In celebration of Earth Day, I’m writing about my friends the aphids. They are attacking my New Dawn rose bushes. These two rhapsodic rose bushes are climbers, growing higher every year. If you count their spilling over the trellis and arbor, which I keep adding on to, they are about 16 feet tall at this point, with more life in them [...]
When I meditate about the loss our country has endured from the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 40 years ago today, I feel grief first of all; grief and anger that we have had to do without his vision, dignity and courage all these years. Others have taken up the mantle but not as comprehensively, passionately and effectively. [...]
Yesterday was one of those off days, thankfully rare, with two bad interactions in yoga class.
A friend reported she had lost a book I loaned her. No apology, just “I have no idea where it is. Maybe if I had the title.” I didn’t remind her that I had given her the title of what I [...]
Last weekend was not one of my usual weekends. I made phone calls for Senator Obama before the Texas and Ohio primaries because I knew I’d blame myself for not trying harder if he didn’t get the nomination.
I came away learning a few new things about human nature, campaign strategy and geography, and having a few old things about leadership and character affirmed.
The first obervation: most people are secretive about [...]
February 5, 2008 – 12:25 pm
This post will have no rhetoric. No preaching. Just an old-fashioned whoop of joy BEFORE the primaries today that we have a candidate like Barack Obama to vote for. It feels better than I can possibly describe. Close to mellowness and a rush all at the same time, and without either emotion canceling out the other. [...]
January 30, 2008 – 9:21 pm
Last week there was so much discord and tragedy in the news that I felt I needed to plant my feet a little more firmly on the ground to balance myself. The more off kilter the world seemed, the more I felt I was losing hope.
I don’t need the world to be rosy all the time, [...]
December 1, 2007 – 4:10 pm
On the flight back home after spending Thanksgiving with my children in New York, I witnessed a scene that put some perspective on my holiday weekend.
The flight attendant was upset over a request from a passenger, which I didn’t hear, but she rolled her eyes and repeated the request to other male passengers along the aisle, [...]
October 27, 2007 – 2:54 pm
Every so often I read an obituary that makes me think, “What a great way to live a life!”
When I read Tillie Wood’s obituary in the Atlanta Journal Constitution (October 17, 2007), I was struck by the peace and purpose in her life. Her reputation was strong among hikers on the Appalachian Trail who fought to stay overnight at her 1848 [...]
September 14, 2007 – 7:39 pm
Maybe you first heard about micro-lending ages ago. How entrepreneurs in developing countries are given a small loan as seed money to start a new business. And how women, especially, have had such a good record in repaying those loans.
I first got excited about micro-lending in the 1990s, by a program inspired by the work of the Bangladeshi [...]
