Transformative Presence
August 20, 2024I felt honored to be asked to lead a service and offer a sermon at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Buffalo on August 18, 2024.
Posts by Year
2024
Our Space
August 11, 2024Hold my space When I’m here When I’m gone There is no line There is always Us, each other
Remembrance
May 03, 2024Your love In our memories In your music In each other
Pregnant Rain
April 14, 2024This uncertain Spring Warm sun rays Tell of carefree summer days. Clouds, wind and snow Winter is not yet ready to go. Cool mists and pregnant rains Dodging ...
Involved
March 30, 2024Sometimes I get so involved The room around me melts The people blur, their mouths mute My thing, my focus, my need.
My Muse
March 08, 2024My muse lives within me, Not in a muse-zeum. My muse is not a distant bird To be called and welcomed as a guest. My muse is with me always In my ...
Conflict Transformation
March 05, 2024Over the past six months, I have participated in several trainings on Conflict Transformation led by Resetting The Table
De-escalation
February 14, 2024Peace Peace within me Inspires peace within you. Respect and care – that is all.
2023
Unhoused Dreams
December 31, 2023There is an inspiring and curiosity-provoking book about our attitudes towards and misunderstandings about homelessness in the United States. In this book, W...
What’s Next
December 11, 2023I sit here with my tiny brain Trying to comprehend all of this domain. Who am I to inflict my clumsy understanding on anyone, even myself? The spectre of dou...
Scarred Tissue
August 25, 2023Find the scars Agitate like Mars. Little battles within me Keep flowing towards harmony. Scarred tissue gets stuck Losing mobility, yuck.
Love All Of Them
August 15, 2023Be a person who loves all of yourself. Find a person who loves all of you. Love all of them.
Look Away From The Abyss
June 24, 2023Staring into the abyss I start to fall forward down. Branches I hit, ledges too. Obstacles race toward me I throw my momentum left I miss a ledge, that’s suc...
Ours Is To Let Them Be
May 25, 2023Let them be. The pile of bags is pressed to the wall. There is a man in there. His jacket is caked with weeks of dirt. He may not want to talk or move. Let h...
Blind To What Is Real
May 15, 2023Driven to the cliff over the abyss. And thrust into the void like this.
Holding Another’s Heart
May 11, 2023Creating a space where one feels comfortable To open their chest To remove their beating heart To cradle it in their hands Mingled with your hands.
Let Go
May 07, 2023Let go! Let go the tension. Let go the nervous energy. Let go the worry. We are safe. This moment is for peace For rest.
I Am A Lot
April 26, 2023I am a lot, Even for me. My mind runs hot. My body feels pressure, Like a fire hydrant Ready to quench an inferno. Ideas flow through my flesh, rising to a r...
Power Does
April 16, 2023Power summons euphoria: Like a hit of heroin, Actively kissing your crush, Or an audience of thousands Singing your song back to you.
Don’t Put Me on a Pedestal
April 09, 2023I am a person. I am proud of my accomplishments. I have regrets for actions I’ve taken And for ones I might yet take. I love my friends. I am grateful for th...
A Vampire
March 23, 2023A vampire, seductively touching fangs to skin, offers either a climax to life and a cessation of wants or an unending life of passion and hunger. A neck roma...
Hello Brightness
March 06, 2023Hello brightness, my old friend, Your presence is sure to mend. After a long dark winter, You glisten on the vestigial snow.
This Grace
February 27, 2023Written at WRITE ON! on Feb 21, 2023 What more can I aspire to embody than grace? I love this so so much!
Pennies
February 16, 2023Walking down the sidewalk, Lost in my thoughts, Pondering whether to reach out to check on a friend today. My eye catches a spot in the dirt, Nestled among t...
Walk Like The Hermit Crab
February 15, 2023Like sand crabs, Frantically scrambling across the beach, Moving from hole to hole, Escaping the rolling surf, The soaring birds, Any threat really.
Defenestrate the Sesquipedalians
February 14, 2023Defenestrate the Sesquipedalians that is, throw the big-word users out the window
Sharing an Idea
February 13, 2023An idea encased in a body becomes accessible as ink touches paper or as voice forms words.
Spring Is Here
February 12, 2023I am grateful to the Buffalo Ecstatic Dance community, and to the dancers who inspired this reflection today, February 12, 2023. The first day of spring. D...
2022
The River Flows
December 30, 2022The river flows Whether we notice or not.
Team
November 22, 2022A team notices each others’ strengths and becomes aware of an individual’s limitations. A team fosters each player’s growth and feeds each person’s living sp...
Vote
November 08, 2022Vote Vote for someone you like. Vote for someone you respect. Vote for someone who represents you. Vote for someone who gets you.
Big Big Table
November 07, 2022Share-the-plate announcement for Unitarian Universalist Church of Buffalo
Mr. Eric Davis
October 10, 2022Remembering Eric Davis:
Life Is A Dance
October 03, 2022Life is a dance With each song, we get a little bit stronger. We make friends. We copy their moves. We keep those we like. We make them our own.
Be
September 18, 2022Be. Be in this world but not of it. Be like the cat perched atop the wood pile. Be like the rat living in the holes between labs. Be like the dog who goes am...
Home
September 09, 2022How do we build our home?
Ecstatic Summer
August 24, 2022This attempt to express the sensations of participating in ecstatic dance was written during an outdoor dance. The playlist was titled “All the colors of lif...
The Creative Spigot
August 22, 2022Over lunch at Big Big Table, Jesse said, “artists see what is and express it so that others can see it as well.” Writing, like other arts, builds up within t...
Boundaries
August 21, 2022Boundaries, they help us to color within the lines, to paint delicate visions that approach and even embrace each other, while maintaining distinct edges.
Leadership
August 01, 2022What does it mean for most of us to feel overwhelmed much of the time?
Our Dreams
May 02, 2022Listening to others’ dreams lights me up. I shine as we explore lighting our way by them living into their dreams.
The Tree Towers Above
March 16, 2022What is more beautiful than looking up at the green maple leaves emerging from the branches of a single trunk to create a canopy unto itself?
The Source Of Our Own Troubles
March 13, 2022We are sometimes the source of our own troubles. Knowing the “right” thing to say is no replacement for how we say it. Irritation, anger and condescension ha...
At Dance
March 06, 2022Stress in the body is toxic. It causes pain and weakness throughout. It steals thoughts and drains one’s strength and motivation. So many dreams have died up...
Quotes: Bell Hooks, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Ivone Gebara
March 05, 2022Quotes from readings in Women, Poverty and Catholic Social Thought
Epiphany
January 03, 2022Around the midpoint of my third-ever ecstatic dance, I leaned back into a couch amidst the dance and began reading from More To This Confession: Relational P...
2021
Peace Is
September 13, 2021Peace is not an absence. Peace is a presence: a presence of quiet, Safety, Community, Connection, Love, Shared joy, Shared hope, Shared communication, And sh...
Sustained For Being Ourselves
August 26, 2021We each want to be sustained for being ourselves. We all benefit when we are sustained for being ourselves.
Goals
August 25, 2021My goal is not to meet or exceed others’ expectations.
Peace Begins Within Us
August 24, 2021Listen to oneself. Listen to one’s body. Above all, listen to one’s thoughts about peace within one’s mind, spirit and flesh. Peace begins within us. When on...
Walk With Peace
August 23, 2021Live for the beloveds we have lost. Live with the beloveds who are here.
Rising From The Depths Of Suffering
July 29, 2021With the Faithful Fools, we often ask students to ponder this quotation.
Tales from the Utopia: Part One
February 18, 2021Edgar found herself stuck in the snow. Her wheelchair could climb steps and travel for over an hour at speeds of up to 40 kilometers per hour, but it could n...
Athletes of Empathy
February 09, 2021We are the meek. The quiet. We are the ones who put our bodies and our spirits out there to meet with those persons whom others would choose to forget. We pe...
A Bug A Boot Too Baguba
February 06, 2021I feel a pin stuck deep into my back spreading me open like a butterfly on a board, constraining my movement, my thoughts, my feelings. I feel crushed under ...
2019
A Love Letter To SF
September 19, 2019I spent my 20’s following passions while trying to please others. I followed a prescribed path that kept my mind stimulated and my financial-future secure.
I See A World
September 12, 2019What does it mean to be paying attention and seeing the world that is trying to be born?
Twitter Tax Break - Lessons Learned Hearing
June 07, 2019A Fool speaking truth at City Hall
Discovering the Enneagram
April 06, 2019Three years ago, a person with whom I connected poorly introduced me to the Enneagram. As our relationship warmed, the Enneagram became more interesting. The...
5 Rules
April 03, 2019Rules to live by
Presence is …
March 21, 2019The Faithful Fools’ mission statement begins, “We are called to a ministry of presence.” At first, I had little idea what presence even meant. Over time, I f...
Friendship Is A Sheltering Tree
March 05, 2019Walking with my Grandpa Walter was a joy. He was so kind and friendly, connecting with friends and making new friends well into his nineties. He always made ...
A Weeklong Retreat
March 04, 2019Where better to begin than with the letter I sent to friends and family about what compels me to go on retreat?