“Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude”

I’ve said quite a bit about gratitude in this space in the past, but this year I want to let someone say it better than I could. This week on NPR, I heard a review of a new book by poet Ross Gay, called Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude. His description of the book really says

[Rerun] Things Without (Shame)

I recently discovered the wonderful little comic, Things Without Arms and Without Legs (A Comic About Creatures Who Are Kind), and it delights me. But as adorable and lovely as they are all on their own, I was especially taken when I found this old post, about some favorite topics of mine: vulnerability and shame.

Great fun getting actors into their bodies at Theatre @ First

The other night I had the opportunity to work with a large cast of actors in a crazy, little-known Elizabethan play called The Knight of the Burning Pestle. The play is a satire on Elizabethan theatre, written in the same time period. A couple of rowdy “audience members” interrupt the action constantly, insert their own

Sexism hurts all of us.

I stumbled across this entire series a few days ago. The first part is about how women often experience sexism. This second part, below, is about how boys and men are affected. While I powerfully related to the part about women’s experiences, the part about men’s really touched me. From my time in high school, when

“Though that mark will never fully heal…as you grow, the scar gets smaller in proportion.”

This is a beautiful video by the great Ze Frank (yes, of “True Facts” fame), and young dancer Harry Shum, Jr. Using light, movement, paint, music, and voiceover, this video fully embodies what it is to be “painfully shy,” and what it is to come out of that shell at last. If you, right now,

Seek balance. Find what’s important. Fulfill.

Think globally, but act locally. Plan for the future, but act in the present. Dream of all the masterpieces you’d be thrilled to create, but work on just one at a time. Lust for every enticing soul you see, but only make love to the imperfect beauty you’re actually with. Allow yourself to be flooded with every last feeling that bubbles up from your

Things Without (Shame)

I recently discovered the wonderful little comic, Things Without Arms and Without Legs (A Comic About Creatures Who Are Kind), and it delights me. But as adorable and lovely as they are all on their own, I was especially taken when I found this old post, about some favorite topics of mine: vulnerability and shame.

“Sometimes the way to milk and honey is through the body.”

From David Kanigan, great collector of the gorgeous, comes this photo and poem this morning.  I share without further comment. Sometimes the way to milk and honey is through the body. Sometimes the way in is a song. But there are three ways in the world: dangerous, wounding and beauty. To enter stone, be water. To

The art of asking

Amanda Palmer, late of the Dresden Dolls and ever-itinerant, fascinating, fearless musician and artist, did a TED talk in which she shows how she got people to pay for music in the digital age – by asking them. This talk reminds me how difficult it is for people to connect with each other, social media

[Re-run] “Open your eyes, and be surprised that you have eyes to open.”

My mentor Joan shared this video this morning, and I watched it all the way through until the tears flowed. I recommend the same to each of you.  It is a sublime meditation on gratitude, replete with gorgeous time-lapse photography, some of the most interesting and beautiful faces I’ve ever seen, and the gentle, liltingly