Wednesday, June 30 at 5 p.m. PST, 8 p.m. EST
Blog talk radio interview with Jon Hansen

Wednesday, July 28 at 11 a.m. PST, 1 p.m. EST
Interview with Cheryl Benton and Debbie Zip
I will discuss Death by Supermarket and my upcoming book Survival Guide.

Thursday, July 22, 2010 at 1:30 p.m. PST, 4:30 p.m. EST
Radio interview with David Steinman
David is an environmentalist, consumer advocate, and author. I will discuss Death by Supermarket and my upcoming book Survival Guide.

Om Shanti,
Your girlfriend in health,

In Karma Meredith Fitzgerald clings to the Bhagavad Gita (the Hindu bible) as it is one of the only possessions she ends up with. She struggles to understand what has happened to her and examines the meaning of karma trying to decipher its true definition from the holy book. The over arching message of Karma is that sex slaves are not to blame and that society must stop condemning them and instead act righteously toward them with compassion and help.

I read this article about the new subway in New Delhi with great interest as I rode the trains for months all over India in 1968-69. Back then they were British made early 19th century steam locomotives. India was crowded and chaotic and poor back then, but my subsequent trips really drove home the message that India was going to crash and burn if something wasn’t done to at least move people around more efficiently.

The reason I like this article is because it talks about the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation’s managing director, 77-year old Elattuvalapil Sreedharan who handed out the Bhagavad Gita to his managing directors as a “management text.” In it, Lord Krishna, who is disguised as a chariot driver, convinces Arjuna, a brave but demoralized king that he “must do his duty against all odds, and fight even what seems to be an unwinnable war.”

Having seen the arguably unwinnable war of chaos in India and to read that they have a pristine subway now that runs at a profit, it seems that Mr. Sreedharan’s management style has won that unwinnable war.

In our own lives, we may not face something as heinous as my character Meredith does in Karma, but we have our own perceived unwinnable wars. And so the idea of approaching our lives with a management mentality—what can we do to do our duty (good/compassion/acceptance/perseverance) against all odds?

One thing we can do—and it’s free—is to have compassion toward those people in the world who are suffering at the hands of sex traffickers beginning with not condemning the street walkers in our own cities. Feeling compassion in your hearts is free, and it’s a great start in doing your duty toward your fellow human beings.

Om Shanti,
Your girlfriend in health,

Image: Ambro / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

One out of every three women worldwide will be beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused in her lifetime.

In some countries, the rate is as high as 70 percent of all women.

Every 26 seconds, it’s estimated that someone, at times a child or baby, will be raped in South Africa, where the rate of rape is the highest in the world.

Stand up against violence against women today

As these shocking numbers illustrate, violence against women and girls is one of the most pervasive major human rights violations worldwide. Despite recognizing the gravity and scope of these violations, the global response to violence against women remains woefully inadequate.

Right now, however, there is a bill in Congress that could have a major impact on this issue and help millions of women around the world.

The International Violence Against Women Act (IVAWA) would, for the first time, integrate strategies to prevent and address violence against women and girls into US foreign assistance programs.

Send a letter to your elected representatives in Congress today asking them to speak out against violence against women and girls by co-sponsoring IVAWA.

We need to do everything in our power to get our elected officials to help stop the rape and violence that leaves women and girls with long-term physical and psychological scars – and tears apart communities.

Passing IVAWA would be a major step toward ending this violence.

Ask your elected representatives in Congress to co-sponsor this bill and help change the lives of women and girls all over the world.

Thank you for all that you do,
The Change.org Team in partnership with CARE

Click here to sign your name

Thank you, Glenn and Marjorie. And thank you to their daughter Maggie for taking the photographs.

And her former husband John Matrisciano, who is a surgeon said he didn’t remember telling me how to set a nose, but he helped me many years ago on this manuscript. He also read Karma and told me that all the medical facts were done perfectly (thanks to Marjorie Gies who vetted the book—who is giving me a party today!). Even though it was a small group, they were all fun and receptive to the subject of sex trafficking and eager to read the book. Om Shanti!

Today was another fabulous book party hosted by my soul sisters Amy Hazard and Maureen Lehman and her daughter Danielle Monroy who graciously opened up her charming Santa Barbara home.

My good friend, ex-hiking partner and coauthor of the Schwarzbein Cookbooks, Evelyn Jacob surprised me, which made me tear up. It was truly a moving day to see the expressions of empathy for the plight of sex slaves across the world as I talked about what is going on in that industry.

It seems that Karma is beginning to make a dent in the consciousness about this subject. My hope is that it can be a voice for the millions of voiceless women and children.

It was a dark and stormy night! Ha, truly I can’t seem to escape crummy weather even though I left Boston a few days ago and am back in my old stomping grounds, Santa Barbara, at my first book party in California. (Well, I did do a CNN interview that will air in March—more about that as soon as I get the air dates). The evening was spearheaded by my old friend Sheridan Rosenberg and her friend Nina Grimison who handled a lot of the coordination.

While the rain pounded outside, we partied at the home of Jill and Ron Dexter who are legends in the commercial film industry. It blew my mind to meet them because I worked as a stylist in commercials in the 1980’s. I kidded Jill that I thought she may have fired me off a job once, and Ron piped in, “That was probably me, hire and fire.” (How times changes our perception of events. The job I was fired from was a champagne commercial starring Catherine Oxenberg who is 1,387 in line for the British Throne, who took one look at me and asked for me to be dismissed. It was traumatic then, but funny now.) I never did cross paths back then with Jill and Ron. It was fun to talk about the industry and our common friends.

But back to the book party. You can see how gorgeous their house is, filled with amazing art and antiques. The food was unbelievable. Ron was kind enough to take some photos for my blog. It was another great group of people, some I had never met, a couple of my writer’s group friends, and my former hairdresser.

Thank you, Sheridan, Jill, Nina, and Ron!
Om Shanti.

The food and wine was superb too, as Andrew is a charming, gracious, witty and experienced host who knows how to entertain. A special thanks to John, a doctor who just returned from Haiti who was fascinating to talk to (and also reminded me to take the price tag off my outfit—just in time before the other guests arrived!)

It’s heartwarming and encouraging that the response Karma got last night was consistent with the reaction it’s received since its release a few weeks ago. Like the Jungle, Uncle Tom’s Cabin and many other books that illuminate and educate, my wish is that Karma will spark an awareness of the terrible crimes against humanity that affect 2-4 million women and children across the globe. And from the attentiveness of my guests last night and the general reception Karma is receiving, I am encouraged that my novel may play a small role in fostering awareness.

Om Shanti!