Buy The Intercessor paperback or ebook from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, or Ingram! I imagine everyone is familiar with the concept of comfort food. When I hear that phrase, usually something creamy and sweet or starchy and rich comes to mind. That’s probably what I would choose if asked what I wanted to eat …
Buy The Intercessor paperback or ebook from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, or Ingram! With this post, I’m reviving the “Something Delicious” series I paused in 2012. This revival is part of my personal campaign to reconnect with the beauty that so often inspired me to write before I allowed my alarm at all that …
Buy The Intercessor paperback or ebook from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, or Ingram! The other night my husband and I were discussing reasons to make art. Someone who was writing about his sculpture had asked Rick to describe his intentions. We talked a bit about his work, especially his wood pieces, which to me …
NOTE: This post is to introduce you to the 47th episode of François Matarasso’s and my monthly podcast, “A Culture of Possibility.” It will be available starting 20 December 2024. You can find it and all episodes at Stitcher, iTunes, and wherever you get your podcasts, along with miaaw.net‘s other podcasts by Owen Kelly, Sophie …
My sweetheart loves to fly fish. He never keeps the fish, just tenderly tips them back into the sea. So he’s plugged into various fishing networks, some devoted to survival of species that are imperiled by human impact. He’s the one who turned me onto Twyla Roscovich’s quite remarkable film, Salmon Confidential. The film painstakingly …
In English, we say “Shhh” to mean “Quiet down.” In Yiddish, it’s “Sha.” If a nightmare sent me into inconsolable sobs, my grandmother would say, “Sha, sha, bubeleh, don’t scare yourself, it’s only a dream,” and that gave me some comfort. My grandmother was a tiny, ruthless person with biceps like Popeye’s mother. Her repertoire …
I like to say we learn most from mistakes. After all, rehearsing our mastery doesn’t stretch us, nor does it trigger the need to develop skill at pivoting. Taking a wrong turn is such a powerful creative force: Ooops! Time to improvise! As much as I like to be right, I must admit that being …
Fireworks last night in Richmond, which sponsors a convivial gathering every July third. There’s a great view of the display from the lawn across from my apartment. A cover-band version of “Street Fighting Man” wafted through the window, then an announcer’s voice saying, “Fireworks in fifteen minutes.” “Why July third?” someone asked as we found …
I spent a couple of days this past week with a group of smart and capable people who are trying to develop a model for the workings of a complex human endeavor, complete with “metrics”—quantifiable factors—that serve as benchmarks for success. To explain metrics to the assembled, a consultant showed us a PowerPoint that, among …
I exchanged emails this week with a musical friend. He’d been practicing for a performance, he told me: “The Jew leads the caroling, of course.” I haven’t actually sung one of them in decades, but I too, know the words and tunes, at least to the traditional Christmas songs of my youth: “Silent Night,” “God …