Remembering (to be human)

Been feeling more like a productivity machine than a person lately? Come laugh (and maybe cry a little) with me as I explore how we lost our way between PowerPoint and performance reviews – and how we might find our way back to being gloriously, messily human again.

The Parable of the Bricklayer

Our “inner lizard” kept our ancestors alive, back when the #1 concern was “Don’t Get Eaten”. But these deep reflexes, so well suited to the savannah, the tundra, the forest, the jungle, are perhaps a bit less helpful in email, social media, the dinner table, a traffic jam, or the ballot box. And that’s a problem. Today, I explore mindfulness, acceptance, and yes, some consequences.

The Gift of Mortality

I’ve struggled to see mortality as anything other than the Sword of Damocles, forever hanging over our heads. But there is a story there. From Gilgamesh, Christianity, Cicero, Tennyson, and Tolkien, mortality is seen as a source of freedom both in this world and from it. Perhaps that’s true.

The Hill We Climb: a Juneteenth Reflection

As a teenager, I thought my history teacher was just threatening us with summer school. Turns out, he was teaching us something way more important. Join me for a candid exploration of how America’s hardest stories – from Juneteenth to January 6th – can light our way forward.