Begin your New Year with Life Enhancing Meditation Practice
Attend a “How to Meditate” Workshop on Thurs., Jan. 5 from 6:30 to 8:00 pm at the Newport Chamber. Learn a classical yoga method for practicing meditation that will reduce stress, lower blood pressure, soothe mood swings and gradually bring a sense of peace. Cost is $30 if you pre-register, $40 at the door. Sliding scale may be pre-arranged. No one will be turned away because of inability to pay. Workshop includes take-home practice CD. Practice is taught seated on chairs. Wear comfortable clothing. Call Rennie Maguire at 541-961-5169 with questions or to enroll or email her at maguirewade@aol.com. Maguire is certified by Institute of the Himalayan Tradition in St. Paul, Minn.

Tender Tap
Free six-week sessions start Tuesday, January 3, 11-12 p.m. at the Health and Wellness Studio at the Senior Center, 20 SE 2nd St. Newport.
    No tap shoes needed. Bring non-marking shoes for the wood floor. This is a Free Fun Tap session brought to you by Sally Cheney. You’ll be tapping and laughing in 2012.

Call 541 265 9617 to register.

Computer Classes at Newport Public Library
The Newport Public Library will offer the following computer classes during the month of January.

Friday, January 6:
9:00 a.m. Beginning Word (2007)
This class introduces people to the basic commands to create a word processing document.
10:00 a.m. Beginning Excel
This class teaches the basics of creating a spreadsheet and adding rows and columns.

Friday, January 13:
 10:00 a.m. Intermediate Excel
This class teaches how to balance a checkbook, use multiple worksheets, and create charts.
1:00 p.m. Intermediate Word
This class builds on the previous one, and teaches how to insert photographs, create lists using bullets and numbers, and set margins, tabs, and line spacing.

Friday, January 20:
            9:00 a.m., Introduction to Computers
            The basics of turning on a computer, using the mouse, and saving files.
            0:00 a.m. Beginning Internet
            How to use a web browser, click on links, and search the Internet.

            Friday, January 27:
            9:00 a.m., Using ReferenceUSA and Consumer Reports, two databases that can be used from home to find     businesses and get ratings on                     productions.
            10:00 a.m. Overview of what is available on the library’s website.
       
    All classes are free and last one hour.  Registration is required. For more information, please call (541)265-2153 or check the library website, www.newportlibrary.org. 

Great seafood dinner for coming up for MCWC.
I hope you'll plan now to join me on Saturday February 4, 5 p.m. for a night of entertainment with salty tales by Fisher Poet extraordinaire Moe Bowstern, amazing food, and a great silent auction to benefit the MidCoast Watershed Council, held upstairs at Local Ocean Seafoods in Newport.  This event will be a lot of fun and a help to us.
    Seating is limited, so please get your ticket (or bring your check-book to the next MCWC meeting January 5 at 6:30). Tickets are $60 and available for purchase at MCWC offices near JC Thriftway, or contact Lisa Mulcahy at 541-264-0572. About a third of it will be tax deductible.  The Council is also collecting donations for the silent auction; please contact me if you can help with this.
    If you can’t come, we’ll miss seeing you.  Please consider supporting us in any case.  Year-end donations would be much appreciated and will help us continue our work to improve habitat conditions for fish and wildlife and provide better water quality for us all. We believe that a strong local economy and high quality of life depend on a healthy ecology.  You can use the donation form to make a contribution through the Internet at https://www.networkforgood.org/donation/ExpressDonation.aspx?ORGID2=931247465
    We’re putting our efforts to work in places where assessments show us to be able to make a tangible difference to watershed conditions, and we work with numerous talented partners to do so. Recent partners include Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board, Alsea Stewardship Group, U.S. Forest Service, The Lincoln Soil and Water Conservation District and The Wetlands Conservancy.  Our work has included restoration of stream habitat by large wood placement in Ojalla Creek near Siletz and Feagles Creek near Harlan, and a series of projects to improve fish passage to and from their spawning areas by replacing barrier culverts in the Upper Yaquina.  A project with the Alsea Watershed Council is in the works in the 5 Rivers Watershed to improve beaver habitat.  Various estuarine marsh restoration projects and riparian restoration through fencing and tree planting projects are also underway and we’ve been contributing work to understand the resources and habitats of Beaver Creek natural area near Ona Beach.
    Our education program also works with diverse partners including the Community Services Consortium and the Lincoln County School District for our natural resource crews who help scientific researchers and land managers accomplish essential tasks while providing learning opportunities.  Our outdoor schools provide hands-on environmental education for 6th graders.
    We have been able to accomplish a lot in our decade-plus efforts, and we thank your support of our efforts.
--Wayne Hoffman,Coordinator 541-265-9195, mcwc@midcoastwatershedscouncil.org

Reminder:
Nonviolent communication for a better world
The Yachats Academy of Arts and Sciences welcomes the New Year with an interactive presentation by Katrina Wynne, M.A., counselor and mediator, in an introduction to the principles of Nonviolent Communication as developed by Marshall Rosenberg. The event takes place on Sunday, January 8, 3 p.m., at the Yachats Commons.
    This is an interactive, stimulating presentation that teaches simple, yet powerful, transformative communication skills that will improve the quality of your personal and professional relationships.
    Where we are:
* Most communication in this society is characterized by competition, judgment, diagnosis and right/wrong thinking, forcing us into a dominator/victim dynamic.
* We are caught in a cycle of blame and defense.
    Where we want to be:
* Freedom from the effects of past experiences and cultural conditioning.
* Compassionate Communication reminds us and guides us in reframing how we express ourselves and hear others.
* We learn to turn from automatic reactions to conscious, pro-active responses based on an awareness of what we are honestly perceiving, feeling and wanting.
* Resolve conflicts peacefully; personal, public, domestic and international.
* Creates social structures that support everyone’s needs being met.
* Increase our ability to give respect and empathic attention to others.* Develop relationships based upon mutual respect, compassion and cooperation.
* Inspires intimacy and connection through vulnerability and compassion.
    Katrina Wynne, M.A. has had her own private counseling and mediation practice in Yachats for the last 20 years. She has studied with Marshall Rosenberg and taught the basics of Nonviolent Communication for the past five years.
    The Academy is supported by the Friends of the Yachats Commons Foundation. There is no admission charge for this presentation, but a $5 donation will help cover publicity expenses. For more information, call 541-961-6695.

Successful social movements are emergent, evolving, radically self-organizing, and involve the dedicated efforts of many people, each finding the role that best uses his or her gifts and passions.
--David C. Korten, Agenda For A New Economy, p. 262