I am so happy you have transferred to the newer wisdom school. The campus is filled with so many lovely folks and it is SO easy to get around as a student of life. All that said, as faculty, your learning curve is a bit steeper so thank you mightily for hanging in there.
I am looking forward to my Friday gather time around the old Table with coffee in hand and grateful that my Chair made the move intact.
I loved the E.B. Quote as we approach the celebration of our 250 year old experiment. We still have much to learn before the compost pile.
I am sharing the poem from my morning meditation group and I am carrying it into coming year. Check out the poet’s life…she is bundle of courage.
Looking forward to seeing you here, along with all this wonderful community of wise chairs.
Summons
Last night I dreamed
ten thousand grandmothers
from the twelve hundred corners of the earth walked out into the gap one breath deep
between the bullet and the flesh between the bomb and the family.
They told me we cannot wait for governments.
There are no peacekeepers boarding planes.
There are no leaders who dare to say every life is precious, so it will have to be us.
They said we will cup our hands around each heart.
We will sing the earth's song, the song of water, a song so beautiful that vengeance will turn to weeping, the mourners will embrace, and grief replace every impulse toward harm.
Ten thousand is not enough, they said, so, we have sent this dream, like a flock of doves into the sleep of the world. Wake up. Put on your shoes.
You who are reading this, I am bringing bandages and a bag of scented guavas from my trees. I think I remember the tune. Meet me at the corner.
Yay! Thank you, Bam, for doing the hard thing and making it easy to be a more faithful reader! Yeah, I struggled with Wordpress; guess that was a too-hard thing :-)
dear darling, whatever it takes to smooth your path! if this makes your life one drop easier, then every hair pulled out on my end was worth it! and, besides, now i can wonder even more where i've left a dangling participle or misplaced comma. you are chief of police in that department. and you always, always keep me in line. i'll try to see if we can add a widget just for you—to fix my bloopers....
My daughter, Sarah, is a third grade teacher. One of her mantras that she repeats day in and day out to her students is “you can do hard things”. Those kids on their own often write that little mantra on top of their math tests: “I can do hard things.”
Welcome to Substack! In my humble opinion, your presence here only makes the platform better. =) I'll never forget how (back in ye olden blogging days) you made little teenage me feel like a "real writer." So, platforms may change, but the core of it never does.
hello, beautiful! you have always, always been a “real writer.” and i can’t wait to read what you’ve been up to in these past few years. and thanks for the welcome.
Welcome to Substack! It’s so much easier to navigate than Wordpress which I’ve had a love/hate relationship with! But I would continue to follow you to any platform you deem worthy! I don’t often comment but I love your weekly missives. They always give me something to reflect upon. Can’t wait for the new book. Happy 4th of July 🇺🇸
bless your heart, beautiful! knowing you are out there makes me happy. and i do know you are there because your great good light finds its way through the magic and mystery of this digital world. xox
I helped my partner pack for a move that took place last Sunday. (We maintain separate domiciles.) He was way behind, due in part to spending a few hours Tuesday night in the ER, then recuperating Wednesday. From Thursday on, I became an expert in double-wrapping about 50 paintings of all sizes. I felt like a long-ago employee of Marshall Field's gift-wrapping department at Christmas. He did hire movers, but it took longer than scheduled/budgeted for them to load the truck (to the rafters and tailgate) and unload at the new place. In that suffocating heat. I got to the new place first, switched on the lights and quickly realized that the power was off because my partner had overlooked getting it turned on in his name. The move was finished by flashlight and cellphone beam. The next day, we had to pack and drive over two carloads of small leftovers, still in the smothering heat and no AC respite at either place, but with power on for a big fan at the new place. Because my partner is in worse shape than me, I had to channel my 40-year-old self to haul most of the boxes down from the first-floor old place and up to the second-floor new place. But I did it, because I had to. And I am proud of my somewhat wobbly 74-year-old self for accomplishing that hard job. (Just don't ask me to do it again, Bill.)
Congratulations on this lovely new, um, thing! And thank you for sharing the empowering card (even for old little girls) and the strangely calming E.B. White quote. I may read them every day.
OH NO!!!! that sounds truly like the worst of all possible variables tossed into a move. eeek on the ER. hoping he is now on the mend. as the mother of two, i do believe at LEAST two moves are in our summer docket, and i will pray we don't need to revert to iPhone flashlight to find our way. you are a champion. isn't that EB just heavenly?! oh my, it knocked my socks off at the end......sending love, dear friend.
Change is hard for me, too. I have heard a lot about Substack, but I’ve never actually been here. Thanks for making the transition so easy. Life is full of hard things, and some are so much harder than others. Right now I am very fortunate that nothing recently has been too hard. My hope for the rest of the month is that all of those who gather here travel an easy road.
BAM, perfect timing about doing this hard thing! Grateful for how you and others role model doing the hard thing which helps me catch myself doing it from time to time as well! Do you know Carrie Newcomer's song, you can do this hard thing? Jackie put me on to it and it's empowering and lovely to sing and breathe in. 💕
Welcome to this new new platform thing. I migrated over to here a couple of years ago from a blog on my website to this new "website" it is called. I'm still clicking buttons to find out what happens when . . . A wonderful premiere post!
I love that you refer to it as a “thing.” I tried to explain to my 95-year-old mom this morning what exactly had caused the chair to not be where she thought it would be, and oh my there was a linguistics and logic conundrum!!
oh, sweetheart, you have done the HARDEST things. some times it's the not so so hard (really) that present themselves as daunting. when you look at all you've absorbed in your sweet life, you demonstrate to all the world: this is how you live with luminous grace when life pummels from all sides. and, as is always the case, you've got gobs of us here to hold your hand whenever the bumps look big....
I am so happy you have transferred to the newer wisdom school. The campus is filled with so many lovely folks and it is SO easy to get around as a student of life. All that said, as faculty, your learning curve is a bit steeper so thank you mightily for hanging in there.
I am looking forward to my Friday gather time around the old Table with coffee in hand and grateful that my Chair made the move intact.
I loved the E.B. Quote as we approach the celebration of our 250 year old experiment. We still have much to learn before the compost pile.
I am sharing the poem from my morning meditation group and I am carrying it into coming year. Check out the poet’s life…she is bundle of courage.
Looking forward to seeing you here, along with all this wonderful community of wise chairs.
Summons
Last night I dreamed
ten thousand grandmothers
from the twelve hundred corners of the earth walked out into the gap one breath deep
between the bullet and the flesh between the bomb and the family.
They told me we cannot wait for governments.
There are no peacekeepers boarding planes.
There are no leaders who dare to say every life is precious, so it will have to be us.
They said we will cup our hands around each heart.
We will sing the earth's song, the song of water, a song so beautiful that vengeance will turn to weeping, the mourners will embrace, and grief replace every impulse toward harm.
Ten thousand is not enough, they said, so, we have sent this dream, like a flock of doves into the sleep of the world. Wake up. Put on your shoes.
You who are reading this, I am bringing bandages and a bag of scented guavas from my trees. I think I remember the tune. Meet me at the corner.
Let's go.
Aurora Levins Morales
Posted on Readalittlepoetry - December 19, 2025
I love this poem. Adding it to my commonplace “book”. I’d meet all you chair people at the corner any day.
Yay! Thank you, Bam, for doing the hard thing and making it easy to be a more faithful reader! Yeah, I struggled with Wordpress; guess that was a too-hard thing :-)
dear darling, whatever it takes to smooth your path! if this makes your life one drop easier, then every hair pulled out on my end was worth it! and, besides, now i can wonder even more where i've left a dangling participle or misplaced comma. you are chief of police in that department. and you always, always keep me in line. i'll try to see if we can add a widget just for you—to fix my bloopers....
I never want to be the cause of any uprooted hair on your part. And the chief only intervenes when expressly asked -- union rules, ya know!
i know i know. i'm the one who asks. because i know how to find the best of the best.
My daughter, Sarah, is a third grade teacher. One of her mantras that she repeats day in and day out to her students is “you can do hard things”. Those kids on their own often write that little mantra on top of their math tests: “I can do hard things.”
God love Sarah! (I know She does!!)
Welcome to Substack! In my humble opinion, your presence here only makes the platform better. =) I'll never forget how (back in ye olden blogging days) you made little teenage me feel like a "real writer." So, platforms may change, but the core of it never does.
hello, beautiful! you have always, always been a “real writer.” and i can’t wait to read what you’ve been up to in these past few years. and thanks for the welcome.
Welcome to Substack! It’s so much easier to navigate than Wordpress which I’ve had a love/hate relationship with! But I would continue to follow you to any platform you deem worthy! I don’t often comment but I love your weekly missives. They always give me something to reflect upon. Can’t wait for the new book. Happy 4th of July 🇺🇸
bless your heart, beautiful! knowing you are out there makes me happy. and i do know you are there because your great good light finds its way through the magic and mystery of this digital world. xox
I helped my partner pack for a move that took place last Sunday. (We maintain separate domiciles.) He was way behind, due in part to spending a few hours Tuesday night in the ER, then recuperating Wednesday. From Thursday on, I became an expert in double-wrapping about 50 paintings of all sizes. I felt like a long-ago employee of Marshall Field's gift-wrapping department at Christmas. He did hire movers, but it took longer than scheduled/budgeted for them to load the truck (to the rafters and tailgate) and unload at the new place. In that suffocating heat. I got to the new place first, switched on the lights and quickly realized that the power was off because my partner had overlooked getting it turned on in his name. The move was finished by flashlight and cellphone beam. The next day, we had to pack and drive over two carloads of small leftovers, still in the smothering heat and no AC respite at either place, but with power on for a big fan at the new place. Because my partner is in worse shape than me, I had to channel my 40-year-old self to haul most of the boxes down from the first-floor old place and up to the second-floor new place. But I did it, because I had to. And I am proud of my somewhat wobbly 74-year-old self for accomplishing that hard job. (Just don't ask me to do it again, Bill.)
Congratulations on this lovely new, um, thing! And thank you for sharing the empowering card (even for old little girls) and the strangely calming E.B. White quote. I may read them every day.
OH NO!!!! that sounds truly like the worst of all possible variables tossed into a move. eeek on the ER. hoping he is now on the mend. as the mother of two, i do believe at LEAST two moves are in our summer docket, and i will pray we don't need to revert to iPhone flashlight to find our way. you are a champion. isn't that EB just heavenly?! oh my, it knocked my socks off at the end......sending love, dear friend.
Change is hard for me, too. I have heard a lot about Substack, but I’ve never actually been here. Thanks for making the transition so easy. Life is full of hard things, and some are so much harder than others. Right now I am very fortunate that nothing recently has been too hard. My hope for the rest of the month is that all of those who gather here travel an easy road.
amen. and beautiful. thank you.
BAM, perfect timing about doing this hard thing! Grateful for how you and others role model doing the hard thing which helps me catch myself doing it from time to time as well! Do you know Carrie Newcomer's song, you can do this hard thing? Jackie put me on to it and it's empowering and lovely to sing and breathe in. 💕
I don’t think I know it, but I can imagine it. I might just go look it up. And in the meantime, big love, sweetheart. Xox
Welcome to this new new platform thing. I migrated over to here a couple of years ago from a blog on my website to this new "website" it is called. I'm still clicking buttons to find out what happens when . . . A wonderful premiere post!
I love that you refer to it as a “thing.” I tried to explain to my 95-year-old mom this morning what exactly had caused the chair to not be where she thought it would be, and oh my there was a linguistics and logic conundrum!!
Thank you Bammy for urging me on toward the hard things. Not tomorrow. Today.
oh, sweetheart, you have done the HARDEST things. some times it's the not so so hard (really) that present themselves as daunting. when you look at all you've absorbed in your sweet life, you demonstrate to all the world: this is how you live with luminous grace when life pummels from all sides. and, as is always the case, you've got gobs of us here to hold your hand whenever the bumps look big....