A LOCAL NEWS STORY ABOUT MY APPEARANCE ON THE COVER OF PARADE MAGAZINE

This piece ran in today's issue of The North Iowa Times, Iowa's third oldest weekly.

Local woman makes

front cover of Parade magazine

By Trudy Balcom

She is perhaps McGregor’s most famous living resident. The Rev. Laura Gentry, laughter yoga expert, appeared on the April 15 cover of national newspaper insert, Parade Magazine.

The issue featured the 30th annual report about what people earn at various jobs, including celebrities and more ordinary people. For this year’s issue, the editors contacted some of the people they interviewed for previous issues. Laura Gentry was selected, rather by accident, to be included in the 2001 issue of the magazine.

At that time, Gentry, was serving as minister at American Lutheran Church in Burbank, Calif, making $31,000. A woman who was working as a photographer for Parade was a friend-of-a-friend of Gentry’s. When the photographer said she was looking for a pastor to include in the earnings issue, the friend introduced her to Gentry. “It was totally random,” Gentry explained.

This time she was contacted directly by the magazine. She says was a little reticent about publicly stating her earnings. “You are really putting yourself out there,” Gentry exclaimed.

She said that her pay as a pastor at Our Savior’s Lutheran Church in Lansing is “no secret,” but her congregation was probably not aware of the amount of money she earns teaching and promoting laughter yoga. And since the very brief magazine blurb made no mention of her work as a pastor, the number is a little confusing. The magazine reported her total salary at $53,066 (Gentry said that about half of her total earnings come from her part-time pastor’s position).

William Gentry, Laura’s husband is a photographer as well as minister at the First Congregational Church in McGregor. The magazine used one of his pictures of Laura for the front cover.

Gentry promotes laughter yoga for good health and good spirits, and teaches classes locally and across the U.S. and has even worked in other counties. To learn more about her laughter yoga practice, visit at her web site at www.laughinglaura.com.

LAUGHING AT THE GIRLS' GET AWAY WEEKEND

The McGregor Marquette Chamber of Commerce hosted the second annual Girls' Get Away Weekend. And since it was right in my own hometown, I led a laughter yoga session to kick off the day. My husband was on hand to get these fun pictures of laughers in action.  It was also the debut of my new laughing hat! I made it myself. Be sure to check out the video at the end.

Here is the direct link to the video below

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K057vaVoMfc

The laughter yoga weekend retreat I'm planning is now less than two weeks away and is nearly filled! We've got a fabulous group assembled.  If you're still planning to come, don't delay! Register right away at The Iowa School of Laughter Yoga.

COME LAUGH IN MCGREGOR THIS FRIDAY

I'll be doing a presentation on laughter yoga in my own hometown this Friday night, October 7th at the Arts Center. It will be a rare opportunity to hear about my laughter yoga work and creative projects. Of course, there will be laughter, too. So come on out for a fun night starting at 6 p.m. (double click poster below for a larger view)

CELEBRATING NURSING HOME WEEK WITH LAUGHTER YOGA

It's National Nursing Home Week. This is an opportunity to honor all those who contribute to our nation’s nursing homes—residents, family members, employees and volunteers. To celebrate, I offered a laughter yoga program at the Great River Care Center in McGregor, Iowa. Laughing is a wonderful way to increase the quality of life for residents as well as staff of nursing homes. It's a great form of exercise for people of all ability levels. Here are some pictures from that joyous event.

Photos by William F. Gentry II. www.thegentryjoint.com

GIRLS GET AWAY TO INCLUDE LAUGHTER YOGA

Good news, ladies! The Prairie du Chien Downtown Revitalization and McGregor-Marquette Chamber of Commerce is hosting the first "Tri-Community Girl's Get-Away" on Saturday, March 26 in historic Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin and the twin communities of McGregor and Marquette just across the Mississsippi River in Iowa. The fun day will culminate with a rolicking session of laughter yoga with—you guessed it—Laughing Laura followed by Crazy Keys Dueling Pianos at the Lady Luck Casino.

The day begins at 10 a.m. at the Curious Cup in Prairie du Chien. Enjoy 4 workshops of your choice, have lunch, shop the 3 historic downtown areas, get the chance to win door prizes, then laugh and sing along at the evening program at the casino. Your $30 registration fee includes all of this and a $5 voucher for lunch. Click here for the full brochure.

This is a great chance to laugh and play with your girlfriends. You deserve a fun weekend, so mark it on your calendar and get registered today.

OPEN CALL FOR LAUGHERS

Calling all laughers: here is your chance to be a part of a professional laughter production by The Gentry Joint. We have begun recording a new laughter CD with Richard Bruxvoort Colligan as our sound engineer and we are looking for a few great laughers to be a part of the laughter workout section of the program.

All those who would like to be involved are welcome to come to the recording session on Saturday, March 6th at 10:00 a.m. at the historic Alexander Hotel, 213 Main Street in downtown McGregor, Iowa.

The recording session will begin promptly at 10:00 a.m. and last between 1 and 2 hours. No experience necessary! Children are also welcome. All participants will receive their name in the CD credits and a 50% off coupon for the Laughter Shoppe.

Following the laughter portion, we will be recording a "Silly Singing" section. Participants may choose whether or not to be a part of this. Great singing skills are not required—just wild exuberance.

Please forward this information to anyone you know who may be interested in laughing along. We appreciate your help in getting the word out. If you are planning to be there, e-mail me at laughterlaura@yahoo.com so we have a better idea of how many laughers to expect.