What do you do if you use less power? No social media? No listening to music? No TV? Sound like a fate worse than death? Inspired by guests on my podcast who find amazing activities to live by their environmental values, I committed to turning off all my electronics to sing every day. I’ve almost never sung in my life beyond Happy Birthday and The Star Spangled Banner so I’m[…] Keep reading →

This version of this song has brought me to tears lately, no exaggeration. I like the images in this video: Reconciliation and cleaning up The song is about the opposite of division. It’s about generosity. Not that one video will heal much, but I hope it helps. Many voices are speaking loudly in America today. I don’t hear a single one that speaks for me or nearly anyone I know,[…] Keep reading →

I’ve mentioned working on my book, which I intend to translate into video somehow—TV, movie, net, not sure. I’m at least a hundred pages into the first draft. I’m going to start sharing what I’d call sketches here of parts of the book that I think stand on their own. I’d love your thoughts. Any book I write needs to be personal, so I have to introduce myself. Experience has[…] Keep reading →

What does it mean to master a field? It comes from practicing, performing, reflecting, and practicing more. The result is liberation and freedom. Self-expression. Seeing mastery happen before your eyes Everyone who masters anything goes through a similar process that includes inexperience, looking less than amateurish, practicing, reflection, self-doubt, despair, progress, regress, anxiety, improvement, moving backward, mentoring, and so on. Years ago I found a site that showed the sketches[…] Keep reading →

Want to play Carnegie Hall? . . . or your equivalent—meaning performing at your peak level? If so, the question of how to make it there is not what notes do you play but how to get there. The answer is to practice, practice, practice. Play your scales. Run drills. Rehearse. Mastery takes work, time, discipline, pain, and such. Mastery delivers those things too. It’s worth it to master a[…] Keep reading →

I’m reading a book of poetry a friend just published. I like a few poems—generally the big ones like Ozymandias and Sonnet 116. I haven’t read much Whitman, but occasionally a work of his has drawn me in and enthralled me. The year I lived in Paris I saw a live performance of Rimbaud’s Une Saison en Enfer in French, though my French wasn’t great so it lost me quickly.[…] Keep reading →

As you probably know, I pick up at least a piece of litter every day from the ground and put it in a trash can. I’m not reducing the amount of trash, but at least saving some from reaching the ocean. More importantly, I’m developing skills, experiences, and beliefs about changing culture around trash. Since restaurants and bars started serving outdoors on mostly single-use plastic, the amount of litter has[…] Keep reading →