For This Stray Iguana, Home Is Where the Electric Blanket Is

She was gone. The Piras had looked everywhere, but their 1 1/2-year-old pet had vanished without a trace. Gene and Teri Pira and the kids had looked inside the house and all around their Northridge neighborhood.

No Iggy.

She was simply nowhere around.

“She disappeared right before Christmas, when there was a lot of activity in the house, so we figured she got out when the door was left open,” Teri Pira said.

Iggy is actually Lena’s pet, and the 13-year-old honor student at Northridge Middle School was disconsolate.

Desperate, the Piras put an ad in a local paper. The ad, amid all the lost dog and cat notices, explained the Piras were looking for their pet iguana, which was described as being 2 1/2 pounds and four feet long, “but friendly and green.”

They got not one phone call.

The Piras’ holiday spirit was dampened. Even Gumby, her foul-tempered buddy, seemed to sense something untoward was happening. Gumby, a 3-pound, four-foot-long male iguana, belongs to Thomas Pira, 10, who looks after his care and feeding.

The pets were given to the youngsters, with their parents’ approval, by a friend from the First Baptist Church of Northridge who wanted to encourage their interest in the care and feeding of reptiles.

Gumby and Iggy were kept in separate aquariums--Gumby, the family discovered, should really be called Grumpy. He is euphemistically described as being aggressive, the macho hunk.

That is not to say he is a bad iguana, according to Teri Pira. “Gumby licks tears from the kids’ faces when they cry,” she says.

But Gumby likes to be the center of attention when the iguanas are out of their 90-degree, climate-controlled shelters, and he would not, for a minute, play dress up the way Iggy seemed to like to do.

Iggy apparently liked it when Lena put her in little costumes. One of the favorites was the Zorro look, which included a hat, cape and sword.

The family had almost lost hope when, a few days ago, Teri Pira was cleaning out some stored Christmas boxes from a part of the house that’s being renovated.

And there was Iggy, looking cold, forlorn and frightened in an area where the Piras had searched countless times before.

Iggy was wrapped in an electric blanket until she was sufficiently thawed out. Then everyone took turns petting and fussing over her.

So, everyone’s thrilled at the return of Iggy.

Well, maybe not Gumby.

For him, the jury is still out.

Zen Therapy Is So L.A., Dahling

Wait until the New Yorkers hear about this one.

Here’s a little something to brighten their Dante-esque existence, and have them tripping all over their stale little L. A. cliches. There’s an Encino therapist who is now offering Zen meditation in conjunction with introspective group therapy.

Isn’t it too cute?

She says meditation at the beginning of a session opens people to learn about themselves more quickly.

“Clearing your mind of extraneous thoughts helps bring focus to the work of dealing with past experiences,” according to Paula Jakunin Fuld, “and helps you get on with making a creative future for yourself.”

In addition to her traditional practice, Fuld is now working with two small groups of meditating clients. One group meets Monday evenings and the other on Friday afternoons.

Fuld says this experimental technique is not for everyone.

“Some people are frightened by the painful memories meditation seems to bring up so quickly. Others are simply unable to sit still,” she says.

But, she adds, for those who are comfortable with this approach, it can speed up the discovery of past trauma and facilitate the healing process.

Fuld is, as far as she knows, the only one in the country practicing this approach in a psychological practice.

She says she’s able to do this pioneering work because of the dual nature of her area of expertise. She’s published on both Zen and traditional therapy.

For New York scoffers who will want to label Fuld’s emerging therapy as another California aberration, they are going to have to get by this self-proclaimed New York kid’s bona fides.

Fuld is a longtime student of meditation at the Zen Center of Los Angeles. Additionally, she holds undergraduate and master’s degrees from City College of New York and a doctorate in psychology from Columbia University.

She was a member of the New York City-based Albert Einstein College of Medicine faculty in neuropsychology from 1972 until 1987.

Let’s see the New Yorkers make something of that.

Formalizing a Friendly Gathering

For several years a group of young Valley African American women would get together informally to compare notes on how things were going professionally.

“We liked to talk about our experiences in the workplace, and keep each other up-to-date on possible upward career moves,” says Kathy Perdu-Nemo.

Some of the group were full-time or part-time Mary Kay cosmetic salespeople.

Others were just friends who wanted to feel like they were in a loop.

Finally, says Perdu-Nemo, it dawned on her that what was going on was the beginning of a full-fledged networking organization.

In October, the Women of Color Network was born.

“We held our first meeting with eight women in October in Encino,” says Perdu-Nemo. “In November, several of us went to Los Angeles to have a meeting with some women who were interested in the group down there.”

In December, Perdu-Nemo and her engineer-husband, George Nemo, hosted a social for group members and their guests in their Encino home.

“What I envision for our women’s group is something more than just a professional woman’s organization,” Perdu-Nemo says.

“We have to concentrate on basics like making a professional appearance and behaving professionally in a business situation. When your self-esteem is low, sometimes this is hard to do,” she adds.

Perdu-Nemo has also started a book club for the members. “Some of us who have never read recreationally are having a good time now that we are all reading the same books,” she says.

Perdu-Nemo says that although the new group’s name specifies members as women of color, the group is open to anyone who shares the goals and aims of the membership.

“We want to be a support group for women who want the tools to succeed in business,” says the founding chairman. “A sisterhood for entrepreneurs.”

Overheard

“You guys sure know how to make people feel welcome.”

A man from Wisconsin who didn’t get to see the Rose Parade, didn’t get to see the Rose Bowl (although he paid for tickets), and who was now waiting for his plane to get unstuck from the Van Nuys Airport runway.