hotstepgranny.com

11/27/2021

I’ve lived in Colorado for 30 years. It’s been very important for me to live in the middle of the country among mainstream Americans, mostly of the WASP genre, because I’m a commu…

09/11/2021

Hi! If you enjoy my page, could you write a review? Apparently, that attracts more people to look at it.

08/07/2021

Updated flyer - notice the free show is on Monday, not Wednesday.

03/29/2021

THE ESSENTIALS: MENTAL HEALTH, HUMOR AND HAPPINESS

I’m applying for a Master’s Degree Program in Organizational Leadership in Education.

Here’s the essay I just submitted to qualify for a scholarship.

The Essentials: Mental Health, Humor and Happiness

The best thing to come out of my education experience so far is my ability to think flexibly, problem solve creatively, and treat other people compassionately.

I have had the advantage of learning from brilliant people who encouraged me intellectually, emotionally and creatively. My mother did lots of art and music with my siblings and me. My father paid for piano, voice lessons and college, and challenged my thinking every night at the dinner table. My high school English teacher, Mr. Wooster, taught me so well that I never needed to take writing in college and was able to perform well as a journalist, ghostwriter, editor, author, playwright and screenwriter.

My education includes:

* Nursery school at Princeton University where my father went to college.
* Homeschooling with my mother who was trained in Early Education.
* Constant challenges from my father to verbally defend my opinions.
* Elementary school in Princeton, NJ and West Orange, NJ.
* Ballet and piano lessons in Princeton, NJ.
* Girl Scout camp in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
* Roosevelt Junior High, West Orange, NJ.
* West Orange High School, NJ and Towanda Area High School, PA.
* Piano with Maxine Giannini, West Orange, NJ.
* Summer theater program, Lycoming College, PA.
* Junior Engineers and Scientists Institute, University of Pittsburgh, PA.
* B.A., Hampshire College. Additional course work, Amherst College, Manhattan School of Music and Turtle Bay Music School.
* Piano with Seth Kimmelman and Seymour Bernstein, NYC.
* Voice with Lisa Armstrong, NYC.
* Eurythmics with Joy Yellen, NYC; Eurythmics and Pedagogy with Robert Abramson, NYC.
* Jazz Singing with Rhiannon, Berkeley CA and Jeffrey Bihr, Berkeley, CA.
* Acting Training, Drama Studio of London, Berkeley, CA campus.
* Clown Training with Jan Henderson, Edmonton, Alberta, CA.
* Theater Improvisation with Marcia Kimmel, SF and Bay Area Theater Works, SF.
* Psychic Healing and Clairvoyance training at the Psychic Awareness Institute, Oakland, CA.
* Non-Violence Training with Marshall Rosenberg. Boulder, CO.
* Playwriting with Terry Dobson, Denver University, CO.
* Re-evaluation Counseling with nationally and internationally recognized teachers including Barbara Love, Charlie Kreiner, Cheri Brown, Diane Balser, Diane Shisk, Dvora Slavin, Harvey Jackins, Janet Foner, Lorenzo Garcia, Marcy Rendon, Mary Hodgson, Nancy Kline and Tim Jackins.

I studied on-campus at Hampshire College and got credit for my final two years in NYC. My goal was to become a music therapist and I received excellent training, especially with Jean Mass at Turtle Bay Music School. However, none of my training at the time covered how to deal with the politics of working in a hospital, agency or clinic.

I was appalled at the dishonesty I encountered as an intern at one agency which was licensed to work with adults with developmental disabilities, but which intentionally mislabeled students so they could have enough bodies in seats to receive funding. Most of these inappropriately labeled students were angry young black women who had not done well in school and were put in special ed classes even though there was nothing wrong with their mental abilities. I got in trouble at this agency because my students "laughed too much" and disturbed the other classrooms.

At a group home where I also interned, I got to work with a young man who showed great talent as a percussionist. After seeing him weekly for about a month, I arrived one day to find him incoherent and unable to drum because he was over-medicated due to the staff thinking he was “talking crazy”. In my sessions with him, he spoke in vivid dream images about the way he had been mistreated as a young person and how it had left him feeling. I thought this was quite a healthy outlet and not deserving of massive medication. He also was African American and, combined with the inappropriate coerced participation of African American women at the first agency, I began to see a pattern of racism directed at people who were supposed to be served by these organizations.

Experiences like those mentioned above have motivated me to actively counteract oppressions in the places I work and create friendly inclusive, compassionate learning environments. I also incorporate lots of humor because I find people are smarter and feel more connected to each other when they’re laughing.

In my work, humor, heart and intelligence go together. That’s why my business is called Mental Health, Humor and Happiness.

01/07/2021

In this age of “Me too” accusations and defensive reactions (I.e., women stepping forward to declare s*xual harassment or abuse that happened in the past and men denying it), I would like to tell you some things that happened to me many years ago in a professional organization in Colorado.

I am intentionally not naming names and I have already spoken to one of the parties who says he does not remember the incident. I actually believe him. It is probable that he had a fair number of other encounters that he does not remember because he was following his modus operandi at the time. I don’t believe he does this kind of thing anymore but that it is conjecture.

Incident one: I was at my very first meeting with this group. I was standing in front of a counter, talking to someone on the other side. A man who was prominent in the organization walked up beside me and proceeded to run his fingertips slowly up and down my spine through my dress. This was a very intimate kind of touching, the kind I would associate with a spouse or lover. I believe he was testing to see if he could hit on me later. The tightening of my body under his fingertips told him “No” and that was the end of the encounter.

Incident two: I was sitting next to another man at one of our end of year banquets. At some point during the festivities, this man put his hand on my leg, also in an intimate way that I would only expect from a spouse or lover and not in a public place. I was fortunate that another man saw what was happening, walked up to us, and said, “You don’t know her well enough to do that.” The first man stopped touching me after that and we both acted as if nothing had happened. I was relieved and able to enjoy myself after that.

Both of these incidents took place many years ago, before all the emotionally healing work I have done on the early s*xual abuse in my life that left me vulnerable to men’s untoward advances and at a loss for how to take care of myself in public gatherings as mentioned above. I am so much older now that I would most likely be considered less desirable by both of these men but if anything happened today, I know how to speak up and stop misbehavior either toward myself or anyone else in my vicinity.

I’m not the only person who has experienced this sort of thing. May it never happen again. If you have an experience you would like to write or talk about, I would be happy to listen.

It’s important that every person who enters a meeting or event feels safe and secure in this community. Let’s make this happen together.

Love,

Lynn Grasberg

12/28/2020

The first car I ever owned was a beautiful powder blue Ford Es**rt. I had spent years without a car and it was amazing to now be driving cross country from Colorado to California to see a long distance boyfriend.

It was such a joy to drive really fast along the long, flat straight highway of the desert in Utah. It started raining and I was surprised to pass a much fancier car going slower than the speed limit. “What’s with them?” I wondered. In retrospect, the driver must have been a local, or at least, someone who knew the road, because suddenly the road curved and I was going much too fast for the conditions.
http://hotstepgranny.com/2020/12/28/angels-and-seatbelts/

12/25/2020

This is my new avatar. What do you think?

12/24/2020

I'm applying for a Master's Degree Program in Organizational Leadership in Education. Here's the essay I just submitted to qualify for a scholarship.
http://hotstepgranny.com/2020/12/22/the-essentials-mental-health-humor-and-happiness/?fbclid=IwAR0QLE13KqOS47P78JFoYPvrCk7XWjXkQG424I6jnPgNueVw52m1vN5bevk

I’m applying for a Master’s Degree Program in Organizational Leadership in Education. Here’s the essay I just submitted to qualify for a scholarship. The Essentials: Mental Health…

10/04/2020

Peacekeeping is a sacred mission. Are you called to this holy work?

If so, I invite you to become a Neighborhood Peacekeeper.

Neighborhood Peacekeepers is a program that prepares people to help keep the peace where they live and work. We need peacekeepers of all racial, class and ethnic backgrounds.

I will be leading a series of workshops on Zoom. The workshops will cover how to:

🌎 Stay clear and focused in the heat of conflict.
🌎 Calm flaring tempers with body language and tone of voice.
🌎 Facilitate dialogue between people who disagree.
🌎 Lead roleplaying and improvisational games and exercises to help people develop their communication skills and peacekeeping muscles.
🌎 Exercise the principles of Restorative Justice to help people mend relationships and stay in community with each other when violence or injustice has occurred.

My credentials: I have been a non-violence trainer and co-counselor for 43 years and started teaching anti-bullying and conflict resolution skills in schools 21 years.

Call to Action
Contact me if you are interested in being a trainer, a neighborhood peacekeeper or donor to support this work.

As Maya Angelou said, “A hero is any person really intent on making this a better place for all people.” Let’s do that together!

Love,

Lynn Grasberg

10/01/2020

Wow! I have 500 likes. Thank you everybody for your support and connection.

08/26/2020

Want to have more fun, create community and learn how to actually enjoy working through conflicts? Join Marcy Neumann, Heartshift Coach, as she interviews Gramma and Grampa Clown (aka Lynn Grasberg and Dr. Ed Miller). Podcast will broadcast for the first time on Wednesday, August 26, 9 am, Mountain time and be playable all week.
Link to podcast : https://www.heartshiftcoach.com/19-dr-ed-miller-and-lynn-grasberg-how-to-spread-rainbows-of-happiness-and-mental-health-for-children-of-all-ages/

Discussion includes the healing magic of clowns, how to have more fun with the people in your life, and how to support children during these challenging times.

08/01/2020

http://hotstepgranny.com/2020/07/31/artists-and-mental-health/?fbclid=IwAR12EAj_LNIq33PLFWoylLl6Mvd6_otQPxZM_O9VQIUceXqhNoo-_TJUzNM

This article jumped out of my files today and wanted to be shared even though it’s almost three years old. ARTISTS and “MENTAL HEALTH” By Lynn Grasberg in collaboration with Mike …

01/29/2020

TELL THEM ABOUT THE DREAM
By Stephen Nachmanovich, excerpted from THE ART OF IS

On August 28, 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial, during the climax of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, the great gospel singer Mahalia Jackson was sitting on the platform near her friend Martin Luther King. Dr. King had begun reading his prepared address. Seven paragraphs into the speech, Jackson broke in and shouted, "Tell them about the dream, Martin! Tell them about the dream!"

King pushed aside his notes and began improvising.

His written text did not mention dreams. As he looked up at the crowd and rolled into the rhythmic majesty of "I have a dream," Dr. King was riffing on part of an earlier speech he had given at Cobo Hall in Detroit but that he felt had not worked very well; he was riffing on bits from the Bible, from Shakespeare, from Lincoln, from the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. The ghost of Gandhi was never far. Though we can identify the deep roots of King's words, the innumerable strands and influences had been collectively digested, absorbed, and integrated. The interbeing of many is expressed in the voice of each of us. We recognize King's courage and brilliance, but he was not some solitary genius spinning "creativity" out of whole cloth. There are no such geniuses. This is what it is to be human: to learn and assimilate the patterns of a culture, community and environment, both conscious and unconscious, and alter them as needed, make them ours, so that the voice spontaneously emerging is our voice, interdependent with the human world.

Improvising means coming prepared, but not being attached to the preparation. Everything flows into the creative act in progress. Come prepared, but be willing to accept interruptions and invitations. Trust that the product of your preparation is not your papers and your plans, but yourself. Know that no solo is solo: even one of the greatest speeches of the twentieth century was helped into existence by a good friend's blurted comment.

01/04/2020

08/01/2019

SHIPWRECKED ON THE ROAD!
My attempt to return home has been one disaster after another. I started feeling bad until I realized the universe had sent me a followup comedy show for the Fringe and other places. Working title: Shipwrecked on the Road.

Latest chapter -- I booked an inexpensive Airbnb for last night. When I finally found the place (which was difficult, especially since my phone is AWOL in my car), I couldn't get inside because the key was in a lockbox and the front porch had no light so I could not see to operate the lockbox. I ended up booking a room in a Motel 6 where I am now. If you see this message before 11 am your time, please call me at (913) 541-8558, room 106.

I am planning to stay at the Airbnb tonight since it is already paid for. Then I will finally be on the road for real.

06/18/2019

Gramma and Grampa Clown are going to be at the Unicorn Festival in Clement Park, 7800 W Bowles Ave, Littleton on Saturday, 6/22 from 10 to 12:30! Join us for a LOT of fun!

05/08/2019

Here's a picture from a recent rehearsal for the Ms. Senior Colorado Pageant. You can find me second from the right. The pageant is at 2 pm on May 25 at the PACE Center in Parker, CO. You can buy tickets here: https://tinyurl.com/y6ecmrjd

05/03/2019

Work that Crown!
Latest wild project: I’m a contestant in the Ms. Senior Colorado Pageant. I was asked to send myself a letter of encouragement. It arrived today in the mail. Here’s what I wrote.

Dear Lynn,

I’m so proud of you for deciding to do this outrageous, fabulous thing — be in a pageant. I know it was never on your bucket list but it makes so much sense for you and you have really embraced this journey. You get to use all your skills to do this!

Why are you doing it?

To get some notoriety, a larger audience, as a I prepare to take my one-woman version of Pirates in Corsets or PMS Pinafore on the road and aim the full cast version to Broadway, Hollywood and beyond.
To be part of an amazing community of senior women.
To launch myself as a senior s*x goddess. (Ha!)
To have fun.
To get sponsors for bigger projects.
Wheeee!

Love, Lynn

https://parkerarts.ticketforce.com/ordertickets.asp?p=1837&src=eventperformances
http://hotstepgranny.com/2019/05/02/work-that-crown/