“Ring the bell that still can ring. Forget your perfect offering. There is a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.” ~ Leonard Cohen Cracks and all, this essay completes my commitment to self to write and post an essay-a-week for a year. The year started April 6, 2015 (following the Cheryl Strayed … Continue reading #Fifty-two — Only Don’t Know
Hallelujah! I’ve lost 12 pounds in the last two months. My new avoid-diabetes-diet started on Wednesday, January 13 when I got the results of my blood tests. Fasting blood sugar — 118. HgbA1C — 6.4. If you don’t know, that means a hairbreadth away from a full-on diagnosis of Type II Diabetes. My doctor was … Continue reading Coaches & Mentors
I signed up to be a volunteer usher at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco (the JCCSF) several months ago as a way to meet new people, participate in community, and also admittedly to see/hear their Arts and Ideas events for free. I’d been attending quite a few events (Maria Popova, Sherry Turkle, and … Continue reading Green is for Gun
I have an older brother, Paul, two years older than me, and a baby sister, Terri, eight and a half years younger. My baby sister turned sixty a few weeks ago. Do I still get to call her my baby sister? When she was little, we called her “eagle eye”. I think that was because … Continue reading My sister Terri, with gratitude & love…
This morning my gmail account showed an email from LENNY. Who’s Lenny I thought? Maybe it was spam? Should I risk opening it? I risked it. I scrolled quickly intrigued with what I was seeing ’til I got to the Lennyscope, aka horoscope. Born on August 22nd, here’s mine. LEO (July 23 to August 22) … Continue reading My horoscope & other thoughts
I’ve been procrastinating writing like crazy. It’s challenging to be a human these days, let alone write down thoughts I feel strongly about. Especially if I think others might disagree with me. I love respectful dialogue, but I don’t really want to invite conflict or attack. I run the risk because I believe it’s important … Continue reading On my mind…
My cousin Gary died two weeks ago. Time has been passing “slow-mo” since then, so it seems longer, and still feels unreal. He was such a nice guy, so loved by so many, so easy-going, so successful as a lawyer, the least self-aggrandizing and least materialistic person you’d ever meet. He was only 63, … Continue reading Aunt Bea
I’ve been in a kind of a dither lately. Who says dither anymore? 🙂 But today, it’s the word of choice. Also, I’m uber-focused on diet and exercise and re-claiming my health, at the same time as taking into account the need for a long-term strategy to move forward into aging-body land. At the same … Continue reading To fully inhabit one’s life…
I had a different essay I was working on for this post. But in the process of cleaning my laptop desktop, I found this one I’d written in a Steve Almond workshop a few weeks ago. The prompt was a photo we were told to bring that morning. This is the photo, and my story. … Continue reading The Photo
“When walls are in place, how is anyone ever going to to see me as I am, not as I appear?” Dave My reading list on the left of my laptop screen has gotten long. I can’t seem to keep up, or maybe it’s just a natural winter hibernation bio-rhythm thing? my cerebral fluids … Continue reading This morning at On Being…
Gayle Markow: As I am... 