Friday, June 18th (Juneteenth is a federal holiday)

A few weeks ago, Oregon State University instituted Juneteenth as an official holiday. I was going to take the day off anyway, but the fact that the administration made this decision meant a lot. And it has also become a federal holiday! The Senate voted unanimously to make this happen. Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Tom

Thursday 6/17/21: One Million Words

I just read an interesting article on Medium entitled, “Lessons from Writing One Million Words,” written by Mason Sabre. I have a love/hate relationship with Medium. There are articles that I have enjoyed reading and learned something – win/win, right? If you post an article or use Medium for your blog, and people read your

Regret

(This is a homework assignment from my therapist. She asked me to write a poem about regret.) I never took an African drumming class.  I would have liked to have been in Samba Ja, this badass drumming group that ended all the parades in Eugene.  I didn’t listen to my intuition when I was 13

Flow

(I started this blog entry in 2013!) I’m intrigued with the experience of flow in writing.  I did a lot of journaling when we were in Mexico; the trip was such an adventure, I wanted to capture every detail possible.  I felt that at times, I could write forever – the ideas were coming in

Today’s WTF Moment

This is a blog post in my Drafts folder from 2018.   I received an email this afternoon, announcing this upcoming training: It was accompanied by this explanation from the person who sent the email: “Please see below for information and a registration link for this upcoming 2-hour session entitled “Beyond Cultural Competence.”  The session is

Holding Someone in the Light

When I used to attend Quaker meetings, I often heard the request to “hold someone in the light.” The Christian interpretation of this phrase is as follows: During or after worship, a Friend may ask the group to hold someone in the Light. The person may be sick, dealing with difficult life circumstances, struggling spiritually,

Deaths in 2016

I started this blog entry earlier this year.  It’s still a work in progress.   I have to start this entry with the tragically funny “2016” by the comedy team of Tom and Hubert. I think many of us can relate to Tom’s shock when being told that David Bowie died.  That seemed to kick off

Broadchurch by Way of NYC

I don’t know if I’ve ever addressed this in another blog entry, but I’m a huge fan of the Law & Order franchise.  My favorite incarnation is what I call “Old School L&O,” which is the original series (seasons 1-5, especially season two, lovingly referred to as “The Big Daddy Era,” when Paul Sorvino played Detective Phil

It Works!

I wouldn’t exactly call myself a fan, but I do like Julia Cameron’s books. The Artist’s Way was so good, I’m going through it again, this time with two friends. Currently, I’m reading The Prosperous Heart. The setup in Cameron’s books is a 12-week series of exercises or activities, with the goal of unleashing one’s

Childhood Memory

My writing partner, Bobbi, recently wrote a lovely piece about a childhood memory, centered around her grandparents, baking, and banana ice cream.  After she shared it with me, we had a discussion about the creative process – her essay was the result of a very short guided meditation (for want of a better term) that a writing