Tinka Friend, a Unitarian Universalist in Southern California and editor of the newsletter “Serenity” writes us this note from her part of the world. –JGR _________________ Now that all the wildfires surrounding us have died down and we can breathe again… I just finished the November and December issues of “Serenity.” I already had half…
“Red Sun,” photo by Rev. John Millspaugh This prayer was written on October 24, 2007, by Rev. John Gibb Millspaugh, minister of Tapestry, a Unitarian Universalist (UU) Congregation in Mission Viejo, California, and Rev. Sarah Gibb Millspaugh, Adult Programs Director for the Unitarian Universalist Association. The Santiago fire, which had burned almost 20,000 acres that…
If you could choose some aspect of your personality to improve…and all it took was taking a pill, what would you choose? Choose something fun. Pig-headedness, say? Tell us the trait you’d like pills developed for to make you just a little bit nicer to be around. Just don’t make me agree with you. At…
I first became acquainted with Susan Tweit through Women Writing the West. Last Spring, in Texas, at the Story Circles conference “Land Full of Stories” I finally got to hear her speak, and chat with her and her artist-husband for a bit. Susan is a strong, clear, dedicated, and delightful writer. You can learn more…
Yvonne Perry, that whirling dervish of a writer-editor-word-choreographor-woman has posted an interview with me about the publication of my debut poetry collection “Sightlines: A Poet’s Diary.” Go to Writers in the Sky (TM) (A blog, newsletter and podcast for the craft and business of writing, publishing and book marketing with tons of tips for freelance…
My niece Janean (by way of my brother Gary) is such a good mother. She wrote this touching email to my father who shared it with me. Now Janean has agreed to share it with all of you. It’s a fine example, I think, of moral and spiritual education…of giving structure, but also, giving space….
J.J. Murphy, naturalist For a half-century, writer and passionate naturalist JJ Murphy, has been providing nature programs, original curricula, articles, product reviews, books and open discussion to children and eco-aware adults across the USA. She lives in Harriman, NY.Creative Content for Your Nature Endeavors….Since I live blocks from Forest Park in St. Louis, I can…
For me, the difficult part of storytelling as a career was telling the stories I wanted to tell, in my own way. Locally, there is a growing movement towards the telling of indigenous stories. You’d think I would fit within that movement, wouldn’t you? Yet, I feel like a square peg in a round hole….
Damaria Senne We begin by enjoying the cover of Damaria Senne’s adult reader titled BOITSHOKO (meaning “perseverence” in Setswana). The book was published by Heinemann Publishers, and was translated into a number of local languages. The book is of interest (in the context of the essay about the story) because Damaria named the title character…
In the early 1960s I was captivated by John Wieners’ THE HOTEL WENTLEY POEMS (Auerhahn Press, San Francisco, 1958). I memorized those poems. Their appeal was so strong I felt compelled to search book stalls in New York City on Fourth Avenue, in the West Village, on the Upper West Side for other poems he…