What do we learn? What do we teach? The days after Sandy Hook

Love that takes us out of ourselves and binds us to something larger.  President Obama Newtown, CT 12-16-2012 The days move by in this the darkest season for the Northern Hemisphere.  Saturday was the day after, Sunday two days after, Monday three, Tuesday four ….  These days will pass into months and years, and those of us still drawing breath in these wild and precious lives will continue.  As we do, we… Read More

Year Three Begins: Change in Everyday America

Two years ago, today I was interviewing Kate and Georgiana, #s 002 and 003 on the EX:Change.  They are both women in the middle of their careers.  They are both artists and teachers.  I was interviewing them about change, the word and the concept that had gained such notoriety in the 2008 presidential election. Kate said this: “It’s really my strength and my weakness, this penchant for change.  I can get impatient… Read More

Tucson, 9/11 and a Publication Date (!)

It’s happening!  The EX:Change project’s interviews from early 2009 are going into a book.  The tentative title – You Say Change, We Say….   And Loud Mouth (http://www.loudmouthpress.org/) is the perfect publisher – a nonprofit in Brooklyn devoted to issues of social importance.  Here’s one thing they say about themselves.  “Our projects offer an innovative, creative and artistic perspective on important topics that concern the entire human family.”  Cool, huh?  Fortunately, the… Read More

Procrastination and a Nation’s Hostility Habit: When a Congresswoman has Been Shot in the Head

It is shortly after 1:00 in the afternoon in the Starbucks on 28th and E. Burnside in Portland, Oregon.  It’s Adam’s last day as a barista here.  He’s off for a full-time gig in a fusion restaurant downtown.  My friend Doug just walked by and came in for a chat.  He’s a bartender who, for the first time in two decades, didn’t have to work New Year’s Eve.  “Nothing more renewing than… Read More