[Reviewed by Janine Canan]

Goddess Durga and Sacred Female Power is exactly what this book is about: it’s an exploration of the sacredness of the Great Goddess of India and of womanhood itself.

In its pages, author Laura Amazzone takes us on a pilgrimage to the traditional ten-day harvest celebration of Durga that takes place in India and Nepal every year. We experience each day of the ceremony, meeting the Goddess herself, along with her manifestations as Saraswati Goddess of Creativity, Laksmi Goddess of Abundance, Kali Goddess of Transformation, Taleju Goddess of Tantra, Ancient Grandmother, Kumari Girl Goddesses, Matrikas, Yoginis, and the women of Nepal.

Carefully, thoroughly, the author explains aspects and details of the puja which most westerners would be unfamiliar with. Mesmerizing descriptions of colorful devotional rituals are interwoven with well-researched information on their history and meaning, and explanations of their powerful impact on the participants’ psyches.

Amazzone’s personal journey is a search for a Goddess who can heal her from traumatic childhood abuse by a violent father. Through her account, we are allowed to share in inner experiences which are fully integrated into the sociopolitical and spiritual realms. This is empowering feminist writing at its best. Goddess Durga conveys a profound respect for women as it meditates deeply on the current condition of women, and what it means to be a “cosmological” woman.

Janine Canan is the author of Ardor: Poems of Life. Visit JanineCanan.com for more information).

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Amelia Lewis is a fine arts painter out of San Francisco, CA. Lewis’ work has been exhibited throughout San Francisco as well as on a national level.

Upcoming Events:

Lewis and JellyFish Gallery (1286 Folsom St, San Francisco, CA 94103) will be producing a visual and musical event titled ‘Storybook’. Visit www.jellyfishgallery.com for more information.

• Soft Opening :  Friday, May 06, 2011
• Storybook Reception & Party :  Saturday, May 14, 2011
• Rafael House Benefit :  Saturday, May 21, 2011

Click here to see more of the artist’s work.

Contact: Amelia@Amelial.com

[Article by Jaylan Salah]

Independent, strong and creative, Alta Gerrey of Berkeley, Californa is a true traveler in the Art Sahara. In the 1960s she started Shameless Hussy Press, the first feminist press ever created in the United States. Such a courageous step was not easy. Especially since women writers faced many struggles then, and were seen as ‘shameless’ for seeking to promote their work.

“Certain topics were not considered serious when I was young,” Gerrey says, “being a homemaker, for instance.  Others were considered shocking, such as lesbianism.  Now women can write – and publish – just about anything!”

Shameless Hussy published over 40 books in the twenty years Alta operated it, from 1969 to 1989. Most authors they accepted were women, including Ntozake Shange and Jennifer Jaffe, and they published a variety of genres, including collections of poetry and a few children’s books. And, they were located for a time in the small suburban East Bay town of San Lorenzo – where Gerrey says she felt safer from people who did not appreciate what she was doing.

Gerrey said she started the press because she and other women writers she knew were finding that mainstream publishing houses wouldn’t accept their work. To her, that was how much of the women’s equality movement got started in the United States – simply through women getting together with their friends and sharing things they noticed about their lives.

Jaylan Salah is a freelance writer and Synchronized Chaos contributor from Alexandria, Egypt. You may reach Salah at vigilante171@yahoo.com.

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Flower

A flower will die without sunlight
Delivering it’s warming ray.
A flower will die without the rain,
To wash over every day.

We tend flowers and tend them well
Therefore, they bloom with all their might.
We give them time, and space for rain,
And that ever needed light.

However, if the rains are slow to come,
Or the sun refuses to shine,
The flowers will die, but do not feel it.
They will be back in time.

However, we have another flower,
To which we must attend.
This flower is given for us to grow.
To feed, to love, to friend.

J’Rie B. Elliott is a poetess and ongoing contributor of Synchronized Chaos. To contact her, send an email to dixiepoet@gmail.com.

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[Reviewed by Brooke Cooley]

The Rhyme of the Ag-ed Mariness compiles all the poems written by Lynn Lonidier (1937-1993) between her last book and her death.  Lonidier’s humor, tenacity, and wit weave throughout her words as she experiments with Spanglais – a unique style of writing that incorporates local-Mission Spanish into her original poems that profess a woman-centered quest through the eyes of this streetwise woman visionary.

Lonidier was an unambiguous lesbian and feminist, consistently dedicated to the underprivileged, especially the children of San Francisco’s Mission district during the 1960s.  Her compassion, energy, and tenderness shines through her often angry and painfully real literary images as she explores her truths through the pages of this compilation.

The vision and creation that Lonidier depicts through the pages of this collection of bilingual poems tells a story through the eyes of an activist, teacher, artist, and mentor.  The expression of her experiences through her poetry offered me plenty of opportunities to crave and search for the wisdom and understanding that she also wanted to know and  was able to identify with many of the feelings that she described.  I was especially interested by the way feelings of San Francisco and all the flavor it has to offer were felt throughout the pages and that familiarity bled through, page after page.

Inspiring, heartfelt, and passionate, The Rhyme of the Ag-ed Mariness brought insight into not only the life of a woman who wrote her own script, but encouraged me to continue asking what I wanted to see on the pages of my own life.  She clearly exemplified courage and strength in both her written works as well as her life, taking on challenges that enriched both her life as well as generations to come.

Brooke Cooley may be reached at soupsforthesoul@gmail.com.

HOWLING

I went howling to the Moon
And I hoped to outrun it
Before the days turn into nights
And she’s left with quite a

FRIGHT

Of Sing, Sing, Sing
And Etta James
And Charles Mingus
And Miles Davis
And Sir Duke
Who juke out those fountains of
Notes
That saw sway saw away
Out of that golden flashing bay.

And I see
Her
In the moonlight
Blocking
The way for me
But not for
Me
But against
Me.

And I guess she was
Dressed for quick
Double time
At the Hide-Away slime.
To chill with the yellow cats
Scratching their chairs
And lapping their beer
And having funny thoughts so queer
Until you think you’re gonna pass
Out
From the stuff.

But her dress was Green
And I was in Black
And she was bathed in
The spotlight of the Moon
And I was drenched with
Howling sweat.

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Please send any questions or feedback to Eric Sadler at etsadler@yahoo.com.

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[Article by Cynthia Lamanna]

I recently engaged in a refreshing and candid phone interview with artist Anne Eunice, who currently resides in San Francisco. I was drawn in by this winsome, light yet sincere young woman, intrigued by her simple, poignant answers to some specific and open ended questions regarding her art, and the creation thereof.

Without a lot of fan-fare and drawn out explanations or reflections, she was humble, yet assured and matter of fact.

When asked how long she had been creating art, she answered “all my life.” She implied that over the last six months, she has taken more of an active interest. Currently part of a weekly art group, Eunice views drawing as a catalyst for inner healing. “When you make art, you can see that there’s still good, still love, still some happiness inside yourself.”

When asked how her art has evolved, she spoke up without pause. “I think it’s still evolving.” As the succinct answers and conversation weaved and flowed, with a sense of order and purpose, I was processing an image of an unpretentious sort who might be far too modest in her own appraisal of her gifts. Yet she seemed far less concerned with the grandiose, and final product, and more aware of the beauty of the journey, in the process, and expressed with an earnestness and conviction how she would like to continue her education in art, improve upon and develop herself as an artist.

What came across too was the fresh fascination of creating, emulating or re-creating beauty, and an enduring child-like wonder. I had not yet viewed her art at the time of the phone interview, and was curious, using my trusted imagination in place of other senses, to envision and/or capture in part, an essence, as it were. I invited her at her own pace to express herself, give a birds’ eye view, and somehow convey a prominent or primary message as well as visual, in telling a story about her art.

Cynthia Lamanna lives in the East San Francisco Bay Area, and is a regular contributor to Synchronized Chaos Magazine. You may reach her at cynthialamanna@yahoo.com.

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