What does it mean to you to be an artist?

you have the privilege of dealing with your own feelings

I am privileged to have expression as my career

be great

 Surround yourself with people who inspire you to be great!

it's the ordinary that's extraordinary

I love teachers.



Write about what you know. Being honest is what counts. 

confront truth at its harshest, and hope at its most powerful

So, remember how, in my last post I talked about seeing Colorado State Senator, Mike Johnston speak at an Ed Sessions lunch?

Well, I neglected to include that while I was there I was one of the lucky winners of his book, In The Deep Hearts Core. I just finished it. It was amazing and should be read with a box of tissues.

Today, on Facebook, the Ed Sessions posted a link to Mike Johnston's speech in Idaho.

But, in reading more about his book, I found a speech he gave in 2012 at a Teach for America event.  It is beautifully constructed around 2 stories – the first one illustrating what is possible, and the second what is next.  His real themes are truth and hope.  

We need both truth and hope, and then we can accomplish great things.  



Mike Johnston (Mississippi Delta '97) - State Senator, Colorado from Teach For America Events on Vimeo.

what will it cost if I don't

I was at a recent Ed Sessions lunch where the speaker was Colorado Senator Mike Johnston. I was instantly inspired by Senator Johnston's historic education reform efforts in the state of Colorado, Amendment 66. He spoke passionately about what it takes to get meaningful education reform accomplished. 

Education reform is no easy task. It's an uphill battle; one that has been two years in the making for Senator Johnston's amendment.

He ended his talk with a glimpse into what keeps him going; what inspires him. He says he keeps a copy of A Testament Of Hope on his desk (The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King Jr.).

He referenced Dr. King's last sermon in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 3, 1968, I See The Promised Land. Dr. King had been warned not to return to Memphis. He had sent his good friend Ralph Abernathy to speak for him as he wasn't feeling well. After Mr. Abernathy spoke, the crowd wouldn't leave. They continued to wait for Dr. King. Ralph had to call Dr. King to come down to the Church of God in Christ to appease the crowd.

Dr. King arrived and spoke to the crowd with no notes and no preparation. He spoke of his trip to Jerusalem and his travel along the road to Jericho.

And you know, its possible that the priest and the Levite looked over that man on the ground and wondered if the robbers were still around. Or it's possible that they felt the man on the ground was merely faking. And he was acting like he had been robbed and hurt, in order to seize them over there, lure them there for quick and easy seizure. And so the first question that the Levite asked was, "If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?" But then the Good Samaritan came by. And he reversed that question: "If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?"

To paraphrase Senator Mike Johnston's call to action...
That's the question before all of us. Not, "If I stop to help education reform, what will it cost me?" But, "If I don't stop to help education reform, what will it cost the children in my state." 

So, now on my desk is a copy of A Testament Of Hope.

And I am hoping that Dr. King will continue to inspire me to "ask better questions". 

make it meaningful

Old friends pass away, new friends appear. It is just like the days. An old day passes, a new day arrives. 

The important thing is to make it meaningful: a meaningful friend - or a meaningful day.

-Dalai Lama

an impression

“Sometimes one creates as significant an impression by remaining silent.”

- Dalai Lama

Greatest gift

I read this yesterday ...

"Yes, Mother. I can see that you are flawed. You have not hidden it. That is your greatest gift to me." - Alice Walker

And it made me think of this quote from Neil Gaiman:

"The moment that you feel that, just possibly, you're walking down the street naked, exposing too much of your heart and your mind and what exists on the inside, showing too much of yourself. That's the moment you may just be starting to get it right."

So, when two authors sneak into my brain and remind me that I should live and be and risk and stumble as only I can... I think I should.

And now go, and make interesting, amazing, glorious, fantastic mistakes. Break rules. Leave the world more interesting for your being here.

You don't pass or fail at being a person, dear.

I Love Neil Gaiman. 

His new book, The Ocean at the End of the Lane, made me love him even more.

When I finished this book, I had to turn around and read it again. I loved it that much... and I was that curious about what I had just read.

For me, Ocean is a very spiritual book. The three Hempstock women became a trinity of sorts for me. Without giving too much away, Lettie Hempstock pays the ultimate price without actually paying. The Ocean/Duck Pond was such a beautiful symbol. For me it was all knowledge - everything - and yet infinitely nothing.  You should really read this book.

If you love Neil Gaiman too, these are things that go without saying: Magic exists. The Universe is Magic. And it is true whether or not you and I can understand it. Magic doesn't need to explain itself. It's Magic. To those new to Mr. Gaiman, just accept that the world is not what it seems... and then begin reading. You'll be glad you did.

Be sure, once you are past chapter four, to listen to Neil Gaiman on SLATE Radio. 

Also, listen to Neil Gaiman and Ocean at the End of the Lane on NPR HERE.

This would be a great book to read together with your teenager, if you have one.

I have so many quotes from the book highlighted, but here are a few of my favorites:

It all came back and even as it came back I knew it would not be for long: all the things I remembered, sitting on the green bench beside the little pond that Lettie Hempstock had once convinced me was an ocean.

Adults follow paths. Children explore. Adults are content to walk the same way, hundreds of times, or thousands; perhaps it never occurs to adults to step off the paths, to creep beneath rhododendrons, to find the spaces between fences.

Nobody actually looks like what they really are on the inside. You don't. I don't. People are much more complicated than that. It's true of everybody.

Monsters come in all shapes and sizes. Some of them are things people are scared of. Some of them are things that look like things people used to be scared of a long time ago. Sometimes monsters are things people should be scared of, but they aren't. 

I'm going to tell you something important. Grown-ups don't look like grown-ups on the inside either. Outside, they're big and thoughtless and they always know what they're doing. Inside, they look just like they always have. Like they did when they were your age. The truth is, there aren't any grown-ups. Not one, in the whole wide world.

You don't pass or fail at being a person, dear.