Songs of Root and Sky

I’m a city girl. For most of my life, I’ve lived in SoCal, with a brief stint in Berkeley as a young teen. My family moved around a lot, but the closest we got to anything resembling raw nature was in my earliest years, when we lived just a few blocks from...

Stand up Like a Mountain

I can’t believe it’s been two whole years since I last posted here in Cyber Land. During that time, a new grandchild burst into my life like a wild wind, toppling old routines and riveting my attention. I’ve become the archetypal grandma, yakking away to everyone I...

Our Unforgettable Fathers

Fathers of daughters can make or break their girls’ sense of worth, competency, confidence, ambition, ethics, zest for life, feminine appeal. Traditionally, they’ve served as bridges for their daughters into the wider world. Unless they totally blow it,...

Riding the Rails with Psyche

Sometimes a work of art comes along that changes your life. As a native Los Angelena, I find film a particularly powerful medium to effect that change. It doesn’t happen often, but when it does, you’ve got what my daughter “in the industry” rates as an Academy...

The Ides of March Aren’t ALL Bad!

I’m delighted to be speaking and signing books this coming Saturday, March 15 – oh, those Ides! – at the Ruth B. Shannon Center for the Performing Arts Bookfaire at Whittier College. I hope you can join me! Besides being, with the assassination of...