When asked what to tell people who don’t vote because they don’t feel like their vote matters, Rachel Brown says, “Do more than vote! Not voting is not the answer. Do more than vote.” She encourages her millennial generation to get involved in politics. She herself recently ran for public office. Democracy depends on its …Read More
Category: Journal
Measuring Life
How do you measure a life? “Life is not measured by the breaths we take but by the moments that take our breath away.” I start the hike in essential silence. What is that you say? It is the space of deep introspection where you can still manage to yell out to your friend, “Don’t …Read More
To Know the Dark ~ Wendell Berry
To Know the Dark by Wendell Berry To go in the dark with a light is to know the light.To know the dark, go dark. Go without sight,and find that the dark, too, blooms and sings,and is traveled by dark feet and dark wings. I’ve only seen it once, and only by accident. It was …Read More
Honor Flight, Honoring Veterans
“This has been the most meaningful day of my life,” said one veteran. At the time, he was 100 years old. Honor Flight had brought him to the World War II Memorial in Washington D.C. He had been chosen by the group to lay the wreath on the memorial to honor those lives that had …Read More
“Doc, will you help me die?”
It was my first day on service at the hospital ward. I had a list of patients already admitted from the previous doctor. For the next week, I would be responsible for their care. I read over the electronic charts of the first three patients. Then, with white coat, stethoscope, and a few notes, I …Read More
Conserve Toilet Paper
“One of the most jolting days of adulthood comes the first time you run out of toilet paper. Toilet paper, up until this point, always just existed. And now it’s a finite resource, constantly in danger of extinction, that must be carefully tracked and monitored, like pandas?”~ Kelly Williams Brown, Adulting: How to Become a …Read More
Dancing at Cathedral Rock, Sedona, AZ
“If my friends had not gone back, I’d still be there dancing.” One of the most breathtaking places on the planet for me is Cathedral Rock in Sedona, Arizona. The spires of red rock formation reach up towards the sky. I return over and over with friends new and old. The hike takes us up …Read More
Black-Eyed Peas, Tradition, and Luck
Recalling his mother’s New Year’s Day black-eyed peas recipe, Michael W. Twitty traces this legume back to the Middle Passage and its roots in Africa, recognizing it as a seed of Black resilience. When my mother was still here in body, she made a small pot of black-eyed peas every New Year’s Day. The pot …Read More
Burnout Recovery
In 2007, I was burnt out–physically exhausted, emotionally drained, and cynical about the future. The daily grind of the hospital had left me with tattered ends. Everyday seemed to be the same. There was little sense of purpose. I decided to make some changes. Vacation helped, but then I returned to the same daily grind. …Read More
Dancing through the Years
As the 2010’s comes to a close, it’s natural to look back on what has moved us. Here’s a fun video review of the evolution of dance from 1950 to 2019. From Madonna to Michael Jackson, from the Macarena to Gangnam style, music inspires dance … sometimes in crazy ways. When the boredom sets in …Read More