Marion Davies and Me. By Leslie Johansen Nack

By Leslie Johansen Nack

What makes a femi-

nist? Is it the result of a smart woman living her life under the thumb of a powerful man?

Marion Davies lived much of her adult life with the controlling and uber-powerful William Randolph Hearst. Her unconventional life meant she had to endure the scrutiny of that relationship with Hearst through the lens of the class and caste system of America in the 1920s and ‘30s.

I lived under the thumb of my father Bjorn Erling Johansen who thought he had a right to my body, my mind, and my thoughts.

We both became feminists, Marion and me, though I’m not sure anybody has ever called Ms. Davies that before. She never marched for the woman’s right to vote and she never, that we know of, protested the mistreatment of women. But she ran a film studio, and made savvy real estate investments, at a time when very few women did.

When I visited Hearst Castle a few years ago, a docent mentioned that Marion Davies saved Hearst by loaning him $1 Million during the Great Depression. That surprised and intrigued me—I wanted to know more about the woman who saved the most powerful newspaper man in the world.

My research over the following two-and-a-half years fleshed out a complicated and sometimes difficult story of a young woman who made a choice at the age of eighteen to take up with a man thirtyfour years her senior. It changed her life and her entire family’s history, but she was under his thumb from then on.

I saved my father. I didn’t have a million dollars, but I literally saved his life. He was unconscious and unresponsive with a high fever in the middle of the night as our sailboat headed toward an atoll. As the de facto First Mate, I jumped into action—at only fourteen years old, I had already trained for years for this situation by the very man who lay in his bunk unconscious. We had sailed to French Polynesia on our fortyfive-foot sailboat with our captainfather a few months earlier, with no mother in the picture.

Two years of training on trimming the sails and steering through squalls, plus endless man-overboard drills had toughened me up. And navigating with a sextant—plotting and figuring shots—had me competing with dad to see who could get the most accurate position. But as I got better at all these jobs, the tension between us increased as he yelled at me, putting me down physically, criticizing my body, or worse, ignoring and disregarding me altogether. My confidence plummeted as his thumb pressed down on me.

That controlling thumb pressed down on Marion as well. Hearst controlled her life and her career. Where Marion wanted to make comedies or play strong females, he insisted on her starring in wholesome family or historical dramas. And partly because she was caught up in a feud between Hearst and Orson Welles— his big thumb is Citizen Kane, where she’s portrayed as a talentless bored alcoholic.

I know there isn’t much to feel sorry about when it comes to Marion Davies, is there? The woman lived in Hearst Castle after all! William Randolph Hearst gave her every material thing he could think of. And yet, all along, she worked steadily and hard, churning out forty-four movies, and after twenty years in the movie industry, is never given credit for what she accomplished.

Ultimately Marion never got out from under the thumb. Neither did I really, but you can. You have more legal and societal tools at your disposal, to help even the playing field of life. The thumb may look a bit different today for certain people, but maybe not. Women of color have a different thumb on them than white women do, that thumb is not always a father or a husband, it can be the whole system of institutionalized racism that women of color fight against every day to get equal opportunities and economic justice. White men are still running the world after all, though many evolved men are helping in our fight.

Women make deeper inroads every day. Times have changed and we are all evolving, but we have much farther to go. The thumb still shows up somewhere in every woman’s life, pressing down, making some of us rise and push back against this unwanted authority over our person—and thus is born the feminist.

Leslie Johansen Nack is the author of Fourteen, A Daughter’s Memoir of Adventure, Sailing and Survival, and her debut novel being published May 3 2022 called The Blue Butterfly, A Novel of Marion Davies. For more information, please go Leslie Johansen to lesliejohansennack.com

COLUMNIST YOU and Your Doctor Are Your Medical Team

By Jackie Kellum

You might associate my name with my Ojo pet articles, and not neces-

sarily human medical topics. I was invited about 12 years ago by Ojo’s then-editor, Alex Grattan, to write a pet column because of my extensive experience with fostering infant motherless kittens and puppies. The focus of my columns has been to help people understand their pets better, so they could provide their care in a more informative way.

In many ways care of a pet is very similar to taking care of a human loved one, as well as ourselves. We are responsible for making decisions, observing changes, identifying medical problems, keeping medical appointments, possibly giving medications, etc. I believe we can all keep learning about how to best care for ourselves, and our loved ones.

My professional career for 40 plus years has been as a licensed registered nurse, having worked briefly in New York City, but mainly in Northern California. During these years I had a wide variety of hands-on work experiences, including: medical surgical patient care; acute rehabilitation of spinal cord, head injury and stroke patients; teaching both the patient and family how to deal with disabilities; a visiting nurse, making home visits; an assistant director of nurses at a 186bed Medicare-certified Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF); a director of nursing of a 99-bed Medicare-certified SNF; manager of quality review at a non-profit “watch dog” organization overseeing care provided to Medicare recipients in Northern California; and lastly, as a manger of health services of a non-profit health care plan. I am not outlining my work experience for the sake of bragging, nor does it have anything to do with border promotions. All that I have listed is accurate and true.

From my various work experiences and positions, I have gained a lot of insight about how to help a person become more involved and educated with managing their own health and working as part of the health team, as a participating member, and not as a bystander.

The focus of my forth-coming articles is to emphasize that YOU, as “the patient,” are part of your own medical team! I emphasize team, as that is what it is. Decisions are not made in isolation. You have a vested interest in your own health as an active participant and should be as educated as possible about decisions and actions that affect you.

In my columns, I will not give medical advice about medical conditions, which type of doctor to see, what tests should be utilized, what medications you should be taking, etc. These are medical decisions you must make with the help of your medical team. However, there is a wide area of general information and subjects outside of these above-mentioned specific medical topics that I can help offer guidance on, based on my experiences.

My first suggestion is to have a primary care physician (PCP), aka a family doctor who will be your “main doctor” for your general health problems/conditions, and who will also coordinate your care if you see any specialists. If you already have a family doctor, good decision. If you do not and keep thinking you’ll wait until you’re sick and need a doctor to pick one, then not so good. When you are well and not acutely ill, you make clearer decisions as time is not pushing you into making a quick decision when you are already challenged with a medical situation. Think about that.

Hope to see you back. Next article: What to Consider When Picking a Doctor.

Jackie Kellum

Verdant View

By Francisco Nava

“Ra, Ra, Sis Boom Bah”

In one of the grandest civilizations of all time, Ra was the ancient Egyptian deity of the sun and the month of May seems to be a month long tribute to

the sun god, it being the hottest and driest month of the year here at Lakeside.

The sun, which makes it possible for life to exist on Earth, is the closest star to the planet Earth. At a distance of 150 million kilometers (93 million miles), its gravitational pull holds the planet in orbit. Solar energy, light and heat radiate from it. What would life be like here on earth without the sun?

Sunlight is highly dynamic. The sun moves constantly throughout the day; also from season to season. Plants need sunlight to grow. Animals, including humans, need plants to provide food and oxygen to breathe. Without heat from the sun the Earth would freeze and there would be no winds, clouds to transport water nor ocean currents.

Although most plants flourish in full sun, some vegetables and herbs are more tolerant of less light. Leafy vegetables need a minimum of 4 hours of sun every day, root vegetables need a minimum of 6 hours of sun every day and fruiting vegetables need the most, optimally 8 hours or more of sun to produce an excellent crop.

Early civilizations around the world positioned buildings to face south to gather heat and light. Clerestory windows and skylights allowed for air circulation. These are elements of sustainable architecture. Selective shading and choosing building materials with thermal mass, meaning they store heat, are other aspects of sustainable (solar) architecture.

Solar energy can also be used to make potable water, suitable for drinking. One method is solar disinfection (SODIS). SODIS involves filling plastic bottles with water then exposing them to sunlight for several hours. This process reduces the viruses, bacteria and protozoa in water. More than 2 million people in 28 developing nations use this method daily for their drinking water.

The sun also gives us free and clean energy in abundance. It gives much more energy than we can possibly use. How and when can we take full advantage of this solar energy? I guess the answer is up to us to figure out.

So keep your plants watered well this month and ask if their position in

What to plant in May

This month is the hottest and driest of the entire year. Extra water is needed and possibly some shelter during the hottest time of day for you and your garden. Portulaca thrives, lantana, geraniums, pentas too. Look for them at the viveros. At this time of the year, it is usually too hot for pansies, petunias and primrose. Some gardeners have good luck with these in their cool, shade gardens…but for most these plants are “iffy” at best now. The Reina de la Noche blooms in May (look for these.) Start cucumbers, squash as well as eggplant, but remember they need lots of water (moist, well-drained soil). You could also put in sweet corn now, but most people wait until the rains begin. Plant seeds for gaillardia, coreopsis, coleus and cleome. Cut back ageratum, alyssum and petunias after blooming and geraniums too, removing their shaggy growth. They will all look better for it. Don’t forget to mist your orchids regularly.

- “Sun, sun, sun here it comes.”

Francisco Nava

Kim LeMieux Email: kimslakesideliving@gmail.com Ph: +1-650-863-3928

The Lake Chapala Society host Open Circle every Sunday at 10:30am, a popular community gathering in Ajijic, to enjoy a diverse range of presentations. Entrance by the side gate on Ramón Corona, gate opens at 9:30am. We recommend bringing a hat and bottled water, and please remove containers upon departure.

Use of mask is mandatory and chairs will be socially distanced.

Please make your reservation if you want to attend. https://opencircleajijic.org/ reservation_form.php

Check their website for upcoming presentations and if you missed a past presentation you can still enjoy it on line. https://opencircleajijic.org/

May 1, 2022 - Presentation by David Rosh: The Universal Threshold to Life:

The Experience of Grief and Loss

We all begin our life journey in a warm and protected space – the peace of our mother’s womb. It would seem the Creator intended for that amniotic universe to be paradise. What is true, paradise or not, is we all got evicted. I have come to see that loss is the SINE QUA NON for the journey. We are born via traumatic loss. We are endowed from the first moment with our most overlooked gift – our breath. Each new breath is born out of loss. Then, the new born shows us that we come equipped with survival energies: pain, anger, fear and love. Although these energies have no moral value, when not honored, they can result in behavior ignoble, even villainous.

Our learning the healthy expression of these feelings transforms not just “paradise lost” but the constant of loss into a JOURNEY TOWARD WHOLENESS. For most, if not all of us, a significant measure of those energies gets pushed down, ignored, rationalized, intellectualized, anesthetized through ignorance, addiction and/or dysfunctional programming.

Whatever has been your most recent or painful loss, I invite you to an 8 week experience of transforming that loss into liberation and empowerment. That’s your win. In exchange for this service, I ask that you gift the Lakeside Food Bank, following each session, with an amount of your choosing. Win/Win

David Rosh began his work as a priest and teacher. After earning a master’s degree in social work from Rutgers University he made his career as a psychotherapist, licensed marriage counselor and certified family therapist. His postgraduate studies and passion continue to be the study of transpersonal psychology. He served as Spiritual Coach with Hospice of the Valley for eight years. For over 20 years he led experiences of liberation and empowerment as a certified Grief Recovery Specialist with Arizona Banner Hospice having served some 8000 clients. He is a certified Infinite Possibilities Trainer. He proudly offers as his claim to fame walking “the wild woozy” while engaged in a Native American Vision Quest in the Adirondack Mountains of New York.

David Rosh

May 8, 2022 - Presentation by Fernando Ausin

Sustainability Leadership

BioTU is a sustainability education program that inspires sustainability-minded leadership and a deep sense of community collaboration through practical education, local opportunities, and replicable solutions. We provide educational resources that support the restoration of local environments

Fernando Ausin

through feasible solutions that leverage ecotechnologies and that promote sustainable entrepreneurship within communities in a creative, conscious, and enriching way. After 13 years of a mobile educational program crisscrossing Mexico and beyond, BioTU is currently developing its first Sustainability Education Training Center lakeside at the CETAC01 technical high school campus in Jocotepec. Please join us in co-creating an innovative and inspiring methodology for today’s students and future generations. You can learn more about their work at www.biotu.org.

Fernando Ausin is an international social entrepreneur with a strong passion for social justice and global sustainability. For the past 15 years, he has been studying the promise of survival for humanity from an indigenous perspective, traveling across 48 states in the US and most of Mexico to learn from scientists, academics and indigenous elders. He is the Co-Founder and Executive Director to BioTU, where he helps transmit their lessons to younger generations. He holds a BA in Latin American politics from Dartmouth College and has worked extensively as a consultant, educator and healer around the globe. For more information about Fernando, you can visit www.facebook.com/fausingomez/

May 15 - Presentation by Juanita Crampton

Post Life Planning for Pets

Ajijic and Lakeside communities are animal lovers. Expats and Mexican families are giving homes to many of the stray dogs and cats that have traditionally roamed the streets in record numbers. The question for us older expats, is what do we do with our pets when we can no longer care for them. The truth is many of us have pets who will outlive us. We are making end of life plans for ourselves. Are we making end of life plans for our pets? Post Life Planning for Pets is a new program Lakeside whose mission is to raise awareness about the need to plan. This is a program embraced by the animal rescue community as a way to minimize animals being dumped or abandoned when an owner dies. The program suggests guidelines for making a plan. This talk can offer a conversation and answer questions about planning for pets.

Juanita Crampton is an Ajijic resident, retired here for 5 1/2 years. Animal lover and visionary for the program Post Life Planning for Pets. Formerly a business owner and co-creator of Sattwa Chai, a nationally recognized chai brand in the US and Canadian markets. Partner in Briggs and Crampton caterers and Table for Two in Portland Oregon. Social worker in case management with low income adults and in resource development for developmentally disabled adults.

May 29 - Presentation by David Greenstein

The Innocence Project, Wrongly Convicted

Frightening and fascinating. Real stories of real people who have been freed by The Innocence Project, including some in Mexico. What happens when an innocent person is convicted and all avenues of appeal have been closed? The Innocence Project is not part of the legal system. It is private and has had over 1,000 people freed, some off Death Rows. Understand innocent is not the same as “Not Guilty.” I have given this talk to well over 10,000 people during the 9-years I did Enrichment Lectures on Royal Caribbean cruises. On many cruises this talk was voted one of the “Top Ten” best features of onboard “activities.” It won’t disappoint. Q&A period available after talk.

A Day In The Life Of A Despensa

I’m just a bag of groceries — beans, rice, soap, milk, eggs. When we arrived, we were sorted into smaller bags called despensas at the Surtido Warehouse in Chapala. We were tossed by Surtido workers Cesar and Martha into the hands of Javier and dumped in the back of his pickup truck. Then off we went to the pueblo of Santa Cruz, where I get to ease the suffering of elderly, sick and out-of-

Juanita Crampton

David Greenstein

work folks who – without me – do not know where their next meal will come from.

Javier owns a little tienda in town and he knows everyone on a first name basis. He served as our guide to the 35 families who were on the FoodBank Lakeside list to receive groceries this week, delivering the life-sustaining despensas to the families. Another 40 families receive their despensas next week.

Javier unloaded my fellow despensas from the truck at various houses while Juanita, the coordinator who, like Javier, knows everyone in town, checked off recipients’ names. Dogs and cats were not forgotten, either. They got their own despensa.

In March FoodBank Lakeside celebrated its two year anniversary. They are currently delivering despensas to over 700 families each month. In addition their partnership with Poco a Poco San Pedro Itzicán in the Kids Kitchen program, provides over 3000 nutritious mid day meals each week to children that are most at risk for food poverty in the indigenous villages east of Chapala. To learn more about volunteer and/or donation opportunities, please visit their website at www.foodbanklakeside.org or their facebook page at fb.com/foodbanklakeside

Gelli Printing MASTERCLASS with Dr. Blanca Ruth Casanova

May 12 & 13 (Thursday & Friday) 11am – 1pm

Learn how to make monoprints on gelatin with acrylics. This fun technique creates surprising and beautiful results. For beginning and advanced students.

Cost per class: 400 pesos

Cost for reusable materials for beginners: 1,300 pesos

Teacher: Dr. Blanca Ruth Casanova, Ph.D., Art Educator and Visual Artist

MATA ORTIZ CERAMICS MASTERCLASS with José Loya and Ana Pena

May 24-27 (Tuesday – Friday) 11an-3pm

Mata Ortiz pottery is based on the prehistoric Paquimé techniques found at the Casas Grandes World Heritage Site in the state of Chihuahua.

In this four-day workshop, you will learn pre-Colombian and contemporary pottery techniques.

You will hand build a pre-Columbian style pot from your own hand-made single piece mould. Pots will be finished using Mata Ortiz glazes and hand-made brushes. Pots will be fired on location. All materials, clay, plaster, brushes, glazes are supplied. No experience necessary.

Instructor: José Loya and Ana Pena, Mata Ortiz Pottery Masters

Cost for 4-day workshop: 2000 pesos

Registration and enquiries : dianepearlclasses@gmail.com

Lakeside Published Writer’s Group is back at El Gato Feo Cafe + Roastery with their “Meet the Authors” event. There will be 3 authors reading from their works and answering a live Q+A at the end of each reading. Authors will have copies of their books for signing. This event will take place the second Wednesday of every month. Next one: May 11th. Readings start at 11. Come early: coffee is available.

Meeting held in the lovely salon of Estrellita’s Bed & Breakfast. (Where El Gato Feo Cafe is located)

Open to the public.

By Carol L. Bowman

Three inhabited islands of the archipelago of Malta have supported civilization

since 5900 B.C. Located in the middle of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily and north of Libya, many empires, among them Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, French, and the British, have claimed these lands. Each has left indelible cultural, architectural, and political marks on the terrain and its people.

A web search of “Malta” bombards the seeker with an onslaught of ancient temples, beaches, walled cities, cathedrals, remnants of 150 years of British occupation, and spoken English, to boot. So many activities are crammed into such a small land mass that it makes a traveler’s head spin. It’s an escape to faraway places with strange sounding names, like Willie Nelson’s tune.

My husband and I joined the frenzy on a recent visit, during “the time of COVID.” Starting with activities, billed as “not to be missed,” I felt a lingering tug away from the bucket list. At the UNESCO World Heritage Sites of Hagar Qim and Mingdra, where ancient freestanding temples date back to 3600 B.C., we marveled at the world’s largest 20-ton megaliths, but I winced at the row of tourist buses waiting to unload the hordes.

Valletta

Across from the seaside port of entry, we took the elevator up to the cliff’s mesa where the High Barrakka Gardens offer a respite before entering the capital city of Valletta. I politely pushed my way into a spot along the jammed stone retaining wall to gaze upon the beautiful Grand Harbor below. The original 1566 city gate into the smallest national capital in the European Union opened onto crowded, pedestrian streets. Trendy shops and cafes, tucked into neoclassical and baroque style buildings, swelled with tourists, eager to unleash their pent-up hunger for travel experiences.

Our mission in Valletta: to visit the ornately gilded St. John’s Co-Cathedral, number 1 on the “not to be missed list.” The chivalric Order of the Knights Hospitallers of St. John had founded and protected this city over 500 years ago, and the eight-pointed Maltese cross emblem flag, adopted here in 1126, waved in the breeze from every light post. At the cathedral, the line of tourists waiting for entry streamed out the door. With an admission fee of 15 euros, and a requirement to dig out my vaccination card, I mouthed, “No, I’m not doing this.” From that moment on, I threw the bucket list away and allowed the subtle secrets of Malta to sink in. I strolled through centuries of quaint alleyways, studied clothing styles from laundry hanging outside terrace windows, and allowed my eyes, ears, and taste buds to do the exploring.

Daphne Caruana Galiza

As an alternative to the opulent cathedral, we searched for the memorial to Maltese investigative journalist and anti-corruption activist Daphne Caruana Galiza, who was assassinated by a car bomb on October 16, 2017. At the Great Siege Monument, I spied her picture on a simple, commemorative altar. Through her extensive reporting in the Sunday Times of Malta, Daphne singlehandedly exposed government corruption, money-laundering schemes, bribery of top officials, and the Panama Papers Scandal.

Every country has its dirty secrets. Daphne Galiza revealed many of Malta’s by exposing unethical politicians. Daily death threats, her house set on fire, and, finally, her murder silenced this brave woman’s words and the truth. That same government declared a National Day of Mourning on the date of her funeral.

At a local bakery, we grabbed two “must have” Maltese pastizzos, which turned out to be rich, flaky croissants filled with repulsive puréed peas. We shared the open space of St. George’s Square with locals who munched on identical pastries. They licked their lips with each bite, and contentedly swooned as if this was the most delicious late morning snack. It has to be an acquired taste, I decided, like scotch, and it has to be British.

Mdina and Vittoriosa

Two ancient, pedestrian-only, walled neighborhoods across the harbor from Valletta captured the feeling of a virtual history lesson. My favorite, Mdina, the old capitol of Malta, today is a well-preserved, impeccably maintained medieval town with a thousand years of stories to tell but only 300 current residents. Known as the “Silent City,” I tried to imagine the chaos that intruded on its quiet winding alleys, when film crews arrived to shoot scenes for The Game of Thrones, Gladiator and Troy.

The other, Vittoriosa, one the Three Cities enclosed within the largest walled fortification is much bigger than Mdina, older than Valletta, and served as the original location that the Knights of St. John selected to govern the island. The city also overcame the attempted invasion of the Ottoman Turks in 1565.

In both of these neighborhoods, unique architectural enhancements to the drab limestone buildings made the doorways, windows and balconies pop with color and imagination. Wandering through each town’s narrow streets, I couldn’t believe how fascinated I became with the history behind these architectural gems.

Distinctive, elaborate door knockers, called il-habbata in Maltese, remain an iconic feature of residential front doors. Two identical door knockers, cast in bronze or brass, and positioned on opposite sides of colorfully painted, double wooden doors, made each entryway a work of art. The size of the knocker plus the elegant motifs of lions’ heads, nautical themes, or family crests symbolize the homeowner’s social status and wealth.

In front of each door, a latticed wrought-iron half-gate with intricate cut-out designs, complements the striking entrance. This additional partial barrier allows the main door to remain open so light and cool breezes can flow through. In ancient times, these gates prevented goats from entering. Milkmen of yore used to meander through the alleys with their herd, milking one on the spot to fill the order of a home’s mistress.

The architectural addition of an enclosed, wooden second-floor balcony with either glass or mesh panes and fronting the street is considered a national symbol of Malta. The gallarya, which evolved during the occupation by the Arabs, had been introduced to provide Muslim women discretion when sitting on the terrace, without being viewed by passersby. Now, this architecturally rich adornment remains a “must have” for any homeowner.

Second floor full-length windows with protruding curved wrought-iron grills mounted to protect the openings are known as “pregnant guards.” There are “nine-month, six-month, even ready-to- have-twins grilles, depending on the degree of bulge at the bottom. Ancient invaders hid beneath open windows and grabbed the feet of residents who stood there and dragged the victims off to use as slaves. The grilles provided protection for residents from this fate and later became a regular window security feature.

A Dghaysa Boat Ride

I longed to do one more thing before leaving Malta. We had circumvented the Grand Harbor for days, but had not boated across it. As if the gods were listening, as we exited Vittoriosa at the waterfront, a captain and his traditional water taxi seemed to be waiting for us. Originating in the 17th Century, this type of boat, called a dghaysa in Maltese, is cousin to the Venetian gondola. I loved seeing Valletta from the Grand Harbor, of passing by the ancient towns we had visited, of waving to boaters moored in the marina, with a brisk Mediterranean breeze blowing through my hair.

Salisbury English Pub

On our last evening, the hotel’s concierge advised, “You must have dinner on the waterfront.” We passed a quaint English pub just one block away, but continued walking down to the harbor. There, every restaurant was noisy and crowded with half-hour wait times. We headed back up the hill to the Salisbury Pub, a friendly place, filling up with locals. A plate of crispy fish ‘n chips, a pint of Maltese craft beer, and laughter coming from the booths brought back comfortable memories of pubbing in London and relief that we had rejected one last “must do” in Malta.

Carol L. Bowman