SHARE:  

Lesbians of Palm Springs and the Coachella Valley Outings and Events

NOTE: This newsletter may be cut short by your email program. There is a link at the bottom of screen to view the full newsletter or click here. View as Webpage

eyessofterl-PhotoRoom.png
Subscribe

This week, my thoughts have turned to my sense of self or identity and the factors that create it. It arises from both personal and societal thoughts and feelings. A multitude of factors, including culture, religion, ethnicity, gender, and life experiences, shape my sense of self.


Societal identity refers to the collective identity of a group or community. Shared values, norms, traditions, and history shape it. Societal identity is how a group perceives itself and is perceived by others. It is crucial in fostering social cohesion and a sense of belonging. It has been a hard week; for many of us now, there is a gaping wound. When we have a president threatening to take Greenland by force from Denmark and a president convicted of sexual abuse and installing other men accused of sexual assault in his cabinet, we no longer feel part of this country; some of us no longer feel part of our families or friendship circles. Those places that once created a sense of belonging now bring grief and a great sense of loss. 


Personal identity refers to the unique characteristics and traits that define me as an individual. It encompasses various elements, including personality, beliefs, values, and experiences. 


When the outside world batters you, take time to shelter within yourself. Hold to your values and take comfort in those family and friends who hold you dear and whom you hold dear. Remember what you have survived in this life and what you know to be true. Find strength within to remain true to yourself and resist what is cruel and unjust outside. Remind yourself of how remarkable you are, 

 

I wrote this many years ago, as an exercise for a writing class. 

I am from Horse Lake, British Columbia, where the winters are forty below and the summers are short. 

I live in a log house without power. Long winter nights are lit with kerosene lanterns, and there are two inches of frost on the inside of the windows when we wake. 

My father is a Quaker who stops talking only to catch his breath. 

My mother is a Baptist, a lesbian hiding from herself and the world. She is trying to please God by being a good mother. She cries often. Her sadness permeated me in the womb and throughout my childhood. 

I am the quiet one at school. Nobody really knows me. I cannot share my feelings because I have never been asked what they are, and I do not know them myself. 

I spend hours on the school bus, creating a world where everyone is happy. It always falls apart because nothing can make people happy. 

As a teenager, I imagine myself living on welfare and watching TV all day for the rest of my life. 


I am no longer that child or that teenager, but it reminds me that I am stronger than I believe and that there will always be magic and mystery in life. That the adventure of life is full of hard times and challenges and that the adventure of life is full of wonder and awe. Stay strong and I hope you find moments of magic this week.


Kim


My partner and I sleep differently; we share a light comforter, and then the dog and I have two additional blankets on our side. Lately, in this cool weather, I have woken to find myself open to the elements while my partner lays wrapped up like a burrito in the full comforter, The dog meanwhile has made igloos of the other blankets at the foot of the bed. Because I om older and wiser and prefer zen energy, I now sleep in thick fleece pants and a thick fleece pullover. Follow me for more marital advice.

My book Travels Into Discomfort is available on Amazon.

It is a travel adventure in its prose and a journey to the heart in its poetry.

Travels Into Discomfort


We cannot, of course, save the World because we do not have authority over its parts. We can serve the world though. That is everyone's calling, to lead a life that helps.

Barry Lopez


Businesses - Let's Support Our Community

Barbara Carpenter Realtor 

Shann Carr

Comedian, Event Producer, Realtor, A Lesbian Concierge In The Desert

Andrea Voras, Gerontologist Dementia Specialist Life Aging Life Care Manager 

Corlyce Photography 

Chris Ann Kallgren Realtor 

Sunny Designs-Website & Graphic Design & Video

Rice Notary 

Nancy Minger - Massage Therapist 

Poochsitter 

Motivation Changes — Life Coaching - Dr Ann Sarah Engel, MSW, PhD  

Local Lesbian Hangouts - Cocktails & Dancing

The Roost

V Lounge

Community Bulletin Board 


The Hollywood Times is looking for Palm Springs entertainment event writers/interns


Coachella Valley Invitational Soccer Competition with the National Women's Soccer League Feb 16th and Feb 22nd

Coachella Valley Invitational


Local Lesbian Authors and Books
Community Resources - Food, Medicare Counseling, Advocacy, Behavorial Health
Women's Music Festivals, Weekends, Travel etc.
  • Cork Women's Fun Weekend
  • AdventureWomen: organizes exceptional women’s only travel groups spots around the globe.
  • Trafalgar: offers women-only guided vacations to various destinations, with local female guides and experts.
  • Road Scholar: provides educational and cultural trips for women of all ages and interests.
  • Adventures in Good Company: creates active and adventurous trips for women who love the outdoors.
  • Intrepid Travel’s Women’s Expeditions: explores local cultures and traditions from a female perspective, with female leaders and hosts.
Take Me Home - Pet of the Week

Fur babies needing family at Animal Samaritans

Shelter — Animal Samaritans


Email me at gabriolakim@gmail.com if you want something posted on the bulletin board, or an event promoted.

Hollywood Times - Valerie Milano


1. “Tell Me A Story Where The Bad Girl Wins,” New Book About Pioneering Female Cartoonist Barbara Shermund

https://hollywoodtimes.net/tell-me-a-story-where-the-bad-girl-wins-new-book-about-pioneering-female-cartoonist-barbara-shermund/


2. Celebrations ahead of 2025’s She Rocks Awards tempered with love for fire-ravaged Southern California

https://hollywoodtimes.net/celebrations-ahead-2025-she-rocks-awards-tempered-with-love-fire-ravaged-southern-california/


3. A Night of Bold Humor: Mina Hartong’s Show at the Revolutionary Stage in Palm Springs

https://hollywoodtimes.net/night-bold-humor-mina-hartong-show-revolutionary-stage-palm-springs/

Thank you.


Thank you to everyone who shares recommendations for a worthy figure in women's history, an article, a book, a movie, or a women-centric event for the newsletter.

Women’s History


Women, We Should Know


Gloria Tramontin Struck


As Gloria approaches her 100th birthday in 2025, she has her sights set on an extraordinary goal: to ride across the United States


“It wasn’t really proper in 1941 for a woman to be riding a motorcycle,” she says. Having watched the landscape of the motorcycle industry evolve over the past decade, my experience pales in comparison. Struck has witnessed night-and-day-like differences from its very inception. “I have been refused gas and a room and called names. Today, guys want their wives or girlfriends to ride. There’s no stigma against women riding.” The 99-year-old moto lady and the first-ever recognized women’s riding group, MotorMaids, are still going over 80 years later.  “The MotoLady’s Book of Women Who Ride,” Glori Struck



Gloria Tramontin Struck: A Lifetime on Motorcycles – Moto Lady


The Matriarch of Motorcycling: Gloria Tramontin-Struck - American Motorcyclist Association

LGBT History Alive with Ronni & Kelly


Podcasts | Ronni Sanlo

In The Substacks


Tig Notaro Recounts Disastrous First Road Gig That Ended In A Literal Car Crash - GO Magazine


Photos Capture Sapphic Bliss As Hundreds Of Queer Couples Celebrate Thailand's New Marriage Law - GO Magazine


Sally Ride’s Secret Love Explored In New Sundance Doc: The Untold Story Of A 27-Year Queer Romance That Defied Gravity - GO Magazine


Trump Slams Bishop Who Urged Compassion For LGBTQ+ Youth As 'Nasty' And Stupid—She's Neither, Of Course - GO Magazine


People's last words are often these 4 phrases: What they teach us about living happy, meaningful lives, from an oncologist


60 Best Lesbian Movies on Tubi | Autostraddle

Worried about the legality of gay marriage and thinking you should get married just in case the laws change and having a problem booking an appointment at the City Clerk's office?


Fera Mostow  

I am a minister and will do marriages for any gay couple that wants to get married before the inauguration free of charge or   until Trump does something that eliminates gay marriage. 

All they have to do is email me and they can come here - Sun City Shadow Hills, and I'll do the ceremony.

Contact Fera at fmostow@gmail.com


Coachella Valley Invitational - National Women's Soccer League Meetup Feb 16th

Coachella Valley Invitational

Reggie Anne wants to get a group to together to enjoy the fun, carpool and split the parking fees.

Contact Reggie at reggie.annie.b@gmail.com for more info.

Sounds like a whole lot of fun

Radical Harmonies - Free Screening - Feb 8th


Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Dee Mosbacher's RADICAL HARMONIES chronicles the history of queer music by (mostly lesbian) women.

Saturday, February 8 · 3 - 5:30pm PST

Palm Springs Cultural Center

2300 East Baristo Road Palm Springs, CA 92262


Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Dee Mosbacher's Radical Harmonies chronicles the Women's Music Cultural Movement and its evolution from "a girl with a guitar" to a revolution in the roles of women in music and culture, changing women, the women’s movement, and the music industry forever. Through festival and performance footage, interviews, and archival material from the 1960s to the 1990s, Radical Harmonies delves into a musical culture based on a commitment to feminism, diversity, equity, and inclusion.


In its heyday during the 1970s and 80s, the Women’s Music Cultural Movement offered a message that was different from the mainstream musical culture. For the first time ever, women made festivals accessible through sign language interpretation, differently abled accommodations, and sliding scale ticket prices. The movement also gave birth to an alternative industry that changed women and music forever. It opened doors for women producers, photographers, sound and light technicians, along with women-owned recording, sound, and distribution companies.


Free Tickets

Easy/Moderate/Difficult Hikes



Tuesday Jan 28th

No Hike - Winter Storm


Saturday Feb 1st - 9 am

Whitewater View Loop

Bring at least 1 liter of water. New hikers must register and sign a waiver.

Registration

Every Month Bird Watching Walks at Prescott Preserve


Join OLT Volunteer Kurt Kosek for bird watching walks at Prescott Preserve every 2nd and 4th Thursday of the month at 8am. Birders of all ages and experience levels welcome. Walks are under 1.5 miles on dirt trails. The group meets at the old golf cart crosswalk on Farrell, just north of Mesquite. Plenty of parking on Farrell. 

2025 Walks - Regular Friday walk at Butler Abrams - Rancho Mirage - Dogs Welcome

9AM


Length   2.5 miles

Type     In 26thand Out

Elevation 45 ft

Time     1 Hr

Difficulty: Easy


Meetup is the parking lot at Michael S Wolfson Park

70001 Frank Sinatra Dr, Rancho Mirage, Ca 9227

The more you walk, the healthier you can become, major study finds (msn.com)

Details and Registration

Movie Meetup

Wednesday - Mary Pickford Theater


One of Them Days

Jan 29h

11:55 am


I will be in the lobby by the tables at 11:30am


People Are Saying "One Of Them Days" Is The Movie We All Needed, And Based On How 2025 Is Starting, I Completely Agree


One of Them Days Review: A Zany Female Buddy Comedy


Details and Registration

Check This Out - The Lesbian Project Podcast


Episode 60 FREE: Maria Callas, lesbian pulp fiction, Alice Weidel, safe spaces for aromantics, "lesbian boyfriends".


I love listening to these gals as they argue, debate, and commiserate.

Book and Movie Salon/Club -

2024 Schedule 2nd Mondays 5:30 pm



February is Movie Month


"I'd like them to say that Shirley had guts. That's how I'd like to be remembered."


Monday, the 10th of February at 5:30p PST/8:30p EST BAM Salon will discuss the movie Shirley directed by John Ridley, 2024.


Shirley Chisholm makes a trailblazing run for the 1972 Democratic presidential nomination after becoming the first Black woman elected to Congress.



Details and Registration

The Palm Springs Cultural Center brings you a season of films directed by women. And we think our timing is pretty good, too! Curated by Deserted Films. It all begins on Sept. 8th with CLUELESS, and lasts through Spring of 2025. It's about women. And it’s about time. TICKETS: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/she-did-it-8-riveting-films-directed-by-women-clueless-tickets-1001604805937?aff=oddtdtcreator

This Week's Recommendation


Asura on Netflix


Asura is the new Netflix series you need to watch this weekend - Dexerto


While on the surface Asura comes off as a family-focused soap opera filled with secrets, lies, affairs and tragedies, there is a deeper cultural commentary lurking below. It takes place in 1979, when more women still felt relegated to the home and indebted to their husbands in many ways (not that these ideas don’t still exist now), but it was still a time when women lived in a man’s world and had to abide by men’s rules. By confronting – or wishing to bury – their father’s affair, the sisters’ motivation is to protect their mother, but inevitably, they all have to confront the problems of their own lives, many of which are rooted in men having power over them, and their complicated feelings about that.


Desert Legends


Inkedpickleball2_LI.jpg

All things Pickleball


For more information about pickleball, including lessons, leagues, and other lesbians playing pickleball - contact Mary Barsaleau.

Mary is a registered Pickleball Ambassador.




Pickleball points: Here are some tips and strategies specifically for seniors (msn.com)

PALS’ no-cost educational seminars provide up-to-date information, resources and opportunities to engage in essential planning ahead conversations before a major health or life-altering event occurs. For info about upcoming PALS Seminars with in-person and zoom registration links click here


9:30 to 11 am. 3rd Saturday

September thru June

PALS Death Cafe is a group-led open conversation about mortality that’s not a counseling or bereavement group. There’s no specified topics or designated outcomes. Just bring your questions about any aspect of death and dying that interests you. RSVP for the next PALS Death Cafe here. 

PALS Circle is an hour of enjoyable connection, support and friendship among LGBTQ+ seniors and allies. There's no agenda, no formal topic — just fun conversation and camaraderie each Monday from 6:00 to 7:00 PM on ZOOM. Sign up to receive PALS Circle announcements here




Lesbians Embracing Aging



Lesbians Embracing Aging: An Introduction

The mission of LEA is to encourage and assist LBTQIA women with healthy aging by creating

support networks of socialization, information, and healthcare.


We are forming a hub of LBTQIA Women and allies willing to help one another navigate the

changes and challenges of aging and help make the myriad of available services more accessible.


Please join us for our next meeting as we make progress toward our goals.

If you would like more information, be on our email list or join us for our next meeting TBA Please send an email to

LEAofCoachellaValley@gmail.com



The LEA women:

Kelly Watson, Lauren Nile, Barbara Tyler, Rita Gonzales, Kate Ullman, Ronni Sanlo


Evening Chat Group 5:30pm to 7 pm Every Wednesday


LIDS (Lesbians In The Desert) Wednesday evenings, 5:30 pm - 7ish — join us for a lively Zoom chat, catch up with friends, and make new ones! Open to Lesbians in and out of the Coachella Valley — California — all 50 States — and beyond. Please email NurseJaynes@yahoo.com to receive the invite with Zoom meeting ID & Passcode. Bring a friend! Hosted by Cindy T, Crickett, & Jayne


Hosted by Crickett and Cindy

Register Here

1st and 3rd Fridays are Wine Down Friday’s with the Coachella Valley Ladies of Justice and a Guest Speaker at theV-Lounge 5PM-6:30P. 600 E Tahquitz Canyon Way, Palm Springs.


Network, share info about your business/upcoming event or just drop-by to unwind and make new friends!


Gay Country Western Dancing - Saturday Nights

 

Join the Dance Ranch for a great night of country western dancing, including two-step, waltz, shadow, East and West Coast swing, and line dances. 


It all happens at Step By Step

933 Crossley Road, Palm Springs.

Admission is $5

Lesson is at 7pm. Dancing from 7:30-9:30pm


Dance Ranch Palm Springs is a country western dance group serving the LGBTQ+ community and its friends. Country dancers of all levels are welcome!

Learn more about Dance Ranch and find out what they’re teaching at danceranchps.org.

 

Our history will NOT be hidden!


Not with us two old lesbians and our awesome guests on guard! Our free podcast LGBTQ History Alive! with Ronni and Kelly begins

January 1, 2024. 


Meet the Two Old Lesbians!


Ronni Sanlo, Ed.D. is a retired UCLA professor and LGBTQ Center director, founder of the award-winning Lavender Graduation, and editor of the four volume This Day in LGBTQ History. Kelly Watson, Ph.D, DDS, is a retired recovery center director and business professional, and still and always involved with 12 step recovery.


2024 Schedule - Check it Out!

X Share This Email
LinkedIn Share This Email

The L-Fund empowers cis, trans, and queer identifying lesbians through financial crisis assistance as well as grants in the areas of education, the arts, and health and wellness.

If you would like to donate, please find us at https://l-fund.org/


jazz.png


The Palm Springs Women’s Jazz and Blues Assoc. exists to preserve and foster an appreciation of jazz and blues music and to support female jazz and blues musicians who traditionally struggle for recognition and employment. The festival includes concerts, exhibits, presentations, films, and other events that promote an understanding and enjoyment of the work of women artists.

Jazz News and Events