Menstrual Blood as a Source of Multipotential Stem Cells?
METAFORMING LIVE! Judy Grahn opens for Ani Difranco
Joined by Animal Prufrock & Anne Carol. West Coast Tour. April 5-23, 2008.
South Indian Filmmaker Takes on Metaformic Theory
Red Web Foundation seeking Board Members and Executive Director
A
Metaformic Action at Union Square, San Francisco
A
Salon in the Grove - Metaformic Theory in Berkeley
Save The Oaks
- The Public is
Invited. Starting
February 24, 2007.
Metaformic
Theory in South America, January 2007
Report from Chile by Judy Grahn - February 3, 2007
Menstrual Blood as a Source of Multipotential Stem Cells?
Since last November it has been reported that scientists are researching menstrual blood as a possible source of multipotential stem cells.
THE "monthly curse" may be anything but: menstrual blood appears to be a rich and accessible source of adult stem cells. The uterine lining is already known to contain adult stem cells, but harvesting them would be as invasive as getting them from other adult sources, such as bone marrow. Now two separate groups led by Xiaolong Meng of the Bio-Communications Research Institute in Witchita, Kansas, and Julie Allickson at Cryo-Cell International in Oldsmar, Florida, say they have found these cells in menstrual blood. Both groups say the cells show all the hallmarks of stem cells: they replicate without differentiating, they can be made to differentiate into many different cell types, and they show characteristic markers of stem cells on their surface. Meng's work was published in the Journal of Translational Medicine last week (DOI: 10.1186/1479-5876-5-57). Cryo-Cell has now patented a collection and storage technique called "C'Elle", enabling women to preserve their own menstrual stem cells in case they could be used to treat heart disease, diabetes, and spinal cord injury in the future.
-New Scientist, November 24, 2007
However a BBC news report indicated that some experts have concerns that the company is capitalizing on people's fears while relying on still speculative research to offer such a service. Menstrual blood cells have recently returned to the news as further research is published:
Researchers seeking new and more abundant sources of stem cells for use in regenerative medicine have identified a potentially unlimited, noncontroversial, easily collectable, and inexpensive source -- menstrual blood.
-Science Daily, April 24, 2008
METAFORMING LIVE! Judy Grahn opens for Ani DiFranco . . .Joined by Animal Prufrock & Anne Carol. West Coast Tour. April 5-23, 2008.
Kicking off their first show in Los Angeles at the Orpheum Theatre, metaformic theorist, Judy Grahn, will be joined by some of the next generation of feminist artists, Animal Prufrock and Anne Carol, as they open for the unstoppable, independent rock star, Ani Difranco. Ani has been performing "Detroit Annie" and other poems from Judy's infamous collection, The Common Woman, at her concerts for years now and recorded on her live album from Carnegie Hall in 2002. Now fans will have the opportunity to hear Judy perform her poems live along with Animal Prufrock of bitch & animal and Anne Carol, a San Francisco original. See Ani's record label website, www.righteousbabe.com, for tour dates including a performance at The Fillmore in San Francisco on April 8, 2008. Be sure to visit the merchandise table at the shows where the newest metaformic merchandise will be available including several recently released singles featuring Judy Grahn and Anne Carol, such as their four poem CD Detroit Annie, hitchhiking, as well as Polly Wood's metaformic anthem, BledSung, as featured in this journal. Also available will be several 'hot-off-the-press' chapbooks of some of Judy's poems as well as bumper stickers, and t-shirts.
South Indian Filmmaker Takes on Metaformic Theory
Vipin Vijay's 55 minute film, Poomaram, or A Flowering Tree is a conscious tribute to Judy Grahn's Metaformic Theory. Vipin is a south Indian
filmmaker, from Kerala. His film is not meant to teach the theory in any
rote manner. Rather, Vipin's cinematography powerfully illuminates crucial
points in Judy's book, Blood, Bread, and Roses: How Menstruation Created the World: the menstrual origins of sciences and arts, such as geometry, time,
painting, and cooking; and also the violence, and the isolation that inevitably accompany the loss of women's rituals within a society.
Centrally, Poomaram studies ways we communicate - in blood, in hand
gestures, in cosmetikos (world ordering) of painting the body, cooking, dyeing cloth; and also in books, which the filmmaker treasures; and of course in the swift, evocative, poetic imagery of film. Judy's book was intended as a gift to women, and Vipin's film is a gift both to women and to Judy's book. Though Judy has done some research in Kerala, the two have never met, and she had no idea he was making this film until she read about it on the internet.
The artful visuals are accompanied by well-selected text, underscored by
the music of John Cage, poetry of Laurie Anderson, and more. A section animates Vanessa Tiegs' gorgeous and unique menstrual paintings. Another section playfully parodies the tiger predator of (very ancient) bleeding women - without mentioning that tiger is one aspect of the goddess Bhagavati in Kerala. (See Dianne Jenett's article in this Journal for a description of one of Kerala's "goddesses who menstruate".) Subtleties abound, such as the scenes in an empty taravad (architecturally distinguished matrilineal extended family house, abandoned now for nuclear families and apartment buildings). Another example is a careful close up of the swirl of white foam in a vessel of blood red dye, with a beautiful resemblance to the Milky Way.
Vipin Vijay is the winner of numerous awards. His films have been shown in festivals in the Czech Republic, Montreal, New Delhi, Oberhausen, Montreal, Chicago, Tehran, and Karachi (Pakistan). Currently, Poomaram is showing at a festival in Rotterdam.
Red Web Foundation seeking Board Members and Executive Director Creating lifelong menstrual health through community and education
The Red Web Foundation in San Francisco is dedicated to supporting a positive societal view of girls' and womens' bodies and menstrual cycles from first bleeding through menopause. In 2007 RWF became a main media resource regarding choices to menstrual suppression pills now being marketed. We hold that in order for girls and women to make informed choices best suited for each personal menstrual situation, they first need to know the innate value of their cycle. When a girl or woman values her cycle, her self-respect is deepened along with often times decreasing or eliminating many of the challenging physical symptoms experienced by some.
If this speaks to you, we are inviting you to apply for a position on the Red Web Foundation Board. We seek women who are able to create a new vision; are self-aware; committed to respectful communication. We are also seeking a new Executive Director for a part-time volunteer position. For more information see www.redwebfoundation.org or contact a.yang@redwebfoundation.org.
A
Metaformic Action at Union Square, San Francisco, CA
December 17, 2007, 12:00 noon, across from Macy's front door (on Geary St.)
Please come and help us spread the word that menstruation is at the center of culture and needs to be honored.
It is likely that menstruation generated abstract thinking and most forms of human culture. Some examples in today’s world are such items as measurement, calendars, geometry, mechanical devices, ritual, ceremony, law, royalty, skirts, hats, jewelry, make-up, shoes and wine.
Awareness and honoring of woman’s menstrual flow, and all that is derived from it, sets humans apart from animals. The conceptualizing of cyclical menstruation, coordinated with that of the moon’s, moved us from instinctive animal to thinking human being. Women are at the center of culture. Be proud of your flow.
For more information contact: sharon_maser@sbcglobal.net.
A
Salon in the Grove - Metaformic Theory in Berkeley
Starting February 24, 2007
Save
The Oaks - The Public is Invited
Sunday Afternoons at 2:00 PM
Memorial Oak Grove, Piedmont Avenue, Berkeley Campus
Starting February 24, 2007
The
Salon in the Grove offers a place and time to discuss the
meaning and implications of the tree-sitting protest. Guests
and tree-sitters will participate in the salon, which will include
discussions, games and experiential lessons learned from the
tree sitters and the trees. In the first session of the Salon,
the tree-sitters will tell their stories of living alone in
the trees to protect the trees. We will examine those experiences
and perspectives as an evolution of consciousness.
The discussions will be lead by:
• Laura K. Brown, Ph.D., the Salon host, will put the
stories of the tree-sitters in the context of Metaformic Theory,
that suggests a methodology for the transformation of consciousness.
• Jean Mudge, Ph.D. will highlight the tree stories from
the perspective of Emerson and Thoreau.
Metaformic
Theory in South America, January 2007
Report from Chile by Judy Grahn - February 3, 2007
Dear
Colleagues, Students, and Friends,
After
an intense nine day trip to visit South American activists,
Annie Lapham and I returned Monday, January 29, from Santiago,
Chile. Surrounded by ripe apricot and plum trees, we had a glorious
time, and found the South American women were eager to hear
new theory, and in particular they are very excited about Metaformic
Theory (Teoria Metaformica). Several took my powerpoint back
to their countries, which were Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Venezuela,
Ecuador, Brazil and of course Chile... Read
entire report.
Back
to top
