UP UP AND AWAY
A program caught my eye, from one of the TV screens hanging in a row in front of the cardio equipment at my gym. When I use the elliptical or treadmill, usually I’m engrossed in my own podcast or audiobook…
THE POWERS THAT BE
I’ve been going through photographs on my computer this week. My father-in-law died last Friday, and we’ve been grieving and feeling our way through the loss. Part of my process has been finding all my photos, remembering two decades of…
SPLIT THE DIFFERENCE
Novelist Ann Brashares wrote, “There are two kinds of people in this world. The kind who divide the world into two kinds of people, and those who don’t.” “There are two kinds of people…” The phrase is a setup for…
FOR THE LOVE OF IT
I was talking to a friend about making art. At different times in our lives, both of us have thought about careers in the arts. And we’ve both settled comfortably into something else — still doing a lot of creative…
HAPPY NEW REAR
Last week, we talked about Hope coming from that untouched, virginal part of us. Possibility born out of not knowing, out of seeing pure potential ahead, unbound by the past, wide open and inviting -- how that SPARKLES… There are…
ALL ABOUT EVES
There’s something especially magical about Eves, the night before. Before Christmas, before a New Year. The time before anything to which we’re looking forward — a vacation, a birthday, a visitor, a project, a personal breakthrough. It’s not here just…
CARRY THE SKY
This Sunday, we’re celebrating “Blue Christmas,” honoring the depth and complexity of our emotions during the holidays. It ain’t all just fa-la-la-la-la. And we don’t have to try or pretend to make it so. I totally love Christmas — and…
COME TOGETHER
Out on a walk this week, I listened to an episode of “One Song,” a podcast in which a pair of producers analyze a single from the pop music canon. Diallo Riddle and Blake “Luxxury” Robin possess a wealth of…
EASY AS FALLING OFF A PIECE OF CAKE
Malaphor — (noun) — an idiom blend; an error in which two similar figures of speech are merged, producing an amusing or nonsensical result. I can’t believe I’ve lived so long without encountering this marvelous term until this week. It’s…
X Marks the Spot
“The only thing to find is what’s already here.” I wrote that on a post-it, and I’ve been staring at it by my desk for several months now, considering. Sometimes, it seems almost profound. Other days (peevish days) I think,…