10 Qualities of Visionary Leaders for Transitional Times
Let's push it, let's birth it. Let's create and heal and risk the pain. I love the way you lead the way, the way you risk that disapproving sneer, the distasteful glare. I love the way you dive right into the fear of isolation and rejection, just to become the...
bold dark hymn
Here. Now. I unfurl the rich velvet solace of the night sky, the canticle of the inky sea, that blackness which is all colors put together, outside the firelight when day is unwound. These words are said to be the opposites of dark in the English...
The Chains
For Michael Brown and Ferguson There is a dark ragesong rising in the streets. When they cut him open to see how he died, they recorded that his brown arms were uplifted towards heaven an open handed fearprayer more than one hundred feet away from the gunman, one more...
To The Bone
Our vegetables are finished, their remains haunt forgotten gardens. The leaves plummet to splendid deaths in raucous evening gowns of gold, copper, scarlet, tangerine. Be kind to yourself, You can’t do it all and there is so much to do. Everything that has...
Standing for the World We Want or Let’s make White Supremacists More Uncomfortable
Dear Charles Vargas, Alhambra theatre owner, Tito's Vodka and Gomper's Gin, Alhambra partners, We don't want to do business with a place that supports fascism and neo-nazis and encourages hate speech. The name of your venue calls to mind the Alhambra decree,...
An Open Invitation to Become a Revolutionary Global Healer
No cure that fails to engage our spirit can make us well. —Viktor Frankl The modern world is challenging, immediate and frequently brutal. As the infamous curse prophesies, we are certainly living in interesting times. Ingenious solutions are required daily. ...
Equinox
In September, the trees teach me again That the slow undressing of my soul before resurrection is a bedtime ritual. If I live as a forest does, clasping hands under the earth, drinking sun, making homes for others, my death is temporal. Everything that is beautiful...
Ocate, New Mexico
In the July afternoons, I listen to the song of sandstone and juniper berries, while meadowlarks converse in wild, trilling loops. Who am I? The rattlesnake warning of my teeth with a rhythm rattle? The wasp stinging when provoked? What will I sing to this soft hot...
Three Ways to Begin Your Creative Recovery
Creativity is another name for spirit, another name for human. You can ignite your budding creative genius right now wherever you are. What do you love doing? What would you do even if no one was making you do it? What do you do while you procrastinate? What...
Yes All Towns: To Name What is Broken
(Warning: this blog contains opinions about recent school shootings…perhaps we disagree or we find solidarity. We call this freedom of the press.) Maybe you think of your adolescent awakening with fondness or maybe you are grateful to have left that hellish hormonal...
This is Trust
In Nepal, we squint to find magic in the dust. This high Himalayan sun burns with fervent religion like the gentle monks who offer their whole lives to the bright and searing hope that someone will unclench the cruel fist on the throat of what they love. The...
The Most Holy Risk You Have Ever Taken
I learned to swim at age 9 from Nick Nicholas after over 20 lessons with other unsuccessful teachers. I refused to put my face in the water because I damn well knew that was how people drowned. Nick Nicholas in his bright red swim trunks was different. He told me I...