Inspiration… Writing with a view 26 Feb 20196 Jul 2020 Elyssa Shalla, National Park Ranger and typewriter enthusiast, placed a vintage typewriter six miles into the Grand Canyon for several days, inviting hikers to record what that moment meant to…
Change the World… Learn a new language, gain a new soul 17 Aug 20166 Jul 2020 Czech proverb, "Learn a new language, gain a new soul," is so beautifully illustrated by Robin Wall Kimmerer's practicing her ancestor's language, Potawatomi. She is even more fluent in botany. I loved…
Change the World… Why we should put the little people first 27 Apr 20162 Sep 2019 It's state budget time! And Arizona is into a budget surplus, and out of excuses. We could fund education. We could even begin to "restore the years the locusts have eaten." Here's the letter I…
Change the World… It’s Harriet Tubman for the 20! 20 Apr 20162 Sep 2019 My childhood hero! Why do I love her so much? In second grade, I was a white Yankee girl in Louisiana, bused to a Black school under Supreme Court order. Desegregation,…
Commitment… Have you left your dream in the case for a while? 18 Jul 201518 Jul 2015 I was touched by this story of Baltimore Symphony Orchestra's Academy Week, where amateur musicians are invited in, especially when music teacher Tanesha Mitchell, who contributes so beautifully to her…
Change the World… Everyone has a reason to live 13 Jun 201513 Jun 2015 Jacques Lusseyran went blind at age 8. When he was twice as old, in 1941, he founded one of the key organizations of the French Resistance. His memoir, And There…
Brain… Don’t think of a purple giraffe (and what else not to say) 31 Jan 20154 Jul 2016 A company I admire allowed an employee to blog, "You probably don't want to come to our conference, but here's why I think you should." Really? I don't want to…
Caring… How one life was saved 22 Jan 201513 Jun 2015 Near the end of her unplanned pregnancy, a young woman said, “I could never have an abortion--I knew someone would want him!” How right she was. Her baby is now…
Cartoons… Resharpen as needed 10 Jan 20152 Sep 2019 Among the cartoons responding to the massacre at Charlie Hebdo, several illustrated that a pencil cut in half can be resharpened or even become two pencils. Devastation can sharpen us, even…
Children… Work like a kid 23 Dec 201413 Jun 2015 "The great thing about getting older is that you don't lose all the other ages you've been. - Madeleine L'Engle, author of A Wrinkle in Time. Remember how hard you worked…
Books… Reading is for Babies 25 Jun 201413 Jun 2015 The American Pediatrics Association says, "Immunize your children against illiteracy." NPR's Audie Cornish interviewed Professor Susan Neuman about new evidence showing that the younger you read to your children, the better. Reading benefits babies,…
Collaboration… Love is simple, unless you have a hero complex 25 May 20132 Sep 2019 Invincible, the musical: Love is simple, unless you have a hero complex Composer Drew Nichols is an amazingly creative and artistically prolific person. (Full disclosure: I brought him into this…