The Santa Fe New Mexican from Santa Fe, New Mexico • Page C006

NEIGHBORS Solo play depicts life-altering event C-6THE NEW MEXICAN Sunday, September 5, 2010 IF YOU GO What: Robin Duda presents My Parts are Having a Party! When: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday Where: Railyard Performance Center, 1611 Paseo de Peralta Cost: $12 at the door Sister P.J. Manion stands in front of the first New Mexico State Women's Historical Marker initiative to the Sisters of Loretto. COURTESY PHOTO Nun holds fast to her writing dream New production marks woman's return to stage By Ana Maria Trujillo The New Mexican Santa Fean Robin Duda was a 29-year-old performing The Lorax by Dr. Seuss at the first Earth Day festival in 1990 St.

Louis when she had her near-death experience. She stepped on a bottle cap, which happened to have pierced through a cable hooked up to the speaker system. "It shocked my whole body," Duda said. "As I left my body, I went into a spiritual place where I felt more love than I've ever known. Some people define that as being with God." Duda, now 50, said she had a conversation with God about the choice she faced: to go with God or to go and live her life.

This real-life experience is the opening scene for Duda's one-woman play, titled My Parts Are Having a Party! which opens Friday at The Railyard Performance Center. Duda, who has lived in Santa Fe for 17 years, wanted to return to performing after many years away from the stage. "I turned 50 this year and I said, 'If I don't go back to the stage, I will not do Duda said. "There was a performer in me from the time I was very young and I performed and taught modern dance at a university." These days, Duda works as a spiritual healer and life coach at her business, which she runs with her husband, Joseph, called Sustainable Love Training and Guidance Center. Duda, who also has a background in social work, said after her near-death experience all those years ago, she connected with her spiritual side and her sensitivity to her "psychic ability" was heightened.

"I became very clairvoyant and psychic," Duda said. "It was as if a part of my soul just woke up from my body. I started doing healing work immediately after that." The start of her new spiritual life and her new line of work was also the beginning of a difficult relationship with her family, she said. Her father, a behavioral psychologist, uplifting." Rubinstein, who runs Project Life Stories, has been helping people produce solo shows for the past 15 years. She's worked with hundreds of people who have done therapeutic monologues, she said.

"I really love the solo performance," Rubinstein said. "There is something so powerful about writing and performing one's own vision. It's such a rich, authentic, deep work. For most performers, it's a once-in-a-lifetime type of experience." Duda, a mother of three, said the process has been extremely therapeutic for her. In her play, she examines the various versions of herself, including "Rescue Robin" who is a "New Age charismatic problem and "Super Mom," a mother overcoming the trauma of her then-husband's suicide attempt.

Duda wasn't sure the "Super Mom" version of herself would be able to get back on stage. "I just didn't know if I could pull myself together after being a mother of three," Duda said. "Just to have my father's response and have my connection with him has almost made the whole thing worth it," Duda said. Duda hopes the audience will take away one message from the play. "No matter what we think we are or what we think we can't do, I would want to share with people to follow your dreams and your heart," Duda said.

"It takes a lot of courage but it's well worth the ride, no matter what the outcome is." Contact Ana Maria Trujillo at 986-3084 or atrujillosfriewmexican.com. hope I get to live here one she said. Manion traveled to China to work on her third book, Venture into the Unknown, Loretto in China 1923-1998, published in 2006. "The book was comprised of information contained in the 700 letters that the sisters wrote back to the Mother-house regarding their experiences in China. The letters were wonderfully written covering everything from the big floods to the time when Mao Zedong came By Ana Pacheco For The New Mexican When Patricia Jean Manion was 21, she made the decision to become a nun knowing that her life would change drastically.

She had one pressing thought: "I remember thinking that I was giving up my dream of being a journalist," she said. Celestial blessings must have been in order when, on Dec. 8, 1946, the feast day of the Immaculate Conception, Patricia Jean "P.J." Robin Duda, a Santa Fean, will return to the stage with her one-woman show at 8 p.m. Friday at the Railyard Performance Space. COURTESYDANIEL QUAT didn't believe in her new way of thinking.

"He thought we are the way we are because of our genes and our conditioning what we're taught to believe and I presented that we are who we are because of our spirit. I would say our soul is here to learn and experience," Duda said. "When I started seeing spirits and energy, he thought I was crazy." But after seeing a run-through of the play and reliving Duda's near death right along with her, he has changed his mind. "He's opened up tremendously," Duda said with a smile, her green eyes lighting up. "He was crying.

He was so moved by it, especially when I helped him understand the near-death experience." The play, which also includes a segment celebrating the life of Duda's late mother, is directed by Tanya Taylor Rubinstein. "Robin is such a strong performer," Rubinstein said. "I love the transformational element in her show as well, it's into power and expelled the nuns from China," she said. Manion spearheaded the book Naming Our Truth, Loretto Feminists and Peace Activists, published in 1996. It includes chapters by Loretto nuns on Manion became a novice to the Sisters of Loretto and began her writing career.

As the 85-year-old said, "Sister Dafrosa, the mistress of novices, sent me and another novice Ana Pacheco A Wonderful Life Mentor event transitions 'boys to men' Nonprofit to host 'Rite of Passage' Mentors and journeymen work with a young man last year during the Boys to Men Rites of Passage Adventure Weekend, in an activity designed to honor the desire to love and protect people. A nonprofit mentoring group is calling on boys ages 12 to 17 to participate in the weekend event, held this year on Oct. 1-3. COURTESY PHOTO to the archives at the convent to find information on the history of the Loretto nuns. Then at the end of my second year, I was told that I would be leaving for El Paso to teach second grade at St.

Joseph's Parochial School. I had compiled so much research I wondered what I should do with it, and I was told by Mother Superior Edwarda to take it with me and that I would find time to work on a book." When Manion arrived in El Paso, she began work on her first book, Only One Heart: The Life Mother Praxedes Carty. According to Manion, the book, which tells the story of the second founder of the Sisters of Loretto, took 13 years to complete while she worked as a teacher of literature and writing in Santa Fe, Denver and Sterling, III During school vacations, she worked on her book, published in 1962. Sixty-four years later, she is still a nun and the author of three books and a contributing writer on two othes. Her second book, Beyond the Adobe Wall: The Sisters of Loretto in New Mexico 1852-1894, published in 2002, depicts the story of five nuns on the journey along the Santa Fe Trail from Kentucky to found Loretto Academy.

The book brought her to Santa Fe, but she was no stranger to town; she taught at Loretto in the early '50s and lived here on two occasions. "The first time I saw Santa Fe was out of the bus window on Water Street on my way to my first mission in El Paso. I remember looking out and saying to myself, 'I topics ranging from the women's movement to the Vietnam War. Today Manion lives in Nerinx, Ky, at the Loretto Motherhouse and travels to Santa Fe and other parts of the country as she works with members of the Loretto community on a book tentatively titled A Century of Change. That book describes the second hundred years of the Loretto order from 1912 to 2012 and will be published in 2012.

The Sisters of Loretto hope to have a celebration in Santa Fe to honor the order's 200-year history in America. Manion was born in St. Louis in 1925 and was educated by the Sisters of Loretto from grade school through her years at Webster College. Her desire to write goes back to childhood. "I would sit on the stoop in front of my house with my friends, and my mother would come out and tell me to go run around and play and I would say, 'But Mom, I'm telling a She attributes her success to high school and college teachers who encouraged her to pursue writing.

"I just hope that during the years that I taught that I was able to encourage my students to follow their dreams," she said. The Sisters for Loretto laid Manion's path. "Sixty-four years ago, I decided to become a nun and in the back of my mind I thought that I would just 'try it but I soon found that it was just perfect for me." AnaPacheco's weekly tribute to our community elders appears every Sunday. She can be reached at 474-2800. By Ana Maria Trujillo The New Mexican There's something pretty special about a group of men and boys bonding, said David River, the president of Boys to Men New Mexico, a nonprofit mentoring program.

Boys to Men is calling on boys ages 12-17 to get in on the fun and sign up to participate in the annual Rites of Passage Adventure Weekend, which will be held Oct. 1-3. The event, led by Santa Fe firefighter David Herzenberg, can accommodate 16 boys. "The weekend itself really marks something in the life of boys," River said. "We give them a chance to look at the kind of men they're going to grow into and support them." River doesn't want to give away any of the specifics of the upcoming weekend so the boys who participate will be surprised, but he will offer any information to parents who want it.

Parents and boys are welcome to attend two orientation sessions, Wednesday and Sept. 14, for the weekend. "They go through an orientation where both the parents and the boy meet mentors and we sort of do a mutual interview," River said. "We're not interested in forcing anybody to participate in this, no matter how much parents want them to. It has to be their choice." The weekend will feature interactions with both adult IF YOU GO What: An orientation for Boys to Men's annual Rites of Passage Adventure Weekend Who: Parents and boys ages 12 to 17 When: From 6:30 to 8 p.m., Wednesday and Sept.

14 Where: Solace Crisis Treatment Center, 6601 Valentine Way RSVP to Neil Egan, enrollment coordinator, at 920-5485. For more info, visit www.boystomennewmexico.org. the ones they like and connect with." River said the New Mexico chapter of Boys to Men is just "finding our feet," he said. "We've gotten a lot better about ongoing meetings and doing things the boys are interested in doing." The organization has more mentors, 32, than boys. River is hoping to attract more boys because the mentors are eager to get working.

He noted that the program is designed to help "raise teenage boys," he said. "It takes some load off parents trying to get their kids through these difficult years intact." Contact Ana Maria Trujillo at 986-3084 or atrujillo sfhewmexican.com. mentors and "journeymen" who are boys who have participated in the weekend previously. The national nonprofit was brought to New Mexico two years ago. The Rites of Passage Adventure Weekend is the start of a mentoring relationship if the young men who participate choose to have one.

After the weekend, the boys will be able to meet with mentor groups every two weeks. "Boys tend to be more into being in groups that's why they're more drawn to things like gangs," River noted. "Group mentoring works better than one-on-one mentoring. The boys who continue to participate have a great time. They have a whole group of men to look up to and they pick Rabbi: Man to lead Beit Tikva Mana: Event funds scholarships Continued from Page C-5 economy, though the amount of each grant has remained the same.

Medina, who received the scholarship in 2004, said the organization was happy to be able to offer any scholarship at all. "Some organizations have decided not to continue to offer certain scholarships," Medina said. The scholarship is funded by MANA del Norte's annual scholarship banquet ticket sales and silent-auction proceeds. gregation and become their leader," he said. He will work with Cantor Michael Linder, who leads the music and prayer services at the 110-family congregation.

"Our plan is to develop the congregation as a center of Jewish creativity and learning and the arts," Levy said. "One of our goals is we're going to expand our physical building somewhere in the next two years. "I am very honored to be leading this congregation, and I hope that the community will join us," Levy added. "Everybody is welcome if they need a place to pray we're a very friendly, welcoming community." Contact Ana Mana Trujillo at 986-3084 or atrujillosfnewmexican.com. This year, the event will be held Sept.

18 at The Lodge at Santa Fe. The organization is still looking for donations for its silent auction, which donates its proceeds to the scholarship fund. Those interested in donating should call Dolores Roybal at 577-0325. Medina said it's important for the community to support organizations like MANA del Norte because its members and former scholarship recipients reciprocate the giving by mak ing their own contributions to their local community. "What happens is a lot of the women who receive scholarships continue to give back to the community," Medina said.

"You give back to the community when you feel the community has supported you, and you continue to see the community flourish, especially in regards to education." Contact Ana Maria Trujillo at 986-3084 or atrujillo sfnewmexican.com. Continued from Page C-5 gation Beit Tikva when the board approached him this spring about teaching classes. "We did a class studying the Book of Exodus, which turned out to be a tremendously successful class not only for people from the congregation, but also people from the entire community," he said. "That was just a marvelous experience. I met some really wonderful people and enjoyed the teaching very much.

They asked me about possibly being a rabbi for the temple." His first answer was no, but at the end of June he "realized that I missed doing my spiritual work as a rabbi and a teacher. I finally decided it was time to say yes and join the con.