Blue13 Dance Company is a contemporary Indian dance theater ensemble based in Los Angeles that is coming to Tahoe this month.

Tahoe Arts Project is bringing the group to the MontBleu showroom in Stateline on Oct. 24 at 7pm.

Since 1999, the company has performed all over the United States and abroad in its signature Neo-Kathak and Bollywood-Tech styles, modern dance work that is energetic, colorful, and theatrical, and inspired by the classical and cultural dance of India. The company’s mission is to advance non-traditional contemporary dance, while preserving and cultivating the cultural and classical forms of India. Translating dance into enduring societal contributions, Blue13 dispels cultural stereotypes and connects diverse communities through cross-genre and multicultural live performances, dance education, and outreach that inspire global unity and togetherness.

Tickets range from $8 to $23.

By Davis Enterprise 

The Lake Tahoe Sonification Project is a sound installation which represents multiple aspects of Lake Tahoe’s environment, both above and within the lake.

Weather data from the lake is crafted into sound, creating a continuous aural experience that is artistic in design, and intelligible to a listener. This sound installation will create an absorbing experience for all who wish to listen.

The Lake Tahoe Sonification Project is on display at the Nelson Gallery on the UC Davis campus through Nov. 2.

The Lake Tahoe Sonification Project is possible due to the work of the water scientists of the Tahoe Environmental Research Center. Precise measurements of the internal waves that constantly move through the lake are regularly collected by TERC.

Professor Geoff Schladow, the director of the center, has worked closely with several UC Davis composers to explain the data and the behavior of Lake Tahoe. Also involved was Professor Naomi Saito of the Department of Mathematics, who has worked closely with the data from the lake.

Read the whole story

By Tim Henderson, Washington Post

NEW YORK — At 81, Stan Piotrowski has no desire for full-time company. He lives alone in Tudor City, an enclave with a very high proportion of single dwellers.

“At this point in my life, I wouldn’t want to live with anybody,” he said. “I want to do what I want to do. If I want to sleep late, I can sleep late.”

Piotrowski may be happily alone in his apartment, but he has plenty of company nationwide. The proportion of Americans who live alone has grown steadily since the 1920s, increasing from roughly 5 percent then to 27 percent in 2013, according to the latest Current Population Survey from the Census Bureau.

The phenomenon, which is most prevalent in cities, raises health and safety issues for local governments.

The growth in the number of men living alone is especially dramatic, rising from less than 6 percent in 1970 to more than 12 percent in 2012, according to a Census Bureau report released last year. Fifteen percent of households are women living alone.

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With the intent of providing a higher level of service to South Lake Tahoe home buyers and sellers,
South Tahoe Association of Realtors created the area specialist certification program for its
members.

To achieve the certification, a licensed Realtor must demonstrate sufficient knowledge regarding the following local agencies and industries:

• TRPA
• Homeowner insurance
• Building department
• California Tahoe Conservancy
• Vacation rentals
• South Tahoe Refuse
• South Tahoe Public Utility District
• Fire district.

After each presentation, a test is given. To qualify for the certificate, which has been approved
by the California Association of Realtors, one must pass with at least an 80 percent accuracy rate. The
certificate is valid for two years.

The following is a roster of Realtors who earned the certification last month: Molly Allen, Shelia Asselin, Daniel Bartley, Pamela Belli, Pamela Bettencourt, Molly Blann, Gary Bolen, Veronique Borges, Anja Buchholz, Carol Butler, Richard Cappel, Andria Cawelti, Angela Clark, Ken Daley, Nanda Dozier, Cassandra DeLaurentis, Diane Dickert, David Fischer, Michael Flanagan, Jennifer Fortune, Darlene Fritts, Ken Garber, Monroe Herington, Brooke Hernandez, Sam Holmes, Vicki Inferrera, Margarete Kallerman, Joe King, Marc Lasater, Davey Paiva, Daniel Resendiz Rodriguez, Jessica Seifert, Linda Szendrey, Monika Taboada, Jill Teakell, Jarred Uppendahl, Jacqueline Vallier, Jeffrey Waldie, Ronald “Flip” Walker, Jackie Weaver, Tracy Wood and Erin Yohnka.

The Barton Foundation is honoring Patty Olson with this year’s Spirit of Philanthropy award.

Patty Olson

Olson has been in South Lake Tahoe since 1950. She is a founding member of the Barton Auxiliary. She helped organize the auxiliary’s first fundraiser for the hospital and hosted many other Barton fundraising events at Young’s Bijou Lodge, which she and her husband, Neal, owned and operated.

The 89-year-old helped raise funds to build St. Theresa Catholic Church in the 1950s and was instrumental in the creation of St. Theresa School in 1962. She also served on the El Dorado County Recreation Commission for eight years and was a charter member of the Cancer League.

When her husband died in 1998, Olson helped raise funds for the Neal Olson Playroom that is available at the hospital for families to enjoy.

The Tahoe Rim Trail Association is hosting a two-day wilderness first aid course taught by the Wilderness Medicine Institute of NOLS.

The classes are Nov. 1-2, 8am-5pm at the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency in Stateline.

This course will provide individuals with a foundation of important first aid concepts critical to responding effectively to emergencies in a remote backcountry environment. The course will help participants prepare for the unexpected. This fast paced, hands-on training is designed to meet the needs of trip leaders, camp staff, outdoor enthusiasts and individuals working in remote locations. It will introduce caring for people who become ill or injured far from definitive medical care.

Classroom lectures and demonstrations are combined with realistic scenarios where mock patients will challenge people to integrate their learning.

At the end of the course, participants should have the knowledge, skills and ability to make sound decisions in emergency situations.

Learning takes place both in the classroom and in outdoor settings regardless of weather conditions. Come prepared for wet, muddy, cold or hot environments.

No previous first aid training is required. Participants must be 16 years old to attend. Successful course completion earns participants a WMI wilderness first aid certification. This certification is current for two years.

Go online to register.

By Tara Haelle, NPR

Brace yourselves: Flu season is coming. And along with the coughing, fevers and aches you can expect a lot of unreliable or downright wrong information about the flu vaccine.

Flu kills more people in a year in the U.S. than Ebola has killed in the history of the world.
Many people underestimate the health risks from flu. Thousands of Americans die from flu-related complications in a typical year, and last season’s H1N1 strain hit young adults particularly hard.

Flu and pneumonia combined consistently rank among the top 10 causes of death in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It was ranked eighth in 2011, the most recent year for which data are available.

Getting a shot (or an immunizing spritz up the nose) isn’t a perfect defense against flu. Some years the strains used to make vaccines aren’t a good match for the type of flu that eventually strikes. But vaccination remains the most reliable way to reduce the risk for illness.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that everyone 6 months of age and older gets vaccinated against flu every year, with rare exceptions, such as those with severe, life-threatening allergies to flu vaccine ingredients or potentially those with a history of Guillain-Barré syndrome following a previous flu shot.

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Jose

Jose seems to enjoy posing for his photo — what a cute face. He is 12 weeks old, and one of three male and three female kittens at the shelter right now.

Plus, there are several nice adult cats.

Jose is an energetic, handsome brown tiger longhair kitten.

He is neutered, microchipped, tested for FIV, and vaccinated. He is at the El Dorado County Animal Services shelter in Meyers, along with many other dogs and cats who are waiting for their new homes.

Go to the Tahoe animal shelter’s Facebook page to see photos and descriptions of all pets at the shelter.

Call 530.573.7925 for directions, hours, and other information on adopting a pet.

For spay-neuter assistance for South Tahoe residents, go online.

— Karen Kuentz

By Kelly Shanahan

Oct. 13 is Metastatic Breast Cancer Awareness Day. It is important to recognize the elephant in the pink room that is October: metastatic breast cancer, cancer that spreads outside the breasts, affects 155,000 Americans, killing 40,000 of us every year, yet it only receives 2 percent of breast cancer research dollars.

Metastatic breast cancer is rarely talked about, even during October, despite the fact that almost a third of women with early stage breast cancer develop metastases –- even 10, 20, 30 years later.

Kelly Shanahan

Once diagnosed with metastatic disease, average life expectancy is only two to three years. We are never out of treatment. Our cancer is not curable, at least not in 2014.

Recently, I attended two conferences for women with breast cancer, one exclusively for women with metastatic, or stage four, disease. At these conferences I found great hope, meeting women who have lived full and productive lives for up to 20 years after being diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer.

However, without more money being spent studying metastatic breast cancer, we cannot make that 20-year survival the norm instead of the exception.

We don’t even know why some breast cancers spread, and why other women with early stage disease are treated and never have a problem again. That is basic biologic research. We don’t have standard treatments for metastatic breast cancer; put 10 women with 10 different oncologists in a room and you’ll find 10 different treatments. That is basic clinical pharmaceutical research. But without more funding, that research cannot be done.

One of the problems with “Pinktober” is that all the cheery pink ribbons imply that breast cancer is no big deal if we are just aware and get our mammograms. That complacency, in turn, removes the sense of urgency to obtain more funding for more research, and also keeps us from addressing how to prevent breast cancer in the first place.

So many of those pink products contain chemicals that actually increase the risk of breast cancer, like BPA in hard plastic bottles and phthalates in cosmetics. And sugary, processed foods wrapped in pink also are counterproductive in preventing breast cancer. So this Oct. 13, I ask you not to pity me and the 155,000 other Americans living with metastatic breast cancer, but rather to support us as we fight for our lives. Support us as we advocate for more information, more funding. Support us as we live.

Kelly Shanahan is a 20-year resident of South Lake Tahoe and the owner of Emerald Bay Center for Women’s Health. She has been living with metastatic breast cancer for 11 months. A mom, a wife, an active member of our community, she continues to work part time as a gynecologist even as she undergoes chemotherapy.

South Lake Tahoe native rapper Patterns of Perfection (P.O.P.) has released his latest LP, “Pappa’s Back.”

The 13 original tracks were published on the World Records independent music label without support of the corporate music industry.

He says there are party tracks, groove tracks, chill out tracks, hardcore tracks, and tracks he included just for fun.

His first record, “A New Age,” appeared on digital shelves in 2013. Shortly thereafter the artist’s hand was caught in machinery, leaving him with a full year’s recovery time during which he composed only instrumental music. Having relocated to Gardnerville by way of Colorado, P.O.P. toured the U.S. before settling down to produce “Pappa’s Back” under his own World Records label.