Blog No. 299: MD Motivator Revisited, Mon Rovîa on NPR's Tiny Desk, Poet John Roede

September 12, 2026

MD Motivator Revisited

  
I can't get enough of this guy, the MD Motivator who has devoted his llife to celebrating and rewarding kindness.  Hard to believe he is for real but he is!  I want to be him!

His real name is Zachery Dereniowski, he is Canadian (of course) and he gets his money from online crowdfunding, a registered nonprofit, and corporate sponsorships.  He started off small--on tiktok posting daily videos where he got people to donate small sums of money which he immediately gave away to people in need.  He slowly built up, now teaming up with such corporations as Expedia, Air Canada and Hyundai and musicians including Billie Eilish and Chris Brown to mention a few.  

If ever anyone deserved to go viral, he is it.  With 9.7 million followers on instagram and 28 million on tiktok, he has made human decency and kindness cool again.  Let's hope his mission of spreading love and wealth is contagious...

Mon Rovîa on NPR's Tiny Desk Concerts

I've written about Mon Rovîa before. Such a seemingly gentle, sweet soul, singing about his life's journey across continents--how as a young boy born in Monrovia, Liberia he ended up adopted by an American family while his sister and brother were left behind in Africa. I came across his gentle voice first on instagram and immediately felt drawn to the honesty and innocence of his voice, which has been described as a balm--soft, clear, and soothing.br>
Obviously I wasn't the only one who noticed his talent. This past week he was invited on the Tiny Desk Concert series on NPR and is in the middle of an extensive tour across the United States and Europe. To see the schedule and purchase tickets, click here.

John Roedel Poet and Comedian

John Roedel in his words: Poet. Writer. Comic. Storyteller. Terrible Dancer.

So much of my substack blog is random stumbling on something while looking for something else. This is the case of John Roedel. His poem below spoke to me and on digging deeper, I found a sensitive person in search of himself, unafraid to be honest and his authentic self. a transformation that took over time while raised as a devout Catholic living in the middle of cowboy country in Wyoming. The interview here reveals a person through a spiritual awakening--his questions and concerns are universal and relatable. If you care to delve deeper, his story is an interesting one and you can hear all about it in this interview.

  
    
My brain and
heart divorced

a decade ago

over who was
to blame about
how big of a mess
I have become

eventually
they couldn't be
in the same room
with each other

now my head and heart
share custody of me

I stay with my brain
during the week

and my heart gets me on weekends

they never speak to one another

--instead, they give me
the same note to pass
to each other every week

and their notes they
they sent to one another always
says the same thing:

"This is all your fault"

on Sundays
my heart complains about how my
head has let me down
in the past

and on Wednesday
my head lists all
of the times my
heart has screwed
things up for me
in the future

they blame each
other for the
state of my life

there's been a lot
of yelling--and crying

so,
     lately, I've been
spending a lot of
tie with my gut

who serves as my
unofficial therapist

most nights, I sneak out of the
windown in my ribcage

and slide down my spine
and collapse on my 
gut's plush leather chairthat's always open for me

--and I just sit sit sit sit
until the sun comes up

last evening,
my gut asked me
if I was having a hard
time being caught
between my heart
and my head

I nodded

I said I didn't know
if I could live with
either of them anymore

"my heart is always sad about
something that happened yesterday
while my head is always worried
about something that may happen tomorrow"
I lamented

my gut squeezed my hand

"I just can't live with
my mistakes of the past
or my anxiety about the future,"I signed

my gut smiled and said:

"in that case,
you should
go stay with your
lungs for a while,"

I was confused
--the look on my face gave it away

"if you are exhausted about
your heart's obsession with
the fixed past and your mind's focus
on the uncertain future

your lungs are the perfect place for you

there is no yesterday in your lungs
there is no tomorrow there either

there is only now
there is only inhale
there is only exhale
there is only this moment

there is only breath

and in that breath
you can rest while your
heart and head work
their relationship out."

this morning
whle my brain
was busy reading
tea leaves

and while my heart was staring at old photographs

I packed a little
bag and walked
to the door of
my lungs

before I could even knock

she opened the door
with a smile and as
a gust of air embraced me
she said

"what took you so long?"
  
  

Photo of the Week

Flower Power Series I - VI, mixed media on paper, 30” x 22” $8500

Charities of the Week:

Book of the Week

About The Author
New York City based contemporary artist, Pam Smilow, began writing the creative lifestyle blog “things we love” in an effort to foster a sense of community during times of isolation and reflection. To read more about her and her art, visit her website and check out the essay written by Frank Matheis entitled The Sophisticated Innocence of Pam Smilow.

Source: old-age-young-at-heart-chorus-mark-nepo-no...

Blog No. 298: The Future is Peace, Humpback Whale Sanctuary in Maui, Leonard Cohen's Last Interview

September 6, 2026

Aziz Abu Sarah and Maoz Inon

Maoz Inon and Aziz Abu Sarah Photo coutesy Maya Levin and NPR

I introduce you to two people who have suffered unimaginable trauma and tragedy. Maoz Inon's parents were two of the first victims of Hamas's barbaric, brutal attack on Israel that took place on October 7th, 2023, killing 1200 innocent Israelis. Palestinian Aziz Abu Sarah's 18 year old older brother Tayseer was arrested by Israeli forces on suspicion of throwing stones, taken into custody, tortured and subsequently died of internal injuries shortly after being released from detention when Aziz was a child. Two people who had every reason to be incredibly angry and spend the rest of their lives seething and seeking revenge.

But they didn't take that route. In this Ted talk you will find out how these two men became "brothers" and teamed up to become advocates of peace, spending time speaking and spreading their message. They have recently released a book together entitled The Future is Peace. I haven't read it yet (I have it on reserve at my local library) but have listened to the Ted Talk and many of their interviews and can't help but be really excited about their work:
Interview, Democracy Now

John Stewart appearance

Keep hope alive!

Humpback Whale Sanctuary, Maui

Humpbacks are among the most endangered whales, with fewer than 10 percent of their original population remaining. These enormous marine mammals measure between 46 to 56 feet and can weigh up to 40 tons. The current world population is estimated between 35,000 to 40,000 individuals. They can be found in all the oceans of the world and they have one of the longest migrations of any mammal, swimming up to 5,000 miles between cold polar feeding areas and warm tropical breeding waters. They eat krill and small fish like herring and mackerel. The nonprofit organization Earthwatch Institute's Lenin Oviedo Correa writes about the importance of protecting these sentient, curious, highly-social beings.

The greatest threats to marine mammals are caused by people: ship strikes and entanglements. Globally, the International Whaling Commission estimates that over 300,000 whales and dolphins die every year due to unintentional capture and gear entanglement. Humpback whales are particularly vulnerable because they are often found in coastal areas with heavy trap, pot, and gillnet fisheries. In U.S. waters alone, NOAA Fisheries confirmed 95 large whale entanglement cases in a single recent year, surpassing historical annual averages.

I recently met Kim Hum, an incredibly inspirational figure and the Superintendent chief administrator of the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary. She described to me all the wonderful things this organization is doing to help save these huge, magnificent creatures and shared with me this brief film entitled Saving Kohola, illustrating the heroic, complicated and sometimes dangerous rescues these dedicated people undertake.

Leonard Cohen's Last Interview

There is no reason for me to write about Leonard Cohen right now--it is not his birthday or near the day when he died but this came across my feed on youtube and it prompted me to revisit this larger than life hero in my life.

David Remnick, Editor of The New Yorker magazine since 1998 had the honor and privilege of interviewing Leonard Cohen one last time before Leonard's death on November 7th, 2016. It is a moving interview, capturing the essence of this poet, songwriter and deep thinker and is full of personal anecdotes, revealing Cohen's essence as a spiritual seeker throughout his whole life. Bob Dylan described his songs like prayers. His last album You Want it Darker is deep, meditative and very beautiful in my humble opinion and speaks to the Bob Dylan quote--"his songs are like prayers". Using typical humor and self effacement, Cohen jokes that his years with his spiritual teacher Roshi left him with one lesson--simply summed up: "stop whining."

I attended the concert Remnick mentioned at Radio City Music Hall in 2013 (and I even went the next day to the same concert at the Barclay Center in Brooklyn) and felt so lucky to witness an old man, still alive with spirit and young at heart, 3 hours worth, half the time on his knees, jumping up and down off his knees like a youngster, surrounded by a stage full of amazing musicians, singing their hearts out.

Remnick refers to Cohen's last days as a model for how to live out your dying days. Musician and music analyst David Asher Brown (www.davidasherbrown.com) shares his impression of the song You Want It Darker observing that Leonard has generously shared this remarkably intimate moment with the world, singing no longer to us but having a conversation with God. Some of Cohen's last thoughts: "Listen to the hummingbird whose wings you cannot see. Don't listen to me. Listen to the butterfly, don't listen to me. Listen to the mind of god which doesn't mean to be, don't listen to me.""

Photo of the Week

Private Collection, Woodside, California, Part of my Yellow Spruce Series, mixed media on canvas, 50” x 80” approx.

Charity of the Week: Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary

Book of the Week

Source: old-age-young-at-heart-chorus-mark-nepo-no...

Blog No. 297: Hilarious Things About Getting Older, The Best Dolly Parton Covers,

August 29, 2026

Very Funny Jokes About Aging

Laughter is the best medicine, no matter what age…

I have such a warped sense of myself when it comes to age. I look at forty somethings and think of them as peers. I look at older people like myself and think of them like my parents. I’m not kidding. I’ve even slipped and referred to a person my age as “your generation.” How embarrassing! That said, I just don’t feel it— As I am about to turn 70, I realize we have no choice but to laugh and accept we are only as old as we feel…

I found this entry from a fellow substacker called "Laughing attheApocalypse and it made me laugh outloud. I hope it has the same effect on you--we all desperately need to laugh more these days to counter the stress we are all feeling about our current state of affairs.

10 Hilarious Jokes That Make Growing Older Feel a Lot Less Scary:

1. My Brain Has Plenty of Storage... The problem is the search function. Yesterday I walked into the kitchen. I stood there. Looked around. Opened the refrigerator. Closed it. Opened it again because apparently I thought the answer might have appeared during those three seconds. Finally I remembered. I wasn’t hungry. I was looking for my phone. Which... Was already in my hand. If you’ve ever done this, congratulations. You’re officially participating in the world’s largest senior scavenger hunt.

2. Exercise Gets More Complicated
At twenty: You pull a muscle lifting heavy weights. At forty: You pull a muscle sleeping. At sixty: You wake up injured... And nobody knows why. Not even science. Researchers tell us regular movement is one of the best ways to protect the brain and body. Reality tells us... Standing up too fast is now considered cardio.

3. Your Back Has Become a Weather Forecast
Forget television. Forget smartphone apps. Forget meteorologists. Your lower back already knows it’s going to rain. Usually three hours before everyone else. Sometimes two days. Occasionally before the weather service. Congratulations. You’ve evolved into premium climate technology.

4. Reading Glasses Have Entered the Chat
You spend twenty minutes looking for your glasses. You finally find them. They’re on your head. Later... You search for them again. They’re hanging from your shirt. An hour later... You’re wearing two pairs simultaneously. No one notices. Because everyone else is too. This isn’t forgetfulness. It’s fashion.

5. Every Noise Has Meaning
When you’re young: You hear mysterious noises in your house. As you get older: The mysterious noises are coming from you. Your knees click. Your shoulders pop. Your ankles crack. Your neck sounds like someone stepping on bubble wrap. Every time you stand up, your body provides live commentary. At least you know you’re still operational. Mostly.

6. Technology Keeps Winning
Young people ask: “Why don’t you just scan the QR code?” Because... I spent ten minutes trying to photograph it with the front camera. Then I enlarged it with two fingers. Then accidentally ordered twelve pizzas. Technology isn’t defeating us. It’s entertaining itself.

7. Bedtime Becomes the Best Part of the Day
Remember staying out until 2 AM? Now your favorite sentence is: “I can’t. It’s getting late.” It’s 8:17 PM. You genuinely mean it. Your younger self would be horrified. Your current self has already changed into comfortable pajamas. Who’s happier? Exactly.

8. Every Conversation Starts the Same Way “How have you been?” “Oh... you know...” Then everyone spends twenty minutes discussing blood pressure, cholesterol, sleep quality, physical therapy, and which vitamin suddenly changed their life. Thirty years ago... This sounded unbelievably boring. Today... It’s premium entertainment. Growing older doesn’t eliminate curiosity. It simply changes the topics.

9. You Finally Stop Pretending
One unexpected gift of aging? You stop trying to impress strangers. You stop buying uncomfortable shoes. You stop apologizing for leaving parties early. You stop explaining why staying home sounds amazing. Freedom arrives quietly. Usually wearing slippers. Psychologists call this a shift toward emotional authenticity. Most people simply call it peace.

10. The Biggest Surprise of All
You expected aging to make life smaller.
Instead... It often makes life clearer. You laugh more easily. You forgive more quickly. You worry less about people who barely remember your name. You appreciate ordinary mornings. Coffee tastes better. Conversations matter more. Silence becomes comforting instead of awkward. The joke isn’t that you’re getting older. The joke is realizing how much energy you spent worrying about things that never truly mattered. The Plot Twist Nobody Mentions

Here’s the strange paradox. We spend decades fearing wrinkles. Yet studies on happiness consistently suggest that emotional well-being often improves in later adulthood. Many people become better at regulating emotions, focusing on meaningful relationships, and letting go of unnecessary conflict. In other words... Your face may collect lines. But your mind often loses unnecessary burdens. That’s a trade worth making.

One Last Joke
A doctor asked his 92-year-old patient, “So, how are you feeling?” The man smiled. “I have two pieces of good news.” “Wonderful,” said the doctor. “What’s the first?” “I don’t buy green bananas anymore.” “And the second?” “I don’t worry about little things either.” The doctor laughed. “So what changed?” The old man shrugged. “I finally realized... Both of those problems solve themselves.”

Maybe that’s the greatest secret of aging. Not that life becomes easier. Not that your knees magically cooperate. Not that your memory suddenly returns. But that somewhere along the journey... You discover laughter is stronger than fear. And once you can laugh at getting older, Getting older becomes a lot less scary. If this made you smile, consider sharing it with someone who insists they’re “not getting old”—even though they just stood up slowly and made that mysterious little sound.

My Tribute to Dolly Parton

Dolly Parton New Yorker Cover by Nicole Rifkin. To purchase a print of the illustration, click the image.

Jon Batiste
I Will Always Love You

Miley Cyrus
Jolene

Kenny Rogers/Dolly Parton Duet
Islands In The Stream

Lil Nas
Jolene

Pink, Brandi Carlile, Zac Brown Band
Coat of Many Colors

Carly Waddell
Here You Come Again

Whitney Houston's Version
I Will Always Love You

Zucchini Soup Recipe

Recipe courtesy of The Cozy Cook. To see more great recipes from them, click the image above.

It is that time of the year. Everyone's gardens are overflowing with zucchini and people are looking for any way to get rid of it. I am reminded of that Maine joke:
Why do people lock their cars at the end of the summer in Maine?
It's to avoid people from leaving their homegrown zucchini there...Well, here is one idea of what to do with it.

ZUCCHINI SOUP RECIPE
Courtesy of the Cozy Cook
INGREDIENTS
2 tablespoons butter
  1 yellow onion, diced
 2 cloves garlic, minced
  ¼ teaspoon EACH: dried rosemary, thyme, celery salt, pepper, salt
  1 pinch cayenne, optional
  5 cups zucchini, cut into chunks
  3 cups chicken broth
  1 tablespoon soy sauce, (or Worcestershire sauce)
  2 russet potatoes, equal to 1 pound
  1/2 cup half and half, or heavy cream
  1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded

INSTRUCTIONS
* Note: There is no need to peel the zucchini for this soup unless yours is jumbo sized, in which case it's possible that the skins are tough and slightly bitter.  * Shred the cheddar cheese from a block for best results. Set aside to allow to come down to room temperature. This will allow it to melt and combine into the soup smoothly.
  * Melt butter in a soup pot over medium heat. Add the onions and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add garlic, zucchini, and seasonings. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  * Peel and rinse the potatoes. Cut them into small pieces of equal size so that they cook evenly and quickly.
  * Add the potatoes, chicken broth, and soy sauce. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer. Skim up any brown foam from the top if needed.
  * Simmer, partially covered, until the vegetables are very fork tender. About 20 minutes.
  * Remove from heat. Use an immersion blender or transfer to a blender in batches and blend until smooth.
  * Optional: Transfer back to the heat on low. Stir in the half and half.
 

Photo of the Week

Beautiful wall of our Animals, Private Collection, Woodside, California

Charity of the Week:
Doctor's Without Borders

Book of the Week

Source: old-age-young-at-heart-chorus-mark-nepo-no...

Blog No. 296: Jon Batiste Piano Series, Once Upon a Bay Podcast Revisted, Mary Oliver Poem

August 22, 2026

Jon Batiste Piano Series

Piano has always been my favorite instrument and for Jon Batiste, who began playing the piano at 11, music is a soul cleanse. His latest series of piano music is all about flow, getting him back to his center. “There is enough talking in the world. Space is needed...a vibrational reset so to speak."

He just released three new albums all at once, part of the Batiste Piano Series, something he intends to work on as a lifetime project of conversations with different composers. The first album in this series, Beethoven Blues, was released in 2024, including my dad's favorite Moonlight Sonata.

The recently released albums I share with you here. I hope you are as blown away as I am by this beautiful music.

Black Mozart,

Monk Meditations

Monk Movements

If you would like to hear more from Jon Batiste, here is a brief interview which he gave on CBS This Morning and a more extensive one about his composer series from Lisa Witt on Pianote.

Once Upon a Bay Revisited

Mike Herz and Kate Josephs are two of the cool Mainers I talk about who I have met in the past year — the state seems to really attract interesting people! Their podcast Once Upon A Bay documents stories, history, and folklore around the San Francisco Bay. They are on their eighth episode with many more stories to tell.

Mike has been an activist most of his life and spent decades protecting oceans, rivers, and bays. Along the way he founded San Francisco Baykeeper, which uses science, advocacy, and law to hold polluters accountable. He remains Baykeeper Emeritus and is actively involved in environmental causes on both coasts.

Mike & Kate met and spent 30 years together in Maine before deciding that Mike had more to say about San Francisco Bay. The couple now spends months every year in Mike’s old stomping grounds, camped out on a boat where they produce Once Upon A Bay. The podcast draws on Mike’s extensive knowledge, connections, and stories about this incredible body of water — an expression of his love for the place and hope that future generations will know its history and advocate to protect it.

At Mike’s 90th birthday two weeks ago (he looks and acts much younger!), Kate noted another aspect of the project: it reflects their delight in one another and the life they have shared. “My work on Once Upon A Bay,” she said, "is my way of thanking him for 30 wonderful years." I have written about them before in a previous blog post but I wanted to share an article that recently came out about them in a local California newspaper, written by journalist Joel Umanzor. It’s a wonderful example of how the work begun by one person can grow into an environmental movement that continues long after him.

Mary Oliver Poem

  
I think a lot of us have heard the quote from Mary Oliver: “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with our one wild and precious life?” But I didn’t know the full poem that it came from.  
Here it is: 

THE SUMMER DAY

By Mary Oliver

Who made the world?

Who made the swan, and the black bear

Who made the grasshopper?
 
This grasshopper, I mean—

The one who has flung herself out of the grass

The one who is eating sugar out of my hand

Who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down—

Who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes

Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.

Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away

I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.

I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down

Into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,

Which is what I have been doing all day.

Tell me, what else should I have done?

Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?

Tell me, what is it you plan to do

With your one wild and precious life?

Photo of the Week

Private Collection, Ottawa, Canada. Untitled, mixed media on canvas, 50” x 80”

Charity of the Week:
Doctor's Without Borders

Book of the Week

Source: old-age-young-at-heart-chorus-mark-nepo-no...

Blog No. 295: Quantum Physics, Rancho La Puerta Wellness Spa, U.S. Budget 2026

August 16, 2026

Quantum Physics Explained

I’ve often struggled with science—it was always my worst subject in school although my chemistry teacher in high school won teacher of the year in New York State and I ended up really enjoying the class.

I have really wanted to understand Quantum Physics and have always come up with a total loss...Until I found and listened to this guy, Dominic Walliman, who brings quantum physics down to earth in a succinct, ‘somewhat’ understandable way, even for people like me…

Rancho La Puerta

Some of you might know that I have a gig at Rancho La Puerta in Tecate, Mexico. It was just voted as the number one international spa in the world by Travel and Leisure Magazine. If you have some money to burn and want a place to go for a special occasion or an incredible treat, this is the place to spend a week.

Located in Tecate, Mexico in the shadow of a magical mountain called Kuuchamaa, one can partake in all kinds of spiritual and fitness activities including pilates, pickleball, meditation, yoga, sound healing, watsu, massage, etc. It is a chance to relax, experience all kinds of activities you might never have tried before, meet interesting, cool people, and generally pause and reflect on life in a beautiful setting. People who try it usually end up saving to come back again and again.

Within just a few miles from the US border inland on , Rancho La Puerta has been a wellness destination since 1940, when founders Deborah and Edmond Szekely set out to open a summer health camp near San Diego. Deborah is proof of how healthy living can lead to longevity--she is still in charge with all her faculties at 104!

As an artist in resident for the week(s) that I am there, I give a lecture on growing up in the only fully realized Frank Lloyd Wright community called Usonia and my out of the box, unconventional lifestyle and approach to the business of art, complete with slides of the community, its architecture, and photos of my art. If you have an hour to spare and are interested in Frank Lloyed Wright and my out of the box way of thinking, let me know and I can forward you a video of my talk.

How the U.S Budget is Spent Explained

Here it is, in graphic terms, just how we, as Americans, spend our well earned money that goes to taxes. I am sure it will not shock you to see that there is a vast difference between what the Republicans think is a good idea and what the Democrats would like us to spend our money on. Click here to hear the full story, courtesy of @thedangerousones on substack

And to have it spelled out even further (as per Time Magazine), in the first two weeks of the war with Iran, he United States has spent at least $12 billion (as of July 2026 the figure is now up to $37.5 billion!!), the lower figure money could instead fund health care, education, and other domestic programs in the following ways (with current spending as of July 2026, multiply everything by 3): Health care for 1.3 million Americans for a year, a full year of food assistance for 5.5 million Americans, housing assistance for around 1 million Americans, the entire National Park Service, child care or universal pre-K for 900,000 children, Pell grants for 1.6 million students, more than 100,000 teachers and nurses, and foreign and humanitarian aid

Photo of the Week

Mandala Series, Brown Bird. mixed media on paper. 30” x 22”. $1500

Charity of the Week:
Doctor's Without Borders

Book of the Week

Source: old-age-young-at-heart-chorus-mark-nepo-no...

Blog No. 294: Poem, Ted Lasso Season 4, Anna Breytenbach Revisited

August 9, 2026

I have two upcoming shows in the San Francisco Bay Area between August 8th and 17th. If you are interested in attending or would like a private appointment or to host a small gathering of friends to see my work in the comfort of your own home, please email or text me and I can give you details.

Poem by Kate Forster

  
    
I think it’s a deep consolation,
to know that spiders dream 
that monkeys tease predators
that dolphins have accents 
that lions can be scared silly
by a lone mongoose, 
that otters hold hands,
and ants bury their dead.


that there isn’t their life and our life
nor your life and my life. 
that it’s just one teetering
 and endless thread
and all of us, all of us
are entangled with it
as deep as
entanglement goes.

Kate Forster
  
  

Ted Lasso

Season 4 just began streaming of one of my all time favorite shows: Ted Lasso. I haven't seen it yet--I plan on starting from the very beginning of Season 1 and making my way through all the previous episodes before I indulge (and I mean "indulge') in Season 4. In the meantime, this is a repeat entry I posted in June of 2023 on the same subject:

Maria Shriver is very active on social media and I admire her compassion. I found this recent post of hers and it corresponded with my sentiments exactly as she commented on one of my all time favorite TV shows: "As Ted Lasso comes to an end, I want to thank this beautiful show and everyone involved. Not just for the joy I got from each episode, but for the lessons it taught me (and hopefully you too!). I hope you carry the spirit of Ted Lasso with you, and as Jason Sudeikis says, "Be like Teflon toward people's negativity or sarcasm." We don't need to walk in this world believing it is all bad. We don't need to succumb to the negativity. We can rise above all the noise. We can look for the positives, we can look for the light, and we can carry that light and we can carry that light forward. I'd rather view the world as Ted Lasso. Wouldn't you?" "Ted is our modern day Mr. Rogers!"

Ana Breytenbach Revisited

I always thought if we humans are so smart, how come we don't know what the birds are saying? I have been very interested in the subject of animal intelligence and animal communication ever since I was a kid and I read my first book on the subject called "How Smart Are Animals." From then on, I knew that common knowledge that humans were the only ones with superior intelligence, self reflection and the ability to use tools was not true. I think discoveries in the field of interspecies communication will lead us to the next big frontier--an art that the ancients and indigenous peoples across the globe knew very well intuitively but which most of us have totally lost touch with today. South African Anna Breytenbach is a leader and powerhouse in this field. This short video will blow your mind: watch Breytenbach "talk" to a rare beautiful black leopard and get answers back. If you are interested in learning more and you don't think I am totally crazy (I'm not), an hour long, fascinating interview with Anna and her American animal tracker mentor Jon Young is well worth a listen. For those of you with kids, Anna has even written a children's book about this black leopard entitled How Diablo Became Spirit (in collaboration with Andrew Newman).

Photo of the Week

Photo from a recent show in Denver, Colorado at the home of my dear new friend Elizabeth Stopher…

Charity of the Week:
Doctor's Without Borders

Book of the Week

Source: old-age-young-at-heart-chorus-mark-nepo-no...

Blog No. 293: The Brain and Pain, Artist Betye Saar, The Booker Prize

August 1, 2026

I have two upcoming shows in the San Francisco Bay Area between August 8th and 17th. If you are interested in attending or would like a private appointment or to host a small gathering of friends to see my work in the comfort of your own home, please email or text me and I can give you details.

The Nature of Pain

Click image to read about Shankar Vedantam,, the podcaster behind The Hidden Brain

One of my favorite podcasts, Hidden Brain “explores the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior and questions that lie at the heart of our complex and changing world.”

We all have pain now and then. We tweak our back carrying something or our knee hurts when walking up stairs. We go to the doctor for xrays or an MRI, focusing on that body part, strengthening muscles around it, taking prednisone to reduce the swelling, going for physical therapy, etc. etc. But what if the pain wasn't actually caused by something physical after all...

I listened to this Hidden Brain episode on pain and the research of Rachel Zoffness. Utterly fascinating!

It has been common knowledge now that pain is more than the biomedical model. Zoffness' research maps out in clear terms what is really happening when we experience pain.

These two stories below blew my mind and I hope you find them as interesting as I did. They illustrate the role our brain plays as a danger detector warning system, using the available data to perceive danger (or not). Pain is our protector.

A carpenter working on a construction site jumped off a ladder and landed on a 7-inch nail. It went right through his boot, clear out the other side. He immediately startedd screaming, in excruciating pain. His coworkers rushed him to the emergency room and when the doctors got his boot off, they realized, miraculously, that the nail completely missed his foot, landing just in between two toes. None of the surrounding tissue was affected: no blood, no wound. So why did he experience that excruciating pain?

Here is another story, coincidentally involving another construction worker, also illustrating the same point. A carpenter was using a nail gun and it accidentally went off. A nail shot out and he watched as the nail embedded itself in a wall across the room from him. He continued working. In the next few days, he experienced a slight tooth/headache and finally decided to go to the dentist to check it out. Little did he know that when the nail gun misfired, it had accidentally shot out not one but two nails. And one of them embedded into the frontal lobe of his brain! It was discovered on a dental xray He had been walking around with a nail lodged into his brain with just a slight amount of discomfort...How was it that this didn't cause excruciating pain?? To find out more, I highly recommend this Hidden Brain podcast episode entitled How to Combat Pain.

To delve deeper into Zoffness' incredible work on pain and perhaps with the aim of trying to avoid it, listen to her interview on the Optimal Body Podcast with Dr. Jen and Dr. Dom.

Artist Betye Saar (1926-2026)

  
    Artist Betye Saar died this week just short of her 100th birthday. Saar made three-dimensional art with found objects, tackling stereotypes about Black identity and women.  She was a pioneer in the art of assemblage, gathering all kinds of found objects and constructing them into three dimensional pieces of art.

This is probably the most well known piece of Betye Saar’s—encompassing the themes that have preoccupied her: racism, family tradition, and the harmfulness of derogatory stereotypes and imagery.

Inspired by an exhibition of Joseph Cornell, Saar used the box form in her artistic creations.

Betye Saar’s studio with collections of things she has collected in her travels. Photo courtesy Max Hemphill

The Booker Prize

The Booker Prize Foundation exists to inspire people to read the world’s best fiction. As per their website, “We are driven by a simple belief that great fiction not only brings joy to millions, it has the power to change the way we think about the world and to connect people across cultures and generations. Our aim is to foster a love of reading, and to support writers and readers of the future.”

This year, in addition to awarding the Booker Prize and the International Booker Prize, two of the world’s most significant and influential awards for a single book, this charity is launching the Children’s Booker Prize supported by AKO Foundation, a new prize for children’s fiction.

Here are the nominations for the 2026 Booker Prize Longlist in full--the winner will be announced on September 22, 2026:

The Shadow of the Object by Chloe Aridjis

Switzy by Emma Cline

Helen Of Nowhere by Makenna Goodman

The End Of Everything by M John Harrison

The Disappearers by Marlon James

Black Bag by Luke Kennard

The Renovation by Kenan Orhan

May We Feed The King by Rebecca Perry

The Palm House by Gwendoline Riley

The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout

John Of John by Douglas Stuart

All Them Dogs by Djamel White

The Vivisectors by Missouri Williams

And while we are on the subject of books, Obama just released a list of what he read this summer (just like our current president, ha ha, who probably has never read a book in his life)

One of the nominees, Maine’s own Elizabeth Strout! This book is also on Obama’s list. I LOVED it! She is a master of human emotions and truly one of my favorite authors…I think I have read every book she ever wrote.

Photo of the Week

Charity of the Week:
Doctor's Without Borders

Book of the Week

Source: old-age-young-at-heart-chorus-mark-nepo-no...

Blog No. 292: MdMotivator, Rescue a Dog, Poem by Sara Teasdale

July 18, 2026

@MDMotivator

My blog is an attempt to bring you inspiration and act as an antidote to the hate and cruelty that surrounds us in these dark times. I focus on the many good people in the world, not just the thugs that are in power right now. In fact, I am sure we are the majority. If there ever was a story that illustrated this point, here it is. Zachery Dereniowski is a Canadian from Windsor, Ontario, just across the border from Detroit. His dream was to become a doctor and he wanted to study in Australia a lifetime dream of his. He was admitted, started medical school in Sydney and then got hit with a series of obstacles that veered him off his path. He was down, depressed, ashamed, and couldn't see a way out.

In this heartwarming episode of "On Par with Maury Povich," we dive into the inspiring journey of MD Motivator, aka Zachery Dereniowski, who is changing lives across the globe with simple acts of kindness. From giving hugs on street corners to raising millions for those in need, Zach's story is a testament to the power of human connection, the impact of compassion and what just one person can do to change the world, one step at a time.

To see him in action, here are a few links: A Mom and a Daughter and a food truck

Zach giving away $10,000 to a flower seller

Young Man with a Dream to Go Into Business

A Man and a Bike

Dogs

  
    Ever since having my daughter’s dog live with me for an extended period of time this year (Frenchy is now back in NYC), I have a newly developed soft spot for homeless dogs.   It would break my heart to think Frenchy didn’t have special people to love who can love her.  I grew up always with a dog in the home—and they ran free with their own dog door.  Nowadays things are a little different unless you live in a real rural area and it takes more care on the keeper’s part than just opening the door and letting them run free.  

There are so many dogs that have been abandoned for whatever reason and now live in an animal shelter, dying for a family to love.  If I can make a difference just with one dog, it is more than worth this post.  Have a look at these links— I have included two animal shelters from New York (the second is where we got Frenchy, rescued from Tennessee), two places in the San Francisco Bay Area, and one with several locations in Maine.  (These are the places where most of my readership comes from.)  

I am glad to share this information in hopes that you might want to take a look at some of the photos of these dogs and consider adopting one.  Click images below for links to dogs in need of a home:

Bideawee with locations in Manhattan, Westhampton, and Wantagh

Midcoast Maine Humane (several locations)

Poem by Sara Teasdale

  
“There Will Come Soft Rain”
 by Sara Teasdale

There will come soft rain and the smell of the ground,

And swallows circling with their shimmering sound;

And frogs in the pools singing at night,

And wild plum trees in tremulous white;

Robins will wear their feathery fire,

Whistling their whims on a low fence-wire;

And not one will know of the war, not one

Will care at last when it is done.

Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree,

If mankind perished utterly;

And Spring herself, when she woke at dawn

Would scarcely know that we were gone.

Painting of the Week

Composiiton in Pink and Brown with Four Moons. mixed media on canvas. 52” x 80” approx. $8500

Charity of the Week:
Doctor's Without Borders

Book of the Week

Source: old-age-young-at-heart-chorus-mark-nepo-no...

Blog No. 291: Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Bjorn Borg, Good Advice About Worrying

July 11, 2026

Mayor Mamdani

That smile has changed the mood in New York City. And yes, I know it takes much more than that to be a good mayor, but there is something to be said for Mamdani's optimism, his personability, his accessibility, his reaching out to normal New Yorkers (including prisoners who he watched one of the world cup games with), and his fresh attitude.

Errol Louis from NY1 has started a new series called Out of the Office with Mayor Mamdani and judging from the first episode which I watched last week, we are going to learn a lot about who Zohran Mamdani is over the course of each episode. And I like what I see!

In this first sitdown, Mamdani talks about a variety of subjects including living in Gracie Mansion, the midterms, antisemitism, building safety related to the collapse of the Pfizer Building on 42nd Street, his love of soccer and the pickup game he hosts at his home, the Knicks, the housing crisis in New York City, and much more.

click image to see more of this artist’s work and to purchase

Bjorn Borg

My dad loved tennis and played every weekend on our neighborhood courts with a group of fellow Usonians. As a result, I got to enjoy the game too although I am not a very competitive type so never played very seriously. But I loved watching tennis and always looked forward to the U.S. Open and knew all the players in my day and age. Bjorn Borg was my favorite and definitely my teenage crush.

Borg recently came out with what one might call a confession--from the person who never showed any emotion on the court unlike his poorly behaved American counterparts, Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe. Borg was the Swedish stoic--keeping it all inside. He disappeared from the tennis stage rather prematurely and I often wondered what happened to him. Well, here is his explanation, straight from the horse's mouth. Sad but also good that he finally got it out...

Good Advice About Worrying

Try the Finnish Worry Hour Method—it just might help…

I used to sleep like a baby and could even fall asleep standing up...Not anymore! it started in my late sixties--I now wake up several times a night and luckily I can usually fall back asleep pretty quickly. But so many of my friends talk to me about how they too have trouble sleeping and they wake up going over a long list in their head of all the things they are worried about. The thoughts just pour in--anxious about their kids, their health, the direction of the country, the state of the world, things they have to do, memory loss, climate change, their immigrant friends--you name it...

I don't claim an easy solution to this anxiety but I did recently come across a method that made sense to me, at least as a way to help our kids (and ourselves too) with anxiety. And as usual, it comes from Scandinavia--Finland to be exact.

The Worry Hour actually started as a remedy for kids with anxiety. This is how it works (but it also can apply to adults). As explained by @_eber_b on instagram, every evening, thirty minutes before bed, the child gets a notebook. For exactly fifteen minutes, they write down everything that scared them, stressed them out, or felt unfinished for the day. Then they close the book. And the rule is absolute: worries stay in the notebook until tomorrow's session. As the kid gets older (and hopefully us adults too), the boundary is internatlized. This is used by Finnish parents, teaching their kids this rule before bed, preventing 80 percent of teenage anxiety later in life.

But this method doesn't only work for kids. Assured Psychology has elaborated on The Worry Hour adapting it for adults. A person's brain learns that worry has a time and place, and bedtime is not that time. The shift happens because the brain stops treating every worry as an emergency. It's not "don't think about it, just not now." That small delay breaks the anxiety loop. The person sleeps. The worry loses its grip. But it doesn't have to be limited to kids. The goal is not to suppress worries but to contain them.

Listen to Param Sandhu Gill--she explains this method better than I could. Definitely worth the three minutes of listening for all the worriers out there.

Painting of the Week

Latest commission for a couple celebrating a special wedding anniversary. 48” x 48”. mixed media on canvas

Charity of the Week:
Doctor's Without Borders

Book of the Week

Source: old-age-young-at-heart-chorus-mark-nepo-no...

Blog No. 290: Lessons from Denmark, Keith Jarrett, Psi Encyclopedia on Reincarnation

July 11, 2026

Lessons from Denmark

An instagram called Captains of Industry (COI) recently published a piece on Denmark, one of my favorite places on earth. There are so many lessons to be learned from this country that has institutionalized, in a way, kindness and empathy.

Thank you CaptainsOfIndustry for providing us with this. The text is long and I have chosen to paraphrase some of it, but it is really worth a read as a roadmap to a successful nation:

Denmark should not be rich. Instead it is one of the most prosperous and stable economics on the planet. It has faster GDP growth than Northway and Sweden and one of the lowest public debt levels in Europe. Its citizens get free university, free health care and 90 percent of their salary when they lose their job...

For most of its history Denmark was poor, as a small agricultural country...By the end of World War Il it was still a low productivity agrarian economy with a choice to make. It chose to modernize, and then made a series of bets that almost nobody else was willing to make.

It chose education and vocational training. Danish workers became some of the most productive in the world.

The second bet was healthcare and it was framed as an economic strategy rather than a social policy.

The third bet was taxes, and this is where Denmark confounds everyone. Its tax to GDP ratio rose from 29% in 1965 to nearly 50%. Critics warned that businesses would flee and growth would stall. Instead the opposite happened. The key was not how much Denmark taxed but what it taxed. Corporate taxes sit at just 22%, below the OECD average and far lower than Germany or France. Payroll taxes are low. The heavy burden falls on personal income and consumption instead. That productivity is what made everything else possible.That structure matters enormously. High payroll taxes make hiring expensive and slow job creation. Denmark avoids this by keeping employer costs low while taxing individuals on what they earn and spend. Businesses face fewer barriers to hiring and expanding. Denmark now has one of the highest startup rates in Europe and the World Bank ranks it among the easiest countries in the world to do business.

The labor market works the same way, through a system called flexicurity. Danish companies can let workers go with almost no restrictions. But when workers are laid off they receive up to 90% of their previous salary for up to two years. The government actively helps them retrain and find new work rather than simply paying them to stay home. Companies are not afraid to hire. Workers are not terrified of losing their jobs. The result is one of the highest labor market participation rates in the world, over 77% of working age adults actively employed.

Novo Nordisk (maker of Ozempic) was founded in Denmark in 1923 focused on a niche nobody else wanted: diabetes treatment. Today it controls nearly a third of the world's insulin supply and its weight loss drugs helped it become Europe's most valuable company with a market cap exceeding $350 billion. Maersk, also Danish, moves 14% of all global trade. It was founded in 1904 and took advantage of Denmark's position between the North Sea and the Baltic to become one of the largest shipping companies in the world.

In the 1970s while most countries were doubling down on fossil fuels Denmark made a bet on wind power that almost nobody took seriously. Renewables were seen as expensive and unreliable. Oil and gas were the backbone of the global economy. Denmark invested anyway. Today it produces over 50% of its electricity from wind alone, and turned that knowledge into an export industry. Vestas now sells wind turbines to the world. Denmark has some of the lowest CO2 emissions per capita among developed nations while continuing to grow its economy.

Danish CEOs earn about 60 times the average worker. In the US that number is closer to 290 times. Denmark has a Gini coefficient of 0.28, one of the lowest measures of income inequality in the world. The US sits at 0.41. The UK at 0.32. Low inequality is not just a social outcome in Denmark. It is the result of deliberate policy, progressive taxation, personal deductions for low earners, and a housing system where homeowners can lock in fixed mortgage rates for up to 30 years even when moving between properties.

None of this works without trust. 88% of Danes say they are happy to pay taxes because they believe their government uses them well. In the US only 16% trust the federal government to do the right thing. In a low trust society high taxes feel like theft. In Denmark they feel like an investment, because the schools are excellent, the healthcare works, and the safety net is real.

The model has limits. Nearly 1 in 5 Danes is now over 65. An aging population means higher healthcare costs, fewer working age taxpayers, and growing pressure on the pension system. Almost all of Denmark's population growth since 1980 has come from immigration, which has filled labor shortages but raised questions about long term sustainability of the welfare model. Denmark is already raising its retirement age gradually to 70 and linking it to life expectancy.

Can other countries copy it? Not simply. Denmark has advantages that are hard to replicate, a small population of 5.9 million, high social trust built over generations, and a geographic position at the heart of Europe's wealthiest markets. ( Nearly 70% of its exports go to European countries. The model was also built gradually over decades through consistent reform rather than imposed overnight.

But the lessons are clear. High taxes do not automatically destroy an economy if they are structured correctly. Investing in education, healthcare, and labor flexibility pays off over time. And a population that trusts its government, that sees taxes as the price of a functioning society rather than money taken by force, is one of the most powerful economic assets a country can have. Denmark spent a century building that. It shows.

Keith Jarrett

I just heard Keith Jarrett's version of Somewhere Over the Rainbow from 1975 and was reminded of how wowed I was by his music way back when. He recently came into my mind and I found myself asking "what happened to him?" He was known as one of the most important composers and improvisers in musical history. In addition to his career in jazz he also made recordings of the classical repetoire. Sadly I found out he was plagued by physical problems and is no longer performing and hasn't been for a long while.

I was happy to see that he is alive and well though and amazed at what he can play with his one workable hand. Rick Beato interviewed Keith in 2023 and it is chock full of information about Jarrett's life, his collaborations with many of the greats in the jazz worldthe jazzworld. He has left an indelible mark on jazz and the musical industry in general. Spend a little while listening to some of his amazing creations and listening to a great overview and interview with him by Rick Beato:

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

The Complete Köln Concert

The Best Songs of Keith Jarrett

Danny Boy

Psi Encyclopedia on Reincarnation

I have been interested in the subject of reincarnation and, most specifically, children who remember their past lives since I started researching death and dying right after my late husband, Gert Mathiesen, died in 2013. I found myself asking simple questions like "where did he go?" I had a few dreams soon after where he picked me up, drove me around and then told me he had to drop me off again. One of the times I dreamt that I fell back asleep again and felt he was lying next to me. Then I started asking "what is a dream?" Do we even really know what that is?

Children who had memories of past lives and provided facts that checked out including their name, where they lived, how they died, a language they spoke (and were never exposed to), etc. etc. seemed to me the closest I would get to evidential proof that consciousness survives the body and that this is not all there is....

The psi encyclopedia covers an exhaustive amount of material on paranormal phenomena and in the reincarnation section, specifically documents many of the known cases of people, mostly children, who remember their past lives. It sounds like quackery but if you delve deeper one will see that many of these cases have been deeply investigated using rigorous scientific methods. Ian Stevenson and his protegé Jim B. Tucker, of the Division of Perceptual Studies, a branch of the University of Virginia Medical School, have been on the forefront of these investigations in the United States. Here are a few links to my most favorite cases:

Ryan Hammons/Marty Martin

Painting of the Week

Pam Smilow. Love is Blue. mixed media on canvas, Private Collection, Houston, Texas.

Charity of the Week:
Doctor's Without Borders

Book of the Week

Source: old-age-young-at-heart-chorus-mark-nepo-no...

Blog No. 285: Elephants, Heather Cox Richardson 6/25/2026, About Denmark

June 27, 2026

Elephants

Courtesy **Weird, Strange and Interesting Things**

I have always had a special place in my heart for elephants as the smart, emotional, self-aware and highly social creatures that they are. In fact when Gert, my husband died, one of my thoughts was to look at elephants and how they grieve as a model for how I was going to survive this major event in my life…. Turns out these magnificent pachyderms, who today are in enormous danger due to ivory poaching, human-wildlife conflict and habitat destruction, did have an answer.

When one of their herd member dies, they hold a vigil around the body. And they stay there, in silence, for hours, not making a single sound. Making sure the elephant in grief knows they are not alone and surrounded by love and empathy.

According to the Grief and Loss Center of North Texas, “we humans often struggle to find the “right” words to say when in the presence of someone who is grieving. We try to help by saying something, but the reality is that people who are grieving don’t have a need for words. They simply need family and friends to gather around them in sacred silence to assure them they are not alone.”

I think we need to look at the animal kingdom a lot more often to teach us important lessons on wellbeing.

Wanda Sykes Illustration, courtesy RaLiz and RedBubble

Heather Cox Richardson Important Post

Photo courtesy Robert Shetterly. Click image above to read about his work

I have written about Heather Cox Richardson several times on my blog as I consider her America's history teacher, one of our most national treasures, and a voice of sanity and reason in these very troubling times. Her facebook talks are always interesting but her June 25, 2026 talk struck me as really important and it stood out as something I really wanted to highlight and share here. In my opinion, it is something everyone needs to hear. She starts off about how crucial it is to get our terminology straight and I won't go over every point she makes here--she is much better at explaining things herself-- but for me, the main gist where she hits the nail on the head, as usual, is that what is being termed "socialist" or "communist" right now is not radical at all taken in historical context. Believe it or not, the REPUBLICAN PARTY! platform of 1956, which she reads in her talk, contains so many of the ideas that are being deemed radical today. Please take the time to listen to her whole talk and share it far and wide. It is forty minutes well spent!

About Denmark

Painting of the Week

An impromptu art show this week on the lawn of Rancho La Puerta in Tecate, Mexico.

Charity of the Week:
Doctor's Without Borders

Book of the Week

Source: old-age-young-at-heart-chorus-mark-nepo-no...

Blog No. 287: National Dance Institute, David Hockney (1937-2026), Obama Presidential Center

June 20, 2026

Click image above to see a shot of pure exuberance with the NDI classic The Drum Speaks, choreographed by Bianca Johnson.!

National Dance Institute is my favorite non-profit, a flourishing organization in partnership with 50 public schools in New York City, affiliate programs in 12 cities across the United States and two overseas programs in Shanghai, China and Beirut, Lebanon. Founded by the true visionary Jacques D'Amboise of New York City Ballet fame, their aim is to teach children to reach their full potential through inclusive dance education—directly serving students while training teaching artists worldwide to bring the proven NDI methodology to their communities.

Have a look at 200+ advanced team kids dancing their hearts out on the stage of NYU's Skirball Center. I just wish I could share these performances with you in person so you could also feel the energy in the room and the shot of pure exuberant joy I feel every time I watch their End of the Year performances at the Skirball Center at NYU. Over the past weekend, I saw it four times!

I don’t think I am exaggerating when I say that people walk out of there in awe, saying “this is the best performance I have seen in New York this year!”

For an extra boost, watch their performance back in 1995 when Jacques was honored at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. And remember, these are just middle school kids….

David Hockney (1937-2026)

One of the great artists of our time--for his versatility, his love of color, and his experimentation. Like Pablo Picasso, David Hockney did it all: Here is a sampling of some of his varied and wonderful work:

Stained Glass Window in Westminster Abbey

Obama Presidential Center Opens in Chicago

What an uplifting experience to watch the Opening of the Obama Presidential Center that took place on June 19th on the South Side of Chicago. Full of star studded musicians and a mood of hope and celebration much like the good old days. Please watch Michelle Obama's speech and Barak Obama's too to get that feeling of hope and optimism. It will revive you. It revived me and made me think there is a way out of this dark tunnel...

Icing on the cake: listen to the musical performances of Stevie Wonder, Bruce Springsteen and one of my all time favorites, It's a Wonderful World sung by Jennifer Hudson.

The good old days. Keep Hope Alive for better days ahead and don’t remain silent—we need you on the streets…

Painting of the Week

Pam Smilow Floating House Series. mixed media on canvas. 66” x 40”. $7500

Charity of the Week:
Doctor's Without Borders

Book of the Week

Source: old-age-young-at-heart-chorus-mark-nepo-no...

Blog No. 286: The Amazing Knicks, Instructions Before Visiting Earth Poem by James McRae,

June 13, 2026

The Amazing New York Knicks

I admit to being a fair weather sports fan. I like watching tennis, soccer, and basketball, occasional baseball, but mostly towards the end of the season when there is more action and excitement.

I remember the Knicks of yesteryear in the late 60s, early 70s when Willis Reed was on the team as well as Bill Bradley, Walt Frazier, Dave DeBusschere, Phil Jackson and Earl "The Pearl" Monroe.

I too caught the Knicks fever recently and tuned in, like many of us fellow New Yorkers, to the fourth game. The Spurs dominated the first half and when the Knicks were down 27 points, I gave up on them and went to bed, utterly discouraged. I want NYC to have a win, especially with Mamdani at the helm.

Waking up in the early morning hours, I couldn’t believe my eyes. The Knicks, putting themselves up by one in the last seconds, managed to pull off an amazing comeback, one for the history books! And with this win, we don’t just celebrate the sport but also the diversity that is New York City, where people of all colors, shapes, sizes, religions, genders, etc. live side by side in relative peace…

I share with you here some of the celebratory reels of New Yorkers partying along side each other, including that of our new mayor, Zohran Mamdani…

Right after the Win

The Deeper Meaning of the Win

Celebrating on the Street

Mamdani and The Knicks

Mamdani vs. Trump at the Game

Mamdani Repeals Bedtime for Kid Fans

Instructions Before Visiting Earth

I discovered a very interesting substack and instagram from someone named James McRae…and it occurs to me there truly are so many really cool people in this world doing such beautiful work with their hearts and minds in the right place.

One of those people is James McRae, “an artist, poet, and teacher who empowers creators to live with purpose and turn imagination into reality. He is the founder of Sunflower Club, a global community dedicated to creativity as a tool for personal healing and social transformation. “

Here is his poem that got me going on him in the first place:

INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE VISITING EARTH
by James McRae

In the event that you wake up
and find your soul separated from source
and manifest into material form, don’t panic.
Your condition is only temporary.
In the event that you wake up
and find your soul separated from source
and manifest into material form, don’t panic.
Your condition is only temporary.

You have been selected for the opportunity
of human incarnation.

This 3D simulation is designed
to break up the monotony of eternity
by giving you a fully immersive experience
as a distinct ego identity.

Your body will serve
as your physical avatar
as you navigate a dense and dramatic reality.
There will be many distractions
causing you to forget your true nature and origin.
You will experience a range of emotions
from joy to loneliness to despair.

But remember – no matter
what trials and traumas you encounter,
your soul remains perfectly safe.

At times you may feel lost or afraid.
This is totally normal.
If you ever need guidance,
simply slow down your busy mind
and bring your awareness
to the quiet place
inside yourself.

On this planet, nothing is permanent.
People and things will come and go.
You will fall in love and form sentimental attachments
only to lose everything you hold dear.

So cling to nothing too tightly, even yourself,
and when it’s time to let go, let go with grace,
for nothing is owned, only borrowed.

As you walk among
the people on the planet,
try to be a good guest.
Tread lightly. Remember
that you are only visiting.
Don’t make a mess.
Listen more than you speak.
Give more than you take.

Don’t keep your soft heart
locked inside a glass cage,
protected from wear and tear.

You’ll never make it out alive
and time passes quickly.
So come back with some battle scars
and good stories to tell.

McRae writes a substack entitled “Being Nobody” (https://jamesmccrae.substack.com/) and his instagram is @wordsarevibrations. Chani Thompson (@chanipeach), another amazing creator and life coach set McRae’s poem to some cool imagery—

Sushi Sandwich

This recipe by @seattlehanddoc Wayne and Nancy looks delicious to me and it seems you could just about use any ingredients. In this case, no raw fish involved. They used skipjack tuna from a can for the protein.

Crispy Pan-Fried Onigirazu

INGREDIENTS
2 cans wild planetfoods Skipjack Tuna
3 tbsp mayo
1 tsp Sriracha (plus more to taste)
1 avocado, thinly sliced
1 cucumber, peeled into thin strips
6 eggs, fried
3 cups cooked short-grain white rice, seasoned with salt
12 sheets nori
24 sheets rice paper
Black sesame seeds
Neutral oil for frying

INSTRUCTIONS
Mix Wild Planet tuna with mayo, Sriracha, salt and pepper. Set aside.
Fry your eggs and prep all fillings before you start building.
Dip 2 rice paper sheets in warm water, overlap on a cutting board. Layer 2 nori sheets on top.
Cut 2 slits to create 4 sections. Place rice in one, tuna across from it, egg in the third, avocado and cucumber in the fourth.
Fold rice over avocado, fold that stack onto the tuna, fold tuna over the egg, fold egg over to the rice, fold rice over cucumber.
Wrap the whole square in 2 more wet rice paper sheets, press to seal, sprinkle with sesame seeds.
Pan fry in neutral oil on medium-high heat, searing all sides until golden and crispy.
Slice in half and try not to film a close up before eating. You will fail.
Fair warning — regular tuna sandwiches are never going to hit the same after this. 🔪✨

Painting of the Week

My art workshop this week at the beautiful wellness spa Rancho La Puerta in Tecate, Mexico.

Charity of the Week:
Doctor's Without Borders

Book of the Week

Source: old-age-young-at-heart-chorus-mark-nepo-no...

Blog No. 285: Child Prodigy Alma Deutscher, Anne Frank 80 Years Later, Dogs with Sticks

June 6, 2026

Alma Deutscher Child Prodigy

This is the story of a young girl named Alma Deutscher (now a young woman of 20) and I think you are really going to scratch your head on this one. For me, it just makes it clear that there is so much we do not understand in this life. I personally find it incredibly exciting to just take it all in with wonder!

Alma Deutscher is a British composer, pianist, violinist and conductor but she had an extremely unusual early start at her career. Her earliest memories were hearing the music of Ricard Strauss as a toddler and being already mesmerized and in love. At three she was already playing piano and violin. When she was four she started having compositions and melodies come to her in her head--"they just popped in" she describes and these were not just things she had heard--they were her original compositions. She composed her first piano sonata at the age of five. At seven, she completed a short opera, and at age 9 she had already written a full violin concerto! If you want to be enchanted, please take the twelve minutes it takes to hear this 60 Minutes piece on her--guaranteed it will stretch what you thought of life and how things come about...

Anne Frank 80 Years Later

I think it is important to keep Nazi Germany fresh in our minds right now as America goes through these scary times that sadly mirror in many ways the rise of fascism there. Let’s hope knowing history might prevent us from making the same mistakes.

Anne Frank has become a symbol of that time. Here are her experiences from Germany to Amsterdam, narrated and told from the viewpoint of Eva Schloss, a contemporary, whose own story mirrored Frank's life but sadly to a very different end.

Through her diary, Anne Frank’s words survived, becoming a symbol of resilience and a testament to the atrocities of the Holocaust, inspiring generations to fight prejudice and embrace humanity.

This documentary, entitled 80 Years Later: Anne Frank’s Sister Breaks Her Silence, directed by Rachel Stirling, interweaves Anne Frank’s diary entries with the parallel experience of other refugees at that time in Amsterdam, and is full of informative archival footage and interviews.

Dogs With Sticks

Here is a pure fluff piece that I found on youtube: Dogs Carrying Sticks. I have become a true dog lover after having my daughter's dog up with me in Maine for an extended period of time so excuse the obsession if you are not of the same mind. But this story is fun, charming, and guaranteed to put a smile on your face. We all need reason to do that these days...

Painting of the Week

Charity of the Week:
Doctor's Without Borders

Book of the Week

Source: old-age-young-at-heart-chorus-mark-nepo-no...

Blog No. 284: Comedian Wanda Sykes, Colorful Food, Stephen Colbert's Musical Send Off

May 29, 2026

Comedian
Wanda Sykes

Photo courtesy Philadelphia Gay News. Click image for interview

Laughter truly is good medicine for the soul.

Wanda Sykes is one of my favorite comedians. I strongly recommend you take the time to watch this new film of hers Legacy, available on Netflix. It documents her performance at her alma mater: Hampton University and it is funny. We so need the comic relief right now and I am pretty sure you will get some good laughs out of it.

Beautiful Colorful Salad

Have you ever seen such a colorful and aesthetically pleasing salad?

Radishes, cucumbers and oranges contribute to the beauty of this salad.

Recipe follows thanks to journalist Emily Nunn's The Department of Salad and Italian chef and cookbook writer Marcella Hazan:

MARCELLA'S COLORFUL SALAD, serves 6

INGREDIENTS:
2 Persian cucumbers or 1 large seedless
3 oranges
6 small radishes
1 avocado (optional)
12 fresh mint leaves
Sea salt
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
Extra virgin olive oil

INSTRUCTIONS:
*Slice the cucumber into thin disks and arrange on a serving platter.

*Peel the oranges by slicing the top and the bottom off of the orange and using a sharp pairing knife remove the peel. (Try not to leave any of the white pithy part.)
Slice the oranges and add to the platter.

*Slice the radishes into disks and add to the platter

*Slice the avocado and arrange nicely on platter.

*Tear the mint leaves in half and sprinkle them over the top.

*Sprinkle sea salt over the whole salad

*Squeeze lemon evenly over the platter and finish with a drizzle of good quality olive oil.

Voilá!

  
And here is another beautiful healthy choice--I personally love creating these rice bowls out of all kinds of ingredients.  This one looked particularly appealing to me but you can literally put anything in there except the kitchen sink.

RAINBOW RICE BOWL

  
     
RAINBOW RICE BOWL 

Your choice of protein
1 cup cooked Brown Rice
1/3 cup grated carrots
1/3 cup shredded red cabbage
1 avocado, cut into thin slices

PREPARATION FOR KALE:
 1/2 cup chopped kale into small pieces.
Toast the sesame seeds lightly in dry frying pan, then add shredded kale to the pan
Add 1 tsp sesame oil and 
1 tsp olive oil. 
Turn the heat to medium and sautee for a few minutes until bright green and nicely cooked. 
Add 2 tsp tamari and turn the heat down - cook for 1 minute to reduce the liquid then turn the heat off. 
DRESSING
1 tsp. olive oil, 1 tsp sesame oil, 2 tsp tamari, 1 tbsp sesame seeds

  

  
  
  

Stephen Colbert's Send Off

The final send off from Stephen Colbert’s eleven year run on CBS (boycott CBS please) includes two back to back musical numbers: Jump Up by Elvis Costello and finally The Beatles Hello Goodbye, all performed by Colbert himself alongside Louis Cato, Jon Batiste, Elvis Costello, Paul McCartney and the Great Big Joy Machine. It ends in a giant singalong that involves the audience and the entire staff.

Painting of the Week

Pam Smilow Green Garden. mixed media on canvas. 50” x 80”. $8500

Charity of the Week:
Doctor's Without Borders

Book of the Week

Source: old-age-young-at-heart-chorus-mark-nepo-no...

Blog No. 283: Artist Activist Natasha Mayers, Stephen Colbert/Anderson Cooper: A Conversation, A Few Short Poems

May 23, 2026

Natasha Mayer's
Artists' Rapid Response Team (ARRT!)

Natasha Mayers, Activist Artist, photo courtesy Sean Alonzo Harris

My friend and fellow artist Terrie Frisbie has been trying to get me to come with her to a monthly artist gathering called ARRT! (Artists' Rapid Response Team), where artists have been gathering once a month for many years to make political signage and artwork for the greater good.

I finally went last Sunday--what a wonderful group of artists, such creative collaborative energy floating in the space, and all of us hard at work all day. There is something amazing about being in a room and creating--that group spirit--and especially if it is for a good cause.

ARRT! was founded fourteen years ago by an extraordinary woman named Natasha Mayers, who is the founder and force behind this artist collective. It has been going strong since 2012, dedicated to political causes of decency, kindness and justice for the less privileged in our society.

In addition to her own art and organzing the artist collective, Natasha has worked with prisoners, children, refugees and local residents to create banners, murals and signs with the purpose of bringing visual reminders of what is important in life and to call attention to crucial issues we face as a society. As one of Maine's national treasures, she is celebrated in this wonderful PBS documentary Natasha Mayers: An Unstill Life. Please watch for inspiration, dedication, and the determination of one person to spark and mobilize a whole group of individuals into collective years of action.

Organized by Natasha Mayers, these lobster buoys, symbols of Maine, are depicted here with flags from all over the world, painted by Portland immigrant students representing their countries of origin.

Stephen Colbert/Anderson Cooper Conversation

Both Anderson Cooper and Stephen Colbert have had their share of major loss. Take the time to listen to this touching, raw conversation between the two of them where they are incredibly open about their life experiences and their personal feelings on their own grief.

To dig deeper, you might also be interested in Anderson Cooper's entire podcast All There Is, where he engages in moving and honest discussion with people who have faced life-altering losses.

Anderson Cooper’s Podcast All There Is has three seasons, currently 56 episodes.

A Few Short Poems

  
    
APRIL IS A DOG'S DREAM
by Marilyn Singer


april is a dog’s dream
the soft grass is growing
the sweet breeze is blowing
the air all full of singing feels just right
so no excuses now
we’re going to the park
to chase and charge and chew
and I will make you see
what spring is all about



THE RED WHEELBARROW
by William Carlos Williams


so much depends
upon
a red wheel
barrow
glazed with rain
water
beside the white
chickens



THE CRY OF THE CICADA 
by Matsuo Bashō


The cry of the cicada

Gives us no sign

That presently it will die.



HOPE IS A THING WITH FEATHERS
by Emily Dickinson


“Hope” is the thing with feathers –
That perches in the soul –
And sings the tune without the words –
And never stops – at all –

And sweetest – in the Gale – is heard –
 And sore must be the storm –
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm –

I’ve heard it in the chillest land –
 And on the strangest Sea –
Yet – never – in Extremity,
It asked a crumb – of me.
  
  

Painting of the Week

Charity of the Week:
Doctor's Without Borders

Book of the Week

Source: old-age-young-at-heart-chorus-mark-nepo-no...

Blog No. 282: Theo of Golden, Singing Bowls, Ajo Blanco Gazpacho Soup

May 17, 2026

Theo of Golden
by Allen Levi

“Stories cast spells.” And this one certainly does… I just finished the New York Times bestseller Theo of Golden this morning and decided to toss aside all my plans for this lead story on my blog and write about this book. I am not going to say much because I was in many ways left without words upon finishing it and I want the book and the author Allen Levi to speak for themselves...

What I will say very broadly is that the central character is an 87 year old man from Portugal named Theo who shows up in the southern town of Golden, Georgia and gets to know many of the townspeople.

I found the book very inspirational although the author insists it is not a book about idealism--he is convinced that it is realistic... Allen Levi reminds us that life is all about choices.

I just want to encourage you to read it and then please come back to this blog entry and comment. I'd love to hear your thoughts. I hope you like it as much as I did.

If, when you finish, you don’t want to see it end or you have questions and want more information, there is a great conversation between Levi Allen and his old friend, bookstore owner Ben May. Well worth the listen!

Singing Bowls for Stress Relief

There is so much free floating anxiety in the air these days that we can't help but be affected. As an antidote, I find meditation and listening to these singing bowls from time to time as a way to ground and center myself and release some of that anxious feeling deep in my gut when I think of the state of the world.

I hope this eleven minute video from Tibetan yoga teacher Tseyang helps to reduce some of the stress...Get comfortable and spend the next ten minutes just letting go...

White Gazpacho Soup

  
    Babbo-Style White Gazpacho (Ajo Blanco Inspired) 

Serves 4–6 
 
Ingredients 

* 1 cup blanched almonds (Marcona if possible) 

* 2 cups seedless green grapes 

* 1 English cucumber, peeled and chopped 

* 2 slices rustic white bread, crusts removed 

* 2 garlic cloves 

* 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil 

* 2 tablespoons sherry vinegar 

* 2–3 cups ice 

* Kosher salt 

* White pepper 
 
Garnish ideas 

* Halved green grapes 

* Toasted almonds 

* Chive oil or olive oil drizzle 

* Tiny cucumber dice 

* Croutons 
 
Instructions 

1. Soak the bread in a little cold water for 5 minutes, then squeeze dry. 

2. Blend almonds, garlic, grapes, cucumber, and bread until smooth. 

3. Slowly drizzle in olive oil while blending so it emulsifies. 

4. Add sherry vinegar and enough ice water to reach a silky soup consistency. 

5. Season with salt and white pepper. 

6. Strain through a fine sieve for a restaurant-style smooth texture. 

7. Chill at least 3 hours before serving.

Painting of the Week

Pam Smilow Fish House. mixed media on canvas. 60” x 40”. in progress

Charity of the Week:
ACLU

Book of the Week

Source: old-age-young-at-heart-chorus-mark-nepo-no...

Blog No. 281: The Secret Inner Life of Dogs, Monika Zgustová When Society Tolerates Evil, Playlist: Music About Boats

May 9, 2026

A Mother’s Job is Never Done!! HAPPY MOTHER”S DAY to all you wonderful, tireless, kind-hearted mothers out there…Not sure who to attribute this photo to—it was posted on René’ Volpi’s substack.

The Secret Inner Life of Dogs

Click image to hear more about dog expert Alexandra Horowitz. Photo courtesy Frenchy the dog…

This one is for all you dog lovers out there (like me).

Have you wondered why your dog is always with the nose to the ground--what could all that sniffing mean to them? Or what they are thinking when they give you that stare?...Do they understand and have a sense of time? Do they get bored?

Alexandra Horowitz, author of new book The Secret Inner Life of Dogs as well as multiple other books on the subject answers those questions and many more. As Senior Research Fellow and Adjunct Associate Professor and director of the Horowitz Dog Cognition Lab at Barnard College, she has dedicated her life to the study of animal cognition and most specifically about dogs.

Oprah Winfrey sat down with Alexandra Horowitz and what follows is their very informative just short of an hour conversation--everything you wanted to know and more.

When Society Tolerates Evil by Monika Zgustova

Author, Journalist and Translator Monika Zgustová

Monika Zgustova was one of my closest friends when I lived in Barcelona from 1980-1985. I've stayed in touch with her over all these years although as of late she doesn't travel anymore to the States for obvious reasons...

Originally from Czechoslovakia, her family fled Prague when she was a teenager when the Russians invaded and she and her family ended up in the States, where her father taught linquistics at the University of Illinois Champagne-Urbana (he spoke 16 languages, Monika speaks six). I have watched Monika's career blossom over the years--as the author of many successful fiction and nonfiction books, a translator of prominent Czech and Russian writers into Spanish and Catalan, including such luminaries as Václav Havel, Milan Kundera, and Fyodor Dostoyevsky and she even wrote the Catalan Russian dictionary!

Monika has lived in Barcelona for many years now and regularly contributes articles and editorials in Spain's El País and La Vanguardia newspapers, The Nation and CounterPunch in the United States and Lidové Noviny in the Czech Republic. She is one of the most intelligent people I know and it is my honor to include this article, featured in El País and Counterpunch, where she reflects on tyranny, in my substack newsletter:

"In communist Prague, my father was repeatedly arrested, imprisoned, and tortured for his dissident activities. My mother suffered, and in her attempts to halt that downward spiral, she made small gestures to appease the authorities. Her concessions consisted of the fact that, like most people, during communist holidays—the anniversary of the Russian Revolution, Labor Day, and others—she would place small Czechoslovak and Soviet flags in the windows of our Prague apartment and let them fly together, even though doing so was not strictly mandatory, but was well-regarded by the regime.

My parents are an example of the two attitudes displayed by citizens whose country becomes authoritarian, dictatorial, or totalitarian: a small group of people rebels and maintains its opposition to the regime despite the circumstances (which may include frequent interrogations, threats, imprisonment, and torture, as in my father’s case). The vast majority of citizens, however, choose to make concessions to the regime (like my mother), or to engage in full-fledged collaboration. .

During my student years in the United States, where my parents eventually fled with their teenage children thanks above all to my mother’s courage, I spent a few months in Argentina, which at that time was under military rule. There, too, I observed behavior similar to the totalitarianism of my childhood. I saw a resigned society, because dissidents were in prison or in exile. In Buenos Aires, people rarely went out; the cafés were almost empty. People had little money and much fear. However, some people from various professional backgrounds told me that at first they had welcomed the military because, after years of guerrilla warfare, they wanted peace and security. And I asked them if it was possible to enjoy peace under a regime that controlled and mistreated society. .

When the Argentine junta eventually expelled me from the country for having questioned a military officer’s statement at a meeting of interpreters for the World Cup, where I was supposed to work, I was glad because, like any society under a dictatorship, Argentina was a blind and self-absorbed community that turned a deaf ear to the reality of lives violated and tormented. .

Years later, I interviewed several women in Moscow who had been sentenced to the gulag during Stalin’s time. Those women told me that even in the labor camps—that microcosm of a society under tyranny—those two essential attitudes existed: that of rebelling and that of complying. Some women stood up to the guards and the camp leaders despite the consequences their defiance might bring: if not instant death, then harsh punishment. Other women, the majority, in their search for peace, remained obedient. Strangely enough, a higher number of daring women survived the gulag compared to the pusillanimous prisoners because the guards laughed at their fear, relished their panic, and punished the terrified women with a sadistic glee. .

Something similar also occurred in the Nazi concentration camps. The Czech journalist Milena Jesenská, a steadfast, intrepid woman who remained inwardly free even as a prisoner, used to rebel through acts of disobedience to the rules: she arrived late for roll calls at the Ravensbrück camp, brought wildflowers into the office where she worked, sent clandestine messages to other prisoners, and jotted down notes for her planned book on tyranny. Strangely, the guards rarely called her out on it. What was the reason? The explanation is simple: they knew that the Czech prisoner did not fear them. The other prisoners in her Ravensbrück barrack adored Milena for her attitude, but most of them were unable to imitate her: fear of the consequences overwhelmed them. One of the few women who gradually learned Milena’s fearlessness was her best friend Margarete Buber-Neumann, who survived imprisonment in Stalin’s gulag and another in Ravensbrück and was able to tell future generations how an attitude that tolerates tyranny gives wings to the oppressor. .

But let’s return to Russia, this time to contemporary Russia, the one that has Putin as its president and Stalin as its deity. Three decades ago, there were plans in Siberia to open museums dedicated to the gulag. Recently, the Russian-American journalist Masha Gessen traveled there to investigate this topic. Her guide was Inna Gribanova, a former enthusiast of historical memory. “However,” Gessen told me, “over the past few decades, Inna has become a different person: she didn’t found any museum; on the contrary, she now claims that the testimonies of the gulag exaggerated their horrific experiences. And to top it all off, she has become a Putin voter.” “How do you explain this?” I asked in astonishment. “She got tired of belonging to the minority,” Masha replied." In the United States, where I used to travel for work several times a year over the past three decades and where I’ve stopped going since Trump’s second term began, part of society doesn’t want to acknowledge what’s happening. When I ask my American friends why, aside from the No More Kings protests, there are few reactions to the gradual destruction of democracy, they reply: “We don’t act because we’re numb." "Numb?” “Yes, from so much sudden change.” Political science professors at American universities tell me: “This can’t last.” I am stunned: so while armed troops control the streets and airports, while raids are carried out on the homes of immigrants and political opponents, and the number of paramilitary groups loyal to a single man grows, a large part of American society repeats with resignation: “This will pass; this cannot last.”

When in 1990 the opponent of communist totalitarianism, Václav Havel, was elected president of democratic Czechoslovakia (and later the Czech Republic), in his speeches he praised the acts of resistance against the regime carried out by “powerless” individuals and blamed Czech society, which through its passivity and complacency had allowed forty years of tyranny. A state of inaction similar to the one Havel referred to has taken hold of the United States. But when a society grows accustomed to the violation of laws and goes about its daily tasks without reflection, as if everything were normal, that’s the beginning of the end. .

A few weeks ago, I was struck by the words I read in The Guardian in an article by the writer Colm Tóibin, who lives in New York: “I learned first hand not only what evil is like but how evil is tolerated. What is strange about being in America in the time of Trump is how ordinary it is, how what was unimaginable just over a year ago is suddenly, shockingly no longer a surprise.” .

Authoritarian politicians are relying on the apathy of society. Backed by tech moguls, they encourage people to spend long hours scrolling and listening to loud music through headphones. They aim to make the society deaf, blind, and submissive while they, the autocrats, take over the world. .

That is why, instead of closing their eyes and letting themselves be deafened, societies in danger of falling under autocracy should imagine what life would be like in five or ten years if they allowed authoritarianism to take hold. The horror they would see should compel each individual to make every possible effort to prevent that imagined future from becoming reality. .

Playlist:
Music about Boats

Pam Smilow. The Tropics, mixed media on canvas. 50” x 80” approx.

Boats are heading back into the water all over Maine, harbormasters are back at work, and finally spring is approaching (very gingerly I might add...). Thought I would include a playlist of songs related to boats, harbors and the sea...

David Gray Sail Away

Susan McKeown and Chanting House Albatross

Grand Funk Railroad I'm Your Captain

Mazzy Star. Quiet, The Winter Harbor

Tom DiMenna sings Gordon Lightfoot's The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

Crosby Stills & Nash Southern Cross and
Wooden Ships

Otis Redding, Sitting on the Dock of the Bay

Stanley Samuelsen The Water is Wide

Pam Smilow. The Dock of the Bay, mixed media on canvas, 50” x 80”

Painting of the Week

Pam Smilow Spring Tree in Bloom mixed media on canvas 50” x 38”.

Charity of the Week:
ACLU

Book of the Week

Source: old-age-young-at-heart-chorus-mark-nepo-no...

Blog No. 280: Such an Uplifting Story, Sunshine Cobb Ceramics, Spring Tortellini Sou

May 1, 2026

Kwa Mbae Boy
Courtesy Michael Sellers

I follow Michael Sellers on Substack. His newsletter Deeper Look with Michael Sellers is informative and always worth the read. Sellers is a kind of renaissance man, having worked across many fields as a filmmaker, non-fiction author of many books and as a CIA agent for ten years operating in Eastern Europe, Africa, Moscow, and the Philippines. I was initially drawn to his substack by his reporting on Russia and the relationship between our president and Putin.

One of his latest posts really uplifted me to the point that I asked his permission to include it in my blog here. It is long and I have taken the liberty of editing it a bit but stick with it until the music at the end--it might just restore a little bit of your faith in people...

Here is the story that Seller's Kenyan wife Abby recounted to him--something that took place locally in her area of Kenya, that recently went viral on TikTok. It is a beautiful story, all about the innocence of a little boy and the wonders of community. I hope it uplifts you, as it did us.

THE KWA MBAE BOY
excerpted from Substack's Deeper Look by Michael Sellers

"It begins on a quiet afternoon in rural Meru. Rural Kenya is not jungles, by the way. It’s savannah and farmlands — driving into the countryside there reminds me of driving through the two land blacktops of Alabama where I grew up — farms on either side of the, occasional pine forests, cows, yes lots of cows.

A small boy stands by the roadside. A stranger asks for directions. The boy answers with absolute seriousness, pointing, gesturing, explaining with the confidence of someone who knows exactly where he is and exactly how the world around him is arranged.

Here’s the video. (It’s a Tiktok embed — I hope it plays here for everyone.)*

His name is Musa Kihara, though by now much of Kenya knows him simply as the “Kwa Mbae” boy. The clip is simple. That is part of its magic. Nothing dramatic happens. No one planned it. No one staged it. A boy is asked for directions, and he does his best.

“Unajua kwa Mbae?”
“Do you know Mbae’s place?”

You don’t have to speak Swahili to understand the charm of it, but the words help.

“Hapo, hapo, unaona ukifika hapo kwa Mbae, alafu hapo kwa akina Monda. Unajua hio side ya uncle Mureithi, hapo katikati, nitakuonyesha.”

In English: “Over there, over there. When you reach Mbae’s place, then near the Mondas’ place. You know the side where Uncle Mureithi is? Right in between there — I’ll show you.”

That is not Google Maps. That is Kenya Maps. And Kenyans recognized themselves in the way the little boy gave directions. It is a way of giving directions rooted not in street signs but in people, homes, families, memory, and local knowledge. You go past Mbae’s place. Then near the Mondas. Then toward Uncle Mureithi’s side. Somewhere in between, the boy will show you.

It is funny because it is so specific and so familiar—and here he is, only five, but with all that community knowledge on display. It is touching because he is so small and yet so assured. And it is memorable because, without meaning to, this little boy captured something larger than himself.

Social media picked it up almost instantly. Musa’s voice became a TikTok sound. The phrase spread. People laughed. They remixed it. They repeated it. “Kwa Mbae” became one of those national in-jokes that needs almost no explanation once it takes hold. But then something deeper happened.

Kenyans began asking: who is this boy? Not as a slogan. Not as a meme. As a child.

People noticed what he was wearing. The torn pants. The muddy shoes. The visible signs that life had not been easy. And instead of just laughing and moving on, people wanted to know more.

TikTokers began going to his village. They found Musa. They brought him clothes and shoes. They met his family. And then the story opened up.

Musa’s family, it turned out, was carrying a heavy burden. His brother was in the hospital with a serious illness, reported as throat cancer. His father was also sick and in the hospital. His mother was trying to hold everything together.

Here’s the brother in hospital, with a Tiktoker.

And this is where the story becomes something more than a viral clip.

In another country, perhaps, the boy might have become a joke for a day. A meme, a sound, a few million views, then gone. But in Kenya, the laughter turned into concern. Concern turned into visits. Visits turned into donations. Donations turned into a movement. The Gen Z overlay matters here, because Kenya’s Gen Z knows how to move a story. They know how to turn a clip into a campaign, a phrase into a gathering point, a tender public moment into real-world action. And they did. What followed was not a government program. It was not a corporate campaign. It was not an NGO rollout. It was people. Ordinary people. Young people. TikTokers. Well-wishers. Neighbors. Strangers. Kenyans who saw a boy by the roadside and decided, almost as one, that he belonged to them. Money was raised. Clothes were bought. Medical bills were addressed. Promises of longer-term help began to come in. People sang. People danced. People traveled. People gave.

...Thousands of people traveled to Musa’s home area. Reports put the crowd at easily more than 20,000. Whatever the final number, the images tell the story: a huge gathering, music, celebration, people surrounding this little boy who had done nothing more than help a stranger find the way.

A child who began the week standing by a roadside was now being welcomed like a small national hero. Not because he was powerful. Not because he was famous in the ordinary sense. Not because he had performed or demanded anything. Because he was helpful. Because he was innocent. Because he was charming. Because people saw him and recognized something good. And maybe that is why the story has stayed with me. At a time when so much public life feels poisoned, Musa’s story feels like a reminder from somewhere else — or maybe from some older part of ourselves — that people are still capable of sudden generosity. Still capable of affection. Still capable of being united by something other than anger. A young child provided the spark. Kenya provided the answer.

And somewhere in that simple question — “Unajua kwa Mbae?” — there is more than a request for directions. There is a map of another kind: toward community, toward tenderness, toward the possibility that people can still see one another and respond with love. I haven’t done justice to the story. I know that. But maybe the videos will do what words can’t. The music, the laughter, the crowd, the little boy pointing down the road — all of it says something I needed to hear. There is still goodness out there. This week, for me, it came from Kenya.

Monika Zgustova Writer, Translator, Journalist

Sunshine Cobb’s ceramics are raw, the shapes are beautiful and well thought out, the glazes are matte and hit the perfect tone of color—just the way I like it. She is not afraid to show her process and both her wheel and hand built pieces strike the right note of technical ability but without the pursuit of tight perfection…

Based in Helena, Montana, Sunshine has been active in the ceramics world for decades. She has a thriving studio practice, wrote two of the definitive books in the field and gives workshops across the country.

Here are some more examples of her work

To see more of her work, check out her instagram.

Spring Tortellini Soup

Spring Tortellini Soup With Peas and Asparagus, Courtesy Amelia Rampe, a NYC-based food stylist, food writer & recipe developer.Here also is the link to her substack.

INGREDIENTS:
4 medium scallions or spring onions
4 cloves garlic
10 cups homemade chicken stockor store-bought low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
1 (1-ounce or larger) Parmesan cheese rind (the larger the rind, the bigger the flavor)
1 large sprig fresh parsley
1 pound asparagus
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more as needed
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more as needed
1 cup frozen peas
1 (12 to 14-ounce) package fresh or frozen cheese tortellini

SERVING OPTIONS:
* Basil pesto
* Pea leaves
* Parmesan cheese
* Lemon wedges

INSTRUCTIONS
1. Chop off the whites of 4 medium scallions or spring onions (reserve the greens for another use or slice and use for garnish). Crush 4 garlic cloves with the flat of your knife. Place both in a large pot or Dutch oven. Add 10 cups stock or broth, 1 Parmesan rind, and 1 large fresh parsley sprig.
2. Cover and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Uncover and simmer until the flavors meld, 30 to 35 minutes. Meanwhile, trim off the woody ends of the asparagus, then cut crosswise into 1 to 2-inch pieces.
3. Using a slotted spoon, remove the scallions, garlic, Parmesan rind, and parsley and discard. Add 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper to the broth. Taste and season with more salt and pepper as needed.
4. Bring the broth back to a boil. Add 1 package tortellini and cook according to package instructions. About 2 minutes before the pasta is cooked, add the asparagus and 1 cup frozen peas. Simmer until the vegetables are bright green and crisp-tender, 2 to 3 minutes.
5. Remove from the heat. Serve hot with a small dollop of pesto, a garnish of pea leaves, shaved Parmesan cheese, and lemon wedges if desired.

Products of the Week for Mother's Day

**Need a last minute Mother’s Day gift? Pam Smilow, Botanical Tea Towels, cotton linen blend. $28 each. Click to see more ideas.**

Charity of the Week:
ACLU

Book of the Week

Source: old-age-young-at-heart-chorus-mark-nepo-no...

Blog No. 279: Poem by Meg Falley, Keith Haring, Interview with Katherine LaNasa, Nurse Dana

April 25, 2026

Tornado
by Megan Falley

This is an absolutely beautiful poem about grief. Maybe one of the best I have read on losing someone.

In 2025 Megan Falley lost the love of her life poet Andrea Gibson.

TORNADO
by Megan Falley

I admit, you drove me crazy.
The careless way you’d salt a tomato,

no napkin or plate beneath it.
Just right over the floor,

your summer snow, trusting

someone else would sweep it.
And you never took your boots off.

Only ever used half a stevia packet.

The rest would collect in the crevices

of car doors, divots no vacuum could reach.
There was nothing you couldn’t fix

with duct tape, or shoelaces

stolen from other people’s shoes.
And you broke everything

you borrowed. All those stains

you called heart-shaped.

Plus you lost my heirlooms.
Not because you didn’t care,

but because you moved so fast,

like maybe you always knew

you would leave too soon—
so why waste a minute

screwing the cap back on

the pickle jar? Do you remember

how many times you thought
something was stolen?

That we’d been invaded?

Because you couldn’t wait

that extra breath to look.

There is a wonderful film about their life entitled Come See Me in the Good Light which is so worth watching if you haven't seen it already. And this New York Times interview with Megan Falley from the Modern Love section of the newspaper.

Keith Haring at the Brant Foundation

I am never at a loss for cultural things to do in Maine. There is a tradition here of opera houses in many of the small towns (although the term opera is used loosely--they are more gathering spots for cultural events and general town meetings). Between great independent films, first class concerts, open mics, poetry readings, theater, museums, I could be busy every day and night.

But there truly isn't any place like New York City, where I was last week, just for the sheer quantity of exciting choices. And I took advantage of that and packed it in during the six days I was there...I shared some of that in last week's newsletter but below are some of the images from a Keith Haring show I saw at The Brant Foundation on 6th Street in the East Village. The building itself is stunning and a perfect place to see art. (I still remember the Basquiat show there several years ago). Here are some of Haring's work on display that stood out to me:

Interview with actress Katherine LaNasa

I have always had a special place in my heart for nurses. Nurses and teachers. As Mr. Rogers said, the helpers…And hospital shows have always fascinated me, although I shut my eyes a lot. So no surprise that I LOVE The Pitt. The characters are very well developed and my favorite is Nurse Dana, the charge nurse, played brilliantly by Katherine LaNasa.

I am done binge watching the second series (can't wait for the third, out most likely in January 2027), so I have been fishing around for some behind the scenes videos about the show and came across this interview with Katherine LaNasa on the podcast Q with Tom Power.

I love this woman. Self described as the "pretty girl that was weird", she got a late start to acting and her approach to the craft is intuitive (much like how I approach painting). "I am not a cerebral actor--I kind of squint at it." I can relate...Her conversation is frank, open, even when she talks about her experience with breast cancer and the humbling that took place with her diagnosis. Nurse Dana is for her a love letter to all the people who treated her kindly during that time.

Katherine La Nasa has some important lessons to teach us: she believes it is never too late to stop growing, to perservere, know that life contains its hills and valleys, and to believe in yourself. As beautiful as she is as Nurse Dana, I take away from this interview (and her time on Stephen Colbert) that she is equally beautiful in life.

Why am I not surprised that the Tom Power podcast and the interviewer Garvia Bailey are Canadians...

Products of the Week

Need a last minute Mother’s Day gift? Pam Smilow, Botanical Tea Towels, cotton linen blend. $28 each

Charity of the Week:
ACLU

Book of the Week

About The Author

New York City based contemporary artist, Pam Smilow, began writing the creative lifestyle blog “things we love” in an effort to foster a sense of community during times of isolation and reflection. To read more about her and her art, visit her website and check out the essay written by Frank Matheis entitled The Sophisticated Innocence of Pam Smilow.

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