“It’s critical,” my wise friend said, “that you continue to advocate for what you want without allowing yourself to be shaped by the limitations around you.” This is such a challenging idea, my head swims when I try to get a firm grip on it. In the personal realm, it arises with great force. Despite …
There they go again! A few right-wingers who want to defeat the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan now before Congress are using one of its smallest provisions, a $50 million supplemental allocation to the National Endowment for the Arts, as a dart they hope will let the air out of the bill. There aren’t a …
That cloud of energy that enveloped the National Mall this morning, the vapor of an simultaneous exhalation synchronizing the breathing of millions to the beat of one brave and honorable man’s heart! Hope was in the air and relief soared alongside, like two birds in flight: we survived eight years of George W. Bush and …
On New Year’s Day, we saw the film Cadillac Records. After drying our eyes, we sat for a few minutes in the empty theater speculating about why such a wonderful film hadn’t done better at the box office. Since opening on December 5, it’s earned less than $8 million (as opposed to Marley & Me, …
I haven’t had my driving-on-black-ice lesson yet. Weather conditions have been spectacularly cold, but there hasn’t been the right combination of temperature, precipitation and time off to open space for this particular learning experience—yet. Everyone is happy to offer advice, though. They tell me to drive slowly, brake slowly and turn slowly, so as to …
I’m in the midst of writing an article about public service employment for artists, an ideas whose time has once again come around. There are numerous proposals afloat and a semi-mysterious political process that will determine whether and how this idea will be implemented. I’ll be posting a link to my article and more information …
My subject is letting go of what I think I know, so as to discover whatever I can. I am not good at this, but I want it very much. Happily, life keeps putting helpful information in my path. Last month I gave a talk in Vancouver (you can download it from my Web site: …
Driving over Donner Pass Friday morning, we saw: clear skies, sun glittering on an expanse of deep-blue lake, rushing streams lined with red and gold reeds resembling the fur of an unknown animal, polished stones like giant mushrooms, ribbons of snow tucked beneath their rims. “I love California,” I told my husband, minutes before we …
The movers come tomorrow to take our worldly goods to Kansas City, the mere name of which launches a song in the jukebox of my brain. I hope to have a lovely and musical time exploring my new home, and not to be too daunted by the things KC denizens keep telling this Californian to …
My Canadian friends and I were huddled together in hope, glued to CNN, when, a few minutes after 8 pm Pacific Time, the results put Barack Obama over the line and into the presidency. I felt something lift off my shoulders: a weight of shame called George W. Bush that had been lodged there so …