Magical Memoir Moments
A Memoir that Awakens the Spiritual Version of the American Dream
This morning, as is our habit, my husband and I attended Skyridge Church of the Brethren. Our pastor Debbie preached about healing, using as a lectionary text Psalm 30, the one that promises, in the majestic language of the King James Bible, that “weeping endureth for the night but joy cometh in the morning.” This…
Flying First Class: All the Way from Minneapolis to San Francisco
One of the great pleasures of work involving travel is that sometimes a kindred spirit happens to sit in the seat next to you. I was blessed by such an encounter yesterday. It started when another business traveler, Rose, and I were seated in 8-D and 8-F. She had the aisle. I had the window….
Writing Down the Bones: Slow and Dumb
I remember reading this breakthrough book soon after it was published in the late 1980’s. I don’t remember how I bought the book, and I don’t have the old copy on my shelf, so I may have loaned or given it away, Mostly, I remember how I felt after reading it. High! I had never…
Memoir and Love: The Vital Connection
All during the long holiday season/vacation I took this year, I have been mulling over the connection between memoir and love. Intuition tells me things that I can only later articulate. This has happened to me all my life. I love the story, whether it be true or apocryphal, that Einstein saw himself riding on…
Helen Alderfer, Poet, Mother, Wise Woman, Role Model
My husband Stuart gave me a book for Christmas I did not know existed–a pleasant surprise indeed. Helen Alderfer, an early woman leader in the Mennonite Church and someone I have long admired, has published a book in her 90th year. I have always loved reading about people who keep achieving their dreams well into…
Small Things with Love: A Mini-Memoir
What makes us happy? Is it winning the lottery or getting a surprise million-dollar legacy? In our current economy, such windfalls might sound even better than usual. I haven’t seen Slumdog Millionaire (see trailer here) yet, but I gather that such a fantasy becomes reality in that film. Once I see the film, I will…
Vacation: A Mini-Memoir
I grew up on a farm where the term “vacation” had absolutely no meaning. We did not load up the five kids into the car and take off for the Pacific. In fact, though we were only 75 miles from the Atlantic, we never went to see that, either. The highlight of my summers as…
Conversations with Four Wise Women Authors
I traveled to California for the Fetzer Institute to visit with board members, meet with a colleague at the Skoll Foundation, and attend a fundraiser for Youth for Environmental Sanity (YES!), the Purpose Prize Award ceremonies/ Encore Careers Summit. As snow was flying in Kalamazoo, I was watching the sun rise over the bay in…
Do You Know Your Own Geology?
Today one of my colleagues at the Fetzer Institute, Dr. Joel Elkes, celebrates his 95th birthday. No, that is not a typo. He was born in 1913, lived through two World Wars and a century of struggle. He was a student in England in the 30’s and 40’s and thus escaped the Holocaust, though many…