calendar - The Coast News

B
MAY 31,
2013
JEAN
GILLETTE
Small Talk
Dressing
down: The
new high
fashion
You know you are in
Southern California, if…
That catchphrase
popped into my head last
weekend when I attended a
lovely event at a lovely
hotel for which the invitation
said, “Cocktail attire.”
As I walked in, I swear I
could hear the Boston
matrons gasp.
Most of the women
leapt at the chance to
break out some jewelry,
that little black dress and a
pair of heels, but even
some of the ladies were a
bit casual. And then there
were the men. Let’s just say
most of the waiters were
better dressed.
Tropical shirts abounded,
along with short-sleeve
shirts over T-shirts. At least
there were no ball caps.
There were coats and ties
of the average-businessman
variety, but don’t be
looking for the slick or tailored
dudes you see at the
Bacardi party. This is not
the East Coast. It’s not even
L.A. And I suppose overall,
that’s a good thing.
Part of my problem
was that I was raised by a
real pair of fashionistas
who loved getting dressed
up. I think, though, that
men truly underestimate
how much most women
adore seeing a man in a suit
and tie, and simply drool
over a tuxedo or dress uniform.
I got over expecting
any such thing in my day-today
or even night-to-night
activities, long ago. My husband
was on the forefront
of the “Jeans and running
shoes can go anywhere”
movement.
Fortunately, our lives
have not had a lot of call for
fancy dress. He does own
his own slightly-outdated
tuxedo, however the only
time you will see him wear
it is on Halloween. He
makes a dashing Dracula.
Maybe I will become
nonchalant about our
changing dress code one
day, but I suspect I am at
that age where one accepts
she will never feel quite
right in cutting-edge fashion.
No matter how hard I
try, my mother’s voice will
always ring out as I step up
to the mirror. “I think we
need to dress that up just a
bit.”
Jean Gillette is a freelance writer
who appreciates comfort over style
more every day. Contact her at
jgillette@coastnewsgroup.com.
By Jared Whitlock
ENCINITAS — The first
three days of trial for a lawsuit
seeking to end a school yoga
program saw plenty of twists
and turns. At one point, a witness
even left the stand, took
off her shoes and demonstrated
the lotus pose for the entire
courtroom.
“Just for the record, what
I’d like you to do is the last four
poses on exhibit nine…and tell
us the Sanskrit name and
English name as you do them,”
said attorney Dean Broyles,
who filed the lawsuit three
months ago.
The lawsuit aims to immediately
terminate the Encinitas
Union School District (EUSD)
yoga program on the grounds
that it promotes Hinduism and
other religions. On Monday, the
case kicked off in a downtown
San Diego courtroom.
Originally, the case was
expected to last two days. But
witness testimony stretched on
longer than anticipated.
Consequently, the case is
scheduled to resume in three
weeks, though a concrete date
wasn’t set.
Judge John Meyer set the
tone Monday morning by stating
the case will hinge on
whether yoga taught in EUSD
is religious. Meyer followed
that up by asking the attorneys
to broach a difficult, broad
question in their arguments.
“What is religion?” Meyer
asked.
Broyles, who filed the lawsuit
on behalf of two parents in
the district, said he couldn’t
specifically define religion. But
in his opening remarks, Broyles
said he’s sure of one thing: Yoga
falls under the umbrella of religion.
As a result, he maintained,
EUSD violated the
establishment clause of the
constitution, more commonly
known as separation of church
and state, by incorporating the
practice into its curriculum.
Students were made “spiritual
guinea pigs” and “religious
test subjects,” Broyles
said.
In the fall, EUSD introduced
yoga at five of its nine
schools after receiving a
$533,000 health and wellness
grant from the Encinitas-based
Jois Foundation.In January,the
program debuted at the
remaining schools.
Broyles maintained that
the Jois Foundation promotes
Ashtanga yoga — a particularly
religious type of yoga. At one
point, Broyles read from a Jois
Foundation brochure.
“Ashtanga yoga means
eight limbed; it is an ancient
system that can lead to liberation
and greater awareness of
our spiritual potential,” Broyles
said, quoting the brochure.
SECTION
EUSD Yoga trial stretches on
Council members unanimously agree to move forward with a new
law that will prohibit pets at the tot lot and a southern portion of
Powerhouse Park. Courtesy photo
Portion of Del Mar
park to go pet free
By Bianca Kaplanek
DEL MAR — Council
members advanced plans at
the May 20 meeting to make
the tot lot and a small grassy
area of Powerhouse Park an
animal-free zone.
Council first discussed
the issue of prohibiting dogs
in those areas at the April 15
meeting following a recommendation
from the Parks
and Recreation Committee
that was prompted by a resident
request.
Rick Ehrenfeld said he
was inspired by a similar law
in Los Angeles that ensures
children don’t play on the
same grass where dogs relieve
themselves.
“There’s a problem here
that we’ve got in terms of both
health and safety when you
mix dogs and kids,” Ehrenfeld
said at the April meeting, during
which council directed
staff to return with a draft
ordinance that would prohibit
dogs and establish a “family
friendly zone” at the tot lot
and in a southern portion of
Powerhouse Park.
No one opposed the proposed
new law in April. But at
Jennifer Brown, a yoga instructor at Capri Elementary, performs a lotus
yoga pose for the courtroom. The National Center for Law and Policy
sued the Encinitas Union School District over its yoga program, and the
trial started May 20. Photo by Jared Whitlock
the May meeting, resident
Lynn Gaylord expressed concerns.
“This ordinance is redundant,”
she said. “There is a
leash law in effect for this
area.” Gaylord had issues with
pictures presented at the
April meeting of a dog on a
picnic table and dog feces.
“I don’t know that you
can legislate common sense,”
she said. “Who in the world
would put a dog on a picnic
table? I mean, that’s just stupid.
If your dog is on a leash
and you don’t pick up its droppings
you ought to get nailed
by somebody.”
Gaylord also took offense
to some of the language in the
draft ordinance.
“I was sorry to see this
ordinance labeled ‘dog-free,
family-friendly zone,’” she
said. “On a very fundamental
level most people consider
their dogs family. You can
restrict dogs but don’t make
assumptions about familyfriendly.”
She and former
Councilwoman Crystal
TURN TO PET FREE ON 15
Broyles went on to argue
that the Jois Foundation influenced
much of the district’s
yoga program. He pointed out
that the initial agreement
between the district and Jois
Foundation for the grant stipulates
that students learn
Ashtanga yoga.
Additionally, students
were encouraged to utter
“Namaste”to each other,which
Broyles called a “religiouslyladen
Hinduism greeting.”
Further,he added that students
colored mandalas. That kind of
artwork, Broyles said, is
steeped in religion.
But EUSD
Superintendent Tim Baird, the
first witness called to the stand
by Broyles, said that the district
— not the Jois Foundation —
crafted the yoga program. Its
only purpose is to promote
health and fitness, he maintained.
“I think you could you
could bring in Ashtanga
experts and they would say
we’re not doing Ashtanga yoga
that you see in a studio,” Baird
said. “We do Encinitas Union
School District yoga.”
“It’s just us developing the
curriculum,” Baird said later.
Baird acknowledged the
grant’s memorandum of under-
TURN TO YOGA ON B15
Once slated to be paved over, a part
of city’s history gets recognized
By Tony Cagala
ENCINITAS — More than
20 years ago, a part of
Encinitas’ history was slated to
be paved over — turned into an
expanded roadway, a parking
lot and a handful of tennis and
volleyball courts.
That is, until a pair of
women living in town at the
time spoke out at a City
Council meeting against the
development.
Mary Renaker, who had
lived in Encinitas for 17 years,
and now lives in Santa Monica,
credits her environmental
“awakening” to one woman,
Ida Lou Coley.
The way she explains it,
hearing Coley speak at that
City Council meeting changed
her life.
“Hearing Ida Lou speak at
my first City Council meeting,
my first municipal meeting of
any kind — I was terrified, and
Ida Lou luckily got up to speak
first. And when I heard her say
that it was a historic creek — I
just thought it was a little patch
of green. I just saw it as I flew
past in my car out of the corner
of my eye. And something just
snapped,” Renaker said.
“And I read this story in
the paper that said that it was
going to be developed and
something just snapped inside
me and I knew I had to go to
the City Council and to speak
out to oppose it. But when Ida
Lou got up and said in her gentle,
little way that it was a his-
Brad Roth, left, and Mary Renaker receive proclamations from
the city of Encinitas for the work they did to help establish the
historical point of interest designation at Cottonwood Creek
Park. At the center is a plaque written by Ida Lou Coley, who was
instrumental in the site receiving the designation. Photo by Tony
Cagala
toric creek that she had gathered
wild flowers at as a child, I
was just completely captured.
And the more I learned about
the creek, the more captured I
became.”
Renaker said that Ida Lou
would talk about how people
would share the creek for water
wells, even washing their laundry
down there.
The two women began
doing the research that would
eventually lead to establishing
the creek as a historical point
of interest, and forming the
Cottonwood Creek
Conservancy in the process.
The year was 1989 when they
started.
Since then the
Cottonwood Creek
Conservancy has been caring
for the habitat and last Friday,
the site received an official
plaque designating the location
as a historical point of
interest.
Coley passed away in
2005, but Renaker said she
would be so happy to see all of
the people who had worked so
hard and so long to preserve
the site, and the work that continues
to re-establish the habitat.
Brad Roth is the project
manager with the Conservancy
and has volunteered his time
TURN TO CREEK ON 15