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 »

“I don’t trust happiness… Never did, and never will.”

-Robert Duvall, from his Oscar-winning performance
in the film Tender Mercies, an inspiration
for the 2009 film Crazy Heart

 

We have come to live in a culture that requires happiness. The nuances and v… Read full post »

 

The 19^th century poet and artist William Blake once wrote,

 

To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour...

 

In 2005, The Dalai Lama, Tibet’s spiritual leader,… Read full post »

 

 

In September 2005, the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten published a cartoon by Mr. Kurt Westergaard which depicted the prophet Mohammed with the body of a dog and a turban wrapped in the shape of a bomb.

 

It offended Muslims and caused unrest around the world, leading to… Read full post »

  

Dear Writers of OS,

I became a member of OS on New Year's Eve and have enjoyed some good exposure, feedback and a sense of the OS community at large.  

I am still learning about OS -- and remain somewhat unclear as to the 'method to the madness' of OS ratings,… Read full post »

In Seoul, South Korea, a couple has been arrested in the death of their 3-month-old baby girl. Allegedly, the child starved to death while the couple was raising a virtual daughter online.

The South Korean news agency Yonhap reported that the couple “neglected their daughter… wh… Read full post »

  

A new study by the partnership of Martin Lindstrom and Elias Arts has discerned the most ‘addictive,’ or irresistible, sounds to Americans.

Lindstrom is the best-selling author of Buyology: Truth and Lies About Why We Buy. He uses the tools of neuroscience to help bus… Read full post »

   

My children are young, still in elementary school. The other day, the subject of 2012 came up and my fourth grader said plaintively, “Mommy, I don’t want to die when I’m 11.”   

“Goodness -- of course you won’t,” I rea/… Read full post »

 

 

Sir Elton John, Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (motto: For God and Country) and elder statesman of pop, knows a few things about Resurrection – beginning with, for example, the rebirth of his hairline; his deliverance to his authentic sexua… Read full post »