Promises to Keep
by Dr. David Sanders Presidential inaugurations, like so many formal celebrations, tend to be formulaic. In 1961, John Kennedy broke with tradition by inviting the poet, Robert Frost, to share an original poem written for the occasion. It all went wrong. Frost, who was then eighty six years old, was unable, in the bright sunlight […]
Light, Color, and Tikkun Olam
by Janice Lines I have been thinking about what we discussed in class a couple of weeks ago, that spiritual pursuit and education is a privilege that not all get to enjoy. We felt humbled and somewhat ashamed that we are able to take classes, attend workshops, read and study, work on our faith and […]
Smelling Our Way
by Dr. David Sanders I thought it was a joke to learn that Google is beta testing the delivery of smells via your computer. What this will mean is that when you look up the word “rose” you can not only see an image or read about a rose, you can smell it. Covid-19 diminished […]
Breathe.
Melanie Gruenwald So many times, we experience life, thinking “I’ll feel better when… ”I’ll feel calmer when…” “I’ll feel less anxious when….” And “when” comes, and we’re all still feeling a bit muddled… what is going on? My first thought is the need to take more deep breaths and hydrate. We need to get out […]
Democracy is Coming (3 of 3)
by Dr. David Sanders In getting hold of a theme, Leonard Cohen, the poet-songwriter could prodigiously create rhymed verse after verse from the thesaurus under his arm that was far better than worse. For his 1992 song, Democracy is Coming to the U.S.A. Cohen dug deep to find rhymes beyond the usual suspects And with […]
Radical Change (2 of 3)
by Dr. David Sanders This is how this blog came together. We were sharing ideas in class about our awareness of systemic racism and the thought came up that what we need is not just incremental change, but radical change. That reminded me of the famous quote by Gandhi, “Be the change you want to […]
Stand by Democracy (1 of 3)
by Dr. David Sanders Have you ever driven by a billboard and taken notice of its message only to be told that the advertisement has been there for six months? Why do we take note of certain things and other things, in plain sight, escape our attention? The documentary Social Dilemma provides one answer to […]
The Invisible is More Important than the Visible
by Melanie Gruenwald Being a mourner in this time of COVID is an interesting experience. Life transitions, in general, are being experienced differently, in general. My dad passed away in Florida on August 25th. My brother and I were able to be with him in his final weeks, because of the flexibility of working remotely. […]
From the Mouths of Babes
by Dr. David Sanders My 9-year-old daughter looked toward me the other morning and said: “Dad, you’re still growing.” I looked at her puzzled and she returned my look with a sincere expression and continued: “Not the, you know,” as she lifted her hand to represent physical growth, “You are growing in your awareness.” I […]
Let’s Remake the World with Words
by Melanie Gruenwald “Let’s remake the world with words” Written by Gregory Orr Let’s remake the world with words. Not frivolously, nor To hide from what we fear, But with a purpose. Let’s, As Wordsworth said, remove “The dust of custom” so things Shine again, each object arrayed In its robe of original light. And […]