My Blog
Tonight I’m thinking about Chris Cornell and Chester Bennington. We were all still trying to regain our equilibrium after Cornell’s suicide in May, when last week’s news about Bennington knocked us down again. These artists, whom we so loved and admired, were burdened with an anguish so relentless that they chose the ultimate release. It’s unbearably sad, especially for their families. And because of their celebrity, it puts a pronounced and sobering light on the illness of depression and its devastating impact. Nobody is immune,…
Photo from New York Daily News Let me begin by saying that I like running back Eddie Lacy and I’m glad that he’s come on board with the Seahawks. To the uninitiated, Eddie is a former Green Bay Packer. He played four seasons with the team, going to the Pro Bowl his rookie year. He was also named the 2013 Rookie of the Year. If you’re reading this Eddie, welcome to Seattle and ahoy! Eddie signed a one-year contract with the…
Today is my 55th birthday. The Sammy Hagar tune “I Can’t Drive 55” keeps running through my head. It occurs to me that someday my kids will take my car keys away from me. After all, I am creeping closer to that golden age. I just hope to God that when they do, it’s the result of a high speed chase across multiple counties and not because of some embarrassing fender bender in a Costco parking lot. But back to the birthday, it’s a weird…
Since the inauguration, I’ve been experiencing an uncharacteristic inertia. A malaise has insinuated itself into my psyche, and my days are often void of the requisite energy to write or practice. As such, my productivity has tanked to a troubling low. This feels different than depression. Still, I’m not exactly sure what’s up. I’m curious if other artists are experiencing this too. Reality has flipped on its ear. Every fucking day is weirder than the one before it. Lying is the new norm. Corruption and…
Over the past year, there has been a 20% increase in hate crimes in major metropolitan areas across the United States. These incidents – ranging from malicious harassment and property damage to direct violence – are motivated by biases against the victims based on race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender and gender identity and disability. Many believe, and rightfully so, that this spike is in direct relation to the rancorous 2016 presidential election. Unfortunately, this phenomenon has hit close to home as members of the Seattle…
So today I made a list of all the failures I’ve had over the past ten or so years. Yeah, I know. It’s not something a person would normally want to do. It’s a tad masochistic. (“Ya think?” yells the peanut gallery that sits in the back row of my brain.) But sometimes a chick can’t help it. Sometimes I just have to stare it all down and see what I can decipher. Maybe a comforting metaphor is lingering just beneath the surface. Maybe not.…
Dear Melania Trump, Elaine Chao, Janna Ryan and other Wives of the GOP, Although we reside on different planets in separate universes, I'm writing this as a fellow human sister and with the faith that you are fundamentally good women. I’m confident that somewhere in the sacred depths of your beautiful hearts, you know with complete certainty that something is terribly wrong. While you may not be in a position to express your gnawing trepidation out loud, I suspect that you understand, without question, we’re…
On New Year’s Eve, I received a package from my sister Mary. It contained a tiny silver Buddha, smiling delightfully, thumbs-up. According to the box, his name is Syd. The card that came with him said, “Silver opens the mind and lights the way forward. It is reflection, insight and wisdom.” I held the tiny silver Buddha in my hand and was immediately smitten. These are overwhelming days, loaded with uncertainty, fear and worry. As I’ve articulated in previous posts, our collective psyche has been…
Things are rather heavy these days. There's a pall draping our collective psyche. I can see and feel it everywhere: on social media, in the weary faces of both loved ones and strangers, in the low vibration that moans just beneath the surface of everything. We’re despondent still over a looming Trump presidency and all – known and unknown – that it brings. We’re grieving so many things, including the demise of the country we thought we knew. We’re awash in ambiguity and it hurts.…
At this point, the shock has worn off. We’ve crawled out from the rubble of our collective disbelief and disappointment and are regaining our equilibrium, uneasy as it may be. We’re slowly squaring with the ice cold reality that Donald Trump – a deranged, unqualified and dangerously erratic narcissist –is the president elect and, even more chilling, that millions of our fellow Americans wanted this. We all wish this were a horrible dream that we’ll eventually wake up from. But with each creepy cabinet appointment...each…
