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Celeste is a Verb!

My friend Celeste Martin Rast died suddenly last week, in the middle of the sentence. So many people have said at one time or another, "I want to be Celeste Rast" when I grow up, including me. Her life (and death) show us that there is no better time to …

simple action saturday : laugh.

Laughter is an instant vacation. -Milton Berle

thinking thursday.

mind :: my brain and yours "The Shallows": this is your brain online. Native American folktales take a graphic turn. Young talented writers to read. learning :: my education and yours Kids of lesbians have fewer behavioral problems. Read this: the pleasures of imagination body :: my place and yours …

Consider this : live in the library.

Live in the library.  Bring a pillow if they'll let you.  Find a cozy carrel and move in.  Of course, you’ve used a library but I mean really live in it. Don't settle for merely being well-read, but let yourself become deep-read, crazy-deep-read and uniquely-read.  Let serendipity lead you  to …

Consider this : don’t talk with your mouth full of food. people notice.

Learn how to balance your checking account. A debit or credit card doesn’t mean you have unlimited funds available to you.  Know that you will most likely appreciate something all the more if you save for it and pay cash. Understand that there are a whole lot of things in …

poetry wednesday : irreverent baking

  irreverent baking I should be upstairs with the others, drumming up ways to heal the world, save the animals, pray for water in a far-off continent, devote the remainder of my days to a catalog of restorations. But this morning, it was the matter of scones that drew my …

Consider this : nothing is wasted.

Dear Emma, Because you are a lover and an artist,you will have occasion (many, actually)to open your chest… pull out a ruby…offer it to The World (or someone in The World)… and it will be received with as much enthusiasmas a piece of gum.  Chewed, slathered upon, and spat.Out.This happens …

Consider this : the best days of your life will sneak up on you.

At my high school, Class Night was a bigger deal than graduation. On Class Night, the principal gave individual seniors awards from each different department; the teachers in that department chose the winners based on grades and participation and general enthusiasm. I'd been involved with music, theater, and the school …

Consider this : the time will pass anyway.

Many many years ago, I was trying to decide whether to go to law school.  I had a bachelor’s degree in psychology, and worked as a legal secretary, the only job I could get. Over the course of a year I realized that the law was something I was interested …

sunday sounds : on this, the 66th anniversary of D-Day

The brave die never, though they sleep in dust: Their courage nerves a thousand living men. -Minot J. Savage