I hate feeling stupid. But we’ve all been there: That Stupid Feeling that comes when we should know what we are doing and we don’t. I’ve had a lot of That Stupid Feeling lately. Probably because I’ve been on vacation, and also because I am purposefully trying to do new things. I hate That Stupid Feeling. But I hate it so much I’m determined to work my way through it, too.
Love & Family
How to Be a Woman
it was a massive relief that someone had finally, finally, taken the plastic coating off being a woman, put the plastic coating into historical context (briefly, not excessively the way I probably would have done), and then laughed about it in a way that was not shame inducing. The author, Caitlin Moran, is my new heroine!
How to Get More Hours in the Day
by guest blogger Maya Rodale. Getting up wicked early basically feels like a head start. I’ve become hooked on the feeling of having accomplished something before 9:00 a.m. That way, no matter what the day throws at me, I’ve gotten something important done. Here are my tips for turning yourself into a morning person, so you, too, can have a more useful day:
A Visit to My Back Porch:
Dar Williams
It was about 18 years ago. I was driving in my car with the radio on, listening to WMUH my local favorite college station. I heard a song. Time stopped. It was a beautiful woman’s voice singing “When I was a boy.” These lyrics stopped me in my tracks. So, it is my total pleasure to have Dar Williams as a guest on my back porch today.
Obsessions, and Why to Follow Them
(Sometimes)
I think obsessions are the heart and soul and mind’s ways of leading you to learn new things and grow in new ways. I’m dealing here with a basic assumption I have that life is not meant simply for us to float through in ignorance, measured by wealth, or belonging, or years of obedience to someone else’s ideal. I’m talking about LIVING. Being alive.
What We Learn From Racing
by guest blogger Maya Rodale. Once upon a time, I ran a race. It was the 800-meter dash during my sixth grade field day. What happened in this race has taken on Great Significance of Epic Proportions. What happened? I came in second. What followed were years of second place races, metaphorically speaking, in which I did pretty well without putting in a huge ton of effort. B+ grades instead of A’s, basically. Enjoying opportunities that arrived, but not always seeking and seizing them. In other words, I became content looking at the back of people’s heads.
What We Leave Behind
The other day I was up at my brother’s old cabin, which I have taken over to restore as a writing and painting retreat. I’ve let the landscape go wild and crazy, the way it was when he and I first saw it more than 30 years ago. In the morning light I noticed what looked suspiciously like gladiolas over by the old wishing well. There is only one person who could have planted those and that would be my brother, who died of AIDS 27 years ago.
The Cardinal and the Window
This spring we all heard the knocking, the repeated sound of something bumping into the window in the dining room. It didn’t take long to see that it was a cardinal smashing itself into the window. Repeatedly. I looked it up in a book and read that he thinks his reflection is a rival. Stupid bird, I thought to myself. And I told a friend of mine, “Our greatest enemy is within.”
Scratch
Raised on America’s first organic farm, Scratch author Maria Rodale learned how to make everyday favorites from, yes, scratch — the way you remember them; the way they turn out best.
Order NowOrganic Manifesto
Drawing on findings from leading health researchers as well as conversations with both chemical and organic farmers from coast to coast, Maria Rodale irrefutably outlines the unacceptably high cost of chemical farming on our health and our environment.
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