This Artist’s Understanding of Reviewers

I just finished reading The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin, and here's the review that I posted on Goodreads: "This is not a book to read quickly to complete some reading goal. Rick Rubin’s words need to be absorbed, considered, as if you were reading Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching. To …

Just Words

I haven't blogged in so long. And certainly not like I used to. Years ago, my posts were filled with images and quotes, and I was so focused on followers and SEO and stats and - well, you get the picture. Keeping that up became so stifling. Every post was a production. Have I just …

Authentic Living: Harder Than We Think

I just finished reading The Witch Of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare, first published in 1958. My goodness, did this book get me thinking about what it means to live authentically. For, I don't how many years, the idea of living "authentically" has permeated our social streams and, before that, our print stories and …

Can we just expand the present, please?

What a crazy, oxymoronic moment I am experiencing. Right here in the present. Is this what some people might call an existential crisis? Let me explain. I am a lover of the moment, a hugger of the present and all it has to offer us right now. It has kept me from dwelling too much …

The Terrifying Stephen King Book Challenge

Each year, I read between 45 and 65 books by a variety of authors in multiple genres. Over a 43-year span, I have read most of Stephen King’s novels, but not in order, and certainly not in a space where I picked up on all of the nuances and threads running through his books. For …

9/11: This Is My Story

Earlier today, I looked through my old posts from September months, searching for my 9/11 story. I thought it might be a good time to republish it, simply because my students that I teach now in 2023 weren’t even born when planes crashed into our buildings.  I think it’s a lot like Pearl Harbor or …

Loch Raven Reservoir: What’s YOUR Story?

Last month, I announced that I will be writing the history of Loch Raven Reservoir, with the assistance of the Historical Society of Baltimore County. The book will be written as a story of the watershed area, its own memoir that began in the mid 1850’s and continues today. In making sure that I capture …

The Peggy: More than just a snowball

Did snowballs really begin right here in Baltimore? Ask any BMorean, and they'll offer something just short of a mischievous smile and say, "Of course, hon. Don'tcha know? For Chrissake. Ev'ryone knows that." New Orleans' residents might disagree, but being a BMorean myself, I might be a little biased. So. Anyway. Saturday night, we went …

Is It Enough?

For the past month, I have been reading, writing, and reflecting on what we - more selfishly, I - can do about the increasing crises and tensions in America. I posed this question in my May 8th blog titled, "How Do We Act In This American Crisis?": What am I already doing naturally, on a …

How Do We Act In This American Crisis?

“Tragedy is the great equalizer, and no individual, regardless of wealth or fame, can escape the challenge tragedy brings.” ~John Lewis Yesterday, on my social media pages, I shared my thoughts about yesterday’s mass shooting in Allen, Texas and made the decision to devote more energy to working directly with local leaders and less energy …