy, research, rock climbing, rome, same-sex marriage, sephardic culture, servas, sevillanas, seville, shabbat, sharing skills, sign language, singing, single payer system, social credit, social justice, solar energy, sortition, soulmates, spanish, spirituality, sufism, sustainability, sustainable living, tango, teaching math, tikun olam, time bank, time dollars, torah, traveling, tsalagi, türkçe, universal health care, voluntary simplicity, waldorf schools, weaving, wind energy, women's rights, women's self defense, world hunger, world social forum,

00awbcfreeradio, 100poems, _a_muse, a_better_world, americandissent, ancientamericas, antiadvertising, antizionistjews, artist_jews, ashamedamerican, asimov_fanfic, asimovians, babylon5, bath_uk, blindi, caringconsumer, cherokee_people, chilenos, chomsky_ru, colombia_, ecofeminism, ecovillage, egal_jews, ethics_vs_law, full_bellies, global_justice, global_nomads, green_rainbow, greenparty, guerillanews, hispano, hospitalityclub, indi_issues, jato, jewish_poets, jewishvegan, jewishwomen, karaites, leftunity, lostvoices, med_embroidery, mzb, nativeamerica, nativeamerican, nativeamericans, noamchomsky_, noncapitalists, nujls, octaviabutler, peaceniks, peacetrain, poesia, promo_espanol, tai_chi, talesofglenien, theatreatfirst, toma_sik, tremontstshul, trustmetrics, turkish_lang, venezuela, weirdjews, womenofstrength, worldhunger, wwoof שלום


Toward Peace For All, Paz para todos,

Dancing Catalystic Dreamer

For questions, constructive comments, etc, catalan_athens@yahoo.com