Our Instructors, Spring/Summer 2013

Susan Allen:
Susan Allen, owner of ALLEN FINANCIAL, has over 15 years experience in the retirement planning industry. Susan Allen will work with you to design a retirement plan to protect your principal, grow your assets, and offer an income stream. She has worked with hundreds of clients over the years and understands the importance of protecting and preserving your retirement assets.

Juliet Rose Bacchas:
The inspiration for me to become an artist was planted by my mother. Her encouragement and faith in me made me want to aspire to become an artist. I was a child of the Jamaican countryside, and I set my sights high and made it through four years of college. In my second year, I was honored to receive a bronze medal from the Jamaican Cultural Development Commission(JCDC). In 2000, I received a silver medal again from the JCDC. I also received the William Aiken cash award in my final year, which helped pay my tuition. At my graduation, I was the first recipient of the Cecil Baugh award of excellence. It was an honor to receive my medal personally from the Master Potter of Jamaica himself, Cecil Baugh. I will cherish this memory always. My career began as a high school teacher and part-time potter. In my reading I found a profound thought: "What you focus on determines what you miss." After realizing that my heart longed to create in clay full time, I met Linda Spelko, who has become my friend, sister, and business partner. Our shared love of clay and determination was the reason to begin our business, Juliet Rose Gallery and Studio. I now live in Monson, MA, with Linda and her family on a beautiful farm. www.julietrosegallery.net

Tod Beall:
I've been working with stained glass for well over 30 years, specializing in design and fabrication of new windows and panels. I have also repaired and restored many windows through the years. I continue these activities at my studio in Monson. I hope the skills I've learned will help newcomers approach working in this medium with confidence and result in their making some fun small items as they explore this interest.

Donna Beck:
Donna is a practicing paper and mixed media artist. Her studio and business, 230am Studio, is located at Indian Orchard Mills. She has an MA and an MAE from Ball State University and has taught college level courses since 1994. She is currently a member of the art faculty at WNEU and on the Monson Arts Council Board of Directors and the scholarship committee. She is Director of Monson's summer Art Camp and "Young at Art" programs and has also taught in the Monson Art Camp and Westfield State College's "Kids for College" program. Donna is very active in Artisans of WesternMass and regional shows. She has studied with numerous fiber artists, exhibits her work regularly, and works on many commission pieces.

Nicole Birkholzer:
Nicole is an animal behavioral-intuitive, writer and coach. As the creator of Mindful Connections™, and the founder of The Equine Wellness Expo, Nicole is pioneering a new approach to bonding more deeply with our four-legged friends. Nicole shares stories from the heart … and the barn and pasture on Mindful-Connections.com. Her writing is regularly featured in animal magazines and papers. She is currently crafting her first book, and will be launching a video-blog, sharing her own and the animal's perspective early next year. "As a speaker and teacher, my message is timeless … yet urgent: All living creatures have the right to be loved and honored for who they are … our animals included. I believe that animals can be great teachers. But all too often, we ignore their greatest lessons. We fail to honor their ancient wisdom and profound intuition … and with that our own. When we treat our animals as our equals — our partner-beings and soul-companions — we can cultivate new ways of connecting and communicating with all living beings."

Margaret Boyko:
Margaret began studying yoga many years ago at the Iyengar Yoga Institute in Edinburgh, Scotland, and completed her 200-hour yoga teacher training at the Yoga Center Amherst. She teaches yoga in Amherst and Palmer. In the 1990s, she trained as an Alexander Teacher at the Alexander Technique School of New England in Amherst, where she is now a faculty member. Margaret earned an M.Ed in English as a Second Language, Bilingual and Multicultural education at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where she coordinated and taught the MTEL preparation program for Continuing and Professional Education until 2009. Margaret is currently co-director at the Yellow House community center for learning.

Tom Camilleri:
Tom is a retired engineer. He is currently a math tutor at Top Floor Learning, where he has helped many students prepare for the GED Test. Tom owns a farm in Palmer and cultivates a large vegetable garden. He likes to share his knowledge about preserving the bounty of the summer garden.

Catherine Coley:

Tian Connaughton:
Tian is a fiber artist and crochet/knitwear designer with numerous published patterns in magazines and books. Specializing in all things crafty with a background in Finance and Accounting, Tian teaches a wide variety of fiber classes ranging from beginner levels to advance techniques. When she is not hanging out with her family or chasing chickens out of the gardens, she can be found in my craft room playing with fiber and working on new designs. Tian's designs have been featured in the Nov 2012-January 2013 Cast-On Magazine, Holiday 2012 Love of Crochet Magazine, as well as designs for Lotus Yarn, Dream in Color, and Knit Picks 2013 Spring Collection. She have been self-publishing both knit and crochet designs since 2008 and have designs published with Knit Picks Yarn company as part of their Independent Designer Program. For the about 2 years, she created designs for Frabjous Fibers specifically for their recycled silk yarn lines. In addition, she has a contributed pattern design (Wendy – pleated empire top) in Kristi Porter's book More Knitting in the Sun – Kids as well as the Emma Shrug in Interweave's 2011 Special Edition Jane Austen Knits. You can find out more about her designs on Ravelry (KnitDesigns or Tian Connaughton) and on her blog: tian-knitdesigns.blogspot.com

Cathy Coutu:

Jeanette Crumb:
Jeannette has been decorating cakes professionally for more than 10 years. She has taught cake-decorating and sugar art flowers for five years at Holyoke Creative Arts and Holyoke Community College. Jeannette has studied these techniques with many well-known sugar artists from the Food Network such as Nicholas Lodge from Georgia and Collette Peters from New York.

Anush Dawidjan:
Anush retired from the US Government after 35 years of service with 8 different federal agencies. She lived and worked overseas for the US Army (as a civilian) and for the US Department of State in England, Germany, Niger, Japan, and Hong Kong. Her domestic assignments have included Washinton DC, Chicago, NYC, Miami, El Paso, Texas and Fort Lauderdale. She is an adventure world traveler and has visited more than 130 countries on all 7 continents and is still planning her future travels. Her other interests include afternoon tea, public transportation, theater, women's issues, and good food.

Sharon Davis:
As a mother of two, I had the opportunity to actively create a different environment for my second birth experience. This, in turn, motivated me to achieve my certification as a Doula through DONA International. Since 1999, I have had the privilege of supporting and guiding many families. I am a certified Mother Massage® practitioner, Reflexologist and an Independent Certified Childbirth Educator (ALACE ~ Association of Labor Assistants & Childbirth Educators). I have also been trained to perform limited clinical skills as a Montrice. My goal is to support and prepare a mother and her partner to experience the birth of their child as empowering and fulfilling. I also provide guidance and encouragement to help establish successful breastfeeding and parenting.

Michael Epaul:
Michael is a local photographer who owns a studio in the Sixteen Acres area of Springfield. He is a professional photographer with over 15 years of experience. His studio offers photography for weddings, family portraiture, and children. He also specializes in commercial photography that includes corporate executives, architectural lighting and landscaping, product photography, and culinary art imagery. You can contact him by visiting www.epaulphoto.com

David Ewen:
David K. Ewen, M.Ed. is an author, speaker, talk show host, film director, and record producer. He is currently touring in the seven states of New York and New England with his "Professor Lecture Series" on digital media and publicity. David launched his media company in 1994, started hosting TV & radio shows since 1998, and has been lecturing since 2004. He is the executive director of the successful Springfield Community Festival and communications director of the Resurrection Center. David's efforts have been featured locally on NBC, CBS, ABC, and Fox, and the Republican Newspaper.

David Farnham:
David has been in the financial services industry since 2007 and joined Merrill Lynch in 2010. His focus is on developing strategies and solutions for retirees, individuals, their families and their businesses to help them meet their short- and long-term goals. David obtained the FINRA Series 7 and 66 securities licenses, as well as Life, Health, and Variable Annuity Licenses. He is also a Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor, CRPC, through the College of Financial Planning. David is a 1981 graduate of Springfield College, with a B.S. in sociology and business. He earned a Master of Education degree from Springfield College in 1992. He is a volunteer soccer coach and participates in various non-profit efforts.

Janet Foy:
I first learned to sew on my grandmother's treadle sewing machine. Later I took my first quilting class in 1981 when my son was born. What started as a way to get out one night a week soon turned into a passion. I am a collector of fabrics – a good way to insulate my house. Today I am still a student at quilting classes. This time my interest is in learning new techniques. When I retired from teaching 4 years ago, I found I had more time to devote to my passion. I have made quilts for family, colleagues, and friends over the years.

Robert Frydryk:
Palmer Chief of Police. Bob has taught Identity Theft courses for many years and considers this an important service to the community.

Mary Lee Frydryk:
Mary Lee took the EMT training immediately after leaving high school. She works in the EMS service for the Town of Palmer and Monson Developmental Center. She teaches CPR courses for the department of developmental disabilities at sites throughout Western Massachusetts.

BevLynn Gallant:

Carol Garner:
I have been gardening organically and making compost for 30 years. I was hooked as soon as my first seeds germinated. Composting is a great way to enrich our garden soil while recycling much of what is usually considered "waste".

Zachary Gedelman:
Zachary is an artist who lives deeply in a recovery of trust, of self, of humanity, of his path. With an adopted alias surname "Outlaw" from the title of Kate Borstein's book, Gender Outlaws, Zach considers Outlaw an appropriate descriptor for all he is up to spiritually, politically, and artistically.

John Green:
John grew up in Philadelphia and got interested in turtles at the age of eleven, which led to a lifelong passion for the natural world and natural history. He is a field photographer and has been taking pictures for over 30 years. He also leads bird walks throughout the United States. John has extensive experience teaching field photography: he has taught at the Wellfleet Natural History Field Photography School for over 20 years; the Appalachian Mountain Club throughout New England for 10 years; the Hill Institute in Florence for two semesters; and Amherst Leisure Services for 6 years. After leaving the army in 1972, John joined the US Forest Service where he worked as a Biological Technician for 31 years. He has served on the boards of many prestigious natural history organizations: the MA Audubon Society, Springfield Science Museum, the Wyncote Audubon (Philadelphia), and the Philadelphia Herpetological Society (reptiles and amphibians). www.johngreenphotos.com

Carole Guthrie, MSAE:
My first glimpse of art-making came to me from a Sr. Regina who taught 7th grade in St. Bernard's School, in Illinois. I spent many days trying to create the Illusion of dimension (volume) in pastel in the nativity scene for Christmas. Motherhood intruded on my career as an artist, but I applied to the Art Institute School in Chicago and started a BFA program. I finished my degree in New England at UMASS, and then graduate degree in Boston at MASSArt. The long journey until now included referential paintings, that evolved into abstract art. I applied what I learned while teaching at BayPath College and Elms College, where I created the curriculum "Word and Image." The fascination with how the word transforms or adds to an image led me to lecture in Dublin, Chicago, and Canada for the Int'l Work and Image Society. Many artists have inspired me, especially my late husband, Rod Guthrie, who was a fine painter. Picasso's constructions. Georgia O'Keefe's curved forms that filled the canvas in a ‘beautiful way. Diebenkorn's expressonist abstractions. Tapies' textures. Those are my influences. Painting is for me a sensuous encounter with brush into paint, paint onto canvas, finding my way to completion. Like Matisse, when asked if he believed in God, answered, "Only when I paint."This is why I paint.

Debra Hamm:
Debra Hamm has worked in the ‘green’ industry for 25 + years. Initially, she was a florist and horticulturalist. However, her passion for the environment and eagerness to share her ‘green’ knowledge with others led to the opening of her own business, BlueberryHillGardens. Her business not only incorporates, growing, selling and designing with herbs and field grown native perennials (all grown organically), but also spring, fall and winter workshops. She is a Landscape Designer, Organic Land Care Professional and Master Gardener.

Lynne Hartwell:
Holistic Practitioner, Psychic Intuitive, Energetically Balanced Jewelry Designer, and Owner/Creator of L'Unique Realm: www.luniquerealm.com . For nearly 15 years Lynne has been working with others to Empower, Elevate, and Enrich their lives and consciousness through understanding natural and alternative methods of healing. She is certified in three types of holistic healing practices; ThetaHealing®, TSR®, and Medicinal Aromatherapy, and utilizes a combination of all modalities with her gemstone knowledge to assist her clients. Her work with the gemstones, combined with the knowledge of other healing practices, has given her a unique opportunity to share the information she has gathered with the public, so that they may enrich their lives at the physical, emotional, and spiritual level.

Priscilla Hunt:
Priscilla Hunt is a graduate and faculty member of the Alexander Technique School of New England. She is a member of the American Society of the Alexander Technique (AmSAT) and served on its board. She has a private practice in Amherst, MA. For more, see www.phuntalexandertechnique.com

Jennifer Judd:
Jennifer is a professional vocalist and private music instructor who recently experienced a spiritual awakening. She created her practice called Inner Peace, Outer Balance in 2010 while along her own journey to healing and now offers spiritual healing and guidance to others. Jennifer is an ordained minister of the Universal Life Church. In her practice, she offers meditation classes, intuitive and channeled life guidance, medicinal aromatherapy, crystal and sacred geometry therapies, Yuen Method™ Energetics, channeled energy clearing, aura reading, mediumship, soul journey readings and techniques of neutral thinking to quiet the mind. She also supports water as a strong energy, and offers samples and education about energized drinking water. She has a special interest in using music as a tool to support and guide energy clearing as well.

Dorsie Kovacs DVM:
I graduated from Michigan State University in 1975. From there I worked at a Humane Society in Georgia for four years, then worked at and purchased the Monson Small Animal Clinic practice in Monson in 1982. I have always had an interest in nutrition and health. Part of my path to achieve and maintain good health for my pets and my clients' pets included studying homeopathy, taking a course in massage therapy for dogs, and studying and implementing the raw diet recipes of Pitcairn, Volhard, and Billinghurst. The illnesses we see in our pets can be helped or prevented by offering them a diet as close to a wild carnivore's food as is possible. I also make a great apple pie…my mother's recipe. We all helped in the kitchen and made everything from "scratch". Although I am not an advocate of sugar, this is a savory exception.

Kevin Kopchynski:
Kevin has deep interests in science, natural history, technology, and teaching. He is an accomplished public speaker, interpreting science for non-scientific audiences in classroom and seminar/workshop settings, elementary through college levels. He works as the Planetarium Educator at the Springfield Science Museum, and was recently the IT Director at Wilbraham Monson Academy. Kevin has taught geology and geologic history at the Umass Extension and has presented workshops at Berkshire Museum, Springfield College, and many other locations. Kevin also works as a naturalist for the MA Audubon Society, where he leads workshops in nature photography, plans natural history programs for school groups, and co-writes the Audubon interpretive trail guide. Kevin volunteers with the Trustees of Reservations, and is a member of the Springfield Naturalists' Club, Springfield Telescope and Reflector Society, Old Post Road Orchestra, and the Belchertown Community Band.

Cecile Lackie:
My interest in teaching goes back to my 5th grade when I knew I wanted to be a math teacher. Although I did not become a math teacher, my love for numbers has come in handy during my career as an accountant. And, though I've always enjoyed training my clients, I've been thrilled to bring my love for teaching into a classroom. As an entrepreneur and Quickbooks Certified Professional Advisor, I am a business consultant and advisor specializing in small business accounting. I Set-up, Clean-up, Review, Train and Advise. For over 20 years, I've provided accounting, bookkeeping and consulting services for a wide variety of businesses - retailers, restaurants, service companies, and independent contractors of all sorts. I've owned my own retail store. Through all this, I've seen the mistakes made when using Quickbooks leading to inaccurate and often useless financial reports. For clients already using Quickbooks, my services often include 'cleaning-up' the books - in other words, correcting books that are not properly recorded. This is often a result of improper set-up of the file and/or the users not knowing how to correctly use the program. I intend to teach you not just HOW to use Quickbooks but WHY it's done and HOW to utilize the information you enter. Ideally you'll either avoid or at least reduce the mistakes often made. So......let's do it right.....come learn the Basics so the time you spend entering info in Quickbooks ends up being a valuable tool. A tool, a silent partner providing guidance to grow your business.

Wendy Lesage:
Dog Behaviorist / and Animal Control Officer. My passion is keeping dogs in their homes by educating humans on the finer points of canine behavior. A little knowledge goes a long way. In addition to my work as a dog trainer and animal control officer, in 2004 I founded a 501c3 nonprofit rescue. I have since stepped down from the board, but my passion for rescue lives on through my work in animal control. I cannot remember a time when I have not had a dog by my side, including through college. Later as organizer of a community garden program for the city of Worcester, I trained an assistance dog for NEADS, that, and my love for Michael, a pup that came to me at three days old, grew my love for training which became as strong as my bond for the species. In early 2000 I worked with a CT K-9 officer where I trained a Search and Rescue (SAR) dog for the town of Wales, and helped ready dogs for work in the law enforcement field of drug and bomb detection. Later I spent thousands of hours observing and testing dogs in shelters on their way to their new homes. In my private practice, I have consulted with hundreds of owners regarding their pups and adult dogs.

Lou Leelyn:
Lou Leelyn is the creator and craftswoman of Lou's Upcycles which uses post-consumer plastic waste as a raw material. She has been making upcycled art and educating communities about our plastic waste stream for the past five years. She is also a founding board member and President of Artisans of WMASS (AWM).

Elizabeth Lovejoy:
Attorney Elizabeth Lovejoy focuses on helping people plan for long-term care and preserve assets to pass on to their families. She works with elders and their families to anticipate incapacity, document end-of-life wishes, secure resources for long-term care, and design and implement estate plans. She practices elder law and estate planning in CT and MA, holds a Master of Law degree in Estate Planning and Elder Law, and is a member of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys. She is a co-author of the book Best Practices for Long-Term Planning and Nursing Home Protection, and teaches Elder Law as an adjunct professor at Western New England University School of Law.

Kristie Nathanson:
Kristie is a 2004 graduate of the Stillpoint Massage program at Greenfield Community College. She has been in private practice as a massage therapist since 2006; her business is called Metamorphosis Massage and Body Work and is located in Palmer, MA. Kristie has been a Reiki practitioner and teacher for 10 years and is also an avid knitter, currently in the home stretch of the Expert Knitter program at Web's in Northampton. Prior to her training, Kristie had 20 years of retail management experience.

Jeanne Nelson:
Jeanne has had many year of working in the corporate world where she uses Excel on a daily basis. She has a deep knowledge of this powerful program and teaches in a friendly, intuitive, hands-on style to de-mystify and clarify Excel. She has carefully developed her lesson plans to make Excel accessible to everyone who needs it for home or office use.

Robert O'Leary:
Robert O'Leary, BA (from UMASS@Amherst-Class of '89), JD (WNEC School of Law-Class of '92), BioAcoustic Research Associate and Soundhealth Practitioner (BARA - Institute of BioAcoustic Biology - July, 2011), has had an abiding interest in alternative health since the early 1970's when as a child he was inspired by an American Lung Association commercial at school to go home and convince his parents to quit 15 years of smoking. They did and since then Robert has seen it benefit their lives and the lives of other family members (one of whom had Cystic Fibrosis), and even his son (who had Epilepsy). During that time he became an attorney, earned advanced martial arts belt levels [in Kajukenbo (the Emperado Method) and American Kempo under Grandmaster Kalaii Kano Griffin and some of his Instructors], became a singer/songwriter performer [releasing 3 regional CD's], and his greatest and proudest achievement, becoming a Father.

After ceasing his full-time practice of the law to spend more time with his child, he has begun to home school him. Robert brought this background to his practice of BioAcoustic Soundhealth [a/k/a "Vocal Profiling" and "BioAcoustic Biology"], through the Institute of BioAcoustic Biology, where he became a practitioner in July, 2011. This alternative modality, called an "Integrative Medicine " by the National Institutes of Health is relatively new to New England. This modality works by analyzing voice recordings to get information about a client's state of health and then may provide information and tones to support their ability to self-heal. Robert is proud to be afforded the opportunity to bring the knowledge and benefits of this wonderful modality to individuals and businesses in the New England States; through the opening of his office, RoMaYa Sound Health and Beauty, in East Longmeadow, Massachusetts. Robert O'Leary and his family wish you nothing but the best in health and beauty.

Julie Pepper:
Raised in New England, Julie studied fine arts in California at Parsons School of Design in Los Angeles and San Francisco Art Institute. She made her way back to her New England roots to raise her son and pursue a degree in holistic medicine and paint. Julie starting practicing Yoga at age 15, after she had the first of what would be two back surgeries, and found Yoga to be a touch stone of healing. She graduated from Frog Pond Yoga in Princeton, MA as a licensed teacher. Julie offers classes in Hatha yoga, from moderate to medium skill levels, and also with a close understanding of the restorative aspects of Yoga Breath work and meditation. Julie is also a painter specializing in tribal figures dancing and the movements of the body. While studying at Frog Pond, Julie created a card series and poster series of Yoga asanas (poses). You can view her paintings at www.juliepepper.com

Renee Plaisance:
Renee is a graduate of the Bancroft School of Massage Therapy and was certified in 2009 to practice massage on small animals. She has been working as a small animal massage therapist for three years.

Christine Powell:
Since I was a child I always envisioned myself as a veterinarian or working in a field to care for people. In 2009 I was given the opportunity to enlist in a Reiki class that my employer was offering to medical and non medical staff. That was the beginning for my childhood dreams to come to fruition in some sort of fashion. I immensely enjoyed the first Reiki class that I continued on to be certified at the Master Reiki Level. This experience has opened the doors for me in my present job and outside. I have volunteered in working with patients at the hospital, worked with a medical practice in seeing cancer patients, and have worked in the community with animals and their owners with great results. Further I have continued my knowledge by engaging in classes of therapeutic grade essentials oils, webinars in animal communication, and participated in clinics with energy healing modalities with horses. My goal is to provide understanding and guidance to people and their animals through integrated energy healing, intuition and enhancing the use of therapeutic grade essentials oils. All you need is an open heart.

Katie Richardson:
Katie Richardson is the artist and business owner behind Katie Ray Arts, a local business offering art and accessories in glass and metal. She is an educator, a founding board member of Artisans of WMASS (AWM), and currently serves as the public education coordinator for AWM. Katie grew up in Pennsylvania and moved to Massachusetts to attend Hampshire College. She completed a thesis project entitled "Nos(otros): Art Questioning Borders", which was a multimedia installation project dealing with immigration issues. After graduating with a B.A. in art and music, she has continued creating and building on the skills and ideas developed while studying. She lives on a beautiful farm in Hadley, MA, which provides inspiration and houses her studio. She works with fire to create art and accessories in glass and metal- from flamework glass veggie earrings to abstract steel sculpture. Both glass and metal are magical materials, and they help guide the creative process with their unique characteristics. The methods Katie uses to form the steel that she works with include cold forming, forging, welding and other techniques. Her glasswork is made over a stationary torch in a process called flameworking or lampworking. The oxy-propane torch has great versatility and allows her to create very intricate detail as well as shape larger forms. When Katie is not creating, she's coordinating a youth arts program that engages local youth in art and activism through public art, murals and metalwork. She also coordinates Spark! Art Share, which is like a farmshare but for local art instead of produce. Finally, she completed her M.Ed in 2010 and teaches English as a Second Language.

Dave Robison:
Dave spent his first career in retail sales, specifically, the "car bizness". After 35 years of retail management, training sales and management staff and consulting with new car dealers across the country, he has been transitioning into the field of genealogy on a full time basis. Since 1969, Dave has been searching for his own history. Growing up in a family where "…what you don't know won't hurt you…" he has found not only close family members with whom he stays in contact but an extended family that spreads from Plymouth Colony to the West Coast; from Alabama to Rochester, NY. His web site at Ancestry.com "Robison and Allied Families" lists nearly 40,000 relatives with over 15,000 bits of documentation, photos and family stories. Dave is a member of many professional genealogical societies: Association of Professional Genealogists (APG) and its New England Chapter (NEAPG), Global Alliance of Genealogy Professionals, Western Massachusetts Genealogy Society and the Massachusetts Genealogical Council. He is the Research Head for the Amis Clan of the Ames Society, Research Associate at the Museum of Springfield History, writes a blog at OldBonesSearch.WordPress.com and is the owner of Old Bones Genealogy and Family Research. He has shared his expertise with many local organizations and is continuing his genealogical education through self-study, an on-line course "Boston University Genealogy Certificate Program" as well as participation in a wide variety of other on-line sources. His courses provide all the tools needed for basic to advanced research combining personal stories as well as solid advice on what to do with what you find. Dave says, "It's more than just a paper record; it's the story of real people who came before you and are the reasons that you are here today!"

Leigh Russell:
Leigh is a psychic with 25 years of experience as a wellness practitioner. He is the inventor of "Be Well Healing Symbols", aura reader, spiritual guide, foot reflexologist, Reiki master and remote energy work practitioner. He studies and practices several techniques of bodywork, energy work and spiritual opening. His insights into metaphysics helped him create his own style of remote clearing tools called the Story-less methods. In addition to his healing practice, Leigh teaches aura reading, foot reflexology and remote clearing. www.source-gate.com

Emy Shepherd:
I retired in 1994 after 20+ years with the Commonwealth. I began volunteering as the "computer expert" for the Keep Homestead Museum in Monson and later was elected Chair of the Board of Directors. In addition, I was hired as the Volunteer Coordinator at M-PACT (Municipal Public Access Cable Television). During all this time, I developed my skills in Adult Learning. Computer Mommy was born more than 10 years ago - helping friends to solve their computer problems. I put my adult learning aptitude to work and began to teach people various skills. I sit down beside people in their homes or businesses and take them step-by-step through various processes – depending on the person's needs. I write "checklists" to follow when they are alone at their computers. I've found that most books available are both too "cutesy" and too complicated. I start with the very basics, including sometimes how to turn on the computer. I also teach classes. I have conducted classes in a variety of venues, including for residents of a local Over-55 complex. I also design simple websites. I am available for the small business owner who needs a web presence, but who doesn't have the skills, or much money, either. www.computermommy.net

Rochelle Shicoff:
Shelly Shicoff's paintings are exhibited nationally and internationally. In l980 she was the recipient of the Rome Prize Fellowship in Painting. Among her awards are community grants, a Fulbright nominee, New York and Massachusetts foundation grants. In 2001 she co-authored "The Mural Book: A Practical Guide for Educators" published by Crystal Productions, which was specifically written for K-12 teachers. Her murals can be seen in New York City, Florida, Georgia and Taxco,Mexico. In 2011 she received a commission from SITES for Students, Public Art for Public Schools ( School Construction Authority, NYC; there are 9 painted banners on poly muslin. Each section of 3 themes ( Visual and Performing Arts, Business, and Health and Human Services) is 8' X 6' which will be installed in Sunset Park High School, Brooklyn, New York. She is a semi finalist, with a collaborator, for an outdoor commission sponsored by Arts Westchester, NY. The design is for (11) 10' plus painted steel totems (6" diameter) with welded golden winged animals on top of each totem. The animals will spin very much like a weather vane. This site specific installation will be for the entrance to the Mount Vernon Children's Library.

Ellen Sousa:

Liz Starzyk:
My vocation as a holistic educator has evolved over many years allowing me to bring a wide diversity of interests, skills, and experiences to the learning environment. Linking a background in business and a degree in elementary education, I employ a practical yet sensitive approach as a teacher and group facilitator. My goal is to foster a nurturing climate for exploration and discovery in an atmosphere of safety and acceptance.

Brad Sullivan:
Brad Sullivan is a Professor of English at Western New England University. His primary interest has always been learning and knowing--how we do it, how we can facilitate it, how literary encounters may accomplish it. His work has explored early romantic models of knowing and learning, discussed connections of literature and science in a team-taught Environmental Literature course, and argued for the value of liberal arts education. He is currently at work on a book-length project tentatively entitled Artful Knowing: British Romanticism, Cognitive Science, and the Practice of Learning.

Tanya Tarail:
Rev. Tanya Tarail is a healing arts practitioner with over 26 years of experience in clinical bodywork, emotional release, psychic healings and entity work. Tanya has served many people whom some practitioners may describe as 'leftovers' - those who could not find relief and healing with other facilitators. Many practitioners have referred patients to her and received treatment from her. Regardless of how much time has passed from the onset of illness, her abilities address a number of common and difficult issues.