skip to Main Content

THE GREAT BEAVER

Travis has always liked beavers and identified with them. He thinks of Beaver as his animal guide. So for his birthday a few weeks ago, I got him a book that I’d seen on a “best new paperback nonfiction” list:…

Read more

PINBALL WIZARD

A friend asked how I was doing, and I replied, “I’ve got a lot of balls in the air.” I was juggling okay, managing it mostly, but nevertheless feeling the stress of having my attention in six places at once.…

Read more

GIANTS IN THE SKY

I remembered that once upon a time, I had done a talk inspired by this Stephen Sondheim song title — “Giants in the Sky,” from Into the Woods. Since I’m gearing up right now for opening weekend of Musical Theatre…

Read more

SLOW UP

American composer John Cage wrote a provocative piece in the mid-1980s. It’s called “Organ 2/As Slow As Possible.” Keyboardists are challenged to take the title literally; the 8 pages of music are played very, very slowly — usually taking from…

Read more

LET THE SUN SHINE IN

The number one song on Billboard’s Hot 100 pop music chart the day that I was born — almost 55 years ago — was the 5th Dimension’s cover of “Aquarius/Let the Sun Shine In,” from the Broadway musical, Hair. I…

Read more

Honk!

I’m about ready to declare Goose a member of my spirit animal pantheon. Over the years, I’ve adopted Otter and Raven and Porcupine, symbolizing play and magic and trust. Now, I think Goose should join the party to represent community…

Read more

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…

Read more

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…

Read more

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…

Read more

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…

Read more
Back To Top