No sooner does September roll around and I’m smack in that back-to-school mindset that to this day energizes me. Get to a certain age and you find yourself thinking more and more about the passage of time. Wasn’t it just yesterday that the lion and the lamb of March finally brought relief from … [Read more...] about Seasonal Notes from a Lifelong Learner
Erratic Weather, Power Failures, and the Lessons of Living with Uncertainty
Learning to see the bigger picture when faced with circumstances beyond our control. July 4th weekend, record-breaking heat in the New York area. An hour north of the city, where I live, a wicked thunderstorm kicks in. Through my windows I watch trees in a violent dance, whipped this way and that … [Read more...] about Erratic Weather, Power Failures, and the Lessons of Living with Uncertainty
Awareness through Movement
What we learn from observing babies in motion. My granddaughter recently celebrated her first birthday. She lives in Los Angeles with my daughter and son-in-law and two small dogs she does her best to communicate with gently. She has a smile that melts hearts. I live in New York, and I count … [Read more...] about Awareness through Movement
A Tattered Dress, Three Handfuls of Pecans, and a Braid of Hair
How an embroidered cotton sack filled with three items would become the shortest slave narrative in existence. Picture a woman named Rose, Black and enslaved on a South Carolina plantation, pre-Civil War times. Any day now, she will be separated from her nine-year-old daughter, Ashley, soon to be … [Read more...] about A Tattered Dress, Three Handfuls of Pecans, and a Braid of Hair
Dear Diary No More
What began as a way to escape family noise came to an end when I found my true voice as a writer. Tucked away on the very top shelf of my closet is a lidded box, gray cardboard trimmed with metal, and filled with with diaries. There’s the leather and hand-made paper one (Il Papiro, … [Read more...] about Dear Diary No More
Jane Austen, My iPhone, and Lessons in Perspective
These days find me craving Jane Austen. Reading a Jane Austen novel at any given time is its own kind of joy. In an instant I’m pulled into a world, if not a kind of writing, I discovered as a teenager. But it’s during dark times that I seem to need her most. Back in September … [Read more...] about Jane Austen, My iPhone, and Lessons in Perspective
