How hate manifests when we’re afraid
My niece witnessed an older woman in the supermarket checkout line deliberately turning a magazine to hide the cover photo of President-elect Obama. The woman who flipped the magazine around said...
View ArticleBe real, not perfect
When I was 15 years old, an outspoken young friend of mine said to me, “Not everyone is going to like you. no matter how nice you are.” I was shocked. How could it be that no matter how hard I tried...
View ArticleWriters’ Block, or Fear?
It was destined to happen sooner or later, that dreaded affliction of every writer–block! Here I was, steaming along at a locomotive clip when I slowed down to see the track ahead better and eventually...
View ArticleOne sentence at a time
Shaking off the shackles of writer’s block (as any writer knows) is not easy, but I’ve learned that anything worth doing is rarely as easy as it seems when you start out. Occasionally, just starting...
View ArticleWhen is nature not theatrical enough?
Yosemite is practically in my backyard since I moved west in 2004; so yesterday, with no advance planning at 3 o’clock in the afternoon, my friend and I drove the 2 1/2 hours to get there, and I saw...
View ArticleA peak a week
I live in a region of the country where outdoor recreational activities abound. Last night I overheard a couple of young men standing behind me at an open-air concert discussing their hiking plans for...
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Health care reform: A poem
I took a break this morning from writing a humorous novel. The story of a dying man, told to me last week by a member of his community, ironically insisted on being born as this poem.
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Whose Suffering Is It Anyway?
In the final days of my cat, Natasha’s life, was human comfort or feline comfort my priority? Already a spectral presence, frighteningly thin, weak, and silent, my dying cat took up residence under...
View ArticleA flat tire changed me
It’s Sunday. A good day to express gratitude if you take a traditional approach to these things. Actually, I take time every day to be grateful. It is part of my spiritual practice. I have a lot to be...
View ArticleThrough Your Eyes
The way you look at someone–and smile–will affect them in ways you may never know. Some of us take a lot of trouble with our appearance–to present the best possible countenance to the rest of the...
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