Category: inspiration

  • Finding an Invincible Summer Within

    “In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.” ― Albert Camus Winter can seem like a deep darkness without an exit. The season brings depression to people who are most sensitive to daylight, with seasonal affective disorder. One long winter many years ago I spent 10 weeks…

  • Giving Thanks with Our Eyes Open

    My grandfather was a Methodist minister, he reminded me of a great tree. In my childhood, he said grace at family feasts when he visited us in the Catskill mountains. This was more of a sermon than a prayer. Long, very long, grace was delivered in a tone that was more sung than spoken. Grace…

  • Favorite Black Authors – History Through a Literary Lense

    My interest in writing realistic fiction is due in large part to two wonderful authors, James Baldwin and Dennis Brutus. I met James Baldwin at a poetry workshop of Dennis Brutus, a South African poet and activist, in Philadelphia.The literary works of favorite Black authors provided a lense to see history left out of the…

  • The Waxing Gibbous Moon’s Visit

    Who left the moon on last night? In the night, I woke up wondering who was shining a light through my window so late. A few hours earlier – around midnight – it was the flashing lights and sirens of police cars, ambulances and fire trucks. Brooklyn, Friday night. I pulled back the curtains and saw the moon,…

  • Winter Song in Brooklyn

           Winter Song A cardinal tapping at my window called