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Total number of posts: 24030
In my own voice: The brilliance of Karly Wahlin
In the winter of 2009 my friend and recording engineer, Matthew Zimmerman, called to invite me into a remarkable project that was being recorded at his studio, Wild Sound, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. A 24-year-old composer named Karly Wahlin was seeking a producer for a collection of ten of her Read More...
‘Pioneers of the Possible’: Profiles of 20 extraordinary women
By Rosie Spinks from ecosalon.com When Iranian American author Angella Nazarian was growing up in pre-revolutionary Iran, she didn’t have many female role models outside of her immediate family. “I came from a very traditional culture which was very patriarchal. [At age 11] when I first Read More...
Surprise Ahead
As you may know, I’m the director of the Puget Sound Community School (PSCS) in Seattle. Part of my duties include some occasional teaching, or what we call ‘facilitating’ at PSCS, of classes. A recent one included me having the students read Annie Dillard’s book Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. Read More...
Nurture, Nurture, Nurture
Near as I can tell life on planet Earth is mostly about taking care. Taking care of our families. Taking care of our friends. Taking care of the work that we take responsibility for. Taking care of our homes, taking care of our possessions, our animals, our gardens, our plants, our cars, our Read More...
A Harvest of Peace
I read an American proverb the other day that got me thinking. “A harvest of peace is produced from a seed of contentment.” I think this is true. Sow contentment seeds and you definitely stand a chance of reaping peace. But then I got to thinking a little more deeply about this adage. Read More...
Perfect Day: Music as a Mode of Travel
September 2, 2009 was a perfect day. And by some miracle, I found a way to share it with you. That day I was on a songwriting retreat at a tiny, beloved island in the border waters of Minnesota and Ontario. The days are long there. I awaken before dawn and slip into the cool, still water before Read More...
That Pain in Your Political Gut? It’s Telling You Something
(Read this Article to Survive the Convention Season and Feel Better About Politics) Lucky us. Florida is the birthplace for what passes for political discourse these days. Yep, the Sunshine State is where the modern political era got its start. So you may think I’m crazy for predicting that a Read More...
Art in Afghanistan: You Can Help
When we hear someone talk about Afghanistan, the conversation is often peppered with words like “war.” “conflict,” and “tragedy.” But there is another world in Afghanistan, one of every day life. Afghanistan as Afghans live it. This fall, Mountain2Mountain, a non-profit that develops Read More...
Peace Recipe
This past month I received a lovely email from a woman named Monique Constant in Canada who’s an Odereader. She’d read one of my posts and wanted to thank me. Very nice when that happens. But then … she went on … “There is something I would like to share with you, I wrote this Read More...
Garden Exchange and Social Connections
When my friend and I set out on a walk through her neighborhood, we never imagined we’d stumble upon an inspiring and heartwarming event along the journey; but, that’s one of the greatest things about life and its myriad potentials unfolding. Some blocks into our excursion, we came across a Read More...