Diane with her favorite dog, a Shiloh Shepherd named Attah Waya (Cherokee words meaning “young lady wolf” and “my angel dog”).
by LEN LEAR
When Diane “Standing Wolf” Collins was pictured on the cover of the Mt. Airy Learning Tree catalogue in the fall of 2004, she became a mini-celebrity, especially at McMenamin’s restaurant/bar in Mt. Airy.
“People were yelling ‘cover girl’ at me,” said the award-winning animal sculptor. “I was working on a piece of sculpture there while having a beer and a sandwich. It helps me to feel less isolated. As a sculptor, I normally work alone all the time, so I really need the camaraderie I get at McMenamin’s. It feeds my soul, not to mention that they have great beer.”
Diane, 41, a native of Biloxi, Mississippi, lived in many places as a young person because her father was in the Air Force. She moved to Philadelphia in 1989 to attend the Hussian School of Art but continued her itinerant ways. During the years she has been in Pennsylvania, Diane has lived in 32 different locations.
Seven thousand books are coming our way, thanks to Sheila Avelin of West Mt. Airy. Her Big Blue Marble Bookstore is scheduled for grand opening on Saturday, Nov. 12, with a post-script celebration in mid-December when the in-store café is completed. By spring, an outdoor terrace will complete the vision of Sheila’s first retail enterprise at 551 Carpenter Lane, between Lincoln Drive and Greene Street.
Look for a general purpose bookstore — with attitude. Its book collection will resonate with what Sheila describes as the “three axes of integration” along which Mt. Airy is organized: black/white, lesbian/straight and Jewish/otherwise.
Actually, the store’s Stroller Parking area, just inside the door, attests to a more universal organizing principle of local and global society: adult/child. “More and more young families are moving into this neighborhood,” she says, herself the mother of eight-month-old Zivia and a life-long kid-lit buff.
He lives in your home, sleeps on your bed, often shares your dinner and accompanies you on errands. He is, in fact, a member of your family. Don’t you want to know what your dog is thinking?
Animal communicator Lillie Goodrich contends that while dogs may not speak words, what goes on inside their heads is very real. They have genuine feelings and experience every aspect of your life, just from a different perspective: theirs. “They are connected to you all the time and happy to talk if you want to listen,” says Goodrich. “They just require that you stretch a bit to hear them.” Goodrich will be just one of the many animal health and related specialists at the Y2K9s Holiday Barketplace and Doggie Health Fair to be held Saturday, November 5, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., at Y2K9s Dog Sports Club in Wyndmoor.
Goodrich had a successful career in New York City in the fields of television, marketing and advertising. While still a city girl, Goodrich turned her talents to Goodrich & Partners, assisting individuals, including executives, in decision making and transitions as an intuitive coach. “Trained in energy work, intuitive communication and spiritual development,” she says, “my approach is deeply transformative, as well as practical.”
