The church confessional was a familiar place to Beatrice – almost comfortable. She had experienced so many days like today, so many Ash Wednesdays and Good Fridays over the years, when she stepped quietly into this small, dark private space to reconcile herself anonymously to God… Read full post »

I did not know fear.

When I was a child and teen, this world was my natural home, the universe my stomping ground. I dreamed without limit, and my dreams caught fire.

As a young adult, I thought I could do anything—and I usually did. I was something nearly/… Read full post »

 

God bless the florists

Who store up hearty blooms through

Winter’s icy sheath 

 

Reminding us that

Life still thrives and grows on earth

Just not in our sight

 

And that our colors will return once more

  Read full post »

 

Try not to be dismayed by the people, places, or things that go against your grain; the parts of life that irritate; the thorn in the side. You know what they are.

The things that get under our skin often have a gift for us.

See the oyster. Sand… Read full post »

 

 

"I don’t want my children to listen to fairy tales,” I’ve heard parents say. “I don’t want my daughter to think that she’s some helpless girl who needs to be rescued by a man.”

Perhaps that is what fairy tales appear to convey. But if w… Read full post »

 

Many's the time I've been mistaken
And many times confused
Yes, and often felt forsaken
And certainly misused
But I'm all right, I'm all right
I'm just weary to my bones
Still, you don't expect to be
Bright and bon vivant
So far away from home, so far away… Read full post »

 

 

Rite Aid, Aisle 3.

I stood there at lunch time, looking over the skin care and lotion products that stretched five shelves high and about a tenth of a mile long. Nivea. Neutrogena. L’Oreal Anti-Aging. What was that ingredient it should have? Retinol?  Anti-wrinkle.../… Read full post »

 

 

Today is both Good Friday and Earth Day, and for weeks writers, pundits and bloggers have been feverishly working sorting out the why's and wherefore's of this timely configuration.

If you Google this topic, you will find an online warehouse of logistical and ethical questions… Read full post »

 

New Year’s Eve can be one of the most powerful nights of our lives, largely due to the importance cast upon it year after year. For example, I have been told that the way we spend New Year’s Eve will ‘set the tone’ for the rest of the year!… Read full post »

- “Peace of Mind,” Boston

Most of us work hard and hope to reap rewards somehow from our work. Some may seek financial return, others recognition, and others simply… Read full post »

The valley where I live is in November’s glory now, all orange and gold with the dotted exception of evergreens. A remarkable sight every year, I especially enjoy the burnished mountainside gleaming like a polished copper kettle in the sun.

It is a crisp, crystalline afternoon, the best/…

Read full post »

 

As you gather to bask in the glory of football on Thanksgiving weekend, I must tell you that there is more depth and dimension to the musical experience on the gridiron than your flat screen TV will be able to convey. In fact, what the marching band has to… Read full post »

 

I have met and interviewed many people in the course of my work as an author, host and producer. But lately it's the chance encounters of my youth that have been on my mind. Perhaps it is part of mid-life reminiscing; perhaps it's a recollection of things to pass on… Read full post »

We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children.

 

Teach your children what we have taught our children, that the earth is our mother. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons of the earth.

 

All things share the same breath… Read full post »

“Is there a radio or something in here?”

My friend’s question sounded more like a plea. It was understandable. The last time I had seen her, I was the maid of honor at her wedding. Now we needed something to break the silence of our impending… Read full post »

The state of Israel was established sixty two years ago in 1948, but its story begins long before that and has
… Read full post »

 

At the mention of kindergarteners working with art supplies, my memory excavates my own experience of finger painting, building log cabins of ice cream sticks, making collages with macaroni, coloring clown shoes with thick, waxy black crayons, going ‘outside the lines’ and… Read full post »

This life, therefore, is not godliness

But the process of becoming godly,

Not health but getting well,

Not being but becoming,

Not rest but exercise.

We are not now what we shall be,

But we are on the way.

The process is not… Read full post »

 

I will never forget the last time I watched television:

I was living in an apartment in mid-town Manhattan, watching CNN’s ongoing coverage of the Gulf War – the first Gulf War, mind you, under George Bush Sr.

Red tracers were shooting across the night sky, scud missiles… Read full post »

To help celebrate this Mother's Day, I have collected some reflections that I hope you enjoy:

 The most remarkable thing about my mother is that for thirty years she served the family leftovers. The original meal has never been found. -- Calvin Trillin

A mother is a woman who has… Read full post »

 

  

In the 2004 film “Spanglish,” Adam Sandler portrays a talented, young chef who learns that a New York Times food critic will be visiting his restaurant – and goes into a full-fledged anxiety attack as to how many ‘stars’ would be just the right… Read full post »

 

 

Director James Cameron discussed his plans for the Avatar sequel yesterday, not with CNN, People, or Entertainment Weekly, but with Democracy Now – the political program hosted by Amy Goodman.

 

The interview with the director came as a result of an award he was given… Read full post »

   

When Peter Jackson spoke with CNN this week, it was to discuss the future of "The Hobbit" and to -- once again -- defend his film “The Lovely Bones,” which just went to DVD and Blu-Ray on Tuesday. Admittedly, it is difficult to imagine why he would need to defend… Read full post »

  

As an emerging writer, I frequented various cafés in my hometown of New York City. Especially throughout my twenties, it was irresistible to me to go journal in hand to a favorite haunt, sit ensconced by a particular window overlooking a certain view, nurse several cups of… Read full post »