Stories of Hope

December 30, 2015 / Laura Grace Weldon / 4 Comments

I asked people to share an experience they’ve had this year that’s brought them hope. Here’s what they had to say.

Emma Durand: It seems like a simple thing, but I planted pots of herbs, tomatoes, and flowers on our apartment balcony. It surprised me how actually attached I got to those plants. I got excited by new tendrils and buds!

Mark Wilson: I work with high school and college-aged kids in a community program. They’re good at dismissing bs and thinking for themselves. I can assure you, this upcoming generation of young men and women are making this world a more connected and accepting place already.

Niki Weldon: My mom’s group gives me hope and strength. We relate, share, grieve, love, care, help, and generally create a village.

I hope we as a parenting society we can return to a time where we can watch out not only for our own kids but for each others’ kids in a way that lets us get to know our neighbors again. We all are going through life and can do something as simple as helping a stranger carry bags to their car since you only have one bag and they are about to drop their milk. I think maybe that is what is missing in our immediate society now. It is very much I, I, I, and not enough community. But my mommy group gives me hope that maybe we (as a society ) are coming full circle back to that. (She also shared a link.)

Bernie DeKoven: People playing playfully. Games, maybe, or rolling downhill or naming clouds or skipping. Whenever I see people playing – families, kids, adults of any age – I feel something very much like hope for humanity.

Loving, too. It does very much the same for me, restoring hope. Loving their pets, their kids, their world.

Kimerly Wagstaff: Every time I hear a child’s laughter; the words ‘thank-you,”I love you,’ ‘I’m sorry.’ Every sunrise and sunset…all these give me hope.

Charles Rogers: My daughter-in-law and son’s Christmas gift was a sonogram of a 9 week fetus!

Tobias Whitaker: I think it is all around. It is easy to find yourself sidetracked by a very small but vocal minority that has dictated the American (global) consciousness because of the narrow scope of the media. But I have found that I get along very well with my neighbors even though we may have some very different views politically and philosophically. I think that when you talk face to face about what you have in common all the other nonsense drifts away. You may be surprised, or maybe you wouldn’t, how many people in my neighborhood stop by to chat with my children while they are walking their dogs or out for a stroll. How many people want to talk gardening or engage in friendly chatter when we both know that if we compared notes on religion or government we would be on opposite ends of one another. But we respect one another and that gives me hope.

With that said I find hope and inspiration in my children’s laughter, they remind me to be present, that this particular moment is what matters most. I find it in the resurgence of wildlife around my home, for example in the 40+ years I have lived in my town I only began seeing bald eagles about 5 years ago, somewhat regularly. I find it in the people (right-wing and left-wing) embracing traditional agriculture in a hot zone for natural gas extraction. There is hope in the endless opportunity of the internet to communicate with and influence people of good intention. There is hope simply in the fact that conversations such as this exist!

Though I am very realistic about the urgency of some issues I do believe truth has awakened. I believe, personally, that is why the toxic members of our global society have gotten so vocal. They see their ability to manipulate slipping away.

Martha Eaton: The fact that the Ohio state board of education is rethinking the number of standardized tests given to children attending public schools. While the early changes are far from substantial, this discussion gives me hope that teachers will be allowed to make instructional decisions based on developmental characteristics instead of what is going to be on the test.

Kevin Vincent: One refugee child was safe somewhere in our world. My hope is that our hearts will have empathy for the little ones.

Ali Baylor: I am an ecotherapist/nature educator in Florida. Our farm is closed over the holidays, so our weekly homeschool kids have to miss out on a few weeks of nature classes. One mom told me what her child said a few days before Christmas, “Mom, I can’t wait for the holidays to be over so we can go back to Ms. Ali’s farm!” Wow. Nature (1); Santa (0)! There ARE families rearing their children to be conscious.

Ann Krier: Watching my son attempting to diaper his one year old. I almost did not give birth to him, but that’s a story for another day.

Katherine Clark:

The FBI has made animal abuse a federal offense.

Because of cell phones (which I usually hate) police abuse has been filmed and, slowly, I truly believe the system will change.

A socialist is running for the Democratic nomination and doing really well. He might get it. Who would have thought?

Lauren Seaver: Gathering with a tribe of other unschooling families for a weekly potluck always feeds my soul. In addition, spending every morning with an amazing group of 3, 4 & 5 year olds at our pre-k co-op is the most heart-lifting part of my day.

Amy Chan I’ve been having a rough time this year due to losing my job on top of getting a divorce. You know what brings me hope? A two-year-old mixed breed dog I adopted from the shelter this year. He gets me out to the dog park in just about any weather, gives me a reason to talk to people, and teaches me to live with enthusiasm. Now I see what unconditional love really is.

Leslie Boomer: Because we have a Savior I have hope. Every day.

Bob Montgomery: Life without hope is death, a living death. Living a life of service as inspired by Jesus cements that hope.

Saraswati Namaste: My trip to India where I was shown/taught the oneness of all & to actively love the world despite (assorted dreadfulnesses go here). And learning the lightness of simplicity. And biggest of all, that there are millions of souls around the world doing wondrous things for others in big and small ways, leading quiet but wholly dedicated lives of profound service. Every day 24/7 for decades. The pebble in the pond inspiring others to emulate them. As that desire to serve, to make love manifest in the world, continues its relentless, outward expansion love will triumph.

Bill and Kathy Johnston: We have never, ever been more hopeful. Here’s why. This autumn we, along with several other people, started an interfaith dialogue group. We sent invitations to every single house of faith in our city (and followed up with phone calls to a mosque, synagogue, and Zen center in hopes of real diversity). The invitations basically explained that each month we’d be reading a work that could help us more deeply understand different faith traditions, then we’d be getting together to discuss it. The local paper picked up the story before our first meeting in September and the response has been exceptional. So far we have read passages by Christian theologian Frederick Buechner, Sufi mystic Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, and Buddhist nun Pema Chodron.

We urge you to give this a go where you live. Here are the basics. Arrange to have monthly meetings in a library room (a safe, non-denominational place that’s also, at least where we live, free). Set up ground rules about respectful discussions. Email an article by the author (solicit suggestions from the group for upcoming reads). We also send around a sign-up sheet asking people to bring snacks and we provide coffee, tea, and water. There’s a reason for the food; it gets people to stand around talking to one another and those developing friendships are, in essence, one of the biggest reasons for doing this.

Amalie K.: In March I was pushing a shopping cart full of stuff out of Target when I fell in the parking lot. I was in excruciating pain, but the worst thing was that my three-year-old was sitting in the cart panicking because her mama was writhing on the ground.

Instantly, and I mean instantly, people rushed over to help me. A man took off his coat and laid it over me to keep me from going into shock, then he knelt on the slushy cement holding my hand. A woman held my daughter, reassuring me she would stay right there and keep her safe. Someone called an ambulance. Another person loaded my shopping bags in my car. The medics made sure they didn’t alarm my daughter with anything they were doing and were kind enough to wait to leave for the hospital until my mother got there to pick her up. My hip may have broken but my fears about strangers healed that day.

Michelle Wilbert: My hope is always maintained and often increased by the sheer beauty and goodness that prevails in spite of all that seems to work against both. In some respects, it isn’t surprising that humans are sometimes bent towards evil. What is remarkable and stunning to contemplate is the fact of goodness; we, who can get away with everything from a poor showing in every human interaction or the most insipid mediocrity do, on a regular basis, conform to the highest reaches of goodness and light, giving to, sharing with, doing for our fellows great good out of a simple, human sense of kindness and fair play–we perform the everyday miracles of generosity of spirit that allows for continued hope–“the thing with feathers” to quote Emily Dickinson– to live in our hearts and animate our actions, giving us the strength to press on.

It’s Getting Better

December 27, 2015 / Laura Grace Weldon / 8 Comments

Pay attention to the news and it’s nearly impossible to be optimistic. Lives shattered by terrorism, poverty, conflict, and prejudice. The Earth herself endangered by greed and ignorance. It’s enough to stomp out hope altogether.

Don’t let it.

There’s no denying we have work to do to heal one another and our lovely planet, but let’s pause to consider where we’re already improving.

We’re overcoming diseases at extraordinary rates.

AIDs related deaths have continued to drop for the last 15 years in a row and new HIV infections among children have dropped by 58% since 2000.
Malaria, one of the world’s top killers, is on the decline. Last year 16 countries reported zero indigenous cases of malaria. Globally, mortality rates from the disease have fallen from an estimated 839 000 in 2000 to 438 000 in 2015. In other words, an estimated 6.2 million people have been saved from malaria-related deaths over the last 15 years .
The incidence of polio, which once crippled over a thousand children every day, has now been reduced by 99 percent. Only two countries, Afghanistan and Pakistan, continue to experience wild polio cases.
The painful parasitic disease, Guinea Worm, has effectively been eradicated.

Many more children are surviving childhood.

Mortality rates for children younger than five have been cut in half since 1990 in virtually every country around the world. That’s about 19,000 fewer children dying every day this year compared to 25 years ago.

More people than ever have access to safe water and bathroom facilities.

Over the last 25 years, an average of 47,000 more people per day were able to rely on a source of clean drinking water. Now 91 percent of the world’s population has safe water. This saves countless people from suffering or dying from water-borne illnesses.

Over two billion people have gained access in the last 25 years to what the World Health Organization politely calls “improved sanitation facilities.” In other words, 68% of the global population has access to a toilet — critical for health and improved living standards.

Fewer people are hungry.

The number of chronically undernourished people has dropped by 200 million in the last 25 years. That’s particularly impressive considering the world’s population increased by 1.9 billion people during that time. (The world produces enough food to feed everyone, but poverty, conflict, and harmful economic systems perpetuate hunger.)

More people can read than ever before.

Today, four out of five people are able to read. In many regions of the world the majority of children and young adults are more literate than their elders, demonstrating that global literacy is rapidly increasing. At this point, nine out of ten children are learning to read.

Female literacy rates haven’t risen as quickly due to inequality and poverty, but in some areas, particularly East Asia, 90 percent more girls are able to read than 10 years ago. As female literacy goes up, other overall positive indicators tend to follow including decreased domestic violence, improved public health, and greater financial stability.

In the U.S., twice as many people are reading books for pleasure than they were in the mid-1950’s.

Internet access is spreading across the world.

There’s been an eight fold increase in the number of people with access to the net in the last 15 years. Right now, there are two Internet users in the developing world for every user in the developed world. With this access comes better opportunities to network, build knowledge, create jobs, and stay connected with others.

The average person’s standard of living has gone up.

Twenty-five years ago, nearly half the world’s population in the developing world lived on less than $1.25 a day. Today, that proportion has declined to 14 percent. Around the world, the number of people living in extreme poverty has dropped by half.

In the U.S., homelessness continues to decline. Over the past five years the number of people without shelter has dropped by 26 percent.

Right of indigenous people around the world to protect their land and their identity are, in many cases, beginning to be upheld.

For example, the Makuna, Tanimuka, Letuama, Barasano, Cabiyari, Yahuna and Yujup-Maku peoples of Columbia have won the right to preserve a million hectares of Amazonian forest where they will continue to act as guardians of the land.

Sustainability is accelerating.

The U.S. and Europe, over the last two years, have added more power capacity from renewables than from gas, coal, and nuclear combined. Renewable energy jobs more than doubled in ten years, from three million jobs in 2004 to 6.5 million in 2013, and continue to grow. Dramatic improvements in renewable energy technology have lowered costs while improving performance for hydropower, geothermal, solar, and onshore wind power.

Wind energy prices in the U.S. have reached an all-time low and there’s enough wind power installed in the U.S. to meet the total electricity demands of Colorado, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Kansas, and Wyoming. Investments in wind power are becoming mainstream, including projects being built for Amazon.com, Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, and Wal-Mart.

Protected areas of land and water have substantially increased in the last 25 years. For example, protected lands in Latin America and the Caribbean have risen from 8.8 percent in 1990 to 23.4 percent in 2014.

In fact, more of the planet found protection in 2015 than ever before. In the U.S., President Obama has designated 260 million acres as protected public lands and waters – more than any previous president.

This year nations are setting aside one million square miles of “highly protected ocean,” more than any prior year. This area is larger than Texas and Alaska combined. These fully protected marine reserves are off-limits to drilling, fishing, and other uses incompatible with preservation.

Much more needs to be done to raise these standards and to deal with the political extremism, economic inequality, and environmental destruction that causes so much suffering. Much, much more. But taking a moment to consider these and other positive changes can empower us to accomplish even more.

Holiday Project Rush

December 24, 2015 / Laura Grace Weldon / 8 Comments

I’m a crafter wannabe with no talent to back up those aspirations. But my desire to come up with frugal and meaningful presents pushes me to attempt projects rather than stare dreamy-eyed at all the luscious offerings I can’t afford, the ones made by people with real skill.

Over the years my four kids and I have made hundreds of gifts: mosaic tiles, felted ornaments, hand-dipped candles in rustic holders, glass magnets, painted pillowcases, you name it we’ve probably done it. In most cases these projects came out reasonably well. Any flaws could easily be ascribed to the youthful nature of the participants. But now my kids are old enough to make or buy their own gifts, no need for mom’s help.

Yesterday one of my sons heated and hammered iron into an odal rune amulet, similar to the ones worn by his Scandinavian ancestors to ward off jötnar, those unhelpful yet powerful beings known as trolls. I want to wear one, or at least hang it near my computer where pesky trolls still lurk.

Another of my sons is doing woodworking projects. One is a simple board with a beverage opener mounted on it. But he’s hollowed out the back, where he’s installed a powerful magnet. When a cap is popped off, it’ll cling like magic to the board just below the opener. Another of his projects is a five foot long custom rack for halters and ropes to be used in our barn. The wood on each is sanded and oiled to smooth perfection.

And my daughter has been making darling felt owl ornaments, inspired by her volunteer work at a avian wildlife rehabilitation center. These plump, stuffed little creatures are a hoot.

I had only a few projects lined up this year.

1. Homemade cocoa mix kits with chocolate spoons and homemade cocoa nib marshmallows. These are going into cookie baskets I give to neighbors and elderly aunt types.

2. A few felt ornaments (okay, I got the idea from my daughter), which I’ll use to adorn packages.

3. And my main project, cement stepping stones embedded with my friends’ favorite quotes. It was fun detective work finding out those quotes (including Virginia Woolf, J.R. R. Tolkien, and Buddha) but not so fun doing the project in a crowded garage.

I know leaving enough time is essential if I want to create in a lighthearted way rather than with that teeth-gritting get it done already attitude. But this year I got started too late.

Being short on time also leads to poorly done (okay: ridiculously bad) projects.

I hurriedly assembled my cocoa kits, meaning I couldn’t come up with more artful labels than old adhesive printer forms.

The felt ornaments, which I intended to look like quizzical chickens, were described by one of my helpful family members as strangled poultry. I may just hang them on our tree o’homemade ornaments rather than give them away.

And I shan’t speak of the cement stepping stones, still sloshy in their forms.

At least my kids have learned to make their own projects joyfully, creatively, and occasionally ahead of time. Maybe my craft attempts aren’t the outcome of my artistic longings. Maybe generating kids who are themselves artful is what I’ve been working on all along.

Because this year’s gifts are still secret, I had to offer this throwback post from GeekMom.com.

Toes Making A Fist

December 16, 2015March 7, 2016 / Laura Grace Weldon / 36 Comments

Toddler shoes so classic they’re now on eBay. (image: JuneeMoonVintage)

There was an era when stiff white baby shoes were de rigur. Parents were assured their children’s feet wouldn’t develop properly without them. This was before the Internet, so it wasn’t easy to disprove industry lobbyists’ advertising campaigns, women’s magazine articles, and mainstream doctors repeating all the same falsehoods.

But my husband and I, being freethinkers, believed barefoot must surely be nature’s perfect design, so we didn’t get our first child shoes until he was nearly two. Grandparents on both sides muttered about our poor unshod child wearing hand-knit socks in the winter. When we finally broke down, we broke down completely, and ended up buying those same little white shoes. (Freethinkers? Not so much.)

We knew we’d made a mistake. The shoes cost approximately the same as our weekly grocery budget. They seemed to cause our child to fall more often and made his gait somewhat awkward, so we put them on him infrequently. The sound of those shoes clumping on the floor brought back memories, I swear, of wearing similar shoes when I was small except that mine had maddening little bells attached. <shakes fist on behalf of toddler selfhood>

We were determined to get more flexible footwear when we took our child to get his second pair a few months later. We eased his little feet out of the white baby shoes and the shoe salesman checked sizing on one of those metal measurers unique to shoe stores. (The term is Brannock Device, I looked it up.)

This time, we insisted on a soft pair of sneakers. The salesman knelt, put the shoes on, laced them up, and asked our little boy to walk in them. Our sweetie did as he was told. I don’t know if he he’d been wearing shoes he’d outgrown or if the new shoes finally fit his wide feet, but he took a few tentative steps and a big smile slid across his face. He said clearly, with the wonder of the newly liberated, “My toes don’t have to make a fist any more!”

The phrase has remained a family joke even though that toddler is now a young man (still with feet so wide they’re hard to fit). Each time I hear it I cringe to think of the pain his poor crunched up toes must have been in. And it continues to remind me that children, especially young children, can’t always tell us something is wrong. They accommodate as best they can to a tight fit, to falls, to an awkward gait, even to !#*! bells that jingle at every step.

Children accommodate to all sorts of things. That’s why we’re not aware they’re suffering from chronic headaches (as my daughter did) or meekly compliant around a babysitter who hits (as my friend’s son was) or have to battle rats that get in their bedrooms at night (as a child in our neighborhood did). We have no idea why it seems they’ve become clingy, whiny, or unreasonable. Sometimes we can’t see any change in their behavior at all.

It’s a blessed relief when we’re finally able to figure out what’s wrong. Only then can we make it better.

Let’s remember to be on the lookout out for anything in our children’s lives that forces them to accommodate to misery. Let’s keep a look out for constriction and pain in our own lives too.

kids can't tell us what's wrong

I’d love to hear your own “toes making a fist” stories.

Acts of Kindness That Take Moments

December 10, 2015December 10, 2016 / Laura Grace Weldon / 16 Comments

fit acts of kindness in your busy day

Be kind whenever possible.

It is always possible.

~Dalai Lama

Compassion is contagious. The wisest among us have always taught this truth and researchers agree: a kind word or helpful gesture inspires recipients to act more compassionately themselves. This tendency to “pay it forward’ influences dozens more in an enlarging network of kindness. Even more heartening, the effect persists.

When kindness begats more kindness, it sets in motion a ripple effect far greater than we might imagine. (We know it boosts the giver’s health and happiness too, especially when we perform a variety of caring acts.)

Want to fit more compassion in your day?

1 minute acts of compassion

When something good happens, amplify it. If you see a public servant going above the call of duty, contact their supervisor to commend them. If you’ve gotten excellent service at a restaurant, repair shop, or other business leave a complimentary review online. If one of your children’s friends did something unexpectedly generous or thoughtful, call their parents to share the story.

Take the time to introduce yourself and ask the names of people you see on a regular basis. That way you can greet the office security guard, postal carrier, and librarian by name every time you see them.

Next time you renew your driver’s license, check the organ donor box.

Let someone leaning on a cane or trying to calm a fussy baby go in front of you in the checkout line.

Add a coin to an expired meter.

Give an authentic compliment to a family member, friend, or co-worker. Think of it as being on the prowl for the positive.

Let your online clicks do some good by using search engine that donates to charities. Try Good Search or EcoSearch. Registering is speedy, then you can use it daily.

Pick up a few extra umbrellas when you see them on sale. Keep them in your car or at work, ready to gift someone who doesn’t have one. (Or heck, next time it looks like rain, have fun hanging a umbrellas from tree branches and road signs in a busy part of town!)

When you buy coffee, pay extra for “suspended coffee.” It’s an anonymous act of charity, allowing the barista to give a cup of coffee to someone who has difficulty paying.

5 minute acts of kindness

Create a separate, secret email account for each of your kids. Send an email whenever you take a great picture, share a funny moment, or want to preserve a memory. Give them the email address when they become parents for the first time.

Save empty pill bottles from over-the-counter as well as prescription meds and supplements. Soak the labels off, then send them to Medicine Bottles for Malawi.

Write a personal note of appreciation. Seem daunting? Here’s a thank you note template!

Send mail to a child. Kids love getting mail but rarely, if ever, receive anything personal addressed to them. Here are some unusual snail mail ideas.

Perform secret favors for family members or co-workers. There’s something about doing this anonymously that imbues even the most menial tasks with meaning.

Make a small investment in someone’s endeavor through Kiva. Once it’s repaid, loan that money to another recipient. Choosing which person or project to back is a great family activity.

Be a resonant listener. Give your full attention to the other person. Nod, encourage them to go on, respond in ways that show you empathize. This may be the single most powerful thing you can do for anyone.

15 minute acts of compassion

Ask your hair salon, barber, or pet groomer to donate to Matters of Trust. The organization collects hair clippings as well as fur and fleece, recycling them into mats used to absorb oil in the event of a toxic spill in waterways. Or donate on your own!

Sick or infirm neighbor? Offer to walk her dog.

Go through a book shelf and drop off books you no longer use to your local library or an area women’s shelter. Or ship them to Books for Soldiers, Books for Africa, or Reader to Reader.

Extra homemade cookies? Stop by to deliver them to your local fire station, along with your thanks.

Make bird treats by rolling pinecones in peanut butter and then birdseed. Hang them up on a tree outside your window.

Text or email a few people to set up a series of meals for someone who is recovering from surgery or just gave birth. Here’s how to make this work.

Have a purse, backpack, or messenger bag you no longer use? Fill it with non-perishable snacks, hygiene products, a water bottle, a few dollars, and new pair of socks. Next time you come across a homeless person, offer it to him or her.

Go through your closets, collect old running shoes (any brand) and drop them off at the nearest Nike store’s Reuse-a-Shoe collection. The shoes will be ground up for use as surface material on playgrounds and running tracks.

Greet new people in your neighborhood with a small gift such as a houseplant or fresh loaf of bread.

Use children’s drawings as wrapping paper, tucking inside them a piece of wrapped candy or silk flower, along with a note like “thanks for being so nice” or “you made my day.” Then when you’re out together, stay on the lookout for a nice cashier, helpful librarian, or kind friend to hand out a surprise package. It cues kids to see goodness everywhere.

Do something good for yourself! Try making your own highly personal Bits of Joy list. That way whenever a bit of time opens, even a few minutes, you’ll be prompted to devote it to something you love to do.

Resources

Guerrilla Encouragement Efforts: Gestures of kindness even the smallest children can do.

40 Ways Kids Can Volunteer from Toddler to Teen Make no-sew dog toys to donate to pet rescue shelters, participate in a toy co-op, even earn a Congressional Award,

25 Ways to Spread Some Kindness From leaving money in certain vending machines to using a Pass It Forward box.

Fiction Worth Fawning Over

December 4, 2015March 21, 2016 / Laura Grace Weldon / 23 Comments

fiction worth reading

My desk is littered with what from a distance might look like irregular paper snowflakes. They work their way into stacks of books, unfinished to-do lists, and other desk detritus. As you might imagine, they aren’t snowflakes. They’re book titles torn from magazine and newspaper reviews.

As an insomniac, I have plenty of time to read. A few nights ago I gave up trying to sleep a little before 2 am. I got up, snuggled in a blanket on the couch, and read until it was time to make coffee and start the day at six. That probably explains how I get through so many books in the average week.

I wouldn’t be able to support my reading habits if I bought most of what I read. Instead, I order them from one of civilizations best inventions, the library. I don’t know about you, but when I own a book it languishes because I’ve got all the time in the world to read it. Yet I’m motivated to zip through library books since they’re mine for only a few weeks.

Although I review books and read book reviews, I know reviews aren’t even close to a sure thing. (As my daughter says when I’m once again disappointed in a much-anticipated volume, “What have we learned about reviews?”) Instead, I’ve found that recommendations from friends are the best way to find the titles I’ll fall in love with next.

So, as a friendly gesture, I’m sharing some books I love in hopes that you will too.

State of Wonderby Ann Patchett takes us into the Amazon jungle where the competing aims of pharmaceutical researchers and indigenous people unfold in prose so vivid you can feel the humidity and hear the insects. This is a tale of lies, poison arrows, reluctant heroes, and strange miracles. The last few chapters offer an entirely satisfying conclusion without a trace of the cloying sentiment so common in lesser books.

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr has won many (richly deserved) awards including the Pulitzer. I read this book soon after it came out and actually grabbed people’s wrists as I implored them to read it. The main characters are a blind French girl and an orphaned German boy growing up as war irrevocably alters their destinies. Their stories swoop through the lives of many characters, even the minor ones so clearly rendered that they’re real as the person sitting next to you. There are few novels by any author as perfectly executed as this one.

The Signature of All Thingsby Elizabeth Gilbert is one of those rare books which manages to combine science and history into a captivating story. In it, a brilliant young woman defies her era’s conventions to pursue science, eventually leaving behind her quiet life to explore the larger world. The book manages to be cerebral and carnal, large in scope yet about the miniature cosmos of moss. Although there were a few pages that jangled off-key, it is an amazing book. I gave it as a gift to one friend along with terrarium I’d planted with mosses. (A trip to Tahiti would be just as relevant, but moss is a bit more affordable.)

Peace Like a River by Leif Enger is, I daresay, is as timeless a masterpiece as To Kill A Mockingbird. The plot seems ordinary enough: a family from rural Minnesota goes on a quest to save the eldest son who has escaped from jail during his trial for murder. The telling, however, illuminates the ordinary to gleaming transcendence. The fully drawn characters of Peace Like a River are people you want to invite to dinner so you can thank them for offering such sustenance. Enger makes every line worth savoring in this story of justice, faith, and enduring loyalty.

Euphoria by Lily King is very loosely based on episodes in the life of anthropologist Margaret Mead. I’ve been quietly obsessed with (and often appalled by) anthropology since discovering it was a thing back in high school. Euphoria has that and much more: revelation, rivalry, lust, despair, and a recognition that what we see says more about us than who we’re observing. Reading it, I was so immersed that I was surprised to look up and find I wasn’t climbing a ladder to a treehouse in the wilds of New Guinea.

The History of Love by Nicole Kraus is artful, complex, and beautifully written. There are books within this book, including a book written about a Polish girl named Alma and decades later, another Alma, named after a character in a Chilean book that her mother is translating. Kraus pulls together disparate strings including Holocaust survival, plagiarism, and a ten-year-old lamed vovnik — knotting them into a hauntingly lovely story about overcoming the greatest cruelty of all, loneliness.

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel is a stark look at a world we take for granted — where small rectangles hold the power to connect us with people around the world, where metal cylinders transport passengers across the sky, where something magical called the Internet answers every question — although that world is gone in Station Eleven. After nearly all of humanity has been wiped out by a plague the future is a dangerous place, but we see it come alive through a troupe of artists who travel from settlement to settlement playing Beethoven and performing Shakespeare. Their motto is lifted from Star Trek: “Survival is insufficient.” This book brings that motto come alive.

Speak by Louisa Hall offers us five very different voices, each emerging from different times and places. They include Alan Turing, a Puritan girl, and a doomed babybot. These characters act within ever-tightening strictures that, together, make up a larger pattern. Hall asks us to consider what it means to understand each other in this thought-provoking and entirely original novel.

Jewelweed by David Rhodes is a book of quiet insight told from many viewpoints—an ex-con, chronically ill child, wary young mother, minister, long-distance trucker, and others. Although it takes place in rural Wisconsin, the humble epiphanies Rhodes shares are relevant in any setting. At 464 pages this is a long novel, but you may find yourself wishing for a sequel. I do.

The Kin of Ata Are Waiting for You by Dorothy Bryant was written in 1971, yet it’s ever more necessary in our time. The novel centers on a successful yet desperate man who finds himself transported to an unknown place, one that seems primitive to him. He finds he’s landed in a kind of Eden where the inhabitants uphold and maintain the “real” world through their dreams. I was reminded of Daniel Quinn’s Ishmael as I read Bryant’s book, but Quinn’s book left me in despair while this one imparted a sense of delight and wonder.

Bel Canto (P.S.) by Ann Patchett. Yes, another Patchett book! Music forms the spine of this unlikely story. Wealthy international businessmen, a world-famous singer, and desperate terrorists move the storyline along with pacing that speeds up and slows down like the plot of an opera, coming to a sudden ending with nary a curtain call. Even if opera isn’t your thing, you may find yourself searching out pieces integral to the narrative. I suspect this novel, all on its own, created many new opera lovers.

Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives by David Eagleman. I’ve never encountered a book quite as imaginatively intelligent. Written by a neuroscientist, this intriguing volume offers wildly divergent speculative tales. Each is only a few pages, but Eagleman packs them with such fresh ideas that it’s best to read only one at a time in order to fully savor them. This book makes a great gift. I’ve given it to a teen, to one of those people who have everything, and to someone who insisted he wasn’t much of a reader. They all adored it.

Okay, if my motive still isn’t apparent, I want you to tell me what fiction YOU are fawning over!

Hopeful, Helpful Holiday Links

November 24, 2015November 24, 2015 / Laura Grace Weldon / 5 Comments

hopeful, helpful holiday links

“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart.” Helen Keller

Sharing ideas and reflections here in hopes of passing along some holiday inspiration.

Ideas

100+ Non-Toy Gifts for Toddlers to Teens

Give real tools, out-of-the-ordinary experiences, even a giant Scrabble game. Over 100 suggestions to deepen connections and spark new ideas.

Resources for Simple Holiday Gifts & Fun

Dozens of resources including simplified holiday traditions, DIY gift-giving, and more.

Fighting Crazed Holiday Syndrome

Five tactics to de-stress the holidays, including Shun Those Voices and renounce How Does She Do It All Disease.

Do-Gooder Gifts: Personal As Well As Global

Clever ways to pair gifts to charity with a personal gift.

Reflections

Our Worst Christmas Became Our Most Memorable Christmas

Heartwarming true story with despair, secrets, delight, and some poo.

What Do Your Gifts Say?

There’s meaning embedded in our gifts. We have certain intentions as we shop, wrap, anticipate giving, and finally offer the gift. Our efforts try to say something.

Do You Tell The Truth About Santa?

How to preserve delight in Santa without lying to your kids.

Calling the Dog

November 19, 2015 / Laura Grace Weldon / 8 Comments

Calling the Dog

Following messages left in leaves, soil, air

he wanders too far.

When I call he pauses

quickening

to hurl fullness and glory

ahead of the self

like whales breach, tigers lunge, hawks soar.

There’s nothing but an arc

between hearing his name and springing

toward the one who named him.

I want this completeness.

I want to feel 100 trillion cells spark

from my body in answer

to what we call spirit.

I want to taste

the shimmering voltage course

from every rock, tree, star.

A moment before reaching me

he unsprings,

back to golden fur and brown eyes

arriving tongue first.

Laura Grace Weldon

from Tending (for my friends Cocoa Bean and Winston)

Sideways Procrastination

November 12, 2015November 12, 2015 / Laura Grace Weldon / 15 Comments

Procrastinating by accomplishing other things.

Tipping over in 1, 2, 3. vintag.es/2015/02/a-list-of-donts-for-women-on-bicycles.html

Several very large deadlines lurk on my horizon. Instead of clicking into high gear to get going I’m barely pedaling fast enough to keep from tipping over. The more I excoriate myself for falling behind, the farther I fall behind. I could easily blame this on chronic insomnia or existential angst or a nasty case of what-the-hell-did-I-get-myself-into. Blame, however, is useless for motivation purposes.

I was raised with the Puritan ethic: work hard, be polite at all costs, and avoid the unspeakably vile sin of laziness. Yet I’ve come to believe it’s in our do-nothing moments, like lying in the grass watching the clouds stroll by, that we most truly inhabit our lives. This probably explains why two tigers, named Full Tilt and Full Stop, tend to snarl at each other in my mind. I compromise to keep those tigers at bay.

I do this by letting myself be lured by the call of other things I want to do, things that suddenly seem delightful in comparison to the things I have to do. Here are a few examples.

When I agreed to help a non-profit streamline their mission statement, I stalled by reorganizing kitchen cupboards.
When I committed to editing a dissertation on organizational differences in international companies, I put it off by planting a few dozen strawberry plants and weeding the asparagus bed.
Heck, a few years ago when I was supposed to be editing an anthology, I dawdled by writing poetry. That turned into a whole poetry collection!

This, my friends, is what I call Sideways Procrastination.

The practice is weirdly energizing. For rationalization purposes, I tell myself that by doing something amusingly unrelated I’ll return to the task I’m avoiding with a fresh outlook and enhanced enthusiasm. I’m not sure it works that way, but it’s my operating excuse.

Here are three of my recent Sideways Procrastination endeavors.

One

My dear friend and filmmaker Susan took me along on her latest adventure, filming Artocade in Trinidad Colorado.

Artocade art car festival 2015, Trinidad Colorago

Here are a few of the amazing entries in Artocade 2015.

To send her a small token of my thanks, I turned a toy truck into a toy art truck. Gluing baubles and beads was play to me, and play, as we all know, rejuvenates the spirit.

Two

I dug around in the sewing supplies left to me by my mother and grandmother for a project. I turned an unused piece of red satin, an old white sheet, and lots of vintage notions into a Red Riding Hood costume for Liv. It was challenging (especially turning a tiny scrap of quilted fabric into a vest) and it was fun.

Three

My daughter and I invited a few arty friends over for a Day of the Dead art party complete with skull painting, Barbie head alterations, finger cookies, and shrunken head punch. Preparations were a blast, the event was even blastier. ((I know “blastier isn’t a word but it should be.)

Many people seem to be great at focusing, but I’m not. I’ve got to sidle up to a task, peek around, and then break in burglar-style. Sometimes that approach works and the marvelous state of flow settles over me. Often it doesn’t and I find myself escaping into more Sideways Procrastination.

Chances are good that right now I’m in the kitchen concocting something fussy for dinner, or outside hauling something around in our old blue wheelbarrow, or curled on the couch reading a book I promised to review. I’m doing this even though I should be at my desk clattering away on the keyboard. What can I say? It’s just what Sideways Procrastinators do.

Early Childhood Education, 1938 version

November 5, 2015August 31, 2017 / Laura Grace Weldon / 11 Comments

Guest post by Charles Clanton Rogers, pictured here before his blogging days.

“Catch that bird! Don’t let that chicken get away, Charles!”

I was four years old, enrolled in Grandmother’s Biology & History class. On that morning we covered the food chain, the hunt, the kill, butchering, anatomy of a hen, and introduction to animal reproduction.

This was 1938 Oklahoma. Money was scarce for everyone. My great inherited fortune was not money, but family. I was an only child and only grandchild of a doting family. I was kind of a “prince” of an infinitely small principality consisting of five adults and one little boy.

I didn’t know it then, but the entire country was mired in the Great Depression. In our state, dust bowl conditions were destroying farms and forcing “Okies” into a desperate exodus in pursuit of California jobs.

Farm equipment buried in dust. Image: americaslibrary.gov

Back to the morning’s Biology & History lesson. Grandma and I were “the hunters.” We caught that chicken, terminated its earthly journey, then plucked and cleaned it. I learned comparative anatomy as Grandmother identified the hen’s internal structures. She talked about the chicken and egg as a circle of life. Then she coated the pieces in egg and flour, and fried it along with fresh okra that we picked from her garden (we were the “gatherers” too). After lunch was my Music lesson, which meant Grandmother sang.

That was just the morning.

My grandmother earned supplemental income by sewing clothes for ladies in the community. That responsibility couldn’t be neglected. Her sewing machine was a Singer foot trade model. She sat with both feet on the treadle. Pumping it back and forth moved a belt from the treadle up to a pulley attached to the needle mechanism. I didn’t realize it then, but observing the mechanical action was itself a Physics lesson.

Image: oldsingersewingmachineblog.files.wordpress.com

Grandmother would spread the material out on the floor and pin the pattern pieces. She trusted me to cut pieces around the patterns with pinking shears. I knew a mistake could cause waste and expense so I took this responsibility very seriously.

While she was making a dress, I had my own little sewing projects. I learned how to thread a needle and sew two pieces of cloth together. It seemed like a way to pass the time, but that early sewing experience came in handy years later when I became a physician.

When I tired of sewing I passed the time with coloring books and Crayolas . I think I had 8 or 10 colors.

After dinner, Grandmother read to me. (The Little Engine That Could
was my favorite.)

Grandmother had plenty of other things to do, but whatever she was doing I was part of her team. Often she impressed upon me that I needed to learn my lessons well, because I was going to grow up and have children and students and it would be my sacred responsibility to teach them the things she taught me just as her parents had taught her when she was a girl.

Grandmother’s love was undeniable. She certainly knew, as the poet wrote, “The hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world.”

Every waking moment was an education. That suited me just fine. It did not occur to me that the immersive learning of my early years were in any way unusual. My “preschool/home school” didn’t have any names or labels. It was just Life. I thought it was what everyone did.

George Gershwin and DuBois Heyward wrote Porgy & Bess in 1934, my birth year. The lyrics of its immortal song, Summertime, could have been the theme of my preschool years:

One of these mornings you’re gonna rise up singing,

And you’ll spread your wings and you’ll take to the sky,

But ’til that morning, there ain’t nothin’ can harm you….

hush little baby, don’t you cry.

I became acquainted with retired physician and teacher Charles Clanton Rogers when he commented on one of my posts. Charles enjoyed writing about history, science, art, and music, but my favorites among his work described living with a sense of astonishment. As he wrote, “I have an idea of what it is like to experience life before a thing is known; and then to witness its deployment. ” I rarely offer guest posts but when I asked, he gladly shared glimpse of a lovingly guided early education with us. This lovely man recently passed away and I still miss our lively exchanges.