When has communication been as necessary? Have words ever hidden from their seekers so well? When found and communicated, have words ever touched both hearts as deeply?
Read MoreListen to owl and rain. See stone and cloud. Smell rosemary and salt air. Taste tangy and tart. Touch human skin and tree bark. Everything exists in relationship—our mother, Earth, wraps everything into her fabric’s folds. Only this mother, every moment, for All. One common denominator—nothing outside the equation.
Read MoreLife and death dissolve into each other in the waterfall. Without this reunion, life would be a run-on sentence, dangling without meaning. Death shapes the contours of our being. Now forever.
Read MorePublic libraries. A bedrock of democracy. Essential for healthy democracies and necessary for their survival. Bliss? I’d like to check that out, please. Renew indefinitely? Yes, ho whoa, yes, please.
Read MoreWhat, after all, all in all, always, if not faith in new possibilities? Sunbeams pop through dark days. Seeds of potential bear fruit. Behold this quintet: José Andrés. Amelia Anisovych. Ketanji Brown Jackson. Alex Padilla. Cory Booker.
Read MoreIs there much to learn about Ukraine? Yes. Will I look for organizations providing medical relief such as the International Red Cross? Yes. Today, for my medicine I turn to good news that’s so much more than fit to print. Fill social media with these stories. Shout them out.
Read MoreExuding mighty grit, whether up close or from a distance, they don’t miss a beat. Caregivers stay ready and ramped, exhausted and worried—trying to think ahead in the stiff wind of ever-changing hurdles. And those already physically and/or mentally tested, forced into deeper isolation by a pandemic, adapt like champs. Listen in with me. Heroes.
Read MoreWe’ve taxied 2021’s long runway. One day very soon, light as a feather, we’ll lift up into cloudless skies.
Read MoreAnd what did any of these superheroes ever want for me? To be kind. To be happy. To love the world and to feel it love me back. So be it. So be me.
Read MoreHere’s to trying again. What a time to love.
Read MoreImagine the relief provided by the smallpox vaccine. I have friends, polio victims, who have devoted their lives to eradicating the disease. Kindergarten entry vaccines, college admission vaccines, international travel vaccines. Tetanus. Mumps. What advances, such advantages.
Read MoreThe roulette wheel spins. The Gambler Wife runs the table.
Read More“We believe that the truth of this century cannot be discovered unless its tragedy is explored to the bitter end” (Albert Camus, Camus at Combat, November 3, 1944). Philosopher Camus, laboring in the French Underground, unfortunately speaks directly to this country in 2021. Tragedy must be investigated fully. Horror must be acknowledged without excuse. Truth be told—moving forward requires looking back. So we examine higher education, the Olympics, and Charlottesville, VA. An ever more true story of the past, can’t you hear it? And we keep listening and telling and opening until, one day, the story and truth sync.
Read MoreSlow. Steady. No race to win.
Read MoreJust before sunrise the next morning, I awoke cradled in carefree joy. The ocean washed away the remaining pandemic residue—the last smatterings of shock and fear released overnight into salt air. The dolphin parade mid-morning melted fourteen months into one deep breath of gratitude. Cleansing, purifying water baptized me. Primordial newness. Infinitely fresh. Always beginning. Romping dolphins played tag. Not it! It.
Read MoreGround us, Mother Earth. Root, hearts. Bloom, love.
Read MoreSpring forward. Ta-Dum. Inhale—exhale. Heel—toe. Here—Now. Cha-cha-cha. Ta-Dah.
Read MoreTogether, woven into a ragtag assembly, our eyes meet naturally and hold. Such sweet bedlam engulfs me for almost five hours. Not one raised voice, not even one—those leaving the tent and unable to get the vaccine nevertheless calmly detail the snafu and proudly show off their new appointment cards. No complaint, not one, from those in wheelchairs or dressed in shirtsleeves.
Read MoreThinking outside the box? There isn’t even a box, for anyone. New eyes, new hearts, new minds embrace every possibility. The sky isn’t the limit. Any and every thing right here and now presents possibility.
Read MoreHere’s my December 4 interview on WTJU with host and longtime friend Brian Keena. The music and memories shared in this two-hour show extend a hand for holding tight until the vaccine liberates us all. The songs come from a windowsill radio beloved by Maria and me—my mother June’s tunes the kickiest kitchen spice in my childhood home celebrated in Leaving 1203.
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Let’s remember. Let’s go to New York. Meet two dreamers, Alicia Keys and Hakeem Jeffries. Let’s dream. Let’s dance. Let’s pretend (not really!).