Desert Lady Diaries

Born and raised in Queens, New York, Karen Harper came west at the urging of a friend. Looking down at the landscape of the Reno, Nevada desert from a hot air balloon, Karen loved it. While in Reno, Karen was accepted in the Job Corps vocational program where she tried her hand at welding and culinary arts. Upon graduating, Karen started work with one of the local casinos and thought her cooking skills would take her places. Karen left the casino kitchen for institutional cooking in skilled nursing facilities where she found less pressure. Karen was introduced to 29 Palms by her sister, Carrie, who lived there running a cleaning business. Carrie would invite Karen to visit, but as Karen tells it, she would end up helping Carrie at her cleaning jobs instead of just 'visiting'. On one of those trips, Karen made a decision to move to 29 Palms. She applied for a job, bought a home- now she owns three of them. Karen leaned on her culinary skills while attending school to become a teacher. By this time, Karen had a family and the 12 hour days in food service didn't provide enough time with her family. At one point, Karen also left the desert for Georgia and Virginia, eventually returning to 29 Palms. After being approached numerous times by various women in difficult circumstances, Karen and her sister Carrie realized they needed to create an organization that would give these women a place to be heard and receive direction. Women of Color Global 29 is a non-profit, women's empowerment organization, headquartered at Jeanine's Beauty business, Jeanine's Beauty , in 29 Palms. They were inspired to start the organization after being approached by women in their community who were looking for work, having trouble making ends meet or managing their children. The non-profit serves as a resource to build women's confidence to get the help they need. If you or someone you know (under the age of 23) are interested in the Job Corps program, google 'Job Corps' and the largest city near you. (ex: 'job corps southern California') to find a program near you. Or visit their website: jobcorps.gov, linked above. Find: Women of Color Global 29 Karen and Carries business, Jeanine's Beauty Supply is located at 6470 Adobe Road, 29 Palms. They are open Monday-Friday 11-630, Saturday 10-530. The are closed on Sunday.

Originally from New Jersey, Melissa Grisi was living in San Francisco and working at Ameoba Records when she got into listening to alt-country. She and her boyfriend - now husband, Ben - were digging the music and history of Gram Parsons. So, before moving back to the east coast in 2002, the pair decided to make a pilgrimage to Joshua Tree - to visit where Gram had partied with the Rolling Stones and would ultimately die, at the Joshua Tree Inn. In this episode, Melissa describes what the area was like in 2002 - an undiscovered, gritty haven with an eclectic mix of artists, criminals, Marines and desert folk. There was a fifteen year journey between Melissa's first trip to this desert in 2002 and making it home in 2015. During that time, there were numerous trips back, including their honeymoon in Wonder Valley. Purchases at the Sky Valley Swap Meet ended up in their Rhode Island backyard, creating their own desert oasis on the east coast and tiring their friends with their constant talk of Joshua Tree. The idea of moving to the desert became a reality on one of those trips when Melissa found a classified ad for a social worker at the local hospital. Melissa eventually landed a therapist job aboard the Twentynine Palms Marine Air Ground Combat Center and she and Ben bought a home in Twentynine Palms over the internet, which Ben has renovated to make their desert home, including a pottery studio for Melissa. Coming from a family who values being of service, Melissa just opened her own therapy practice in 29 Palms, Blue Sky Therapy, offering private therapy appointments, trauma informed yoga as well as training and consultation. Blue Sky Therapy Check out Melissa's pottery on Instagram: @wildhopehandmade Melissa's work is also available at Soul Connection in Joshua Tree.

Twenty years ago, Jennifer Jungwirth was just wrapping up her college education when she got a call to interview for a teaching position in Baker, CA. Then, the Morongo Valley Unified School District called. Jennifer came out to Yucca Valley and after 45 minutes of what Jennifer assumed was just friendly, casual conversation, the folks at YYHS offered her the job - and she accepted. This was Jennifer's first experience with desert. In this episode, Jennifer says her friends thought it was 'cool' that she was moving to California, though Jennifer had not let on that she was moving to the Mojave Desert. Of her first years in the desert, Jennifer admits, "I didn't get out much. I kept my head down honing my teaching craft". Eventually adopting a dog, Jennifer started to make her way into the national park and then slowly became a faculty advisor to a number of clubs at YVHS, like 'S' club – (Soroptimists), AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) and Gay Straight Alliance True Colors. She also joined in community service with the Morongo Basin Humane Society – no-kill animal shelter – leading her to develop their dog-walking program. After attending a meeting of Transition Joshua Tree and hearing about community gardening, she became involved with their monthly Community no-waste dinner and food program - currently on hiatus due to the Covid pandemic. Jennifer admits there were a few times early in her career at YVHS she considered moving on from the desert. Now, 20 years later, Jennifer says she has learned to appreciate the desert's subtle seasonal changes and though she enjoys leaving the desert to travel to faraway places, she says, "it always calls me back".

Janis Commentz is a southern California native who grew up near the coast and began drawing and painting early in life. As the daughter of an artist, she was surrounded by art materials and enjoyed trips to galleries and museums, as well as seasonal trips to Laguna Beach and Carmel. Commentz moved to the Mojave Desert in 1977 to teach art and English at Sky High School, now Black Rock High School. At the University of Redlands, she earned a B.A. in art and English and studied printmaking with John Nava, well-known for his tapestries at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles. She holds an M.A. in Education from California State University at San Bernardino, facilitated life drawing in Joshua Tree sessions in Joshua Tree for nearly a decade and teaches art classes at the 29 Palms Art Gallery, field classes for the Joshua Tree National Park Desert Institute, and painting retreats at the Campbell House in 29 Palms. She has exhibited at Gallery 62, Joshua Tree Art Gallery, the Purple Agave, Rainbow Stew, and the 29 Palms Art Gallery in the Morongo Basin, T.E. Studios in Riverside, and the Redlands Art Association, Redlands. Commentz participated in the Hwy 62 Open Studio Art Tours (ten seasons), Joshua Tree National Park Juried Art Exposition (six years), Joshua Tree National Park Spring Art Festival, Art Faire at California State University at San Bernardo and Art For Heaven's Sake, Redlands. In 2013, she helped create the "Pop Up" Art Gallery in Joshua Tree, Six Chicks, which evolved into Gallery 62. Commentz served as Gallery Director for Gallery 62 during 2016. She has been the featured artist at the Glass Outhouse Art Gallery and the 29 Palms Art Gallery. Janis Commentz blogs on her website at https://www.janiscommentz.com/

Bobbi Fabian's first experience with desert was with the Warner Brothers Roadrunner cartoon. Growing up in Melbourne Australia, Bobbi made her way to America looking for more opportunities as a photographer, finding she felt more at home in the U.S. than in her home country. Bobbi moved to the U.S. in 2003, settling in Los Angeles. With an MA in Photography Bobbi was a freelance photographer and educator for most of her working life – commissioned by brands like Timex, Penguin Books, Audi and other household names. On a road trip through America, while working on a project, she and a friend made a point to go through Death Valley and Joshua Tree. Staying at the Amargosa Hotel, they felt so at home, they decided to meet there every Christmas following that visit. Bobbi's friend was unable to make it to their annual holiday in 2014 and Bobbi decided to go anyway . There she met a women and her friend who had moved to Death Valley Junction to perform Mara Becket's original (dance) pieces. During that trip, Bobbi sensed good things would be happening in Death Valley Junction and decided to make another trip back sooner than her annual holiday visit. It was February 2015 and the Opera House was having a special event dinner and performance celebrating Valentines Day. The Dancer and her friend, charged with making dinner for the patrons, had gotten into an argument. Bobbi stepped in to help the friend finish the dinner preparations. The following morning, he told her the Cafe was in need of management and Bobbi should consider taking the job. Bobbi dismissed the idea, but couldn't let go of the thought the entire ride back to Los Angeles. A month later, Bobbi was back in Death Valley Junction sharing her ideas for the Cafe with Marta Becket, who said yes to all of them. On June 10, 2020, Bobbi celebrated five years in Death Valley Junction. In this episode Bobbi also shares some of the history of Death Valley Junction, how dancer Marta Becket came to be the caretaker of the town and how this place with 268 acres, population 3, survives today. Now, as the general manager of the Cafe, Hotel and Opera House, with the support of the non-profit's Board of Directors, Bobbi describes her day to day: working in and hiring for the cafe, overseeing the maintenance for all three buildings as well as sharing the history of the Junction with it's curious visitors. We also talk about Death Valley National Park, what drew her in so closely to that part of the desert and her disappointment with folks who treat the desert as a wasteland. There are a number of videos available on YouTube telling a deeper story about Marta, her journey to Death Valley and her revitalization of the Amargosa Opera House. Just google 'Amargosa YouTube' or check out the documentary 'Amargosa' available online. It was such a documentary that inspired Desert Lady Diaries guest, Shana Rhodes, to make her own move to the desert. Take a look at Bobbi's photography here: www.bobbifabian.com Visit the Amargosa website: http://www.amargosaoperahouse.org/ And, if you can and are so moved, please donate to the go fund me campaign to help the non-profit maintain the property during this time of Covid-19 closures: https://charity.gofundme.com/o/en/campaign/amargosaoperahouse

Born and raised in the Tri-Cities area of Detroit, Michigan, Marylee 'Boo' McIntyre grew up gathering bushels of berries, apples, apricots and what ever other fruits were in season with her siblings to be used in the creations her grandmother and mother would bake from the day after Thanksgiving through the December holidays. Over the years, baking became a way to relieve stress and get grounded. Marylee's first encounter with the desert was visiting neighbors from Royal Oak, MI, who had a place in Lake Havasu, Arizona. Marylee and her then husband loved it so much, six months later they were living there. A lake in the middle of the desert was fascinating to Marylee. At that time, the largest employer in town was McCulloch Chain Saws and neither Marylee or her husband were able to find solid employment. Then his employer invited him back to Michigan and so they left the desert. During this tumultuous time in the finance industry, Marylee worked in a number of roles in finance. At the last job, after being asked to train her replacements, Marylee left and found her way to the desert. A man she'd met online lived in Joshua Tree and Marylee thought, 'What the heck? Might as well give that a try." Unsuccessful in her attempts to find work in finance here, Marylee turned to baking and was making treats sold by a local Joshua Tree cafe. After about five years, Marylee began to visualize having her own bakery - and so, it is. Boo's Organic Oven opened it's doors in July 2019, offering sweet (pies, cookies, pastries and cakes) and savory (pot pies and hand pies). We talk about business challenges during this time of the Covid-19 pandemic (Winter/Spring 2020) and of unfortunate incidents of racism that Marylee has had confront to protect her employees. A self-described city girl, Marylee likes to hike in the desert, but prefers not to go alone, "The trails in the desert are not as well-marked as those in greener areas... I sometimes find myself getting turned around." The night sky, the silence and watching sunrise and sunset are Marylee's favorite things about desert living. A grandmother of 13, Marylee says one of her granddaughters back in Michigan has the family baking bug, though she hasn't yet made the trip to grandma's desert bakery. And, if you want to know how she got nicknamed 'Boo', you'll have to listen to the episode. Check out Boo's Organic Oven here. Follow on Facebook and Instagram

After 20 years in Los Angeles and a career in the film industry, Jody Curtis was guided to the Mojave desert in 2008. A seeker of deeper spiritual understanding from an early age, her first experience with desert was visiting her Mom and step-dad during one of their annual stops in Slab City. Taking several days to wind down from the stress of the city, Jody often found she didn't want to leave the desert to go back home. Just after leaving her job at NBC, Jody was diagnosed with Stage 4 Cancer. A defining moment for Jody, her first thought was 'I have to get out of the city and get back to nature'. By this time, her Mom had settled in Landers and so, Jody moved to the desert, having purchased a home sight unseen. Traveling back and forth from this desert, Jody often passed the Institute of Mentalphysics and wondered what the place was and try as she might, was never able to locate information online. After moving to the desert, that curiosity remained, Jody telling her mother, "I think I'm supposed to work at this place." One day she decided to just walk in and talk to the Director and a few months later, Jody, a web designer, was working there, combing through historical documents and records to create an online presence for what is also known as the Joshua Tree Retreat Center. During her ten years working at the Institute of Mentalphysics, Jody became a Reverend and teacher of the breath work. In this episode, Jody also shares the background and history of the Institute and of Founder Edwin Dingle, named Ding Le Mei by his eastern teachers. Jody is now putting the Mentalphysics teachings into the world through her online classes and is also Founder and creator at Empower House Productions sharing audio and video affirmations and guided meditations to heal and empower body, mind and spirit. If you're interested in checking out the breath work class, currently every Wednesday at 11 a.m., dial in using Zoom conferencing, Meeting ID 882 7880 8645 and use the password: Wellness. Follow Empower House Productions on Facebook, click here: https://www.facebook.com/EmpowerHouseProductions/

At the age of six, Rosa Ficara had her first experience with desert - her family had just moved to the desert from Waterbury, CT. Rosa doesn't recall much about the move other than the fact that the desert was much warmer than those Connecticut winters. As the first-born of Italian immigrants, Rosa spoke Italian (two dialects) before she spoke English. At that time, this area of the desert wasn't extremely diverse and in school, Rosa found herself befriending schoolmates in a similar situation – one was Japanese-American and the other was Korean-American. At 17, Rosa was ready to leave the desert and explore, heading down to University of California Riverside to study language. In addition to two dialects of Italian, she also speaks French, Spanish, and English. While at college, Rosa sometimes brought friends or roommates back to the desert to visit and was surprised to hear how cool they thought it was that she grew up here. Rosa says, "I started to appreciate the desert through their eyes." In this episode, Rosa describes a few of her global experiences while still in college, then in a work program, working for a bank in Switzerland, among other roles and locations. On her return to the U.S. she settled in Culver City – near Los Angeles – where she discovered Salsa dancing, which has become one of her greatest passions. While in the LA area she felt the urge to change her career path and enrolled in the California School of Culinary Arts Cordon Bleu in Pasadena. She thrived in the program until she was injured in a car accident the day of her baking final. Attempting to complete the final with a cast on her right arm proved impossible and though she made it to the International Cuisine curriculum, never officially graduated from the program. If you've ever had the opportunity to enjoy Rosa's cooking, you know she's put her education to good use. Rosa and her business partner, Merilee Kuchon will soon open Roadrunner Grab & Go, a cold kitchen situated adjacent to the Joshua Tree National Park Visitor Center. Having returned to the desert in 2004, Rosa has gained an appreciation for the grounding nature that is right outside her door and finds herself now enjoying the bounty it has to offer. And now she photographs the snakes, instead of running away from them. Follow Roadrunner Grab & Go on Instagram.

Born and raised in San Diego, Shaney Jo Darden's first experience with the desert was traveling to visit her grandparents who lived in Palm Desert. About ten years ago, Shaney Jo started coming to the hi-desert to visit a friend, who owned Rimrock Ranch in Pioneertown. Rimrock became a place for Shaney Jo to bring her staff for annual employee retreats: learning about new programs, receiving training and enjoying some off-site downtime hiking, taking in a sound bath at the Integratron or having a social night out together at Pappy & Harriet's. After a number of trips to the hi-desert, spending more and more time here and meeting the community, Shaney Jo began to realize this was a special place for her. Having spent nearly 10 years in Los Angeles, Shaney Jo was ready for a change and recognized moving to the desert would not only change her surroundings, but would also be the place to fulfill one of her big dreams: to build a wellness center for cancer survivors. Shaney Jo is the Founder and Global CCO of Keep A Breast . The organization empowers young people around the world with breast health education and support and sparks conversation around prevention, early detection and self-checks for young women. This includes art and education programs as well as programs for survivors. In this episode, Shaney Jo takes us through the formation of the organization, from it's humble beginnings as a fund-raising art show, to the international organization it is today, celebrating 20 years of good works (2020). Last year, Keep A Breast was part of the annual local Highway 62 Art Tours, breast casting nearly a dozen local women whose casts were painted by local hi-desert artists and available for viewing during the third weekend of the tours. With their new headquarters completed and staffed in Yucca Valley, Shaney Jo is looking to offer the KAB lounge space for a cancer survivors group to form and is now turning her attention to the development of the wellness center of her dreams. Actively in the planning stages on property in the Rimrock area, this achievement will bring Shaney Jo's desert journey full circle. As Keep A Breast began to rapidly grow and change, Shaney Jo found herself looking for help to responsibly guide the organization. She found it in the form of a book titled, 'Let My People go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman' by Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia and one of the founders of 1% for the Planet. Shaney Jo recommends this book to anyone running a business or non-profit who is looking for a better way to lead their organization and take care of its staff. Prior to founding Keep A Breast, Shaney Jo worked in the apparel industry - another lifelong dream realized - with designers like Tommy Hilfiger in NYC, before returning to the west coast to work in the surf/skate apparel industries – Shaney Jo's fabric of choice is denim. Check out all the links and, if you're inspired, make a donation to this worthwhile organization. https://www.keep-a-breast.org/ https://www.nontoxicrevolution.org/ https://www.fit4prevention.org/

Forty years ago, stifled by life in a small Michigan town, Jacqueline Guevara's vibrant, fun-loving mother loaded her 1972 Cadillac Coupe de Ville and hit the road with her teen-aged daughter for a new start in Palm Springs. Driving into this desert oasis was Jacque's first experience with desert. In this episode, Jacque describes working in the Palm Springs hospitality industry in the 1980's and the life skills she acquired in those jobs. A change in ownership lead to a subsequent lay-off from her job at the Palm Springs Country Club leaving Jacque jobless for the summer. With her sons out of town visiting their dad, Jacque wasn't sure what to do with the time on her hands when a friend teaching ceramics at Desert Arc invited Jacque to come and volunteer. Jacque was immediately hooked with the idea of helping people and suddenly found herself in a career in social work and, eventually, non-profit management. Some of those positions required Jacque to travel frequently between Los Angeles and her home in the Morongo Basin - her description of the feeling of 'the day coming off you' as she climbed those grades will be relatable to those familiar with the route. Jacque describes herself as a new and 'accidental conservationist' in her work with Mojave Desert Land Trust and eventually in her current role with the Joshua Tree National Park Association, where Jacque leads teams carrying out a number of initiatives from staffing the park's visitor centers to providing adult education opportunities through The Desert Institute. Jacque also gives us some insight into the the Association's role at the National Park, specifically where they take their cues and direction from and the part that plays in park operations, particularly shut-downs of the park.