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

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

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. 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.

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

Blog No. 278: Amy Goodman Documentary Steal This Story, Please!, The Whitney Biennial 2026, The Tailor Bird and Other Nest Weavers

April 19, 2026

Amy Goodman,
Steal This Story, Please!

Amy Goodman, courtesy Democracy Now and Amy Goodman

Click to hear a Q&A with Amy Goodman and the filmmakers at the Hamptons Film Festival.

Tireless, intrepid, gutsy, moral, unrelenting...these are words that come to mind when I think about journalist (and national treasure) Amy Goodman, founder of the independent media company Democracy Now.

Goodman has been in the trenches her whole life, growing up in a political family, always eager to spotlight the underdog and let the voices of the people silenced by corporate media be heard. In honor of her commitment, unbeholden to corporate America, Directors Carl Deal and Tina Lessin have produced a documentary entitled Steal This Story, Please! which is as much a profile of this incredible individual as well as a portrait of the news organization she created: Democracy Now. The filmmakers follow her into war zones, protest marches, world political conferences, and corporate boardrooms, overseas and at home, where she relentlessly calls out the powers that be, bearing witness fearlessly, broadening the spotlight to include real life people whose voices have been too often ignored by mainstream media. "Independent media is the oxygen of a democracy...It is critical that we expose what is done in our name."

Beginning first as a radio show in 1996, Democracy Now soon expanded the radio show into television. It is now one of the leading U.S.-based independent news broadcasts in the world, produced daily as an hour long international news program. Look for it and if you don't find it on radio or TV, ask for it from your local stations. Goodman goes where others don't. Her information and footage is often quoted in other news organizations who no longer have boots on the ground due to profit margins...

Don't miss the documentary--hopefully coming soon to a theatre near you and catch the daily news broadcast to hear news you won't get anywhere else. On the east coast it airs live at 8am...and is available online too.

The Whitney Biennial

I went to the Whitney Biennial today and was surprised that there was so much art that I found interesting this year, which has not been the case in many previous years. It is a show that is always controversial--and you will always find so many varying opinions good and bad. Here is the review in The New Yorker and another from the New York Times. I am going to share with you some artists whose work held my interest:

Kamrooz Aram, Born 1978, Shiraz, Iran. Lives in NYC

Oswaldo Maciá, born Cartagena de Indias, Columbia, lives in Santa Fe, NM and London

Andrea Fraser, born in Billings, Montana, lives in Los Angeles

Taína H. Cruz, born in NYC, lives in New Haven, Connecticut

Emilie Louise Gossiaux, born New Orleans, Louisiana, lives in NYC

Teresa Baker, born 1985 Watford, North Dakota, lives in Livingston, Montana

Kimowan Metchewais, born Saskatchewan, Canada, died Saint Paul, AB, Canada Cree, Cold Lake First Nations

Jasmin Sian, born in 1969, The Philippines, lives in NYC

Pat Oleszko, born Detroit, Michigan, lives in NYC

The Tailor Bird and other Nest Weavers

The nest of a Tailor Bird. Click to see this master constructor

Have you ever really looked at a bird nest and realized the engineering that goes into its construction. The main goal for a bird is to create a place safe from predators and well camouflaged in order to protect its babies. Some birds create very elaborate structures and one example of that is the tailorbird, who actually sews its nest using cotton lint, plant fibers, and silk from cocoons and spider webs. Notoriously difficult to study because they are tiny and very well camouflaged, thanks to the Museum of Natural History we have a pretty good idea of how these tailorbirds build their nests: "The female tailorbird carefully chooses a broad, strong, supple leaf which can provide good structural support once folded... A leaf in the middle of thick foliage is usually chosen to avoid the nest being seen, and at the end of a branch to reduce the possibility of a predator entering the nest. The female wraps the leaf around herself to make sure it is the right size. If it isn’t, she adds another one or two leaves. She then uses her feet to pull the leaf together and pierces a series of miniscule holes along the leaf’s edge, using her long, slender beak, which is shaped like a needle. The holes are so tiny that the leaf holds its shape, and it doesn’t go brown. The female threads plant fibres, such as cotton or lint, or silk from insects, such as cobwebs or caterpillar cocoons, through the holes."

To explore other birds and their incredible nests, click here

Painting of the Week

Pam Smilow. Flower Power Series: Blue Bird. mixed media on paper. $1500

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.

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

Blog No. 277: The Portland Museum, We Share the Same Sky Podcast, Poem by Hannah Stephenson

April 11, 2026

The Portland Museum of Art

I planned an outing to the big city (Portland, Maine) this past week with my friend Anne, a dear dear friend who I have known for a lifetime but only met a year and a half ago. It was on the occasion of her 70th birthday. We had the idea of going to the Portland Museum of Art and a lunch at one of her favorite restaurants in Portland, The Honey Paw.

I was so pleasantly surprised about the Portland Museum. In fact, I don’t think I have ever had a bad visit there. The curators are good at choosing!

Photo courtesy Ming Smith and the Portland Museum of Art

There were so many pieces of art I loved that I can only write about a few, starting with the special photography show Ming Smith: Jazz Requiem—Notations in Blue. I hadn’t heard of this artist before but at 78 she is finally getting some of the recognition she deserves for her innovative photos, often of the jazz world but not restricted to that, sometimes combining drawing and interesting aspects of light. “Her photographs pulse with the same energy and spontaneity that define jazz, reflecting her deep admiration for the music and its leading figures, whom she photographed with intimacy and respect.”

Handpainted photograph Courtesy Ming Smith

Then I went straight up to the fourth floor and visited my old friends, the raw animal sculptures of Bernard Langlais. Made from found objects, mostly old blocks of wood, Langlais shares his whimsy and pure joy in these raw, strong representations of birds and other living things. And on the same floor going down the steps are the paper maché birds of artist Christopher Patch, featuring 37 distinct species. Colorful, playful, this collection is a perfect complement to Langlais' work...

The museum is a nice size with lots more to see (and write about--maybe next time). I will mention that the shop is also a great place to buy unique gifts...

We Share the Same Sky Podcast

This is a really great, moving podcast.. Click image to listen

Hana Dubova and her granddaughter Rachael Cerrotti. Click image to read about Rachel’s grandmother in an historical context

Down the rabbit hole! Researching Özlem Cekic, the Danish Muslim parliament member from last week’s blog, it lead me first to hear about the head Danish Rabbi Bent Melchior, a fascinating figure unto himself and then onto Hana Dubova, the subject of Rachael Cerrotti’s outstanding podcast We Share The Same Sky (also a book with the same title). The seven episode podcast chronicles Rachael’s attempt to know her grandmother in a deeper way by retracing her steps as a holocaust survivor, (based on writings her grandmother left as a guide). The story began with Hana Dubova's birth in Kolín, Czechoslovakia and encompassed her long journey through multiple countries in her quest for freedom from the Nazis during World War II and eventually ended up emigrating to the United States after the war. Throughout the podcast Cerrotti weaves the story of her own life, living in the places of meaning to her grandmother and interacting with future generations of people her grandmother knew who helped save her. This intimate story transcends the personal to become living universal history and shows us the indomitable human spirit and that kindness can reverberate over time and through many generations.

Cerrotti’s podcast really touched me in a deep way, partly because of my own family’s history of the Nazis, her connection to Denmark and the losses she endured during her own life.

If you would like to know more, here is a talk by Cerrotti on the occasion of her book publication We Share the Same Sky at the Jewish Museum. Very worth the listen!

Hannah Stephenson Poem

Pam Smilow Black Tree. 60” x 22”. mixed media on paper. $4000

My friend and yoga teacher Molly always starts her sessions with some words of wisdom, some different kinds of breathing exercises and often a poem. As I am a big lover of trees, this one by Hannah Stephenson really struck me.

ANCIENT LANGUAGE
by Hannah Stephenson

If you stand at the edge of the forest
and stare into it
every tree at the edge will blow a little extra
oxygen toward you

It has been proven
Leaves have admitted it

The pines I have known
have been especially candid

one said
that all breath in this world
is roped together

that breathing is
the most ancient language

Pam Smilow Turquoise Tree 60” x 22”. mixed media on paper

Painting of the Week

Pam Smilow. mixed media on canvas 46” x 76” $8500

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.

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

Blog No. 276: The New Yorker Documentary, Özlem Cekic: Building Bridges, Mary Oliver Poem

April 4, 2026

The New Yorker Documentary

Cover courtesy Maira Kalman and The New Yorker

The New Yorker turned 100 last year and for that occasion Marshall Curry produced and directed a documentary that is now currently available on Netflix. It is a beautiful portrait of my favorite magazine and it contains answers to every question one might ever have about the inner workings of this iconic magazine. If you ever wondered how they choose their famous cartoons and magazine covers, or are curious about the personalities of Editor David Remnick and his staff, this film is for you.

Curry takes us through their back offices where we meet and get an intimate look at all the main players—the movie critic, the art critic, the art director, the various section editors, etc. etc. down to the multitude of meticulous fact checkers whom the magazine is known to employ. The film covers the history of the publication and gives a glimpse of the personalities of the past editors and reminds us of some of the groundbreaking articles that they dared publish. James Baldwin's powerful essay Letter from a Region of My Mind which became the basis of his book The Fire Next Time was first published here, as was a John Hersey full magazine article in 1946 on the bombing of Hiroshima, a topic that other magazines stayed far away from. Truman Capote published his famous In Cold Blood in serial form over four issues in The New Yorker and broke ground by introducing readers to a new form of nonfiction writing. Indeed, so many of the most influential and notable writers of the 20th and 21st Centuries have graced the pages of The New Yorker with their essays, fiction, poetry, etc.

As a long time reader, I came away with an even more enthusiastic and renewed appreciation for the magazine. I highly recommend the film and the magazine!

Below are some of my favorite covers:

Cover courtesy Art Spiegelman and The New Yorker

Özlem Cekic, Bridge Builder

Özlem Cekic is a bridge builder. She is also the first Muslim person to enter the Danish Parliament between the years of 2007 and 2016. Although we think of Danes as being very progressive, there is a racist element that exists there too and she encountered it, often receiving a lot of hate mail which she promptly threw away. Until one day when one of her colleagues suggested “what if you answered and said you would like to meet.” She picked out one guy who was very prolific in his correspondence to her and invited him to sit down over coffee. Which led to her Ted Talk “Why I Have Coffee with People Who Send Me Hate Mail This attitude of hers opened up hearts and minds. Click here to find out more of the details.

To leave you with one of her quotes: "You can't make peace with your friends. You have to make peace with your enemies."

Mary Oliver Poem
Spring

  
    Spring
 by Mary Oliver



Somewhere
 a black bear
 has just risen from sleep
 and is staring
 down the mountain.
 All night
 in the brisk and shallow restlessness
 of early spring
 I think of her,
 her four black fists
 flicking the gravel,
 her tongue
 like a red fire
 touching the grass,
 the cold water.
 There is only one question:
 how to love this world.
 I think of her
 rising
 like a black and leafy ledge
 to sharpen her claws against
 the silence
 of the trees.
 Whatever else
 my life is
 with its poems
 and its music
 and its glass cities,
 it is also this dazzling darkness
 coming
 down the mountain,
 breathing and tasting;
 all day I think of her—
 her white teeth,
 her wordlessness,
 her perfect love.


  

  
  

Painting of the Week

Pam Smilow. mixed media on paper. 30” x 22”. $1500. Also available as a giclee print $750

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.

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

Blog No. 275: Fashion Designer Max Alexander, Phone Addiction And What To Do About It, Trude's Flourless Orange Cake Revisited

March 28, 2026

Max Alexander: Fashion Prodigy

This amazing. orange creation is made from a recycled parachute. Designed by 10 Year Old Max Alexander.

How many 10 year olds have shown their fashion collection in Paris during Fashion week? If you don’t believe in past lives, this might just change your mind.

At the age of four, Max Alexander announced to his family that he was a dress maker and began to create amazing clothing—-designing, draping and sewing creations worthy of any top designer. Just this month, Max made history as the youngest designer to show at Paris Fashion Week, featuring his collection of sustainable clothing shown here in this YouTube video and an Instagram post.

To see his entire runway show inspired by flowers and sustainable materials, crafted from deadstock, surplus, recycled and biodegradable materials, inspired by flowers and sustainable materials. 90% of his collection was crafted from deadstock, surplus, recycled and biodegradable materials. click here.

Phone Addiction: What To Do About It

Click image to hear Jennifer Jolly’s podcast on phone addition and what to do about it…

If you are anything like me, we feel we cannot live without our phones. We get mad at ourselves for wasting so much time scrolling, freak out when we forget where we put it, and feel totally naked without it…Simply put, we are addicted big time to these little devices and feel we cannot live without them, even for minutes…46 percent of Americans say they are addicted and look at their phones for an average of 186 times a day! For more detailed statistics on phone usage, click here. Recent studies and the outcome from this week’s Meta/Google court case have made us realize that this addiction is not really our fault. “The systems running on your phone were designed by behavioral scientists and engineers specifically to be as hard to put down as possible.” Much like the tobacco industry that knowingly sold a harmful product that was manufactured for maximum addiction, the tech industry has done the same.

This week they were actually held accountable, in a case that has serious and wide ramifications. My good friend, tech journalist Jennifer Jolly of USA Today and the Today Show (and her own site, Techish) has been covering the California social media court case, one that normally would have gotten much more attention (if there wasn’t so much madness going on in the news these days).A California jury found that Meta and Google's YouTube were to blame for the depression and anxiety of a woman who compulsively used social media as a small child, awarding her $6 million in a rare verdict holding Silicon Valley accountable for its role in fueling a youth mental health crisis. And it seems that this case is just the first of many…

But it is not all bad news—there might be some things we can do to at least partially cure ourselves: Researchers at Heidelberg University and the University of Cologne have conducted a study—taking 25 young adults and restricting their cell phone use for 72 hours. They ran MRI scans on them before and after and found that just three days (72-hours) produced measurable differences in brain regions linked to reward processing and impulse control…showing that just that short period of time without a smartphone can significantly alter brain activity, similar to breaking an addiction. So folks, for starters: let’s try to put down our phones more often, and leave them outside of the bedroom. In Jennifer’s Techish newsletter this week, she talks about how going back to an old fashioned alarm clock cut her screen time dramatically and led to an almost instant boost in her energy and creativity. I’m going to find a new alarm clock too and have a good old book on my night table in case I wake up, as I often do, in the middle of the night…Being conscious is the first step towards a cure and I am even trying to figure out a time to go for those three days cold turkey…

Jennifer Jolly is a great source for anything tech-ish—not so much gadgets or Silicon Valley, but as a nationally syndicated tech-life columnist and host for USA Today and a regular contributor to The Today Show, CNN, HLN, Time, Yahoo! and ABC among other media outlets. You can read her very informative newsletter Techish on substack and listen to her podcast Techishly Jenn on Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts.

OK GO Band

With Passover coming up, I thought I would republish the most delicious Passover friendly Orange Cake (in memory of Trude Victor). Incorporating the whole orange, rind and all, you don't have to be Jewish to love it.

Trude Victor’s Orange Cake
INGREDIENTS:
2 large navel oranges
6 eggs
1 1/2 cups grated almonds
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
pinch salt
INSTRUCTIONS:
Boil oranges-organic would be good- in water to cover for 30 minutes or so. I would let it cool for a while, and then process the whole oranges rind included in a food processor

Beat the whole eggs and then add the rest of the ingredients.

Bake in a greased form (I use a round springform- but I don't think you have to) for 400 degrees for one hour (that might be a bit long)

Let it cool- She served it with confectionary sugar on top.

For a slight variation on this same recipe, check out RecipeTinEats with cook Nagi Maehashi on instagram.

Painting of the Week

Pam Smilow. Mandala Series: Plaid Yellow Bird 60” x 42”. mixed media on canvas. $1500

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.

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

**‍ ‍The underlined words and many of the images in the newsletter are linked to more in depth information**

Blog No. 274: Mr. Nobody Against Putin Documentary, The Poster I Dreamed Of, Ok Go Band (Copy)

March 21, 2026

I hate to lecture but please please please contact five friends and make sure you all show up for the nationwide No Kings Protest on Saturday March 28th (www.nokings.org to find an event near you). We are the last line of defense to save our democracy and we need to come out IN FORCE with a showing bigger than ever. Please don’t just worry and complain, even if you have never come to a protest… JUST SHOW UP WITH FRIENDS. It might be Now or Never…

Please show up! And so important—bring a friend or two. We need to show up in HUGE numbers and make this the biggest one ever—our democracy literally depends on it! Click image to find an event near you.

Mr. Nobody
Against Putin

I love documentaries. I have my 8th grade social studies teacher, Mr. Green, to thank for introducing so many of us at Byram Hills High School to the world of film. It was one of his passions and like any good teacher, he conveyed that passion to his students and it became contagious. Thank you again Mr. Green, if you are reading this and for being a subscriber to` my substack, and for the A+ grade you actually gave me a while back on it (unsolicited)...

Mr. Nobody Against Putin won the Academy Award for best documentary this year and I think it was well deserved! It is the story of a school in the very polluted town of Karabash, located in the middle of nowhere in Russia, (life expectancy 38 because of the pollution from the copper mines there), and the kindness and passion of one single quirky very popular teacher, Pasha Talankin, a videographer in the school who was in charge of organizing and videotaping special school events. The students gravitated to him, hanging out in his classroom and looking to him as a mentor.

As a result of his invasion of Ukraine, Putin began a propaganda campaign in the schools with the aim of indoctrinating kids to eventually become soldiers, similar to Hitler Youth.

To say this didn’t sit well with Pasha Talankin is an understatement. As someone who was assigned to document school events, Talankin went about his job of documenting this indoctrination process, but with the idea of doing something with the material. Mr. Nobody against Putin, a joint venture between this brave teacher and filmmaker David Borenstein, an American living in Denmark, is the result of this process. Pasha Talankin, with much to lose, is an example for all of us. He stood up to the regime but he refuses to accept the idea that he did anything brave or extraordinary. "No," he told me, "it's just normal.”

The Poster I Dreamed About

Yosano Akiko, Japanese Poet. She wrote the feminist poem that was on the poster: Mountain Moving Day

  
For years now, I have been remembering a poster I got when I visited my honorary big sister at college in Boston when I was about 13. We did a lot of fun things like buying purple converse sneakers and going to some cool shops in the Cambridge area and one of the things I brought home as a memento from the trip was this cool poster.  The image of it has stuck in my mind for all these years and from time to time I have tried to search the internet trying to see it again but to no avail.

Until today!  

Upon picking up another poster that I had gotten framed at a local frame shop, I had that other poster on my mind and mentioned it to Darryn, the woman working there. 
She had a suggestion—describe it to AI.  

So ironic!  I had just written about AI recently and how I hated and feared it…

Never say never.  I went home to my computer and typed in:  “I am trying to find a poster from the 1970s out of an art collective in Boston:  blue and green silkscreen with an African woman with a baby on her back.” What came up in literal seconds astounded me:

AI: “What you’re describing actually matches a very specific genre of political screenprints from the 1970s—so you’re on the right track. The details you gave (Boston, silkscreen, blue/green palette, African woman with baby) point strongly toward radical print collectives tied to the Black Arts / liberation movements.
Here are the most likely leads, based on your description:

The first lead was 
👉 a Boston Collective known for its political posters—I had a look at their selections but no luck there.
  
The second choice said:
 👉 Chicago Women’s Graphics Collective (important clue)
One documented poster shows
A woman with a baby tied on her back

Done in blue/green silkscreen

Strong political / liberation imagery 

lornebair.cdn.bibliopolis.com

Then it said: “That description is almost eerily close to what you said.”  
➡️ Even though they were Chicago-based, these posters circulated nationally, including Boston activist spaces."

And voila!  Here is the poster I have been searching to see again after 55+ years!”  And it just literally took a few seconds…

So I guess I am going to eat my words—AI can come be an incredibly useful tool in many ways. But sadly, us humans always will put things to negative use as well and we don't think of implications when we create something new… and that is exactly why we must regulate and set up rules to control artificial intelligence so it doesn't become the death of us…

And below are a few of my other favorite posters from my childhood:

The “No War Toys” poster is an anonymous or unattributed work from the Vietnam-era anti-war movement rather than something definitively tied to a single known artist.

Poster by Ben Shahn for the Gene McCarthy presidential campaign 1968

Not a political poster but one that hung in my room for many years…advertising a Matisse show at the Knoedler Gallery in NYC. The gallery was later convicted of fraud.

Poster designd on very short notice by Arnold Skolnick

OK GO Band

Ok Go is a band, originally out of Chicago but now based in LA, known for their wild videos. I have included my favorite one here-—I featured it in a past blog—but share it again because of its sheer ingenuity and the joy that it brings me…Take a few minutes to watch—it will make your day…And as always, I welcome any reactions you might have about it or anything else in this newsletter...

OK GO: Upside Down & Inside Out

OK GO: Love

A Stone Only Rolls Downhill

Poster&Painting of the Week

Pam Smilow. 60” x 42”. mixed media on canvas. $7500

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.

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

Blog No. 273: Jean Michel Basquiat, The Iditarod Trail Race, Poet Leonara Speyer

March 14, 2026

Jean Michel Basquiat
at the Louisiana Museum

Click image to hear Anders Kold talk about the exhibition

Click image to see different artists talking about Jean-Michel Basquiat

Two great things in one place! One of my most favorite artists Jean Michel Basquiat in a wonderful gem of a museum in Denmark.

Basquiat (1960-1988) is an artist I greatly admire and he is now being featured in the Louisiana Museum located in Humlebæk on the Oresund Sound just north of Copenhagen, Denmark. The museum itself is a work of art--designed by Catalan architect Josep Sert, who also designed a number of beautiful buildings including the Miro Foundation in Barcelona, Spain, the Maeght Foundation in Vence, France and an apartment complex on Roosevelt Island in NYC.

The Danish exhibit Headstrong focuses on Basquiat’s drawings of heads that he created between the years of 1981 and 1983, at the height of his career. During those years, he was already exhibiting worldwide and was the youngest artist to ever take part in the world renowned exhibit Documenta in Kassel, Germany. At 22, he became one of the youngest to be included in the Whitney Biennial in New York. He had come a long way from his roots as a street artist from the lower east side of Manhattan and was very quickly noticed by critics, gallerists and artists alike...

Basquiat’s art often focused on the human body (he was given the book of Gray’s Anatomy as a child) combining text and image to explore such ideas regarding social injustice: wealth vs. poverty, integration vs. segregation, racism, while also drawing on his own inner emotional life and experiences. Not all of the illustrations here are part of the exhibition at the Louisiana Museum but the focus on the human head has been a prominent image in the artist's vocabulary. If you can, hurry to see this show before May 17th, 2026.

P.S. Denmark is one of my favorite countries so hit me up for recommendations if you decide to go…

The Iditarod Trail Race

I have been interested in sled dogs, perhaps first as a result of the statue of Balto in Central Park which I often made a pilgrimage to with my daughter Morgan. She simply loved the story and the statue and the subsequent book and movie about this famous dog. For those who don’t know it, Balto was an Alaskan husky who led a team of sled dogs to Nome Alaska under harrowing weather conditions, carrying crucial medicine to counter a diphtheria outbreak in that town. Their effort ended up saving the day for many inhabitants of Nome.

Joe Redington Sr., known as the “Father of the Iditarod” and Dorothy Page (Chair of the Wasilla-Knik Centennial Committee) founded the Iditarod Trail Race in the 1960s as an attempt to save the dog sled culture and Alaskan huskies, both of which were disappearing rapidly by the introduction of snowmobiles in that state. I have followed the Iditarod from a distance every year about this time…

It seems there are quite a few films that have come out recently about the Iditarod, so I guess I am not the only one who is fascinated by this 1049 mile race through the Arctic wilderness of Alaska. Looking for a documentary to watch today on Netflix, The Great Alone caught my eye. It is the story of Lance Mackey (of the famous Iditarod Mackey family) and the obstacles Lance overcame over the years--from drug addiction, to homelessness and cancer, he came to the conclusion that “life is too short to be screwing up” and set his mind to following in the family footsteps and entering the race...Lance Mackey has an indomitable spirit and just didn't give up, determined to make something of himself and to make his family proud. This is his story. If you are a dog lover as I am, if you love to see the stark, beautiful Arctic wilderness scenery of our 49th state, or you just want a good survival story, this film is for you...

Poet Leonara Speyer

Click to download and read the poems in this book.

And Was There Not a King
by Leonara Speyer

And was there not a king somewhere who said:
“Back, waves! I do command you!” I forget
His name, beloved, or his race, and yet
I know the story and am comforted.
The tides will rise, are rising—see, they spread
About your robes, your ermine will be wet,
Your velvet shoes, your dear dear feet! Ah let
Me warn you, sir, the waves will reach your head!

My king, my kingly love, how shall we stay
The bold broad lifting of this lovely sea?
What is the master word that we must say
To bring these roaring waters to the knee?
The other king went scampering away!
Will you so do? Or will you drown with me?

This poem is in the public domain. Courtesy Poem-a-Day on March 1, 2026, by the Academy of American Poets.

Painting of the Week

Portrait of my Uncle Stan, who passed away this month at the age of 96. He was my cool uncle, taking me and my sister Judy around New York City in the 1960’s. I remember the crispy chickpeas on the table of Max’s Kansas City and his afghan hounds Niko, Joffrey, and Boris. He will be missed!

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.

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