Escaping to jumpy jumpy land to get a word in edgewise is a normal part of Internet life. It’s great to listen to the kids play. And the extra, wonderful bonus is I get to look up and gaze at this all morning long. Who’s having fun now??

I’ve seen signs for puppies on fences where the author misjudged the space and decided 3/4 of the word was good enough. I’ve seen more misspellings than I can count, and I’ve seen signs that blend in so much to the scenery, they could easily be mistaken for the tree it was tacked to.

This sign is for some sort of taco a family was selling in the park. Business was slow, so someone took the initiative to get the message out. So, one of the few people that pass by have a hankering for tacos, I think, perhaps, they might know where to go.

While passing the ordinary lake, I came across a painting in the reflection. A bird noticed it too. We stood together for a minute before he hopped off and into the lake, making waves. I could have stayed for hours.

And the woman in the blue dress will feel better, connected, and escape the blare of the traffic that roars outside her bedroom window. What hope a simple thing can bring.

The screening was a special event because the women who’d allowed me into their lives for over a year were bused in to see it. It was a joy to see them laugh and cry as their own story showed on the big screen. In the film - a story that winds the story of coffee, human rights, and self-empowerment - the women sing a song, Las Casas de Carton. The song has become an emotional anthem to much of Latin America in the fight and struggle against so much poverty in its land.

After tasting a bit of coffee themselves, the women gathered for another round of the song. They’re a polished group of performers now, and their high energy sang out.

The Coffee Dance will start it’s own journey to more screenings and previews. I’ll keep you posted on times and locations.

A special thanks goes to the Centro Costarricense de Producción Cinematográfica for sponsoring the event. Also a special thanks to Gail Nystrom from the Costa Rican Humanitarian Foundation for all her work not only with the women on a daily basis, but in her help in organizing this event and much of the background foundation for the film. Also a thanks goes to Steven Hawkins from Dramatic Problem Solving for his extra help in the film, and especially for this event with the Spanish translation.

Pictured: Laura Molina, me, Steven Hawkins, Gail Nystrom, Roberto García, and Vannia Alvarado.

The Coffee Dance was inspired by the amazing ability of women laden with a difficult life who decide they can rise to the challenge of helping poorer women and children that work in the coffee fields. We follow the women for a year in Costa Rica to see who they achieve this goal while also following them inside their own lives to understand the struggles they face.

The Coffee Dance

In the midst of chaotic lives and poverty, a group of women from La

Carpio, Costa Rica rise to meet the challenge of helping others in

need. Looking to move their lives to a new level of empowerment,

the women decide to put on a play and give outreach to other women and children.

Breast cancer and other forms of cancer strike women

in poverty, often more cases appear to women picking coffee. An intense

and laborious job, most families are left without resources to prevent

and detect illness. The La Carpio women, even while facing their own

struggles to put food on the table and educate their own children, take

a grand initiative and set out to educate some of the poorest Costa

Ricans and immigrant workers doing the hard physical

labor in the fields.

We follow the women for a year as they move from

script to curtain call. The Costa Rican Humanitarian Foundation of Costa Rica

coordinated the play’s production along with theater director Steven Hawkins.

We hear and see from the women, the directors,and others involved about

the profound difference that planting seedswith positive tools, hope, and

empowerment can change one community with the hopes of effecting others.

Follow these women into their lives and experience their feelings as they take on

the challenge of changing their own lives as well as the lives of others.

The Coffee Dance was a labor of love and provided more life lessons to me than I could have imagined. After several documentary radio projects and short video production work, a documentary film - one of my favorite genres - was a perfect extension to my work. It took a year to film and about nine months to edit.

I will be providing photos and information on how the event went. The Coffee Dance is then scheduled to hit a few theaters for screening and will be sent off to enter film competitions through out the world with an ultimate goal of distribution and availability for every one to see.

Maybe a moment’s reflection before we take that first sip of coffee of gratitude for the souls that suffer and toil to bring us this golden bean will help enlighten and bring a glimmer of hope and peace back to them.

In narrowed down the nest site when I watched the window for many evenings and saw no trail begin there. I taped up holes for the drainage in the bidet, and the ant stream dwindled to nothing that night. The next day, I saw a crud of crumbly, “nesty” stuff protruding for the drain. Since we do not use the bidet as their is a toilet and two showers in this bathroom (as well as three other bathrooms in the house), I turned on the water. What I saw next should be saved for reading when one is not eating anything cream-colored.

Oval eggs, the hatch-ling (do we use that word for unborn ants??), spilled into the bidet. Big and small black ants followed, some as if they were going down a giant wet slide. What to do?

Costa Rica is alive. And keeping it outside is impossible. Maybe calling the fumigating guys with the “bug-earred’ cars is an option, but who wants to breath that in once a week? The bathroom is connected to the bedroom and the kids use this bathroom all the time due to the tub. I’d like to just remove the bidet, but I’m renting. I’m a little nervous even if we do find a way to get rid of the ants, that crumbly next stuff and ant poop will begin to rot.

So the challenge goes on. The cockroaches have returned and I am sure hunt the ants through the night. It’s kind of a creepy place, my bathroom, even with the cute decorator baskets and matching towels. It’s a horror film at night. Maybe this is a job for duct tape!

Well that took the party mode up a notch. I slipped into the kitchen and made a small cake out of some batter I actually had in the fridge. A few candles and then we were on our way. And the masks just keep on giving as Addison keeps his hung in reach and puts it on when the mood hits him.

A rendering of what the park will look like can be seen at this link. I must say, it’s going to be quite the place for Costa Rica. Of course building an event center that is estimated to hold about 35,000 people is presenting some problems. Parking is the first that comes to mind. There’s barely enough room now in this area to put the cars that bring families, soccer players, and those who are out to enjoy the park on a Saturday. And a Shakira concert? One article I read said there’s only about 400 spaces available now.

The Chinese government is funding the project. As Addison and I walked by the construction, gaggles of men stood upon scaffolding. And then, a huge shout began and it echoed throughout the site. We looked up and saw a group of Costa Rican workers in the back of a rickety old truck, yelling to the Chinese workers. They yelled back - a cultural exchange that surpassed the language barriers.

The poorest of neighbors suffer from lack of water, paved roads, and enough telephone lines, and trash pick up, yet they also lack trees. As we sweat and toil in our condos and homes I can’t help but think of those tin houses baking in the afternoon sun all throughout Costa Rica.

Planting a tree to save the planet is a noble idea, but maybe we can move it in - more close and personal - and think how planting a tree for another will help make the afternoon a little easier to bear.