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UPCOMING PEARLS
(at least, these are the planned ones, as we're always open to serendipity!)

Dog Pearls The Dog Pearls series celebrates the wisdom and love of dogs and also encourages adoptions.  Our 27 Dog Stars plus "extras" from a dog park, all filmed in HD in summer/fall 2008, will share valuable life lessons. 

The first two poignant Dog Pearls in this series are done: Coming Home and Spirit Dog.  Our much older, lighter Dog Pearls are Special Gifts and Dr. Willie.

To learn more, see three rich related pages:
DOG PEARLS    OUR DOG STARS    DO(G)NATIONS          
                                  
Here are some Upcoming Dog Pearls, with working titles, as they are unfolding now.  Most will be spoken in "first dog", from the perspective of the dogs themselves: 

My New Best Friend   Old dog Mitch shares his story of losing his best friend Katie, moving through his grief and falling in love again with puppy Gracie. 

Dog Dog: If My Dog Loves Your Dog…   We hope to gain permission from Dr. Bernard LaFayette to pair his catchy, playful civil rights song with footage of our diverse Dog Stars.  Dogs play with each other without regard to color or any other differences.  That's something we humans can emulate! 

Harley’s HOME   Our sweet Dog Star puppy Harley didn’t match his first adoptive family.  As happens too often with dogs, he ended up in the shelter.  Harley was adopted again, but that placement lasted only three months.  His situation points to the need to carefully match animals with potential homes.  Now called Harvey, he is thriving in a foster placement via Brother Wolf.  This great young dog needs his forever home soon!

So Many Dogs, So Little Time   Instead of resisting the fact that companion animals have shorter lives than we do, our Dog Stars want us to embrace the gifts of loving many animals and be open to bringing new animals into our hearts and homes.

Let's Go Out!   Have we got footage for you of dogs on trails in the Blue Ridge Mountains!  They want us to enjoy the outdoors WITH them.  Dogs nudge us to get outside to exercise and play - don't most of us need that? 

Be Patient - I'm Just Old!   Our older Dog Stars want us to love them for who they are, with all their frailties that can be so frustrating and sad as they age. 

We Love Our Buddies   Most dogs thrive with another dog in the family pack.  Just watch how much they love to play together! 

       

27 really good dogs are waiting to be stars in new Pearls.  Funding is needed now!

Cat Pearls We love cats, too! They could be the stars of many wonderful Pearls.  Theo, a remarkably calm kitten who was a natural, informal pet therapist for Linda's 95 year old mother until her death in November 2009, is giving us some new ideas for a Pearl of still images, woven together...

Escalate Love illustrates the cumulative power of positive actions, even small ones, in the face of escalating violence.  In an image from the workshops of Jim McGinnis’ Institute for Peace and Justice, one side of an old fashioned scale of justice holds "boulders of violence" that seem overwhelming.  A shift in awareness lets us see that we can each add "pebbles of love" to the other side to tip the scale.

Jim's sudden death in summer 2009 makes this one feel even more important.  The timely message is: "In the Face of Escalating Violence, Escalate Love."

White dove release, an uplifting experience in collaboration with A Spirit’s Wings of Asheville, NC.  Like white-winged fireworks, they celebrate life and all its transitions in a natural way.   Rock Doves fly together and when one bird goes astray, the whole flock circles back to take it in before they make their journey home.   What a beautiful example of caring and community!


The healing connection between Horses and Humans
"Awake and aware" horses can have a powerful impact on human healing and well-being.  We would love to film at Horse Sense of the Carolinas and/or Epona Ridge, two innovative programs with their own unique “equine-assisted learning” approaches.  Horses are a mirror for human beings and can help with many issues and emotional blocks related to fear, self-confidence, power, trust, boundaries and more.

The Peace of Wild Things This poem reminds us that when the concerns of the world press too hard on us, we can find peace and freedom in nature.  We have permission from poet Wendell Berry but still have to clear it with the publisher. 

Progressive Revelations is based on a stunning Baha’i Youth Workshop dance that portrays both the uniqueness and the common ground of all world religions (permission still needed)

The Wonder of Whales (one or more Pearls) will be beautiful whale (and/or dolphin) footage, with some especially engaging close-ups and a soundtrack of whale songs, possibly with instrumental music.  The goal is to help cetaceans burst into the hearts of viewers, so we humans remember how profoundly wonderful they are, care more actively about their plight and learn how to protect endangered ocean life from human-caused threats.

Some other possible Pearls-in-waiting include:

Honeybee Pearl with Little Pearls founder Debra Roberts, Sister J and The Honeybee Project.  Honeybees are in trouble.  They need us and we need them!

Prayer for a New Time – from Linda’s song, using footage from the top of Craggy Pinnacle on the Blue Ridge Parkway near Asheville, NC, with its 360-degree sweep of these ancient mountains

ET the walrus lives near Seattle at the Pt. Defiance Zoo and Aquarium.  We had an unexpected encounter in the fall of 2007 when the "Pearl" in him appeared.  Homely and over 3400 pounds, he's a surprisingly endearing character!

A series on intelligent animals - elephants, parrots, cats, dogs, great apes, horses, etc.  One of these could be Koko, the strong-willed gorilla who uses more human language than any other known animal (we mentored the Gorilla Foundation on a PSA in 2003)

Environmental/”green” Pearls – concepts such as "natural capital" and ecosystem services (services provided to us for free by Nature) and how we can work with these gifts we depend upon for survival

Elder wisdom, from interview footage of fascinating elders we know       

Interspecies “families” – animals who have created unlikely bonds of love

The Awkward Dance of Aging – elderly parents and their adult children, finding their way through the difficult reversal of roles and trying not to step on each other’s feet

Concepts about the unfolding of the Universe and the place of humanity in that unfolding from the work of cosmologist Brian Swimme (we have his blanket permission)

Joyful Dancing – those special times when we can dance with ease, freedom, grace, “as if no one is watching….”

Amazing Grace celebrates diversity and the potential for connection across apparent boundaries and differences.  Filming would be preceded by a “building bridges” group process, so the peace and harmony conveyed across this wide spectrum of people is honest and real.

The interconnectedness of life – using words attributed to Chief Seattle

The beauty of older women – a line of women on a beach, flowing past the camera

And many more…..