Let Your Life Be a Poem
It is National Poetry Month every April. I celebrate poets all year and poets are always keynote speakers at my Life is a Verb Camp. Why poets? Because they see into things in a different way. They go deeper into sense-making than mere mortals usually do, and they use language to …
Don’t Pick Up The Rope
In 2011, I was the focus of a gaslighting campaign by someone I had known and worked with so closely for years—the best work of my life at that time— an experience that left me clinically depressed and largely in bed for two years when I wasn’t writing books and …
Say No to April Fool’s Day
I hate April Fool’s Day and the jokes that accompany it, so you will never find those here. Speaking of jokes, let’s talk about what happened at the Oscars last Sunday night. First, I always choose a gown for the Oscars and this year, I chose the dress you see …
What do you actually own? Who do you actually owe?
I met Mic Crenshaw in Portland, Oregon. I was teaching at a summer institute on the campus of Reed College and he was part of an evening program on hip-hop with my friend, Amer Ahmed. I immediately wanted to know him. I invited him to be a guest speaker in my intercultural …
Feel what you feel
I have always been the one you wanted around in an emergency. The one who would stay perfectly calm. Even as a kid, I was the one my father chose to drive him to the hospital late one night when he was having a heart attack, one of many. He …
Be a Cultural Anthropologist
(photo from https://peterberkers-sporthorses.com/) We decided to go at the last minute. We drove three hours to get there. Feliks slept most of the way and I thought about all the things on my to-do list that weren’t getting done because I was driving three hours to get there. Then he …
Go Beyond Sunflowers
(Photo by Justin Turveen) Ukraine has been invaded by a Russian madman. You know this. Let us learn more. First, here’s how Ukraine became Ukraine. Let us say a prayer for Ukraine’s leader, Volodymyr Zelensky. And perhaps understand more about him. An in-depth portrait of Putin from 2008 has provided me with some background I …
Treat others the way THEY want to be treated
In the last few weeks, several parents have reached out for help and resources to help them navigate recent statements by their kids that they are non-binary. First, I love that the kids feel safe and supported enough to talk to their parents about this. And, secondly, I am glad …
Ask For What You Need
We all got dressed and went to the animal hospital Monday night. Valentine’s Day. A day of love. Our pets are family. We love them so much, each with their own personality. When Finn, our deaf Australian shepherd stopped eating this past weekend and then sat down every few feet …
