The Beat & The Brain
Carrie Fisher said that in hindsight, she may have married Paul Simon because of his music. There was something about the rhythm of the words that made her bipolar brain feel better. When I listen to Paul Simon’s Graceland and …
Drumming!
The drumming room is bright but softer, less of a rectangle, more of a square. Metal chairs with blue or yellow hard plastic seats are arranged in a circle. Most of the seats are taken. Each seat has a tall …
Before Drumming
Saturday! Time to go drumming! When I last looked at the Bi-Okoto Cultural Center website, the Saturday drumming class was at ten o’clock. Because I am almost always early for everything, especially when I am nervous, I get there at …
Pickleball With A 90-Year Old
Sharon Keefer is 90 years old. She doesn’t just play pickleball, she teaches others how to play. At nine o’clock every Thursday and Saturday morning from late Spring to early Fall, if you show up at the pickleball courts at …
The Starting Blocks for Feeling Steady
Drumming wasn’t until Saturday. It was too far away from Tuesday afternoon to simply wait for it to arrive. Preventive measures were necessary. There are two questions I ask myself when the blue cloud shows up, bumping against the window, …
Coming Down From A High
Vancouver is a beautiful city. It’s modern and sparkles like the snow on the peaks of the mountains that surround it on three sides. On the fourth side is the Pacific Ocean. The ocean sparkles, too. At 9:00 p.m. Central …
Before We Dive Into Mental Wellness
Before we dive into an exploration of the ways I’m supporting my own mental wellness, I want to say a few things. [This post references suicide. If you or someone you know may be struggling with suicidal thoughts, call the National …
Itching To Get Out
The pandemic gave us opportunities to travel inward. More time in our homes. More time exploring our interior landscape. We’ve had more than enough of that. I was scratching the walls to travel again. In April, I went to Vancouver, …
Stepping Back from the Ledge
Last night, Laura Trujillo, author of Stepping Back from the Ledge, spoke at the Mercantile Library for their annual memoir lecture. This reflection references suicide. If you or someone you know may be struggling with suicidal thoughts, call the National Suicide …
Allowing Good
I’ve been working on a novel, dinking around with it for a couple of years, then seriously since 2019. It’s had three significant overhauls on the way to a completed first draft. The story is about a lawyer, and I …