It’s remarkable that Los Angeles, a city built on the convenient collision of dreamers and boosters, became the unlikely refuge for Jewish artists and intellectuals who fled Hitler’s persecution and added important chapters to the cultural history of L. A. During the 1930s and 1940s, many of the artists, writers, moviemakers and musicians who fled Europe settled in Los Angeles, a large number in Santa Monica Canyon and Pacific Palisades. Some, like filmmaker Billy Wilder and writers Bertold and Salka Viertel, came at the behest of the movie studios; others came because of friends or relatives, and others were drawn by the balmy weather. The Skirball Museum has just opened the first exhibition focusing on the major contributions Jewish exiles made to the cultural foundation of Los Angeles. Over the last 18 months, Associate Curator Tal Gozani has been researching and interpreting the journeys of these 11 men and women who, because of their perceived intellectual capital, escaped the restrictive U.S. immigration laws enacted in 1924, but who nevertheless did not escape the emotional and political displacement, having lost their European citizenship and sense of place in their homelands. Gozani took into consideration a number of factors in choosing the ‘migr’s to be highlighted. She wanted to include women, she said in an interview, and there also had be to enough resource material available. The Warner Bros. Library and the Arnold Schoenberg center in Vienna provided extensive information, and she was lucky that Salka Viertel had written ‘The Kindness of Strangers,’ which described her early years in California, culminating with America’s entry into World War II. Some artists, like Bertold Brecht, were excluded because they weren’t Jewish. The exhibition was conceived as a companion piece to the Albert Einstein show currently on view at the Skirball. Einstein spent three winters in California’1931, 1932 and 1933 at Caltech. He associated himself with other ‘migr’s and with Hollywood and lent his considerable influence and resources to advocate on behalf of other artists and scientists trapped in Nazi Europe. ‘Throughout this nine-month exhibition we knew we needed to create related elements that would look deeper at L.A. and the ‘migr’, including the cultural history preceding and through the Nazi period that defined Einstein’s experience,’ said Lori Starr, director of the Skirball Museum. The show, ‘Driven into Paradise,’ has been mounted in the Ruby Gallery, which is the informal gathering place in front of the auditorium, and one of the most prominent places in the museum. Conceived to be self-contained, the exhibition was designed to travel to libraries and cultural institutions around the country. The ‘migr’s highlighted are filmmakers Michael Curtiz and Billy Wilder, composers Arnold Schoenberg and Ernst Toch, artists Otto and Gertrud Natzler, art collector Galka Scheyer and writers Vicki Baum, Lion Feuchtwanger, Salka Viertel and Franz Werfel. Each artist has his or her own display panel, which includes a small biography, photographs, documents, and film clips or music samples where appropriate. The Natzlers’ exhibit even includes a sampling of their ceramic pots demonstrating Gertrud’s fine crafting and Otto’s innovative glazes. Each of these talented men and women had enjoyed a productive creative life in Europe which, despite the upheaval in their lives, the displacement and loss that drove them to safety in America, continued in their new lives. Lion Feuchtwanger, born in an affluent Orthodox Jewish family in Munich, had already published his first novel by his early 20s. In these early works he alerted the world to the dangers of German nationalism, and warned German Jews against complacency. His outspokenness established him as one of the foremost anti-fascist writers of the time. Feuchtwanger was in America when Hitler came to power in 1933, and was warned not to return to Germany. While in exile in France, he and his wife Marta were assisted by President Roosevelt in immigrating to the United States and arrived in Los Angeles in 1941. Within two years, the couple’s home Villa Aurora on Paseo Miramar became an intellectual and artistic free zone, where ‘migr’s would gather to exchange ideas and support one another. Frequent visitors included Thomas and Heinrich Mann, Fritz Lang, Aldous Huxley, Bertold Brecht, Peter Lorre and Arnold Schoenberg. Feuchtwanger continued to write prolifically, adopting American themes such as the Salem witch hunts into his novels’an ironic choice in light of the government’s suspicion that the fiercely anti-fascist ‘migr’s were communists. Otto and Gertrud Natzler arrived here after leaving behind promising careers as ceramists in Vienna. They brought with them a kiln, a potter’s wheel, and 20 kilos of uranium oxide for glazes and a crate of ceramics. Over the next three decades, Gertrud produced her wafer-thin bowls, vases, jars and bottles while Otto experimented with new, local glaze ingredients, and perfected over 2,000 glazes. Until Gertrud’s death in 1971, the Natzlers created some 25,000 vessels and helped establish ceramics as a form of high art. In a marked departure from the fecundity of the others’ creative energy, Ernst Toch’s creative impetus waned during the war years. Under pressure to support his wife and child, he gave up his own composing, and went to work writing film scores for various studios and teaching musical composition at USC. A massive heart attack in 1948 forced him to realign his priorities, and he quit both jobs to concentrate on his own compositions. Over the last 16 years of his life, he completed seven symphonies and developed his own strategy for writing approachable and lively atonal music. He is also remembered today as the inventor of the genre of spoken music. Each of these immigrants maintained a commitment to artistic and political freedom, some by working to save other German intellectuals in Europe, others by using their talents to challenge injustices they saw around them in their adopted country. During the 1930s and 1940s, many of Michael Curtiz’s films focused on controversial domestic social issues, including the elusiveness of the American Dream for groups at the margins of American society. In ‘Black Fury’ (1935), he depicted the desperate plight of working-class immigrants in an American coal-mining town. And Billy Wilder, who came to Hollywood in 1934 when Columbia purchased a story from him, moved into directing movies that often treated taboo topics in a charming and amusing manner. In ‘Some Like It Hot,’ he used good humor to feast on the topic of gender confusion. These ‘migr’s shared the courage and resourcefulness necessary to survive and prosper in the new country, but suffered the guilt of knowing that while they were safe from tyranny, many others perished, and that Europe would bear the physical cost of war. In her memoir, Salka Viertel reflects on her safe life in Santa Monica Canyon and the guilt she feels over having been spared. ‘The unconcerned sunbathers on the beach, their hairless bodies glistening and brown, the gigantic trucks rumbling on the highway, the supermarkets with their mountains of food, the studio with the oh-so-relaxed employees, the chatting extras pouring out from the stages at lunch time, the pompous executives marching to their ‘exclusive dining room’ or to the barbershop, stopping to flirt with the endearing ‘young talent”all these scenes were a nerve-racking contrast to the war horror I constantly imagined.’ The life stories of these European Jewish ‘migr’s are stories of culture shock, isolation and anti-immigrant discrimination, but also of resilient men and women who produced some of the great art, music, literature and film of the 20th century. The Skirball Museum is located at 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd., off the 405 Freeway. Admission is free to the Ruby Gallery. Contact: 440-4500 or visit www.skirball.org.

Compiled by LAURA WITSENHAUSEN, Associate Editor As part of the monthlong Community Awareness program at Totally Kids, the preschoolers were visited by Officer Susan Quan of the LAPD, who taught a safety class. They also visited the fire station, post office and Gelson’s market. Totally Kids and Sunrise Assisted Living have also created an Intergenerational Program where the children visit the residents once a week and enjoy an art project and snack together. ‘Our goal is to have the children become aware of the community they live in and be able to contribute something back to it,’ says owner Robin Briskin. o o o Palisades students were involved with several volunteer outreach programs this week. Kids Reaching Out, Marquez Charter’s service learning program, aims to expose students to the benefit of reaching out to others. Each grade level works on at least one project throughout the year, centered on grade-level themes. Projects include a first grade toy drive, second grade lunch making at Turning Point Shelter and the fourth grade food drive and CROP Walk participation. The Marquez third graders have set up lemonade stands to raise money for Pediatric Cancer Research. Each third grade class is sponsoring a lemonade stand throughout the year and is responsible for advertising and working its event. Lemonade donations are 50 cents a cup. When Calvary students learned of the destructive nature of the tsunami in Southeast Asia, they returned to school after the holidays eager to help the survivors. Student council members believed they were the right organization within Calvary to sponsor the fundraising efforts for the entire school. Student council members placed decorated shoeboxes in each classroom, including preschool, for one week, giving each student the opportunity to donate to this cause. Some students donated their allowance; some washed their parents’ cars, or did other chores to raise money for the tsunami victims. Many students wrote prayers which were posted on a bulletin board for all to read. At the end of the week, student council announced that Calvary students collectively had raised $5,481. Fifth grade teachers, Tara Morrow and Mike Brown, oversee student council activities and CATI HANCE is president of the student council. Funds are being forwarded to the Direct Relief Organization (www.directrelief.org), chosen by Steve Faubion, Senior Pastor of Calvary Christian Church. o o o Two local students were named to the honor roll for the fall semester at UC Santa Barbara. DANIEL BOST HOWARD, a student in the Letters and Science Program, and TARYN JEAN ERICKSON, a student of dramatic arts, received the honor for excellence in academic work. o o o MICHAEL BEILINSON, who is majoring in history and television, radio and film at Syracuse University in New York, was named to the dean’s list for the fall semester. o o o DAVID WEINER-CRANE was named to the Academic Honor Roll for the fall term at Northfield Mount Hermon School in Northfield, Massachusetts.

By JULIAN SUHR Palisadian-Post Intern On Saturday, January 29, six scouts from Girl Scout Troop 535 and Boy Scout Troops 23 and 85 teamed up with Palisades Beautiful to clear destructive Algerian ivy from parkway trees. This ivy, if left unchecked, will climb a tree and strangle it. Headed by Ann Fogel, a facilitator of Palisades Beautiful, the scouts used shovels and clippers to clear away the ivy in an 18-inch radius around each tree. Eight to ten parkway trees on Sunset near Marquez, in the Alphabet streets and on lower Chautauqua were cleared, but many more remain. ‘Palisades Beautiful hopes to establish an ongoing relationship with the local scout troops to help maintain the parkway trees around the Palisades,’ Fogel said. ‘This will allow our organization to allocate funds otherwise spent hiring gardeners towards tree plantings. We thank the scouts for their hard work.’ Future projects with the scouts may involve pruning and the removal of stakes and ties from trees that have outgrown them. Of course, Algerian ivy removal will continue. Palisades Beautiful is an all-volunteer organization that strives to enhance the beauty and environmental health of the community. New members and donations are encouraged. Some activities planned this spring include the irrigation and planting of the Northfield/Sunset triangle and the annual tree planting. The group’s next meeting will be Friday, February 18, at 10 a.m. in the branch library. Contact: palisadesbeautiful@earthlink.net.

The 2,000-year relationship between the Catholic Church and the Jews will be explored in a three-part seminar by Rabbi Sheryl Lewart at Kehillat Israel, starting Wednesday, February 16 at 7:30 p.m. Lewart will focus on specific chapters from the 2001 New York Times bestseller ‘Constantine’s Sword’ by James Carroll. Carroll, a Catholic scholar, explores Catholic-Jewish relations with insight into each major historical period. Lewart has long been interested in Catholic-Jewish relations. ‘If I wasn’t born Jewish, Catholicism feels like the most compelling religion to me with its love of ritual and ceremony.’ ‘James Carroll’s perspective is a good opening into this topic,’ said Lewart. ‘I read the book years ago and it resonated for me.’ The seminar series is part of ‘Historic Fears and Contemporary Anxieties,’ three educational programs sponsored by KI in response to the concerns over the release of Mel Gibson’s ‘The Passion of the Christ’ last year. Lewart says that Gibson’s film was widely talked about in her congregation last year. ‘People were fearful that it might create a new wave of anti-Semitic response; the timing of the release close to Easter/Passover hit a nerve in the Jewish psyche.’ Last spring, Lewart was part of community panels at both Corpus Christi and St. Matthew’s. ‘I was specifically addressing the movie, giving the perspective of how a Jewish person might view or react to the film. Out of that, there was a sense that people might want to explore further.’ Lewart, who is a member of the Palisades Ministerial Association as well as the local women’s ministerial group, talked with other clergy members about the response to the film. ‘What came out of our discussions was that the best part of all the excitement and emotion about the release of the film was that this is a great opportunity to learn more about each other. And what we thought would be the most helpful was education.’ The first seminar, February 16, will focus on Paul and the New Testament rejection of Judaism with the chapter entitled ‘Paul the Martyr of Shalom.’ In the second session, scheduled for March 9, the discussion will focus on the period of the Crusades, the origin of the blood libel, conversionism, and Thomas Aquinas and the chapters ‘The War of the Cross’ and ‘Thomas Aquinas: Reason Against the Jews.’ On April 20, the final session will focus on the Church and Hitler and the chapters ‘From Christian Anti-Judaism to Eliminationist Anti-Semitism’ and ‘Pius XII: Last Days of the Roman Ghetto.’ In addition to the three-part seminar, Dr. Michael Berenbaum, a KI scholar-in-residence, and Lewart will discuss ‘What Jews Should Know About Jesus’ on Wednesday, February 23. All seminars begin at 7:30 p.m. at Kehillat Israel, 16019 Sunset, and are open to the community. Contact KI at 459-2328.

Shortly before my first flight home from Brazil was supposed to take off, I was tucking my heavy black backpack under the seat in front of me. The two bottles of cacha’a (Brazilian brandy) that I had carefully packed among handmade tablecloths hit the airplane floor with a soft thud. To my left, a pale, Portuguese-speaking woman had plunked down with a baby on her lap and tucked a miniature figure of a nun in the seat pocket. When the plane began to taxi, she pulled it out and kissed it, clutching it tightly in the palm of her hand. I, too, wanted to get home safely. I was due back at work in 24 hours, the length of time it takes to fly from Fortaleza, on Brazil’s northeastern coast, to Los Angeles (including three flights and transfer time). And I knew the transition would not be easy. I’d just spent nine days sun-tanning on silky white-sand beaches, bathing in the warm Atlantic Ocean and sleeping in a hammock. Even though I was there during the summer season, I imagined that the climate was always pretty much the same in Fortaleza’warm and breezy’and was told that indeed the area has some of the best consistently nice weather. Fortaleza (which means ‘fortress’ in Portuguese) is one of the northeast’s major fishing ports and a developing city, with high-rise hotels and restaurants sprouting up along the coastline. My first night there, I feasted on delicious white fish saut’ed with oil, lime and spices at a small restaurant along the crowded boardwalk. While I ate, a group of Brazilian men and women across the street performed capoeira, a kind of acrobatic, martial-arts dance to the beat of hand clapping and the plucking of a stringed instrument called a berimbau. These distinct tastes, sounds and lively images of Brazilian nightlife were still vivid in my mind as my plane lifted off the ground and away from the Fortaleza coast, but I already knew what I would miss the most about Brazil: the Lopes family. The Lopeses had agreed to host me and my friend months before we had even met them. My friend, who speaks Portuguese and had vacationed in Brazil prior to our trip, had connected with them through another friend and former exchange student of theirs. We considered ourselves lucky to have the opportunity to stay with a family since home stays often give outsiders an inside look at a culture and its traditions. But, having had two previous and very different home stay experiences’in Ireland and Italy’I knew that it could be really good or really bad, so I tried to curb my expectations. We learned before the trip that the middle child was named Roosevelt, that he spoke English fluently and would be picking us up from the hotel on our second day there. He e-mailed us a short note to tell us a little about himself: ‘I still live with my parents, I teach English and German, but I also speak five foreign languages.’ He was 34 and had two brothers, both married. The oldest was Esdras, 36, a federal policeman, who had the tough look of a cop on duty but the friendly personality of a veterinarian, which he was actually studying to become. The youngest brother, Raudson (the R pronounced like an H), was 31 and he was the most serious of the three, an engineer working for a company that delivered oxygen tanks to hospitals. Roosevelt was named for FDR, thanks to an uncle who revered the U.S. president, and had a strong affinity for American culture, especially music. The first night he took us out on the town, he caught me in a moment as I gazed at the dark sky and distant city lights, and said, ‘All the leaves are brown, and the sky is gray…’ Whether or not being safe and warm in L.A. was on my mind, as the Mamas and the Papas so longingly put it, I laughed with him, warmed by his gentle efforts to make a connection with me. Roosevelt turned out to be the person I felt most comfortable with and my link to the rest of the family. The Lopes’s house, like every other one on Rua Israel Bezzera, was hidden from the cobblestone street and other houses by a gate and tall cement walls. When we first pulled up outside, Roosevelt honked his horn several times and a thin, shirtless man with large glasses and buck teeth opened the gate, holding the heavy black doors as we drove in. This was David, ‘as in David and Goliath,’ Roosevelt told us. He was the family’s housekeeper and, we later learned, the butt of many jokes for his clumsiness and inability to clean and prepare things to the satisfaction of Roosevelt’s mother, Eliza. Part of the charm of the Lopes family was their warm sense of humor and the musical sound of their laughter, especially Eliza’s youthful and eye-watering giggles spilling all over the kitchen floor. One morning, at the breakfast table, Roosevelt translated her story about telling David that he couldn’t talk to me because I couldn’t understand Portuguese, and his confusion as to whether it was because I was deaf. Apparently, David had never met anyone who didn’t speak or understand his language. I communicated with Eliza and her quiet husband, Antonio, with the help of Roosevelt and my friend translating for me, although sometimes I had to use my own hand gestures, facial expressions, broken Spanish and the few Portuguese words I knew’mainly Obrigada, which means ‘Thank You.’ They spoke to me in Portuguese and though I didn’t understand the words, I often got the feeling that we were all saying the same thing, like the love scene in Brian Friel’s play ‘Translations,’ when a Gaelic-speaking Irish woman and an English-speaking colonist echo each other without knowing it. Eliza and Antonio told us to call them M’e and Pai (Mom and Dad), initially embracing us because of our connection to an adored exchange student and then taking care of us as if we were their own children. When I got bug bites that itched and swelled on my arms, Eliza rubbed a soothing cream on them; when my stomach was upset, she prepared a special tea and made me take medicine. They put us up in a bedroom with one small twin bed and a baby-blue cotton hammock they hung across the room, where I slept. We had our own bathroom and took cold showers since there was no hot water, which we didn’t miss considering the 80-degree weather. Outside the one large barred window was a cement cage that held Roosevelt’s guard dog, Hercules, a Rottweiler who added a sense of security for the family. Each morning, we woke up to a breakfast of fresh mango juice, strong espresso-like coffee, plates of papaya and melon, a basket of rolls and cheese. During the day, Roosevelt took us to nearby beaches, including a magnificently remote and quiet one called Prainha (‘Little Beach’), where we shared a pot of crab legs that we cracked open on wooden boards before sucking the sea-salty meat from the shells. All the way home, we bumped along the potholed cobblestone streets through tiny villages, listening to Simon and Garfunkel (Roosevelt’s favorite) and ‘feelin’ groovy.’ Each night, we feasted on beef or chicken dishes, generously spiced or prepared in special sauces, accompanied by rice, beans and a salad-type of dish. Eliza and Antonio shared the cooking duties’Antonio in charge of chicken stews and creamy smashed pumpkins while Eliza’s specialty was sweet puddings, mousses and flan-like desserts. On New Year’s Eve, all five of us piled into the car with desserts on our laps and drove about 30 minutes to their bright yellow country house, set on a large plot of land with a pool and barbecue area, all enclosed by a brick wall with spikes along the top. Fruit trees covered the land’ cashew, coconut, lemon and mango’and a family of bald-necked chickens ran wild along with a friendly cat called Gloves (which the Lopeses pronounced Glow-ves). Roosevelt’s brothers came with their wives and children, and on New Year’s Eve Eliza’s 75-year-old father joined in a celebration of food, drinks, music and conversation. We blew up dozens of green, red and white balloons (which stood for hope, love and peace), and Eliza hung them in the barbecue patio area with glittery white letters that spelled out ‘Feliz Ano Novo’ (‘Happy New Year’). Almost everybody changed into crisp white outfits that evening, a Brazilian tradition that signifies hope for peace in the new year. While the food was being prepared, the young adults karaoked to songs like Elton John’s ‘Your Song’ and the Beatles’ ‘Let it Be’ as well as tunes in Portuguese, and we discussed everything from religion and intermarriage to racism and crime. Close to midnight, we helped carry to the table dishes of baked and curried fish, creamy tuna, vegetables, rice and beans, followed by Eliza’s desserts. Fish instead of meat is traditionally served on New Year’s in Brazil. Instead of watching the ball drop in New York City or counting down with the clock, we watched a video of a Frank Sinatra performance and Esdras set off small fireworks before we all exchanged hugs, close to 1 a.m. In all of my 25 years, I don’t remember having such a tradition-filled, festive and yet relaxed New Year’s Eve with my own family, though we do celebrate other holidays with similar gusto. Something about being with the Lopeses and sharing in their customs made me appreciate even more than usual the importance of family gatherings and traditions’new and old. So when I was ‘Homeward Bound’ on January 4, as Roosevelt reminded me by playing the Simon and Garfunkel song in the car on the way to the airport, I also felt the familiar pangs of homesickness that come with leaving a tight-knit and loving family behind. I knew that back in L.A., the brandy at my feet would probably have the same citrusy-sweet taste it had at the seaside restaurant. And I would make my mother sniff the cream-colored lace tablecloth I bought her just so she could smell the musty straw scent of the Central Market. But the Lopeses were another story altogether, one that I couldn’t tuck under the seat in front of me but that I carried with me all the way home.

When Christine Kloser heard over and over that women in her Network for Empowering Women Entrepreneurs (NEW) networking organization wanted to become published authors, she thought that there must be an easier way for them to achieve this goal. So she published a compilation of 41 of their essays on topics ranging from ‘Roadmap to Retirement,’ ‘How to Be Your Own Best Matchmaker,’ ‘Overcoming Overwhelm’ to ‘How to Stay in Your Pajamas All Day…And Still Run a Business’ and ‘Financial Alchemy.’ ‘I wanted to publish a book, too, but with planning for a baby and running a business, I didn’t want to take it all on at once,’ said Kloser, who is expecting her first child this month and is the founder of the NEW, a networking group that incorporates spirituality with business and financial training and education. ‘Combining our resources, it was actually pretty effortless.’ The result is ‘Inspiration to Realization,’ a self-published compilation of women’s essays on personal, business, financial and spiritual fulfillment. Four of the contributors are from the Palisades, and they, along with Kloser, will speak about their book on Thursday, February 10 at 7:30 p.m. at Village Books, 1049 Swarthmore. In April, Kloser sent out an e-mail asking if any of the other women in the 400-plus-member networking group were interested in contributing. ‘I asked, ‘If there were something you could teach readers, what message would you want to get across to them?” Through all the submissions, Kloser picked 40 to include, plus her own, and the book began to take shape. ‘I saw themes that were coming forth from what had been submitted. I saw where different chapters fit in.’ Kloser considered herself a project manager on the book, submitting her own chapter, as well as hiring editors and designers. ‘It was beautiful how it flowed together; it felt very organic.’ The book was printed in October, six months after the initial idea came about. Palisadian contributors to the book are Spheres magazine publisher Deborah Koppel Mitchell, hypnotherapist Debbie Friedman, entrepreneur Wendy Robbins and motivational speaker Kathryn Tull. Kloser and the local authors’ essays all appear in the spiritual fulfillment section of the book. Psychologist Yvonne Thomas, a Palisades High graduate, also contributed an essay on ‘The Superwoman Juggling Act’ for the personal fulfillment section. A large number of Palisadians belong to the NEW networking group, which has monthly meetings in Santa Monica. For her essay, ‘Follow Your Heart: The Only Path to Fulfillment,’ Kloser relates her own personal journey. ‘I’m happily married, preparing to start my family in a matter of weeks, and started a business that helps a lot of people. I was willing to follow my own heart, say no, swim upstream and stay true to what felt right to me. I knew that was what I had to write about.’ Palisadian Kathryn Tull, a certified domestic violence counselor who has a master’s degree in clinical psychology and a clinical practice, wrote about ‘The Path to Personal Resiliency,’ which talks about the resiliency she had to build as a survivor of domestic violence. ‘It was an opportunity to be able to express my message about family violence’what my children and I lived through, and what it took to be able to come out from that and rebuild my life,’ says Tull, who is working on two books of her own. Palisadian Deborah Koppel Mitchell, who leads a women’s circle, wrote ‘Coming Full-Circle Into Your Ideal Life.’ She describes a women’s circle as ‘When two or more come in the space of a circle to listen and be heard while being fully present. ‘Being in circle can serve as an important reminder to each of us to tap into that ‘Goddess’ part of us, and not get lost or caught up in the hectic pace we have created in our lives,’ she writes. ‘It was an opportunity to be in a book without having to do a whole book,’ says Mitchell who has been inspired by her participation to do more public speaking. ‘It gives each of the authors a project to have under her arm.’ ‘This project felt to me like a gift that our family of friends through NEW could share with women around the world,’ says Palisadian hypnotherapist Debbie Friedman, whose chapter is entitled ‘Manifesting Made Easy’ and starts with the query: ‘Are you ready to manifest true wealth and success in your life?’ ‘I wrote about the nine-step process that I use in my work helping people to know that they create their lives, and supporting them with tools and techniques to consciously create the life they love to live,’ says Friedman who also has a self-published book called ‘Manifesting Made Easy.’ The writers range from being in their 20s to their 70s. ‘There’s something for every woman in this book,’ says Kloser, who is married to PaliHi JV baseball coach and author David. ‘Women who pick it up find they’re drawn to something that strikes them.’