Open some days, closed others
Sent by a reader named Ann Moore, taken on a cozy corner of Culebra, Puerto Rico, on a trip there with students last spring. I don’t know about you, but I think Island Woman is on to something….
A is for advocate
We fight for men and women whose poetry is not yet written. –Robert Gould Shaw, abolitionist In 2008, I will be a better advocate for those who need—and want—my advocacy. Long ago on a faraway planet, I once worked in an organization where I sat through a management meeting every …
B is for “be FOR something”
There is no virtue in being uncritical nor is it a habit to which the young are given. But criticism is only the burying beetle that gets rid of what is dead, and, since the world lives by creative and constructive forces, and not by negation and destruction, it is …
I need your help
Dear friends, Imagine that you’re in a bookstore. You’re surrounded by thousands of books. You’ve wandered to the self-help or inspiration section because, frankly, you need some self-help like only Americans can provide it and you need some inspiration because the kids are always yelling in the backseat and you’re …
C is for conversation, curiosity, caring, community
Life’s meaning emerges from conversation in community with people you love. – Dave Pollard I will have real conversations in 2008, fierce conversations driven by curiosity, by caring, by connection, in community, through love. “I found myself unwilling to waste time. I cut right through the bullshit to the real …
D is for dance
Every dance is a kind of fever chart, a graph of the heart. -Martha Graham In 2008, I will come to be danced. I had expected to write “D is for direction.” But an email from my friend, Nancy MacDonald, a few days ago changed my mind. She sent me …
E is for enough :: E is for (passionate) entanglement
One regret dear world, that I am determined not to have when I am lying on my deathbed, is that I did not kiss you enough. -Hafiz In 2008, I will be satisfied. I will have enough and I will be enough. I will spend my time not getting more, …
What would love do?
Sometimes we get the message we need. Reading zena musings this morning, I found Carla’s link to this: What would love do? It was written for me. And, perhaps, for you? [perhaps a knitted heart is the perfect image for this message, considering the ways in which knitting can ravel, …
F is for fear
Perhaps the most important thing we can undertake toward the reduction of fear is to make it easier for people to accept themselves, to like themselves. –Bonaro W. Overstreet In 2008, I will recognize how my fear translates into the world though my actions. I believe much of the pain, …
37days book (“Life is a Verb”) coming this fall from Globe Pequot Press
Maverick writer Charlotte Perkins Gilman once wrote that "life is a verb." It is a sentiment echoed by the likes of Buckminster Fuller and Kevin Kelly. And so it is. Life takes action, not wishful thinking. It takes mindfulness and intention. It takes slowing down and saying yes and being …
