Teacher News (June 1998)

California

Donna Shaffer, San Jose, CA teaches T’ai Chi Chih at the Marianist Center in Cupertino, CA, a retreat and conference center dedicated to a spirituality of wholeness. In addition to teaching Elderhostel groups, she presents TCC at contemplative retreats held at the center as well as conducting TCC as a moving meditation during Holy Week every year. Additionally, she teaches classes at her home studio and elsewhere in the community. Pat Huseby, Danville, CA continues to prepare for her upcoming class of Alzheimer patients. Part of her preparation includes teaching once-a-month T’ai Chi Chih workshops to the Alzheimer’s staff of the facility. Pat suggests that teachers who work in ‘memory impaired’ centers or similar facilities may want to offer brown bag or noontime seminars to staff at the facility. While these workshops are beneficial to the staff, they also facilitate teaching the form to populations with memory impairment.

New Jersey

Sr. Antonia Cooper held a teacher’s gathering to prepare teachers for accreditation in July. Six teachers and six students attended. There will be another gathering in June. Geraldine McGuire, Clifton, NJ is preparing three students for teachers’ training. One of her students, Bill Moore, who is preparing to become a TCC teacher, has written an article for this issue (see page 26).

Ohio

Congratulations to Christina Minelli, West Chester, OH, on the birth of a baby girl last December. (See the next column on this page for an update on her work teaching TCC in Italy.)

Virginia

Dale Buchanan, Great Falls, VA, is now a distributor of Good Karma products. Located just outside Washington, DC, Dale will cover the entire east coast, making sure everyone from Florida to Maine gets products safely, quickly, and easily with the same teacher discount and shipping rates as offered by Good Karma. His contact information is listed on page 36 under GKP Distributors.

Abroad: Italy

While this is a “keeping still” time for Christina Minelli following the birth of her baby girl, Christina has been chosen to teach at the Contempory Culture Center in her home town of Mantova, Italy next year. She was chosen for the position in this prestigious school after an extensive hiring process and is excited to teach her first “official” T’ai Chi Chih class there. Previously, Christina taught two “informal” classes with about 14 students each in Mantova. She will be teaching ten 2 hour sessions for this course, which was filled within two days of being listed.

VFJ News

A Gift for Liz Salada

S. F. Bay area teachers gifted Liz Salada (out-going Publishing-Editor of VFJ) with a Raku Flute and a potted plant at a staff gathering in March.

As many of you know, Pat Huseby (Danville, CA) has been taking photographs at various TCC events and submitting them to VFJ for about three years. Recently, to honor her generosity and service, we asked her to become our official events photographer. When you see her at an event – tell her your news and pose for a picture or two.