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Terri Farley
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Thursday, January 31, 2013

Weeping Clydesdale-sized tears

Dear Readers,
This commercial will touch your hearts AND there's a contest to name the Clydesdale foal that appears in it! Clydesdale commercial: Brothers

I just watched this 4 times.  Horses touch our hearts. That is all.
Hugs to you all, Terri





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Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Yes, you CAN give a writing workshop to 1st graders!

Enthusiastic readers, writers and artists show they stuff! 

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CUTE OVERLOAD: Shetland Ponies Lure Tourists to Scotland!



 These two  cardigan-sweater-wearing Shetland ponies are the official ambassadors of VisitScotland's new campaign celebrating Year of Natural Scotland.



How do you put a Shetland Pony IN a hand-knitted sweater? Go direct to video!

Another article on the Huggables!

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Monday, January 28, 2013

WILD HORSES on a snowy beach

Dear Readers --
I was sweating in 104 degree weather the last time I saw wild horses in North Carolina.



But today, from far-off Las Vegas, we can all see these graceful -- if confused! -- wild ones. Click here to see:
Corolla wild horses on the snowy shore 

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Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Catch-up Day

Dear Readers,

Last week I promised that I'd write my impressions of the Fallon livestock sale. All of the images are swirling in my head, but it's turning out to be tougher to write than I thought.  I promise to get to it soon. The notes are there, but I'm not excited about re-immersing myself in that day.


If you've ever wanted a mustang straight off the range, BLM is doing on-the-spot adoptions following the Diamond Complex round-up that's taking place now.  The photo to your right shows some Diamond Complex mustangs. Their confirmation is often "Quarter Horse"ish and there have been some curly coated horses rounded-up there, in the past. I've never been to this sort of adoption day before, so I can't give you my opinion, but these horses will have been spared the trauma of being shipped across the state in crowded trucks.  For more info: On-site Mustang Adoptions




I just finished writing & making hand-outs for a brand new writers' workshop. It will be very fun because there's a little role-playing involved and we'll be making a treasure map !
  
MAPPING YOUR CHARACTERS' INTERNAL LANDSCAPES:  Explore your character's heart and head, chart what makes them tick and leave the workshop with a take-it-with-you guide to humanizing your book people and intensifying your themes.

I'm leading this workshop this weekend in Las Vegas at WRITE RESOLUTIONS conference &  I think the conference still has some spots.  If you know anyone interested in writing for publication, this should be great.  Besides published authors, there will be an agent and a NY editor!  This is the kind of small conference at which you really get a chance to talk with "heavies" in the business. For more information, click here .

Hugs to you all,
Terri

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Monday, January 21, 2013

One Today

Dear Readers,
Here's a gift for you to enjoy in silence. Play the audio, read along, and listen with your heart.


Richard Blanco reads his poem at the presidential inauguration 
(audio w/ interview following)


"One Today"

One sun rose on us today, kindled over our shores,
peeking over the Smokies, greeting the faces
of the Great Lakes, spreading a simple truth
across the Great Plains, then charging across the Rockies.

One light, waking up rooftops, under each one, a story
told by our silent gestures moving behind windows.
My face, your face, millions of faces in morning's mirrors,
each one yawning to life, crescendoing into our day:
pencil-yellow school buses, the rhythm of traffic lights,
fruit stands: apples, limes, and oranges arrayed like rainbows
begging our praise. Silver trucks heavy with oil or paper—
bricks or milk, teeming over highways alongside us,
on our way to clean tables, read ledgers, or save lives—
to teach geometry, or ring-up groceries as my mother did
for twenty years, so I could write this poem.
All of us as vital as the one light we move through,
the same light on blackboards with lessons for the day:
equations to solve, history to question, or atoms imagined,
the "I have a dream" we keep dreaming,
or the impossible vocabulary of sorrow that won't explain
the empty desks of twenty children marked absent
today, and forever. Many prayers, but one light
breathing color into stained glass windows,
life into the faces of bronze statues, warmth
onto the steps of our museums and park benches
as mothers watch children slide into the day.

One ground. Our ground, rooting us to every stalk
of corn, every head of wheat sown by sweat
and hands, hands gleaning coal or planting windmills
in deserts and hilltops that keep us warm, hands
digging trenches, routing pipes and cables, hands
as worn as my father's cutting sugarcane
so my brother and I could have books and shoes.
The dust of farms and deserts, cities and plains
mingled by one wind—our breath. Breathe. Hear it
through the day's gorgeous din of honking cabs,
buses launching down avenues, the symphony
of footsteps, guitars, and screeching subways,
the unexpected song bird on your clothes line.
Hear: squeaky playground swings, trains whistling,
or whispers across café tables, Hear: the doors we open
for each other all day, saying: hello, shalom,
buon giorno, howdy, namaste, or buenos días
in the language my mother taught me—in every language
spoken into one wind carrying our lives
without prejudice, as these words break from my lips.

One sky: since the Appalachians and Sierras claimed
their majesty, and the Mississippi and Colorado worked
their way to the sea. Thank the work of our hands:
weaving steel into bridges, finishing one more report
for the boss on time, stitching another wound
or uniform, the first brush stroke on a portrait,
or the last floor on the Freedom Tower
jutting into a sky that yields to our resilience.

One sky, toward which we sometimes lift our eyes
tired from work: some days guessing at the weather
of our lives, some days giving thanks for a love
that loves you back, sometimes praising a mother
who knew how to give, or forgiving a father
who couldn't give what you wanted.
We head home: through the gloss of rain or weight
of snow, or the plum blush of dusk, but always—home,
always under one sky, our sky. And always one moon
like a silent drum tapping on every rooftop
and every window, of one country—all of us—
facing the stars
hope—a new constellation
waiting for us to map it,
waiting for us to name it—together.

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Friday, January 18, 2013

PHANTOM novella Contest Alert!


The Phantom Stallion novella, part six, launches at 2 a.m. tomorrow 
(Saturday the 19th)
Look for a contest. 

Best, 
Terri 

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Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Blood Legacy of Outgoing Secretary of Interior

Dear Readers, 

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar ran the Bureau of Land Management for 4 years and stripped the Western range of  35,000 wild horses.

One-third of the captive horses were adopted, but at least 1,000 of those went to slaughter. 

 Fewer than 32,000 mustangs remain in the wild, today. 

 

Ghost Dancer by Cat Kindsfather


This is your reality : another careless Secretary of the Interior, another 4 years like the last four mean there will be no more mustangs. 

Please watch and care,

Terri 



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Monday, January 14, 2013

Horse of my Heart: the real Phantom




Dear Readers, 
I can't stop going back. 
I hope you'll go back with me to  
  Meet the horse of my heart. 

Hugs to you, 
Terri

 


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Sunday, January 13, 2013

Tumbleweed Heart: mustang filly's first violent month of life has happy ending


Dear Readers,
I'm sure you remember the photos of this mustang foal being abused by the private security staff of a Reno land developer. After being trapped and hauled around by her fragile neck, Diamond was picked up by the Nevada Department of Agriculture. She was loaded into a horse trailer and taken to to the Nevada State Prison with her herd. There, her father, brothers and cousins were castrated. At the prison, she waited, with no idea of what would happen next.
photos by Bo Rodriguez

On Wednesday, January 9, Diamond and her family were jammed into a 42 mustang shipment. They arrived in Fallon, Nevada for a slaughter auction
After live goats, cattle and pet horses were sold for meat, the Nevada mustangs were shoved, one-by-one, into a filthy, muddy arena the size of your living room. The noise of the auctioneer, the snapping of whips, the smell of humans and manure-smeared walls assaulted Diamond's nose.

The terror was even worse, because Diamond was alone. For some reason, auction staff separated the two. In the photos below, you'll see Diamond standing at the exit door. I took this photo as she whinnied to her mother, who neighed frantically on the other side.





 When Diamond couldn't get to her mother, she trotted back and appealed to the auction ring staff.




Auction photos by Terri Farley


There was no help there, but we were able to buy her, along with the rest of the Virginia Range herds. Hidden Valley Wild Horse fund bought-back 29 Nevada mustangs for $7,000.

Finally, the horses were brought back to pastures on the edge of the Nevada range they know. They'll never run free again, but little Diamond is with her family.




Home again. 


snow photos by Heather L. Heahn











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Friday, January 11, 2013

Coming Attractions



TOMORROW (or late Friday night):

Part 5 of PHANTOM, THE PROTECTOR novella with reader art!

 

 SUNDAY:   

Where is Diamond, the wild foal abused by private security guards & sent to prison by Nevada Department of Agriculture?

 

Next Week:   

What I Learned at the Slaughter Auction

 

 

 



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Thursday, January 10, 2013




 Dear Readers,

With the support of American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign, I did my best to live-Tweet the auction (reception was spotty & operator error might've been a factor) yesterday. If you'd like to see a fragmented play-by-play, check out the #NV41 or Terri_Farley on Twitter.. 
More to come, soon. 
Terri


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Tuesday, January 08, 2013

Who's Going to Kill Your Wild Horses?




"Some of the finest meat you will ever eat is a fat yearling colt," said Tom Davis, purchaser of 1700 BLM-processed mustangs. 


"A livestock auction sale yard does not differentiate whether a person is a horse lover or a kill buyer that's the unfortunate part of this," stated Ed Foster, Nevada Department of Agriculture (NDA) spokesman, on a News 4 broadcast in Reno, Nevada.

 YES, America's wild horses are going to slaughter. Tomorrow I will attend a slaughter auction and hope to see 41 Nevada mustangs rescued. 

But when mustangs lose their lives along with their freedom, who kills your wild horses? 

The Poor

>  people of color living in low-income communities

 

The Stressed 



> “at-will” employees who must under-report accidents, endure unpaid overtime, chronic physical pain and prolonged psychological detachment to keep their jobs.


> “Employees are very aware of the dangerous nature of their work. When you combine sharp tools and automated machinery in a high-paced, crowded environment, injuries are inevitable.” 

Food Empowerment Project

The Criminal 

> California Livestock Identification Bureau, reported horse thefts down 30%  after passage of a ballot-initiative banning horse slaughter


> When the Belgian-owned Dallas Crown horse slaughter corporation was forced to close in Kauffman, Texas, crime dropped dramatically: Robberies down 65% 
Assaults down 61.7%
Car thefts down 83.3% 
Murders and rapes dropped to

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Monday, January 07, 2013

Gossipy Table of Contents for PHANTOM novella




 PHANTOM STALLION, The Protector    Part 1

   

Part One: in which the Phantom Stallion tries to escape safest place he's ever known & Dark Sunshine tries to show him who's boss






Part Two:  in which Samantha Anne Forster remembers "zombie horses" & worries about the Phantom "for no good reason"






  




 

PHANTOM STALLION, The Protector Part 3

  Part Three:  in which baby Cody talks & a helicopter lands almost on the front porch of the River Bend ranch house 



 PHANTOM STALLION, The Protector Part 4

Part Four:  in which the Phantom fears he'll have no way to protect Sam & Linc Slocum raises his greedy head 



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Sunday, January 06, 2013

Virginia Range Stallion on film

 


Dear Readers, 

The real Phantom Stallion roamed the Virginia Range before he was captured. 
The Nevada Department of Agriculture -- unlike today's Dept. -- offered wild horse advocates the chance to save him. 
Please listen to these two news reports (there's some repetition, but it's totally worth it to watch the horses!), and hear what good publicity this stallion is for the state of Nevada. Then, ask yourself why the Governor doesn't understand.  


PHANTOM STALLION news report #1The Capture
PHANTOM STALLION news report #2  The Release  


I hope the vision of this amazing mustang inspires you to new ideas & solutions for our horses.
Enjoy! 
Terri


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Friday, January 04, 2013

What Really Knocks Me & Holden Out



Dear Readers,
When J.D. Salinger wrote these words for Holden Caulfield, I doubt he dreamed of a time when readers could contact authors almost instantly over the Internet.
Writing is a lonely but ebullient madness. It's magical when readers talk about the people, places and events in our imaginary worlds as if they are completely real.
Now, readers chat daily with writers of their favorite books and many of them do become terrific friends.
Holden, if you're out there, I hope you'll email old Thomas Hardy. I know he'd love to hear from you.
Reading so rocks,
Terri 


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Wednesday, January 02, 2013

MUSTANGS NEWS BREAKING on Thursday Radio

 

Mustang Stallion in Snow, January 2013   -- photo by Bo Rodriguez

BREAKING NEWS impacts Nevada's wild horses

Thursday, January 3rd 12 noon - 1:00 (Pacific time)

WHEREVER you are -- listen: webcast  http://renegaderadio.org Hit "Listen Live"

Reno - Fallon    101.3 FM 

Nevada Matters radio breaks NEWS on Nevada Department of Agriculture's war on wild horses.
Local and national experts explore the pipeline to slaughter for Nevada's Virginia Range mustangs.

There may be time for callers in the second half of the show:  775-827-8900.  

VIRGINIA RANGE mustangs in Snow, January 2013   -- photo by Bo Rodriguez


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5 Reasons Lying is OK (1 school's 10 second rule)

Bold Print photo


BBC News 11/2012 Students could avoid punishment if they quickly [10 seconds] produced a clever explanation for their misbehavior at Perse School in Cambridge, England. "Getting children to talk their way out of a tight corner in a very short period of time" said school director Ed Elliott* encourages creativity and could produce a generation of British entrepreneurs.
As an author, educator and mom here's why I think...

Lying is OK Under the 10-Second Rule

1. Kids accept that the adult is in charge. The minute the head master/ teacher/ parent looks at the clock and says "Go!" there's an implied "You didn't really expect to deceive anyone with that did you?"

2.  Kids learn to think on their feet.  Grown-up problems often have short fuses. Stalling makes everything  worse. Students who learn instant communication -- even if details are made up -- get good practice for mature mess-ups.

3. Kids replace stress with humor.  Cornered students get mad or sad and react accordingly. Replace panic with outlandish story-telling and you'll likely substitute laughter for freaking out. 

4. Kids know creativity rocks ; now they get to prove it.  Under the 10 second rule, a student's allowed to show off creative flair and "what -if" her way to a positive solution.


* Mr Elliott, whose independent  Perse School in Cambridge, England caters to pupils aged three to 18, said he wants to help create a "quick-thinking, communication-savy generation" and stated many pupils had risen to the challenge. 

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Tuesday, January 01, 2013

This Book Gives Me the Creeps. And I wrote it.

Read a preview of my unpublished thriller  

 BABY TEETH

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