I’ve lived my life on the edge. It’s been a life filled with outrageous and often imprudent risk and adventure across continents. But now? It’s all about staying the course. Few friends would have predicted that I’d come back home to the Midwest and stay in one place for so long doing something so hard…
“The Spirit of a Woman: Stories to Empower and Inspire” anthology–years in the making–has won several awards. I’m honored to have my piece “Sliding Glass Door” included…and, even, my name on the cover along with such esteemed authors as Lauren Artress, Christina Baldwin, and Mama Donna Henes. An now our anthology has received an Eric…
Marcel Toussaint and I met through the St. Louis Writers Guild. Besides being a brilliant and productive Poet-Lyricist-Novelist, I can attest that Marcel is a dream on the dance floor–as I discovered at a STL Writers Guild party. Marcel was also kind enough to respond to the sample from “Sightlines: A Family Love Story in…
Marcel Toussaint and I met through the St. Louis Writers Guild. Art, lyrics, novels, poetry–Marcel Toussaint does it all and has learned how to get his work out into the world. How did these gifts and skills develop throughout his life? How did he learn to overcome rejections, get published, win awards, and gain a…
Linda Jo Smith is no stranger to Riehlife readers. Not only does she provide creative community programs for the Schlafly library in my neighborhood. She’s also an accomplished poet and storyteller. Linda Jo Smith, fondly called “Miss Linda,” is a teller of the tales we have all come to know and love – with a…
Yeyo Arts Collective Yeyo Arts Collective is dedicated to women’s art and topics surrounding women’s issues; including family, youth, and community. Dail Chambers, President Jean Brantley, Vice President Yeyo Arts’ guiding principals are: -We believe in empowerment through arts based learning. -We practice intergenerational collaboration. -We encourage creativity and inventive efforts in daily life practice….
Mark C. Brown, Ph.D. is a psychologist and author of Live Like A Window, Work Like A Mirror: Enlightenment and the Practice of Eternity Consciousness. / May is National Meditation Month meditation and health by Mark C. Brown Americans lead busy lives. We work hard, we take less time off than workers in many other…
Victoria Bentley and I were writing partners when she lived in Lake County. She moved to Santa Barbara, California, and then began a new life of healing trauma in the Congo. Dr. Victoria Bentley has been a psychologist and life coach for over 30 years. She is now focused on healing trauma, currently working to…
When I lived in Botswana during the 1970s, my name in Setwana was (and is) “Naledi”–which means “star.” Although it sounds exalted, it’s not an uncommon name. Here’s how I got my name. During the first weeks of Peace Corps language and cultural training, I asked my teachers if I could have a name in…
Tea drinking. I started in earnest in Africa during my five years in Ghana and Botswana. Alexander McCall Smith’s Number One Ladies Detective Agency series catches the gentle humor and graciousness in this Southern African country with one of the most stable democracies in the world (not just in Africa). Tea is the drink that…