Welcome!

Jeff and Dean Lofton at SXSW 2013

Thanks for stopping by! I’m a woman named Dean who lives and works as a writer, publicist and promoter in Austin, Texas.

This personal, rambling blog is sporadically updated as I feel inspired to share, and includes literary non-fiction, political rants, spiritual exploration and journal-like entries.

If you’re looking for my business please see Dean Lofton PR.

I also lead the community writing class, Write Your Life as a Woman.

I book and promote this guy in the photo with me – my husband, jazz trumpeter Jeff Lofton.

After having great results from using their nutritional products I recently became an Arbonne Independent Consultant. Learn about the gluten-free, vegan nutritional products and more at this site: DeanLofton.MyArbonne.com.

Please connect by commenting here or introduce yourself on Facebook and Twitter.

Dean

Real magazine feature

From the September issue of the Statesman’s Real magazine article: “Jeff and Dean Lofton trumpet their love” by Helen Anders. photo: Deborah Cannon

 

“Before” Me

In the past year I’ve lost 50 pounds by radically changing my diet based on (finally) receiving some accurate medical diagnoses, along with eliminating most processed foods, gluten, dairy and nightshades. (See “Six Months of Health Recovery”) Since I do PR for the health care team that led me to the accurate diagnoses, and I now sell nutritional products, it seems like I’d be quick to share some stunning “before” and “after” photos.

As a feminist I’m concerned that “before” and “after” photos would support the cultural discrimination of valuing women based on their appearance. I feel like “before” and “after” photos are somehow rude to, well, “Before” me, and to women who look similar. It reminded me of the piece by Pamela Houston: “I am walking down the street in Manhattan, Fifth Avenue in the lower sixties, women with shopping bags on all sides. I realize with some horror that for the last fifteen blocks I have been counting how many women have better and how many women have worse figures than I do. Did I say fifteen blocks? I meant fifteen years.”

The constant judging of appearance is so ingrained we consider it normal and appropriate.

Why Write by Hand?

Here are some clips from a recent interview with Journal in a Box about the Write Your Life as a Woman class. The next workshop is Sunday, July 8, 1-5pm at The Writing Barn. Click here for more info or to register. 

JIB: Why do you feel that handwriting is so important?

Dean: Since most people work on a computer, writing by hand creates an energetic shift in thought and creativity and becomes a meditative practice which opens up intuition and deeper insight. Studies show it engages the brain more actively than writing on the computer because of the act of making the strokes of each letter, as compared to simply pushing a button.

JIB: How do you think that it helps for people to put some distance between themselves and their technological devices?

Dean: Our culture largely functions on the idea that faster and more is always better. We’re able to connect digitally 24/7. Writing by hand leads the writer to have a quiet conversation with just herself – to meet herself on the page. It’s an act of radical self-care to take a few hours off the grid to focus simply on your thoughts and feelings.

Six months of health recovery

I spent the first six months of this year radically improving my health through nutrition. It wasn’t easy, but so totally worth it. Many folks have asked what kind of program I followed and I’ve been hesitant to blog about it but hope to ease into now. And I’ll address the hesitation in future blog posts.

Actually last year in July I started eating better after being a slack vegan for a year living mostly off carbs. Thanks to my husband’s self-education about nutrition and dangers in our food supply, our family stopped eating anything with high fructose corn syrup years ago. We also avoid genetically modified foods (GMO), and mostly eat all organic foods.

But my health issues were still so bad that I actually briefly took a day job after years of self-employment just to get better insurance. About two days in I knew that was a bad decision.

No shame, just change: Austinites can lead way to make voting sexy and hip

Thanks to the Austin American-Statesman for running my satire piece in today’s op ed section:

http://www.statesman.com/opinion/no-shame-just-change-austinites-can-lead-way-2394969.html

Pssst. Hey, Austin, know what’s sexy and hip now? Voting!

I’m a little, um, frustrated with Austin’s low voter turnout in the recent city elections on May 12. The city clerk’s office reports that of 824,205 residents only 461,146 were registered, and only 49,336 of those actually voted. How embarrassingly low for one of the most educated populations in an American city that’s on the top of every “best of” list around!

It’s understandable the majority of Austin residents have tuned out politics. We’re busy! There are shows to see and festivals to attend. And we already vote all the time – best restaurant, music polls and for our favorites on reality TV shows.

Shaming people with data and phrases like “civic responsibility” and “participate in the political process” doesn’t seem to motivate anyone. We need a new plan, so that we, the people, can actually be represented by the folks making the decisions.

One obvious way to inspire voter registration is to add legalizing marijuana to the ballot and watch a “put down the bong and go register to vote” campaign occur organically in mere moments. Or, if every time someone said “I got this from the same guy Willie gets his from,” someone replied with, “You’re registered to vote, right?”