Ten Laws of Sowing and Reaping Ten Laws of Sowing and Reaping.
SATURDAY LIFESTYLES FEATURE Sowing seeds of … & Life Contacts Arts: ... My December Kelly Clarkson...
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Arts & Life Contacts Arts: Jeff DeDekker 781-5321 [email protected] Life: Irene Seiberling 781-5238 [email protected] Leader-Post ■ Saturday, June 23, 2007 ■ Page B1 B Section Michael Moore B2 Bloody Saturday documentary B2 DVD reviews B4 SATURDAY LIFESTYLES FEATURE I t’s no secret that farm families from coast to coast are going through difficult times. There’s stress on the farm — whether it’s a Prairie grain operation, an Ontario tobacco farm, or a B.C. fruit grower. Business, family or communication issues are weighing many farm families down. Elaine Froese is helping them get unstuck. The Manitoba farm wife — who’s also a speaker, writer and personal coach — encourages families to learn how to “connect, communicate and celebrate.” “I encourage people to think about how they can run their lives, to make them more meaningful, and to be a gift,” Froese explained during an interview following a presentation to farm women at Regina’s Western Canada Farm Progress Show, the largest dryland farm technology and equipment show in Canada. “What do you as a farm woman really want?” she asked the packed audience at the Heartland Women’s Expo. She asked the farm women in the audience to list the 10 most important things in their lives. A show of hands indicated that ‘God’, ‘husband’ and ‘children’ appeared at the top of most lists — including Froese’s. Noticeably absent from the top 10 list was the farm women themselves, Froese pointed out. That needs to change, she said. Farm women need to shift their attitudes. They need to recognize the importance of looking after themselves. “When we care for ourselves, we have the strength to care for ourselves,” she pointed out. Froese encouraged the farm women to adopt “extreme self care”. “Go for a massage,” she recommended. “And get some sleep.” And Froese repeatedly emphasized the importance of having some fun. It can be as simple as relaxing in the yard with a cold drink, enjoying the beauty and bounty of the surroundings. Like the women she was addressing, Froese admitted to personally feeling like a Slinky toy at times — stretched too far. “We can’t keep getting stretched to the limit without something giving,” she cautioned. Via her presentations, columns, book and CDs, as well as her Web site (www.elainefroese.com), Froese offers practical tools to tackle everything from releasing stress (including living with positive uncertainty) to discussing the undiscussable (such as whether the farm is terminally ill) to planning for change (including what to do at 62, 72, 82 and 92). Froese was quick to point out that she is not a counsellor or a therapist; she’s a personal coach. “Counselling is about recovery; coaching is about discovery,” she explained. “I’m working to help them not dwell on their past, but to look forward to what they have to look forward to in their future. “That’s why coaching is leading from behind, helping people discover what they want their lives to look like,” she added. Froese refers to herself as “an encourager.” As a professional speaker, writer and personal coach, she works to plant seeds of encouragement and hope wherever she goes. “My passion is to encourage farm families and prairie people to be intentional about the choices they make for their lives,” she said — words that are echoed in her book Planting the Seed of Hope: A Celebration of Prairie Life ($26). The 188-page paperback was born out of 10 years of Froese’s columns in the farm paper Grainews. “When I work with families, I encourage them to use conflict resolution as a business risk- management strategy. That’s training just like you’d get training for anything else you do on your farm — your business,” she explained. Froese can relate to the farm women who flock en masse to hear her speak. “Because I’m a farmer, just like they are. I drive a combine. I watch the sky for hail clouds. I’m sad when things don’t work out as we want them to,” she pointed out. And like many of the women in the audience, Froese felt compelled to work off the farm, as well as on. For more than 25 years, Froese has been sharing her practical, from-the-heart approach with farm families. Speaking engagements and personal coaching provide her off-farm income. “I do these things at a professional level, so my coaching fees are the same as a tax specialist, and my speaking fees are professional fees,” she said. “When I leave the farm, it’s for an intense period of time, but it’s a good business decision.” Today’s farm families tend to be more willing to seek help, Froese said. “I think it’s a generational thing. I think that the (baby) boomers and the younger boomers are probably more quick to accept outside help,” she said. When it comes to farming, “the rules are changing,” Froese pointed out. “Hard work is no longer a guarantee for success.” That’s why it’s crucial for farm families to learn the skills needed to survive, and thrive, even in difficult times, she said. Froese can be contacted at [email protected] or at 1-866-848-8311. Other resources Froese recommended include: ■ Difficult Times: Stress on the Farm, a booklet available online at www.iareh.usask.ca, or from the Agricultural Health and Safety Network Institute of Agricultural Rural and Environmental Health at the University of Saskatchewan by calling (306) 966-8286 or by e-mailing [email protected] ■ Publications and online material produced by Saskatoon-based life balance expert Patricia Katz, including www.pauseworks.com, which offers tips on bringing balance and perspective to your life. Sowing seeds of change Anything & Everything BY I RENE S EIBERLING BRYAN SCHLOSSER/Leader-Post Farm wife, speaker, writer and personal coach Elaine Froese spoke to women at the Heart- land Women’s Expo about taking time to look after themselves. CD REVIEWS My December Kelly Clarkson RCA ★ ★ 1 / 2 (out of five) If My December is an in-depth look at Kelly Clarkson’s soul, then the former American Idol winner needs to lighten up. Reportedly written after the collapse of a relationship, Clarkson filled My December will bitter and morose songs. Gone are the polished and edgy pop tunes from Breakway and Thankful , replaced with anthems to her angst. Clarkson decided to take complete control with this album, co-writing all 13 tracks with members of her band. I’m guessing her bandmates had a larger hand in the music because the lyrics have Clarkson’s emotions all over them. The opening lyric of “Never Again,” the album’s first single, literally sets the tone: “I hope the ring you gave her turns her finger green/I hope when you’re in bed with her you think of me.” Clarkson’s lyrics display her anger, her frustration, her depression. While the emotions may have motivated Clarkson, the purging is too much. Clarkson’s voice — once described by Simon Cowell as the best of any Idol contestant — is wasted on My December. On too many of the tracks she either mutters the lyrics with a throaty moan or her voice is overwhelmed by the music. — Jeff DeDekker Lost Highway Bon Jovi Mercury Records ★ ★ ★ (out of five) Have you heard the rumour about Bon Jovi putting out a country album? Don’t believe it for a moment. Although Lost Highway does have crossover appeal for country fans, it is a pop album. Bon Jovi picked up a Grammy and a No. 1 hit on the country charts with “Who Says You Can’t Go Home Again,” a duet with Sugarland’s Jennifer Nettles. Although some of the songs on the disc have a similar feel, they aren’t enough to christen Lost Highway as a country album. Adding to the confusion are the contributions of Leann Rimes (“Till We Ain’t Strangers Anymore”) and Big & Rich (“We Got It Goin’ On”). Throw in some steel guitar, mandolin and fiddle on some of the tracks and it’s understandable how a person might think this is a country album. Granted, this is a kinder, gentler version of Bon Jovi but that can be attributed to the band’s maturation and evolution. Jon Bon Jovi’s voice is still as good as ever and his harmonies with Richie Sambora are sweet. There aren’t any screaming electric guitar solos from Sambora this time around but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t get to display his skills — his acoustic contributions on guitar and mandolin are impressive. — Jeff DeDekker Clarkson unloads too much emotion TV INTERVIEW LOS ANGELES (Reuters) — Paris Hilton appeared to be a celebrity with- out a spotlight Friday after two major U.S. television networks snubbed the ho- tel heiress they initially fought over for a first post-jail interview. An ABC executive said his network declined interview offers from the multi- millionaire socialite after Hilton and her mother, Kathy, personally sought to se- cure a deal in a flurry of telephone calls to ABC News veteran Barbara Walters. Meanwhile, rival network NBC issued a statement saying it, too, had informed Hilton’s representatives that it was “no longer interested in pursing an inter- view with her.’’ Contrary to reports of a $1-million deal in the works, NBC said it was “never go- ing to pay them any money.’’ CBS News, which had not been deeply involved in the initial tug-of-war for a Hilton interview, likewise said it was not interested. ‘No’ to Hilton ACADEMY AWARDS LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Re- porter) — There’s no official starting gun to the annual Oscar race, and the finish line for the 80th Annual Acade- my Awards isn’t until Feb. 24. But a number of races already have begun — some quietly, some not so quietly. This weekend, Paramount Vantage is launching A Mighty Heart, director Michael Winterbottom’s re-creation of the kidnapping and murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl at the hands of Pakistani militants. Star- ring Angelina Jolie as Pearl’s wife Mariane, who led the search for her husband, the film debuted in May at Cannes. As of Thursday, the documentary- like thriller rated an 80-per-cent posi- tive rating on RottenTomatoes.com, but higher-end critics have been even more positive. Vantage isn’t being shy about using the “O’’ word: Print ads quote Ben Lyons of E! Entertainment proclaim- ing, “The early favorite for best pic- ture at this year’s Oscars,’’ while TV ads also invoke its Oscar-worthiness. Actually, months from now, when the Oscar campaigns are in high gear, Heart’s awards hopes probably will co- alesce around Jolie’s performance as the actress succeeds in the tricky job of capturing a real-life woman whose tragic story made headlines in 2002. But a nomination isn’t automatically guaranteed since this year’s best ac- tress field is one of the strongest in years. Lionsgate already has released Sarah Polley’s Away From Her, a por- trait of a couple coping with Alzheimer’s, starring a luminous Julie Christie as a woman battling the dis- ease, which could earn the actress the fourth nomination of her career. Picturehouse recently launched La Vie en Rose, starring French actress Marion Cotillard as chanteuse Edith Piaf. At the Seattle International Film Festival, which concluded last weekend, Cotil- lard was re- warded with the audience award for best actress, a har- binger of future trips she could well make to the winner’s podium. Next weekend, another possible contender enters the field when Focus Features debuts Evening, Lajos Koltai’s screen adaptation of the Su- san Minot novel. Vanessa Redgrave stars as a dying woman looking back over her life. And that’s just the best actress heat, which is destined to get more crowded as the year progresses and other films — like Universal Pictures’ The Golden Age, in which Cate Blanchett reprises the role of Queen Elizabeth I, which earned her an Oscar nomination for Elizabeth in 1999 — enter the field. At the same time, other categories are just beginning to take shape. Next weekend also will see Disney’s release of Pixar’s Ratatouille, which is earning rave advance reviews. Although just nine reviews have been posted on RottenTomatoes to date, they have registered a resound- ing 100-per-cent approval rating. There’s still a wide array of animat- ed films to come: among others, 20th Century Fox’s The Simpsons Movie; DreamWorks’ Bee Movie; and Sony Pic- tures Classics’ Persepolis, which uses animation to tell a very grown-up sto- ry of a young Iranian woman caught up in the Islamic Revolution. So Rata- touille isn’t necessarily a shoo-in, but by summer’s end, it’s likely to have es- tablished itself as the animation front- runner. However it ultimately fares at the box office and with critics, Michael Moore’s Sicko, which also moves into wide release next weekend, is sure to kick-start discussions about the docu- mentary race. The film itself already has elbowed its way into the national conversation. ‘A Mighty Heart’ beats with Oscar buzz Angelina Jolie MORE I NSIDE ■ Sicko has connections to London, Ont. Page B2
Transcript of SATURDAY LIFESTYLES FEATURE Sowing seeds of … & Life Contacts Arts: ... My December Kelly Clarkson...
Arts & Life ContactsArts: Jeff DeDekker 781-5321 [email protected]: Irene Seiberling [email protected] ■ Saturday, June 23, 2007 ■ Page B1B
SectionMichael Moore B2Bloody Saturday documentary B2DVD reviews B4
SATURDAY LIFESTYLES FEATURE
It’s no secret that farm families from coast tocoast are going through difficult times. There’sstress on the farm — whether it’s a Prairie
grain operation, an Ontario tobacco farm, or a B.C.fruit grower.
Business, family or communication issues areweighing many farm families down.
Elaine Froese is helping them get unstuck.The Manitoba farm wife— who’s also a speaker,
writer and personalcoach — encourages
families to learn howto “connect,communicate andcelebrate.”
“I encouragepeople to thinkabout how they canrun their lives, tomake them moremeaningful, and tobe a gift,” Froeseexplained duringan interviewfollowing apresentation to farm
women at Regina’sWestern Canada FarmProgress Show, thelargest dryland farm
technology and equipment show in Canada.“What do you as a farm woman really want?” she
asked the packed audience at the HeartlandWomen’s Expo.
She asked the farm women in the audience tolist the 10 most important things in their lives.
A show of hands indicated that ‘God’, ‘husband’and ‘children’ appeared at the top of most lists —including Froese’s. Noticeably absent from the top10 list was the farm women themselves, Froesepointed out.
That needs to change, she said.Farm women need to shift their attitudes. They
need to recognize the importance of looking afterthemselves. “When we care for ourselves, we havethe strength to care for ourselves,” she pointed out.
Froese encouraged the farm women to adopt“extreme self care”. “Go for a massage,” sherecommended. “And get some sleep.”
And Froese repeatedly emphasized theimportance of having some fun. It can be as simpleas relaxing in the yard with a cold drink, enjoyingthe beauty and bounty of the surroundings.
Like the women she was addressing, Froeseadmitted to personally feeling like a Slinky toy attimes — stretched too far.
“We can’t keep getting stretched to the limitwithout something giving,” she cautioned.
Via her presentations, columns, book and CDs,as well as her Web site (www.elainefroese.com),Froese offers practical tools to tackle everythingfrom releasing stress (including living withpositive uncertainty) to discussing theundiscussable (such as whether the farm isterminally ill) to planning for change (includingwhat to do at 62, 72, 82 and 92).
Froese was quick to point out that she is not acounsellor or a therapist; she’s a personal coach.
“Counselling is about recovery; coaching isabout discovery,” she explained.
“I’m working to help them not dwell on theirpast, but to look forward to what they have to lookforward to in their future.
“That’s why coaching is leading from behind,helping people discover what they want their livesto look like,” she added.
Froese refers to herself as “an encourager.” As aprofessional speaker, writer and personal coach,she works to plant seeds of encouragement andhope wherever she goes.
“My passion is to encourage farm families andprairie people to be intentional about the choicesthey make for their lives,” she said — words thatare echoed in her book Planting the Seed of Hope: ACelebration of Prairie Life ($26). The 188-pagepaperback was born out of 10 years of Froese’scolumns in the farm paper Grainews.
“When I work with families, I encourage them touse conflict resolution as a business risk-management strategy. That’s training just likeyou’d get training for anything else you do on yourfarm — your business,” she explained.
Froese can relate to the farm women who flocken masse to hear her speak.
“Because I’m a farmer, just like they are. I drivea combine. I watch the sky for hail clouds. I’m sadwhen things don’t work out as we want them to,”she pointed out.
And like many of the women in the audience, Froesefelt compelled to work off the farm, as well as on.
For more than 25 years, Froese has been sharingher practical, from-the-heart approach with farmfamilies. Speaking engagements and personalcoaching provide her off-farm income.
“I do these things at a professional level, so mycoaching fees are the same as a tax specialist, andmy speaking fees are professional fees,” she said.“When I leave the farm, it’s for an intense periodof time, but it’s a good business decision.”
Today’s farm families tend to be more willing toseek help, Froese said.
“I think it’s a generational thing. I think that the(baby) boomers and the younger boomers are
probably more quick to accept outside help,” shesaid.
When it comes to farming, “the rules arechanging,” Froese pointed out. “Hard work is nolonger a guarantee for success.”
That’s why it’s crucial for farm families to learnthe skills needed to survive, and thrive, even indifficult times, she said. Froese can be contactedat [email protected] or at 1-866-848-8311.
Other resources Froese recommended include:■ Difficult Times: Stress on the Farm, a bookletavailable online at www.iareh.usask.ca, or fromthe Agricultural Health and Safety NetworkInstitute of Agricultural Rural and EnvironmentalHealth at the University of Saskatchewan bycalling (306) 966-8286 or by [email protected]■ Publications and online material produced bySaskatoon-based life balance expert Patricia Katz,including www.pauseworks.com, which offers tipson bringing balance and perspective to your life.
Sowing seeds of change
Anything &Everything
BY IRENE
SEIBERLING
BRYAN SCHLOSSER/Leader-Post
Farm wife, speaker, writer and personal coach Elaine Froese spoke to women at the Heart-land Women’s Expo about taking time to look after themselves.
CD REVIEWS
My DecemberKelly ClarksonRCA★ ★
1⁄2 (out of five)
If My December is an in-depth look atKelly Clarkson’s soul, then the formerAmerican Idol winner needs to lightenup. Reportedly written after the collapseof a relationship, Clarkson filled MyDecember will bitter and morose songs.Gone are the polished and edgy poptunes from Breakway and Thankful,replaced with anthems to her angst.
Clarkson decided to take completecontrol with this album, co-writing all 13tracks with members of her band. I’mguessing her bandmates had a largerhand in themusicbecause thelyrics haveClarkson’semotions allover them.The openinglyric of“NeverAgain,” thealbum’s firstsingle, literally sets the tone: “I hope thering you gave her turns her finger green/Ihope when you’re in bed with her youthink of me.” Clarkson’s lyrics displayher anger, her frustration, herdepression. While the emotions mayhave motivated Clarkson, the purging istoo much.
Clarkson’s voice — once described bySimon Cowell as the best of any Idolcontestant — is wasted on My December.On too many of the tracks she eithermutters the lyrics with a throaty moan orher voice is overwhelmed by the music.
— Jeff DeDekker
Lost HighwayBon JoviMercury Records★ ★ ★ (out of five)
Have you heard the rumour about BonJovi putting out a country album? Don’tbelieve it for a moment. Although LostHighway does have crossover appeal forcountry fans, it is a pop album. Bon Jovipicked up aGrammy and aNo. 1 hit on thecountry chartswith “WhoSays You Can’tGo HomeAgain,” a duetwithSugarland’sJenniferNettles.Although someof the songs on the disc have a similarfeel, they aren’t enough to christen LostHighway as a country album.
Adding to the confusion are thecontributions of Leann Rimes (“Till WeAin’t Strangers Anymore”) and Big &Rich (“We Got It Goin’ On”). Throw insome steel guitar, mandolin and fiddleon some of the tracks and it’sunderstandable how a person mightthink this is a country album.
Granted, this is a kinder, gentlerversion of Bon Jovi but that can beattributed to the band’s maturation andevolution. Jon Bon Jovi’s voice is still asgood as ever and his harmonies withRichie Sambora are sweet. There aren’tany screaming electric guitar solos fromSambora this time around but thatdoesn’t mean he doesn’t get to displayhis skills — his acoustic contributions onguitar and mandolin are impressive.
— Jeff DeDekker
Clarksonunloads
too muchemotion
TV INTERVIEW
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) — ParisHilton appeared to be a celebrity with-out a spotlight Friday after two majorU.S. television networks snubbed the ho-tel heiress they initially fought over for afirst post-jail interview.
An ABC executive said his networkdeclined interview offers from the multi-millionaire socialite after Hilton and hermother, Kathy, personally sought to se-cure a deal in a flurry of telephone callsto ABC News veteran Barbara Walters.
Meanwhile, rival network NBC issueda statement saying it, too, had informedHilton’s representatives that it was “nolonger interested in pursing an inter-view with her.’’
Contrary to reports of a $1-million dealin the works, NBC said it was “never go-ing to pay them any money.’’
CBS News, which had not been deeplyinvolved in the initial tug-of-war for aHilton interview, likewise said it was notinterested.
‘No’ to Hilton
ACADEMY AWARDS
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Re-porter) — There’s no official startinggun to the annual Oscar race, and thefinish line for the 80th Annual Acade-my Awards isn’t until Feb. 24. But anumber of races already have begun— some quietly, some not so quietly.
This weekend, Paramount Vantageis launching A Mighty Heart, directorMichael Winterbottom’s re-creation ofthe kidnapping and murder of WallStreet Journal reporter Daniel Pearl atthe hands of Pakistani militants. Star-ring Angelina Jolie as Pearl’s wifeMariane, who led the search for herhusband, the film debuted in May atCannes.
As of Thursday, the documentary-like thriller rated an 80-per-cent posi-tive rating on RottenTomatoes.com,but higher-end critics have been evenmore positive.
Vantage isn’t being shy about usingthe “O’’ word: Print ads quote BenLyons of E! Entertainment proclaim-ing, “The early favorite for best pic-ture at this year’s Oscars,’’ while TVads also invoke its Oscar-worthiness.
Actually, months from now, whenthe Oscar campaigns are in high gear,Heart’s awards hopes probably will co-
alesce around Jolie’s performance asthe actress succeeds in the tricky jobof capturing a real-life woman whosetragic story made headlines in 2002.But a nomination isn’t automaticallyguaranteed since this year’s best ac-tress field is one of the strongest inyears.
Lionsgate already has releasedSarah Polley’s Away From Her, a por-trait of a couple coping withAlzheimer’s, starring a luminous JulieChristie as a woman battling the dis-
ease, which could earn the actress thefourth nomination of her career.
Picturehouse recently launched LaVie en Rose, starring French actressMarion Cotillard as chanteuse EdithPiaf.
At the Seattle International FilmFestival, whichconcluded lastweekend, Cotil-lard was re-warded withthe audienceaward for bestactress, a har-binger of futuretrips she couldwell make to the winner’s podium.
Next weekend, another possiblecontender enters the field when FocusFeatures debuts Evening, LajosKoltai’s screen adaptation of the Su-san Minot novel. Vanessa Redgravestars as a dying woman looking backover her life.
And that’s just the best actress heat,which is destined to get more crowdedas the year progresses and other films— like Universal Pictures’ The GoldenAge, in which Cate Blanchett reprisesthe role of Queen Elizabeth I, which
earned her an Oscar nomination forElizabeth in 1999 — enter the field.
At the same time, other categoriesare just beginning to take shape. Nextweekend also will see Disney’s releaseof Pixar’s Ratatouille, which is earningrave advance reviews.
Although just nine reviews havebeen posted on RottenTomatoes todate, they have registered a resound-ing 100-per-cent approval rating.
There’s still a wide array of animat-ed films to come: among others, 20thCentury Fox’s The Simpsons Movie;DreamWorks’ Bee Movie; and Sony Pic-tures Classics’ Persepolis, which usesanimation to tell a very grown-up sto-ry of a young Iranian woman caughtup in the Islamic Revolution. So Rata-touille isn’t necessarily a shoo-in, butby summer’s end, it’s likely to have es-tablished itself as the animation front-runner.
However it ultimately fares at thebox office and with critics, MichaelMoore’s Sicko, which also moves intowide release next weekend, is sure tokick-start discussions about the docu-mentary race. The film itself alreadyhas elbowed its way into the nationalconversation.
‘A Mighty Heart’beats with Oscar buzz
Angelina Jolie
MORE INSIDE
■ Sicko hasconnections toLondon, Ont.
Page B2
