[Ed. Note: Apologies for forwarding an article on health care to this list by mistake. It was a good article, though! JLC]

Climate reflections for 2011
It's that time of year when we look back and reflect on time passed. This year was marked by severe weather events. Here's a look at the states hit hardest.

http://www.climatecentral.org/gallery/graphics/top-10-hardest-hit-states-of-2011/
Here's a discussion on the year's extreme weather from PBS's News Hour:

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/environment/july-dec11/weather_12-28.html
From NASA: Vital Signs of the Planet

This NASA site is chock full of pictures, graphs, references, and compelling information. It is a well organized site that answers a lot of questions about what we do and don't know about climate change. Share this link with anyone you think might benefit from learning more about the causes and effects of climate change from a trusted source.

http://climate.nasa.gov/

Here is a link to a list of websites from the page with additional climate information:
http://climate.nasa.gov/keyWebsites/Regional Climate Change Efforts
    The PNW Climate Impacts Research Consortium is comprised of the research institutes, extension services, and universities in Washington, Oregon and Idaho with the collective  mission to "support climate change adaptation in the Northwest."
Visit their website for details on local lectures and regional conferences, in addition to programmatic and research plans.

http://pnwclimate.org/
--Paris Edwards CCCAP coordinator paris@oregonshores.org

PFLAG news
We need you this month!  Please let me know if you can join us for one of the No Name Calling Week presentations below. Although you don't have to speak, it's important to have community members standing with us as we talk about the effects of bullying on our LGBT teens.
    Tuesday, Jan. 10, 7 p.m., LCSD Board at Newport Intermediate on 7th St.
Wed., Jan. 18, 9:30 a.m., Lincoln County Commission Proclamation at Courthouse on Olive. St.
At our PFLAG meeting on Wed. Jan. 11, we'll be planning activities and events for the coming year--as well as support group time and refreshments. Hope to see you there--
    We also need your membership--if you haven't joined or renewed, please start off the New Year as an active and dues-paying member!!
    Thanks for all you're doing to make our communities more welcoming and safe.  Please email me if you can come on Jan. 10 or Jan. 18 for our community presentations.
--Jeanne StJohn pflagocc@gmail.com

Reading Circle to discuss Maisie Dobbs
The Newport Library Reading Circle will discuss Maisie Dobbs, the first title in Jacqueline Winspear’s Maisie Dobbs series, on Tuesday, January 10, at noon.
    Set in pre-World War I England, this book introduces Maisie Dobbs, who goes into service for a wealthy family at the age of 13. After she is discovered secretly reading books in her employer’s library, she is sent to school and mentored by a family friend, Dr. Maurice Blanche. During the war she goes to France to work as a nurse. Years after the war, she sets up her own business as a psychologist and investigator.
    The Reading Circle is free and open to the public. For more information, call 265-2153 or visit www.newportlibrary.org.

The Thin Man is this month's film offering at the Newport Public Library
The Newport Public Library will show the 1934 classic, The Thin Man, on Tuesday, January 10, at 6:30 p.m. Based on Dashiell Hammett's novel of the same name, The Thin Man stars William Powell and Myrna Loy as Nick and Nora Charles, a retired detective and his rich wife. Nick and Nora investigate the disappearance of an inventor in this classic blend of laughs and suspense, which marked the first pairing of what was to become one of the movies' great romantic teams. In 2000, the American Film Institute ranked the film as one of the great comedies in the previous hundred years of cinema.
    The Thin Man will be shown at no charge in the McEntee Meeting Room of the library. For more information, call the library at 265-2153 or check its website at www.newportlibrary.org<http://www.newportlibrary.org/>.

Newport Senior Activities Center offers fitness evaluations

Free fitness evaluations will be available at the Newport Senior Activities Center (NSAC), 20 E. 2nd Street, between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. during NSAC’s Focus on Fitness Day, January 11. Call in advance (541-265-9617) to schedule a 20-minute introductory appointment with personal trainer Jennifer Puentes, who is graciously volunteering her time to help seniors in the area improve and maintain their daily mobility and quality of life.

Puentes has more than 37 years experience in sport training, including her work with three Olympic coaches and five different physical therapists. Her experience with physical therapists has enhanced her knowledge and increased her capability to evaluate a person’s specific fitness needs, with particular focus on rehab and injury recovery. She is passionately committed to seniors and believes in every senior’s potential to improve their daily mobility and quality of life.

While you are here, check out some of our fitness classes modified for this particular event. Let 2012 begin with moving yourself into a healthier lifestyle with the support of your Newport Senior Activity Center!

Please call 541-265-9617 for registration and additional information.

Lunch and Learn
Newport Senior Activities Center offers Lunch and Learn with Clyde Kelly and guest speaker, Larry Cox, a Coast Guard Auxiliary Flotilla Commander, on Monday, January 9, from 12:30-1:30 p.m. Commander Cox will speak on the Coast Guard and how the Auxiliary assists them. Although the Coast Guard’s primary mission is Search and Rescue, they also provide support in the areas of marine law enforcement and environmental protection.
    The United States Coast Guard is an important presence on the Central Coast. Newport is known as “Coast Guard City.” The Coast Guard has Motor Life Boat Stations at Yaquina Bay and Depoe Bay, and their Dolphin helicopter is stationed at Newport Airport in South Beach.
    Bring your lunch and come learn more about this vital part of our community. Please call NSAC at 541-265-9617 for registration and additional information.
--Peggy O'Callaghan p.ocallaghan@newportoregon.gov

January 2012 exhibits at the Newport Visual Arts Center

Runyan Gallery

“RockPaperString+Tape “

Watercolors and sculpture by Geoffrey McCormack

January 6 through January 29, 2012

Opening reception January 6, 5 to 7p.m.

Meet the artist. Refreshments will be served. Free.

Gallery hours: Tuesday through Sunday, 11a.m. to 5 p.m.

Upstairs Gallery

“Art Deco Dreams”

Paintings and drawings in the Art Deco style by Stephan

January 6 through 28, 2012

Opening reception January 6, 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Meet the artist. Refreshments will be served. Free.

Gallery hours: Tuesday through Saturday, 12 p.m. to 4 p.m.

January OCCA Exhibition Coffee and Call for New Volunteers

    The Oregon Coast Council for the Arts (OCCA) needs volunteers from noon to 4pm for two to four hours on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday to welcome visitors to the Upstairs Gallery at the Newport Visual Arts Center. The January OCCA Exhibition Coffee is on Thursday, January 12 at 11a.m. in Room 302 at the Newport Visual Arts Center. Local Art Deco artist Stephan will give an Artist’s Talk and show slides of his work. The coffee is open to anyone interested in exploring volunteering opportunities at the VAC. Do you have a skill that would help us celebrate, promote and develop community arts?

    For more information about the exhibits or volunteering, call Sally Houck, OCCA Director of the Visual Arts Center, 541-265-6569, or email shouck@coastarts.org. The Visual Arts Center is located at 777 NW Beach Drive in Newport.

Reading recommendation from Deane Bristow
I'm reading Joe Begant's Deer Hunting with Jesus these days. He's really helped fill in the blanks in T. Frank's book, What's the Matter with Kansas? Highly recommended for widening the political perspective of anybody, right or left. Here's a YouTube link to the author.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9J-Dy0OcKw
--Deane Bristow home9front@charter.net

Chandler's inspirational video for the New Year
I will turn--or, rather, I hope that I will turn--70 in 2012.  As we get older, we finally begin to appreciate in a deeper way what we all know intellectually: that each year, day, hour is a precious gift. We finally begin to outgrow the arrogance and ignorance of our youthful assumptions of an unearned abundance of remaining time, an entitlement of decades yet to come, and we begin to face facts.
     If you are young, my new year's wish for you is that you will appreciate every day as though you were as old as I am (because, in fact, you don't have any more guarantee of being here tomorrow than I do). If you are older, I hope that you will live your life purposefully so that when your time comes, death, as in this short video based on a wonderful story by drum circle member and supporter, Richard Kennedy , may be persuaded to give you a little more time to finish your work....   
 http://www.nfb.ca/film/come_again_in_spring/
--Chandler Davis chandler@chandlerdavis.com

     The older I get the better I know that the secret of my going on
Is when the reins are in the hands of the young who dare to run against the storm
     Not needing to clutch for power, not needing the light just to shine on me
I need to be one in the number as we stand against tyranny
     Struggling myself don't mean a whole lot, I've come to realize
That teaching others to stand up and fight is the only way my struggle survives.  

--from “Ella’s Song,” by Bernice Reagan Johnson (a tribute to Ella Baker)