SOFT SPOT
My usual approach can be kind of hard. Not only hard as in difficult — though certainly that, too. But also hard as in a fierce ability to take a hard look at things when necessary, to have hard conversations…
FLOCK IF I KNOW
It’s been quite a week. We expected it to be emotional, everyone gathering from around the country to honor the life of our friend, Beth, who left unexpectedly and too soon, two weeks ago. We knew we’d be dealing with…
ON THE OTHER HAND
Do I contradict myself?Very well then I contradict myself,(I am large, I contain multitudes.)- Walt Whitman, Song of Myself I do like it when things appear fairly straight-forward. Knowing who I am, where I stand, solid in my position relative…
WHERE EVERYBODY KNOWS YOUR NAME
A few months ago Travis and I binge-watched several seasons of Cheers, the 1980s NBC sitcom. It’s a great ensemble and the show is still really funny 40 years later. One of the side effects of watching it, however, was…
SWEET NOTHINGS
We humans have evolved to recognize patterns. We’re really good at it. So good, in fact, that we see pictures and create significance even out of nebulous shapes and apparent randomness. We perceive meaningful images in clouds and land forms,…
REVELS IN THE DETAILS
For our cats, every night includes THE MOST IMPORTANT five minutes in the history of the universe. They get dinner just before Travis and I go to bed, and — oh my god — it is a time of such…
NEXT ROUND’S ON ME
Fiasco (noun): A thing that is a complete disaster, especially in a ludicrous or humiliating way. Fiasco (noun): A bottle or flask. Especially a bulbous, long-necked, straw-covered bottle for wine. I worry — probably more than is reasonable and definitely…
BETTER ANGELS
Sometimes I get into these discomforting little eddies of self-doubt. Rarely do I remain stuck there for too long, but whirling around in it I still get pretty dizzy. Everything seems like too much or not enough. Like I’m too…
SPHERE WE ARE
Last weekend, Patty Stephens led a “Hymnprov” workshop, where a bunch of us talked and riffed and improvised for a couple of hours, and then emerged at the end with a groovy new song that we’d written together. We’ll sing…
ONCE IN A LIFETIME
I finally watched David Byrne’s American Utopia this week. And I’m so very glad I did! It has been in my queue for over a year (streaming on HBO/Max). Though I was intrigued and had heard that it was good,…