Greece did not fail on its own.  It was made to fail.

For a haunting experience, I would suggest you start the YouTube below and listen to the incredible music -- Greek, Zorba's Dance -- while you read the piece linked here.

Lots involved in the messaging of this "awareness effort," including pain!  Apparently, there is a "Walk a Mile in Her Shoes" program going on for "violence against women," and Army ROTC units are participating, although there appears to be a problem with this, as wearing civilian shoes with an army combat uniform (ACU) is against regulations (read more here).   Seeing soldiers tottering in high heels is laughable, but it is also making the highly unfamiliar familiar -- a.k.a. "normalizing."  These high-heel walks are sponsored by Army Community Services Family Advocacy Programs ... need I say more?

Grifola frondosa is its botanical name, and it is indeed at the top of the mushroom chain -- medicinal and delicious!  I discovered maitakes at a farmers market; a mushroom vendor urged to me take one home and chop it up and saute it ... Wow, is all I had to say, and I have been eating it ever since.  (Chop or dice and saute lightly in coconut or other oil, add sea salt and use as a crumble on just about anything.  You can freeze what you have cooked and use a little every day; your body will love this stuff!)

Okay, so what is the maitake?  It grows wild in the forest at the bottom of great old trees (oaks and elms), feeding on the dying roots.  Maitakes can reach tremendous size (30-50 pounds), but the cultivated versions can be held in your hand.  Mushrooms are the fruiting bodies of fungi, and if you study the trophic chain, fungi are decomposers, rendering dying life into earth nutrients to begin the chain all over again.  This article covers the many health-boosting properties of maitakes, which some people consume in powder or capsule form.  Nothing is as good as the food itself, and certainly not as tasty, for maitakes create umami -- also known as "the fifth taste" -- an experience we don't often get.  Growing in popularity, you can now find organic maitakes at stores like Whole Foods; they are "air-packaged" in puffy cellophane pouches, so this is what you have to look for in the mushroom section.

A discussion from June 2015 on the new gender-swinging trend and how chemicals play a part in this.  Both hours are included here for my followers; please subscribe to Red Ice Radio (www.RedIceCreations.com) to get the second hour of every show (there are at least 3 per week, first hour is free).  I have learned so much from this amazing channel, run by Henrik Palmgren and his wife Lana Lokteff.  Both are great interviewers and bright, curious people whose inquiries into many different subjects have been an endless source of new knowledge for me.  We need to network with and support each other, and Red Ice is high on my list of where to go!

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