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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…