NOW & VENN
I like Venn diagrams. Travis suggested this punny title, “Now and Venn,” about a week ago, and now I can’t get it out of my head. I’m sure you’re familiar with Venn diagrams — intersecting circles illustrating the links or…
TAKE HEART
I just heard about a hotline started by a California art teacher, Jessica Martin, and her elementary school students. Anyone can call and hear pre-recorded messages of encouragement, in English or Spanish, from this group of kids: “Press one if…
FIT AS A FIDDLE
In high school, Travis had a friend named Natalie, an exchange student from Frankfurt, Germany. While she lived here, she did a lot of clothes shopping for family and friends back home — blue jeans and other items that she…
CATCH THE WIND
Springtime feels eager. I like that about it. Things ready to return, coming to life. Even with frustrating stop-starts, temperatures faltering all over the place, still we’re tumbling more or less forward into something frolicsome and fresh. This year feels…
PEOPLE OF INFLUENCE
It’s clear that we affect each other. We shape each other’s lives in big ways and small ways all the time, accidentally and on purpose. Our behaviors, our moods, what we believe, and what we say all exert powerful influences…
DROP ON IN
“I decided that if I could paint that flower on a huge scale, you could not ignore its beauty.”~ Georgia O'Keeffe I’ve been thinking about scale. The relative size of things. Or, rather, my sense of the relative size of…
TYPE 2 FUN
There’s a lot of ennui out there lately. Feelings of listlessness, dissatisfaction, the blahs… I’m encountering it everywhere. Which certainly suggests that it’s not only “out there,” but also in here, in me. It just seems harder to have fun…
EVERYTHING AND THE KITCHEN SYNC
A couple of weeks ago, I was thinking about thermodynamics. Specifically, I was thinking about ENTROPY, the natural law by which heat and other radiant energies move from areas of high concentration to low concentration — from warm to cold.…
PEACE OUT
When I first took Travis to meet my parents in small-town upstate New York, the extended family came over for a dinner. I was a little anxious about it, wanting everyone to like each other… hoping that Travis would still…
ENTROPYS IN A POD
It was chilly when our team showed up last Sunday to set up for service. It felt like winter had finally arrived in the new year — one of those crystal clear, blue sky, icy Albuquerque mornings. We gathered in…