A profile of our staff

ADMINISTRATION Roberta Donohue was born and raised in the Palisades, where her father owned the Mobile station. She started as a receptionist at the Post in 1972 and worked in virtually every department of the paper before becoming publisher in 1987. Married for 33 years, Roberta and her husband Rich have one daughter, an honor student at Palisades High. Roberta has been active in the Chamber of Commerce for more than 20 years. Business manager Cheryel Kanan has been with the Post since 1984. A 43-year resident of the Palisades, she has five children and seven grandchildren (her husband, Dan, passed away on December 13; see obituary on page 3). She is a past president of the Chamber and served as the Palisades Americanism Parade Association (PAPA) president this year. Kanan was recently awarded the 2006 Mort Farberow Business Award. Post subscriptions fall into the able hands of Sharon Reynolds, who has been in charge of circulation since 1989. Reynolds moved to California from Missouri when she was a high school junior and met her husband, Jim, who is the production manager. They’ve been married for 43 years and have two daughters, a son, five grandchildren and two dogs. Office assistant Jolene Knight began working at the Post 10 years ago, one day a week. Her ability to work on several fronts was recognized and she now works four days a week. A native of West L.A., she attended University High, Santa Monica City College and UCLA. Jolene has one son and a grandson and in her spare time enjoys baking and entertaining. Laura Sarkin?s smiling face greets visitors at the Post?s reception desk. This Michigan native handles the newspaper?s classified ads and has a degree in special education. She has lived all over the world, including India, where she studied meditation for 16 years. Laura has one daughter who works for Disney. The newest addition to the front office is A?da Woolfolk, an actress and writer with many television and film credits to her name. She hails from the Bay Area and is an alumna of New York University and honors graduate of SUNY Purchase. ADVERTISING An English major in college, Grace Hiney first applied to the Post in 1971. When asked if she could write a restaurant review, she replied, ?I guess so.? She has been the Post?s restaurant editor and account executive ever since. An avid home cook and 39-year resident of the Palisades, she has two children and five grandchildren. Don Oswald, account executive, has been with the Post since 1983. He grew up in Connecticut and is an active volunteer at the Palisades-Malibu YMCA. A Pasadena resident, he enjoys his powerboat excursions to Catalina Island for relaxation and fishing. He has four dogs, who all have had the opportunity to test their sea legs. A native of Tennessee, Kendy Veazie graduated from the University of Tennessee with a degree in criminal justice. She lives in the Palisades and has worked for the Post for three years. She volunteers weekly for Stand-up for Kids, a charity dedicated to helping homeless teens. Long-time Palisades resident Jeff Ridgway has been at the Post for three years and enjoys starting every morning with a cup of espresso. He grew up in Sacramento and attended UC Davis, where he majored in English. His latest obsession is Suduko on the New York Times Web site. EDITORIAL Managing Editor Bill Bruns worked for Life magazine and TV Guide before coming to the Post in 1993. He and his wife, Pam, have been Palisades residents for 34 years, and both of their children, Alan and Allison, graduated from Palisades High. Bruns is especially proud of his staff’s comprehensive coverage of a wide range of stories. Heading the Post?s award-winning Lifestyle section is Senior Editor Libby Motika. She grew up in Brentwood. and worked for several publications before coming to the Post in 1994. Her enthusiasms run from poetry to art and architecture, with time reserved for her early- morning bicycle rides. Motika enjoys spending time with her two children who live on different coasts. When he’s not scrambling around town covering games, Sports Editor Steve Galluzzo is playing them. He enjoys tennis, soccer and running. Originally from Bayville, New York, Steve has lived most of his life in Southern California, graduating from Cal State Northridge with a degree in journalism. Steve is a passionate member of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund. Associate Editor Alyson Sena grew up in Los Angeles and graduated from Marlborough School. After earning her B.A. degree in English from Brown University, she started as an intern at the Post in September 2001 and completed her print journalism certificate program at UCLA. She is engaged to her college sweetheart and enjoys traveling and writing short stories. Staff Writer Max Taves began working for the Post in August and covers a broad range of issues that affect the Palisades, including education, the environment and local politics. He attended Loyola High School in Los Angeles and graduated from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., where he studied international economics. When he is not writing, he enjoys documentary filmmaking, photography and surfing. Nancy Ganiard Smith, who joined the paper in March 2001, covers the cultural beat for the paper?s Lifestyle section. A transplanted Midwesterner and former programming director at the Art Institute of Chicago, she moved to the Palisades with her husband and daughter eight years ago. Having lived in the Palisades since 1993, Sue Pascoe enjoys writing about all aspects of the community from sports to news to medicine and viewpoints. Growing up on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota and then spending her young adult life in New York City helped fuel an early career in comedy. She got off the road to raise her three children who attend local schools. A native New Yorker, with a graduate degree from NYU, Rich Schmitt has been the Post’s staff photographer for over five years. His photos have won National Newspaper association and CNPA awards. When he’s not photographing in the Palisades, he’s on freelance assignments for such clients as UCLA Athletics and AFP wire service. An essential member of the team, copy editor Nancy Bryan started her career as an editor at The Rand Corporation. After taking a break to raise her two children, she went back to work at a consulting firm. In 1991, she became an editor and technical writer at the J. Paul Getty Museum. For the past five years, she?s read and edited almost every story in the Post. GRAPHICS Working at the Post since 1984, Palisadian Ed Lowe is the graphics director. He has volunteered his time throughout the years for the Chamber of Commerce and is an avid muscle-car enthusiast. In addition to cars, Ed is a longtime fan of the L.A. Kings and enjoys living in the Palisades and hiking in Temescal Canyon. He also loves the beach, surfing and is a Certified Basic Nordic Walking Instructor. Manfred Hofer, graphic artist at the Post for 24 years, grew up in Pacific Palisades and attended Santa Monica College. For the past 16 years, he has been active at Theatre Palisades working not only behind the scenes, designing programs and posters, but also appearing on stage, for which he has won several acting awards. His newest hobby is black- and-white photography. The multi-talented Tom Hofer has worked in the graphics department for 16 years. His Oscar Wilde-like wit helps relieve stress on deadline days. He has recently finished several voice-over classes to positive acclaim. A graduate of UCLA, he?s also a musician, hockey enthusiast and Tiki Culture aficionado. PRODUCTION Since 1978 Production Manager Jim Reynolds has had the responsibility of making sure all the printing jobs and the newspaper get out on time. Reynolds is a NASCAR nut, and has a collection of more than 800 NASCAR toys parked in his den. On weekends you?ll find him rooting for the Ohio State Buckeyes football team. Shop Foreman Joe Hernandez died unexpectedly on December 12 (see obituary on page 3). He loved the outdoors, especially hiking in the high country. He was a 28-year employee at the Post and ran the two-color Heidelberg press. Two daughters and two grandsons survive him. A 12-year veteran of the Post, Manuel Tavarez operates the Heidelberg one-color press. He is a native of Zapotlanejo, a little town just outside Guadalajara, which is in the heart of Mexico?s Tequila plants. Tavarez is a spirited supporter of Mexico?s soccer team. He has four children: his youngest is three and his oldest daughter, 17, is a goalie for Culver City’s AYSO all-star soccer team. Keith McDaniel joined the Post four years ago as press operator. He lives in Pico Rivera with his wife Carol, who works for Bank of the West, and daughters, Kayla and Katie. Both girls play softball and when Keith isn’t watching them, he’s biking or running. He also plays acoustic guitar. Tommy Aguilar, pressroom assistant, celebrated his fourth year at the Post in September. He lives in Venice with his wife and has four children: Ito, Alyssa, Jessica and Joel. Aguilar comes from a musical family. He started guitar at 7 and is known in the musical community for playing blues, jazz, rock and heavy metal, with equal ease. He builds amplifiers, as well as restores vintage ones. Press Assistant Luis Hernandez will celebrate his second anniversary with the Post. He went to L.A. High School where he was a varsity swimmer in freestyle. After graduation, he attended Santa Monica College. On October 21 Hernandez became a proud new uncle when his twin brother?s wife gave birth to a baby boy. Palisadian Jonathan Merwitzer is the circulation assistant. He graduated from PaliHi and went to Sonoma State University, where he got a degree in communication studies. He trains in martial arts and works out at Max Impact. A fan of both the Dodgers and Lakers, Jonathan also volunteers as a Jewish Big Brother.

When the founders of the new Los Angeles theater company, The Porters of Hellsgate, were students at PaliHi, they lived and breathed drama, appearing in school productions and the citywide Shakespeare drama festivals until they graduated. Now, a few years out of high school, Eddie Castuera, Jack Leahy and Charles Pasternak have formed their own company dedicated to performing Shakespeare, and will debut with ‘Julius Caesar’ tomorrow at the Whitmore-Lindley Theatre Center, 11006 Magnolia Blvd. in North Hollywood. The actors will concentrate on Shakespeare, because that is where their hearts lie. ‘It just doesn’t get any better than the Bard,’ Castuera says. The company’s name, in fact, is drawn from a scene in ‘Macbeth’: ‘As the drunken gatekeeper, the Porter, stumbles before his charge (the metaphoric gates to hell), he hears a pounding on the gates, to which he responds with the ironic quip, ‘Here’s a knocking indeed!’ If a man were a porter of hellsgate, he should have old turning the key’Anon, anon! I pray you, remember the porter.’ ‘Shakespeare is the best work and our foundation for the company,’ Castuera says. ‘Charles has an amazing way of making Shakespeare simple for people, while staying true to the text and true to the man. He has an impeccable way to make it easy to understand and easy to love.’ The group chose ‘Julius Caesar’` to show off each actor’s talent. In addition to co-producing with Leahy, Castuera plays Casca and young Octavius. Director Pasternak also plays Marc Anthony, and Leahy plays Brutus. Castuera said they have approached the play not as a political drama nor as a commentary on modern politics, but as ‘a human drama examining the minds and hearts of the men who rose up to commit history’s most famous murder, and their ensuing fall under the shadow of Caesar’s eternal eminence.’ The Porters of Hellsgate were introduced to one another’s work through PaliHi’s drama department, under the direction of Victoria Francis. A 2003 graduate, Castuera describes himself as an actor and musician with the mind of a producer and the heart of an artist. He was most recently on stage earlier this year in SMC’s production of ‘Evita.’ He is an accomplished beat-boxer and singer, a former of the Palisades a cappella group Absolute Funk, and has performed in Lisa Gumenick’s summer theater program, The Pretenders. After graduating from PaliHi in 2003, Leahy studied culinary arts at the Culinary Institute of America. He was most recently seen onstage in The Pretender’s production of ‘Hair’ at Magicopolis. Pasternak is an actor and director who has been working in the California theater community since graduating from PaliHi in 2002. He started his training in Shakespeare at a very young age through the Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum, under artistic director Ellen Geer. He later became a student of acting teacher Larry Moss and has appeared at the Theatricum, and the Mark Taper. He is a founding member and director at the Ethos Theatre Company in Hollywood. ‘Julius Caesar’ runs for four weeks on Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. through January 13. There will be a matinee on Sunday, January 7 and closing day, January 14 at 3 p.m. For information and reservations, contact 497-2884.

The chilling sound of blades being sharpened enticed the audience at the Ahmanson Theatre last Wednesday night as we waited for Matthew Bourne’s ‘Edward Scissorhands’ to begin. Would ‘Edward’ be at home on stage and would Bourne’s dance creation be as sharp and stimulating as Tim Burton’s 1990 film? In fact, this ‘Edward Scissorhands’ does not promise or intend to be like the movie. Only one scene mirrors the film, and Bourne’s Edward (played alternately by Richard Winsor and Sam Archer) is much more gentle and less frightening than the dark, tormented character made famous by Johnny Depp. When the Gothic fairytale begins, Edward is just a little boy who dies tragically and is brought back to life by an inventor. The simple but climactic creation scene is beautifully done, with Edward’s body moving like a rag doll until he appears in an articulated brown leather suit with long spiky hair to match his scissor hands. But the inventor dies, leaving Edward alone and unfinished, with no choice but to enter the bizarre suburban world of Hope Springs. The citizens fit all stereotypes–the mayoral candidate, the neighborhood jezebel, the trailer-trash mom and dad. Edward falls for Kim, the Boggs’ cheerleader daughter. The entire first act is so overloaded with the charades of these characters–some of who are ultimately much creepier than Edward–that when Scissorhands finally appears, it’s almost a relief. Fortunately, the second act picks up and focuses more on Edward, who becomes the hit of the town, wowing the superficial neighbors with new hairstyles and wooing Kim with his elaborate ice angel sculpture. As Edward, Winsor is sweet and innocent. It’s interesting to watch him move and dance with his giant scissor ‘fingers,’ which he sometimes clicks together nervously like acrylic nails. As a dancer, he is not only graceful but also acrobatic, tumbling over tables and pulling ‘stunts’ with his clumsy claws. The ‘Topiary Garden’ and ‘Ice Dance’ duets, performed Wednesday by Winsor and Hannah Vassallo as Kim, are particularly beautiful. These wordless dances stir our emotions and bring a more magical feel to the whole production. Bourne’s New Adventures company dancers perform to live orchestral music that features percussion, organ, and tambourine. Terry Davies has created this diverse score, which includes themes from the original film by composer Danny Elfman. The sets and costumes, fantastically designed by Lez Brotherston, come alive on stage–most memorably, the dancing topiary. The show is also full of special effects that help reveal Edward’s skill (sculpting the bush into a star shape) and helplessness (short-circuiting the Christmas tree). The musical is heavy on humor, and pulls at our heartstrings at times. However, it seems that Bourne, as director and choreographer, got carried away with the suburban world and characters that overwhelm Edward–so much that they overwhelm us. The title character is too often a bystander in the show, which is saturated with long group dance numbers and transitional ‘filler’ scenes. As a result, the production simply is not as captivating as some of his other interpretations, such as ‘Swan Lake,’ which played on the same stage earlier this year. ‘Edward Scissorhands’ runs through December 31 at the Ahmanson, 135 N. Grand Ave. at the Music Center. Tickets ($30-$90) are available online at CenterTheatreGroup.org or by calling (213) 628-2772. ——- Reporting by Alyson Sena, Associate Editor. To contact, send an e-mail to newsdesk@palipost.com.

A part-time resident of Pacific Palisades, the beloved dramatist is enjoying a revival of his soulful play “The Roads to Home” in L.A.

In much of his work, Horton Foote, the acclaimed playwright, captures the essence of small-town life while exploring the elusive meaning of home. Yet there’s nothing indefinable about the source of his inspiration: his own home town of Wharton, Texas (fictionalized as Harrison, Texas), is the setting for most of the more than 60 plays he’s written. To be sure, Foote, still writing and active in the theater at 90, has national-treasure status. He received Academy Awards for his screenplay adaptation of ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ and his original screenplay ‘Tender Mercies’ (Robert Duvall won best actor for that 1983 film). ‘The Trip to Bountiful,’ originally written for television in 1953, is an enduring theater classic. The film version, produced by Foote in 1985, starred Geraldine Page in a role that earned her the Academy Award for best actress. In 1995, he won the Pulitzer Prize for ‘The Young Man from Atlanta,’ and in 2000, President Clinton awarded him the National Medal of Arts. Despite Foote’s many accolades and far-reaching fame, his roots in Wharton, a small town 50 miles southeast of Houston and 40 miles north of the Gulf of Mexico, are never far from his mind. ‘I still have a house there that I go back to quite often,’ Foote said during a recent phone interview from the Palisades home of his daughter, the actress Hallie Foote, and her husband, actor Devon Abner, where he lives part-time. ‘In some ways, I’ve never left it,’ he continued, adding, ‘I have a theory that writers don’t choose what to write about; the subject chooses them.’ His subject–the ordinary men and women he remembers from his youth in Texas–is seemingly endless as a dramatic source. ‘I don’t base my characters on any particular person,’ Foote explains. ‘I take a little piece here and a little piece there and create a new person.’ What results are quiet, often heartbreaking tales of troubled lives, told with compassion and deceptive simplicity. Such is the case with ‘The Roads to Home,’ now playing at the Lost Studio Theatre, where infidelity, divorce and madness are themes woven into a trilogy of related one-acts. ‘One thing people don’t often consider about Horton is that he has reached the very peak of success in his career without ever using a vulgar word,’ says Scott Paulin, ‘Roads to Home’ director. ‘That these plays, all written about a small town in Texas, continue to have such impact on people is a testament to the underlying power of what he’s saying.’ At the heart of the story is the tragic figure of Annie Gayle Long (played by Jenny Dare Paulin), a young housewife and mother living in Houston, Texas, in the 1920s who steadily slips into madness in act one, ‘A Nightingale.’ Unsettled by the murder of her father and her inability to cope with two young children, she rides the streetcars day and night, arriving unannounced at the screen door of Mabel Votaugh (Wendy Phillips), who came from the same hometown as Annie: Harrison, Texas. Comic relief arrives in the second act, ‘The Best of Friends,’ when Mabel’s neighbor Vonnie (Laura Richardson), bursts into Mabel’s living room distraught about the discovery that her husband is having an affair. Mabel’s husband, Jack (Jim Haynie), can’t keep his eyes open long enough to contribute to the conversation. The final act, ‘Spring Dance,’ finds Annie, still radiant and glowing despite her diminished mental state, surrounded by three male friends in a genteel garden setting at what appears to be an ordinary dance. The grimness of her situation slowly unravels in this stirring final scene. ‘In some ways, all of my plays are about the roads to home,’ says Foote, who enthusiastically endorses the current production. ‘Home is a very ephemeral, personal thing and each of us has our own definition. Some people think of it only as a place to escape from. When I left home, I never left mentally, only physically.’ That journey began when Foote left Texas at 16 to study acting. He first studied at the Pasadena Playhouse in California before moving to New York, where he quickly learned the easiest way to get good roles was to write the plays himself. Among the odd jobs he had as a young man in New York was running an elevator on Park Avenue from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., allowing him the time and quiet space to begin writing. ‘I figured the tenants were all in bed by 11 p.m.,’ he says with a chuckle. Critics liked his first play, a one-act, and Foote promptly sent a copy to his proud parents back in Texas. ‘Some of the people in Wharton whose names I used weren’t happy,’ Foote recalls. ‘I learned a lesson. That’s when I decided to take another name for the town.’ His talent for theater led to writing for television’s ‘Playhouse 90,’ ‘Philco Playhouse’ and ‘U.S. Steel Hour.’ Eventually, his career expanded to Hollywood and screenplays. Foote has four children, two sons and two daughters. His wife, Lillian, died in 1992 after 47 years of marriage. Regarding a recent revival of ‘The Trip to Bountiful’ at the Signature Theatre in New York that garnered exceptional reviews, Foote says with characteristic modesty and understatement: ‘That play just seems to reach people.’ Actress Lois Smith played the lead as the homesick Mrs. Carrie Watts, with Hallie Foote in the role of Jessie May, the heartless and demanding daughter-in-law. ‘Critics often say she’s the best interpreter of my work,’ Foote says of his daughter. ‘We’re real collaborators,’ says Hallie of her sometimes director. ‘It’s a joy to work with my father; we have our own special shorthand.’ And what’s next from Horton Foote? ‘I’m writing a play, and this one is not in Harrison,’ he says with a note of playful glee. Co-produced by Hallie Foote and Lea Endres, ‘The Roads to Home’ continues at the Lost Studio Theatre, 130 S. La Brea Ave. (south of Beverly Blvd.) this Friday and Saturday, December 15 and 16 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, December 17 at 4 p.m. The show will also run during the weekends of January 5, 6, and 7 and 12, 13 and 14. Tickets are $15 for all performances. For ticket reservations, call 600-3682 or visit www.theroadstohome.com.

Zebulon Projects presents the world premiere of Mary Lou Newmark’s “Street Angel Diaries,” directed by Darin Anthony, running December 14 through 16 at 8 p.m., and December 17 at 2 p.m. at Boston Court performing arts complex, 70 North Mentor in Pasadena. Created and composed by Palisades resident Newmark, “Street Angel Diaries” explores the issues of homelessness through first-person accounts and multimedia, including live as well as recorded music, poetry, soundscapes, storytelling, projections and movement. Newmark developed the piece as an outgrowth of her interest in learning more about the homeless, putting a face on homeless men and women by finding out more about who they are. She strolled the Santa Monica Promenade, talking to the men and women whom she encountered. Her encounters may have been just a few words or life stories. ‘I listened to people and engaged them,’ she says. ‘It wasn’t an interview; there was no pressure.’ Later, at home, Newmark would write a response to what she had heard, her own interpretation. In February 2005 she gave a concert reading of the piece that she had developed. ‘I had my visuals, people reading and one dancer moving through the audience.’ Zebulon producer Mimi Champlin became interested in Newmark’s work and decided to develop the project in a fully staged performance piece. While the work turns on the stories of homeless people, Newmark believes that it goes far deeper, believing that the staging gives shape to the piece. She has attempted to break down barriers between the performers and the audience. ‘There are layers of meaning to this piece which get down to the fact that we’re all in this together,’ Newmark says. ‘We’re all struggling with our own stuff, whether in Beverly Hills or on the street.’ Newmark has always been interested in multimedia; she writes poetry, dances and paints. ‘I was originally trained as a classical violinist,’ she says. ‘But I’ve always enjoyed creating my own music and was never really satisfied playing the standard classical repertoire. I have always been interested in extending the palette of the violin, and when I started working with electronic music, I saw that I could bring the entire world into my studio.’ Not reliant on synthesizers, Newmark prefers to record sounds from the real world. ‘I go out to record sounds–street noise, birds–and then integrate them with the instruments. Using live sound results in a deeper sonic quality.’ Newmark is an award-winning violinist, composer and poet. She has a traditional classical background, with master’s degrees in violin performance and music composition from USC and UCLA, respectively. Her works encompass a wide range of styles and techniques, incorporating live performance, original poetry and electronically generated sounds into unique pieces that inhabit their own sound world. She maintains a private violin and composition studio in Los Angeles. Zebulon Projects is headed by raconteur and philanthropist Z. Clark Branson, who financed the Boston Court performing arts complex. Mimi Champlin is the producer for Zebulon. Tickets are $25 and are available online at www.bostoncourt.org or by calling (626) 683-6883, ext. 106. Senior and student tickets are available for $20. A percentage of ticket sales will benefit Union Station Foundation, which operates a 36-bed adult shelter, a 50-bed family shelter, a 14-unit transitional housing facility for families, an intake and assessment center, and a career development program.

New parents often join a baby group to learn techniques for taking care of their infants and to connect with other people going through the same experience. This community can be–emotionally and informationally–a lifesaver for moms who might otherwise feel lost or overwhelmed during an exciting but challenging time. Palisades resident Marsha Myers Kamer felt so grateful for the information and support she received in Donna Holloran’s babygroup, Inc. classes that she and fellow mom Joanne Pauley decided to capture the experience on film for other new parents. They launched the instructional DVD, “Surviving and Thriving During Your Baby’s First Year,” last month. Holloran, a noted child development specialist and parent educator, will discuss some techniques from the DVD on Sunday, December 17 at 11 a.m. at Spanky Lane, 860 Via de la Paz, across from Domino’s. The two-disc boxed set is divided into the first and last half of baby’s first year and features ‘live’ babygroup classes. Holloran sits on the floor with a group of eight or nine moms and their babies, and leads a discussion on the most common questions and concerns shared by new parents, from “soothing and swaddling” and “solid foods” to “returning to work” and “separation anxiety.” The babies make noises, nurse, and play with toys throughout the sessions, sometimes demonstrating the very behavior (“fussiness”) that their parents are discussing. Every topic is followed by an on-screen review or “cheat sheet,” and each disc ends with the parents singing to their children, which automatically quiets and calms them. “It’s ‘Parenting 101′ and a support group,” says Kamer, whose son, Ben, 3, graduated from babygroup last year. “It’s people who understand what’s going on with you right then. They understand what you’re struggling with and they don’t mind talking about the same stuff–ad nauseam.” The idea for the DVD originated when Kamer and some other moms she’d met in Holloran’s babygroup were socializing outside the class, without their children, and started talking about how fortunate they were to have this “network.” They wanted to reach out to those parents who did not have the opportunity to join a baby group and might be feeling lost or in need of support and advice. “We didn’t want to make it a snotty British nanny telling you what to do or a doctor in a lab coat being really dry,” says Kamer, a TV writer and producer who wrote for “Becker” and “Murphy Brown,” and is currently writing a pilot for Lifetime. She and Pauley also did not want parents to feel guilty for not doing something the “right” way. “What’s great about Donna is there’s no judgment,’ Kamer says. ‘There are a few things that are absolutes, like that babies need to be put to sleep on their backs, but, basically, it’s different approaches to what’s right. It’s what’s right for each family. It’s about how to care for your baby in a compassionate way without feeling guilty.” Kamer learned about babygroup when she was seven months pregnant with Ben and was initially waitlisted to join one of Holloran’s classes, which are held once a week in the First Presbyterian Church in Santa Monica. A spot opened up for her, and the class “became the highlight of my week,’ Kamer says. “Having a child, I had no idea how different my life was going to be–180 degrees turned around–and how, for a while anyway, I would be out of sync with people in my life who were not new parents.” Not only did babygroup give Kamer a community of other parents who eventually became some of her closest friends, but also information that made her life easier, such as how to get Ben to stop crying in car or how to keep him “still” for 20 minutes so she could take a shower. Kamer felt that putting this knowledge on a DVD was important because while moms usually don’t have time to read parenting books during the first year of their baby’s life, they often find themselves at home on the couch, in front of the television. With a DVD, they can go straight to the topic of their choice. “What’s really helpful, say, if you’re trying to get your baby to sleep through the night, is that you get some encouragement and maybe another piece of advice you could try,” Kamer says. Parents who have seen the DVD have said they particularly liked the “sleeping” and “adjusting to motherhood” discussions. “In the 6-to-12-months section, there are moms talking about whether or not they’re ever going to have sex again,” Kamer says. “It gets very comfortable and familiar and real.” The idea is that this ‘virtual community’ is always available to help both new and ‘repeat’ parents having their second or third child, who may need a refresher course. ‘Some women have joked that they liked seeing people who looked as tired as they did,’ Kamer says. ‘This group is available to you at 4 a.m. No one cares if you washed your hair or brushed your teeth. They’re there.’ Holloran, who founded babygroup, inc. in Los Angeles 1996, produced the DVD with Pauley and Kamer. Palisades moms Nikki Rifkin and Tiffany Lemons appear in the DVD, along with former Palisadian Jenn Linardos. For more information or to purchase the DVD, call (800) 771-2147 or visit babygroupvideo.com.

When ISABEL FROST joined MoveOn.org’s Grassroots Campaigns, Inc. political consulting firm, she didn’t know that her experience might guide the course of her life. Isabel received training in Boston, then spent three months as a paid worker in Denver as a Democratic canvasser for the recent election. In this position, she was part of what she called ‘a giant phone tree,’ calling MoveOn members to get them to volunteer to help call others. The goal was to reach 5 million voters, but they reached 7.2 million. On the day of the election, Isabel said, the office was hyped up and excited. At least 20 MoveOn members and 100 volunteers were calling different areas to urge voters to support Democratic candidates. Isabel was encouraging people to vote for Jon Tester, now the Democratic Senator-Elect from Montana. When they election was over, the MoveOn members had a party across the street from the offices. ‘Every time a Democrat came [on the television] everyone cheered,’ recalled Isabel, who voted by mail. Her experience with MoveOn benefited her in several ways, exposing her to new people as well as revealing her passion. ‘I got to know everyone really well,’ she said. ‘They became kind of like family. I met a lot of really empowering people.’ Isabel, who attended Palisades High and finished high school through homeschooling last December, is now sure that she is interested in political science. Once she has finished working at MoveOn as assistant director for three months after the election, she will attend Santa Monica College. She hopes to attend law school in the future. ‘I think everyone should take a gap year [between high school and college],’ she said. ‘You only have that chance once, and I had a fantastic experience.’

Brady Hiete, son of Mr. and Mrs. Kurt Hiete, of Pacific Palisades, is engaged to be married to Lauren Marie Gaona, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Gonzales of Camarillo and Mr. and Mrs. R. Gaona of Colorado. Brady attended Corpus Christi Elementary School and Loyola High School, and is a graduate of the University of Washington in Seattle. He is currently a tennis professional at the Calabasas Swim and Tennis Club. The bride-to-be graduated from California State University of Channel Islands.