This month’s tenet focuses on choices and their consequences, so I’ve paid close attention to this subject all month. Conditions in the world, our community, and my heart provided ample food for thought. For me, the answer to correctly exercising our freedom to choose boils down to Cinderella’s mantra, “have courage and be kind,” from…
The seeds for the new cottage in Ecuador were planted in 2016 when Big Ocean representatives attended Habitat III there. Vilma Sagebin saw Ana Carolina Gualinga Cuji (also called Anita) and her friend enter a Big Ocean Women presentation and offered to translate for them. When she sensed their uneasiness as the hour grew late,…
Vilma Sagebin had an up-close and personal view of Big Ocean’s beginnings through her daughter and our founder, Carolina Allen. Carolina had returned from attending a funeral in Hawaii where an experience made her conclude she must do something about the current negative trends and their influence on the rising generation. She told Vilma she…
Like nearly everything related to Big Ocean Women, the newly formed St. George, Utah cottage began with one person inviting friends to attend a Big Ocean meeting or activity. Cathy Mauluulu, a cottage leader and committee member and a close friend of Gloria Boberg, encouraged her and Allison Stingley to attend the U.N. Civil Society…
In February, Sandra Ahlquist planned a May 1 celebration marking her retirement after 40 years as the owner, teacher, and driving force of Aunt Sands’ Preschool. Instead, like nearly everything else this spring, COVID-19 rewrote the script. The school closed its doors forever in March, but its legacy will live on through the truths she…
We started the Cottage Industry feature last year to highlight the “industry” or work done in our various cottages. Cottages, for those new to Big Ocean, are groups of women who gather in their neighborhoods to inspire, inform, stand, serve, and report as they support each other in their maternal feminist beliefs. This month we…
Currents of hope and gratitude burst from our authors’ pens this month, Norma notes. Yes, Current events are especially troublesome. We women who carry our entire world wherever we go may naturally feel weighed down as we face COVID-19 with its many ramifications. There is no denying it has brought chaos to our lives–physically, socially,…
The three environments outlined in this month’s tenet, “We live and promote a life culture within the womb, the home, and our ecological environment,” remind me of three personal experiences, one focusing on each of these related environments. First, I remember holding Heather, my first baby, and feeling awed and a little shocked about…
Houston rides again! Following up on their “Screenagers” event in April 2019, January saw this dynamic cottage bringing Collin Kartchner from www.savethekids.us to discuss the connection between social media and screen addiction to the rise in teens’ mental health ailments and declining self-esteem. The event, marked by mammoth fund-raising efforts and a partnership with a…
Meet Kathy Stimpson, our crackerjack editor and “sneaker wave.” According to Wikipedia, a sneaker wave is “a disproportionately large coastal wave that can sometimes appear in a wave train without warning.” That’s Kathy to a T. She prefers to hover quietly near the shore, insisting she is no big deal. For a while we are…