How mad is hope? I hold onto it for dear life. Without hope, there is no real expansion beyond reality for me. Hope allows me to believe and be a co-creator of my future, rather than a witness or even…

Hope is the refuge of the perpetually optimistic. Buddhists believe you should abandon hope! It sounds mad really to abandon all hope of things being better in the future. But it is the lure of the future that snags us,…

“I hope the weather’s good Saturday.” “I hope your team wins.” “I hope this fits.” “I hope the car starts.” “I hope I get a good grade on this test.” “I hope he knows the time.” “I hope I remembered…

On Saturday, I followed him up the slanted wooden stairs into the house he shares with his partner. She was at work. They work together, actually, manifesting a kind of intimacy I can’t fathom. I guard my personal space. His…

Then the oven at his restaurant broke and the political bullshit at my job came to a head, leading to a third reorg in the space of two years. His crazy hours, my professional gyrations–we corresponded daily through the private…

She threw the Tarot for herself, twice, just using the simple three-card setup: Past, Present and Future. She got the Devil both times, once in the present and once in the future. She didn't understand the Devil card. On days…

“We’re small,” the small woman said. “And flawed.” The last phrase she didn’t mean. She wanted me to contradict her. So I did. “Flawed? Hardly. You and he are both so talented.” She was a musician, a composer, so she…

I usually read these prompts in the morning, before I head off to work, and let them percolate until I sit down at my desk at home after dinner to write for a while. But I just read this one,…

Last week I saw the total solar eclipse from a small town in Northeastern Vermont. We'd flown across the country to meet some friends and watch the event together. Standing in a field with 20 or so other people, I…

It was so dark it didn't matter if my high beams were on. I could barely see anything in front of me. The roads are empty at 5:15 AM. This is one of the reasons I like training early in…

Porcelain is notoriously hard to work with. Unlike stoneware or earthenware clay that has sand in it that grips your hand and holds its shape porcelain is smooth, wet, and liable to collapse on your wheel. It is also sensuous…