Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 8, 2019)
A5 THE ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2019 Trump abandons Kerchaert: Trained on tour in New Orleans — that’s you fl exing the mus- Kurdish allies in Syria Continued from Page A1 ‘I THINK THE CORE OF WHAT cle of your awareness or your By ROBERT BURNS, LOLITA C. BALDOR and MATTHEW LEE Associated Press WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Monday cast his decision to abandon Kurdish fi ght- ers in Syria as fulfi lling a campaign promise to with- draw from “endless war” in the Middle East, even as Republican critics and oth- ers said he was sacrifi cing a U.S. ally and undermining American credibility. Trump declared U.S. troops would step aside for an expected Turkish attack on the Kurds, who have fought alongside Ameri- cans for years, but he then threatened to destroy the Turks’ economy if they went too far. Even Trump’s staunch- est Republican congressio- nal allies expressed outrage at the prospect of abandon- ing Syrian Kurds who had fought the Islamic State group with American arms and advice. It was the lat- est example of Trump’s approach to foreign pol- icy that critics condemn as impulsive, that he some- times reverses and that fre- quently is untethered to the advice of his national secu- rity aides. “A catastrophic mis- take,” said Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the No. 3 House Republican leader. “Shot in the arm to the bad guys,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. Trump said he under- stood criticism from fellow GOP leaders but disagreed. He said he could also name supporters, but he didn’t. Pentagon and State Department offi cials held out the possibility of per- suading Turkey to abandon its expected invasion. U.S. offi cials said they had seen no indication that Turkey had begun a military oper- ation by late Monday. Trump, in late after- noon remarks to reporters, appeared largely uncon- cerned at the prospect of Turkish forces attacking the Kurds, who include a faction he described as “natural enemies” of the Turks. “But I have told Tur- key that if they do anything outside of what we would think is humane ... they could suffer the wrath of an extremely decimated econ- omy,” Trump said. In recent weeks, the U.S. and Turkey had reached an apparent accommodation of Turkish concerns about the presence of Kurdish fi ghters, seen in Turkey as a threat. American and Turkish soldiers had been conducting joint patrols in a zone along the border. As part of that work, bar- riers designed to protect the Kurds were dismantled amid assurances that Tur- key would not invade. Graham said Turkey’s NATO membership should be suspended if it attacks into northeastern Turkey, potentially annihilating Kurdish fi ghters who acted as a U.S. proxy army in a fi ve-year fi ght to eliminate the Islamic State’s so-called caliphate. Graham, who had talked Trump out of a withdrawal from Syria last December, said letting Tur- key invade would be a mis- take of historic proportion and would “lead to ISIS reemergence .” This all comes at a piv- otal moment of Trump’s presidency. House Dem- ocrats are marching for- ward with their impeach- ment inquiry into whether he compromised national security or abused his offi ce by seeking nega- tive information on former Vice President Joe Biden, a political rival, from Ukraine and other foreign countries. Kerchaert said the show was tongue-in-cheek. She said she was receiving call- backs for auditions in fi lm and television, but she was consistently typecast as a call girl, mistress or young girl. Her one-woman show was about a personal sha- manic healing journey through the lens of a call girl from the 1920s who could travel through space and time for the sake of uncovering her roots as a priestess. “It was really fun and wild and wacky and I even got a grant from the city of Chi- cago to produce it,” Ker- chaert said. “And then it was like this total fork in the road moment where I reached this point where I had actu- alized this dream and goal I had set for myself of writing and performing in a one-per- son show. “A nd it was kind of this breaking point where if I stayed I think things would have taken off in my career as an actor, yet my heart wanted something else. And that was the path of a healer.” Kerchaert decided to move to New Orleans and devote herself to energy heal- ing , which felt like a terrify- ing leap into the unknown. After moving, her acu- puncturist became a mentor and teacher and encouraged Kerchaert to embrace her intuitive nature, telling her that was her gift. Her acupuncturist facili- tated Access Consciousness and Access Bars, which is intended to deeply relax the body by lightly touching 32 points on the head, allowing the recipient to deepen their level of consciousness. This practice helped Kerchaert in her own healing process, and eventually, she learned how to facilitate it for others. Kerchaert then began to explore tarot cards and prac- ticed giving herself a full reading every day. In the evenings, Kerchaert worked as a haunted ghost I’M ABOUT IS HELPING PEOPLE MOVE THROUGH THAT PHASE INTO BECOMING MORE OF WHO THEY ARE. AND ESPECIALLY WOMEN ... IT’S KIND OF LIKE BEING IN THE BUSINESS OF EMPOWERING OTHER WOMEN .’ Aislinn Kerchaert | energy healer tour guide in the French Quarter giving live storytell- ing performances . She then mustered up the courage to offer readings on her tours and eventually began reading tarot cards for an entertainment company and at a historic shop in the French Quarter called Bot- tom of the Cup. Tea leaf, tarot and palm readings at Bottom of the Cup became the training ground for her to practice deepen- ing her intuition. She eventu- ally stopped doing tours and became a full-time intuitive psychic reader. “It’s more about what’s available now in this space that’s presented to us,” Ker- chaert said. “It’s kind of when you get out of your own way and you’re the most relaxed, those awarenesses come through. “Like the ability to think of a friend and then they call and then you acknowledge it ability to receive. A nd the more you practice that, the stronger it gets. A nd that’s just you building the bridge to your own intuitive nature.” New Orleans also became Kerchaert’s base to travel throughout Europe, Hawaii and the Pacifi c Northwest. She and her boyfriend decided to move to the Pacifi c Northwest and were drawn to Astoria. Her goal as an energy healer is to help people move through their transitions and forks in the road by helping them deepen their awareness of themselves and discover their gifts . “I think the core of what I’m about is helping people move through that phase into becoming more of who they are,” Kerchaert said. “And especially women ... it’s kind of like being in the busi- ness of empowering other women .” Where: Liberty Theatre, Astoria, Oregon When: Saturday, October 12, Doors open 6:30 p.m. Show at 7:00 p.m. All tickets: General Admission $25 in advance, $35 day of show On Sale Now libertyastoria.showare.com or Liberty Theatre Box Office