October 18, 2025 "Power is of two kinds. One is obtained by the fear of punishment and the other by acts of love. Power based on love is a thousand times more effective and permanent then the one derived from fear of punishment." ~ Mahatma Gandhi* I have felt a little "puny" (southern for kind of sickly or unwell!) the last couple of days, so I did not make it downtown for the No Kings Protest event this morning - did make it, however, to the Mt. Lebanon/South Hills event. L

October 13, 2025 Life keeps on keeping on. Unspeakable horrors and cruelties and indignities occurring side by side with courage and strength and joy. I vacillate day to day about where all of this is leading. Some days I am very pessimistic - it’s gonna get a lot worse (probably true) before it gets better. But it IS going to get better - this is the other thought that I have, the one that I cling to. Today I listened to The Best People podcast with Nicolle Wallace - she was

September 20, 2025 Yesterday I learned of the sudden passing of a young man who was a dear former student in our doctoral counseling psychology program. B was a lovely gentle human being. He spent most of his growing up years in Pittsburgh, attending Duquesne University as an undergrad and doing his graduate work at Chatham University where I came to know him. When it came time to do the year-long predoctoral internship, B took a big risk for a home-town boy - he moved to Ala

September 16, 2025 I am so lucky! I am in Brooklyn for a few days taking care of grandchildren Nolan and Maddie while their parents are out of town. I don’t get to see them as often as I like but I am enthralled with all the changes that I notice each time we do get to be together. Last time I saw them was mid-June. And how they have grown since then! Maddie is in Kindergarten. Each night she lays out her clothes for the following day, and goes through her bedtime routines on

August 22, 2025 Okay. Here’s a long one. Stick with me and let me know what you think. In October 2023, my daughter invited me to go see “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour,” a concert film documenting, well duh, Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour. I had zero interest in Taylor Swift’s music but was 100% interested in doing anything with my daughter that she would invite me to - plus I was curious, based on what I had heard, about what the audience might be like. Would the moms and young daug

July 25, 2025 “Yes, it looks bleak. But you are still alive now. You are alive with all the others, in this present moment. And because the truth is speaking in the work, it unlocks the heart. And there’s such a feeling and experience of adventure. It’s like a trumpet call to a great adventure. In all great adventures there comes a time when the little band of heroes feels totally outnumbered and bleak, like Frodo in Lord of the Rings or Pilgrim in Pilgrim’s Progress. You lea

July 17, 2025 “I dreamed about a culture of belonging. I still dream that dream. I contemplate what our lives would be like if we knew how to cultivate awareness, to live mindfully, peacefully; if we learned habits of being that would bring us closer together, that would help us build beloved community.” ~ bell hooks I have to make a confession. Lately I have been waking up in the morning with zero expectations of justice. Even before I scan the news, I feel a heaviness in my

July 9, 2025 “The most radical thing any of us can do at this time is to be fully present to what is happening in the world.” ~ Joanna Macy* Yesterday it rained in Pittsburgh. Nothing like what happened in Kerr County, Texas, where the Guadalupe River burst its boundaries, sweeping away far too many children and adults. Our rains were more short-lived, more gentle, less lethal. When the rains had subsided, I went out to see Mingo Creek and the woods and trails. The creek was

June 30, 2025 "There are three ways to mourn: the first is to cry, the second is to grow silent, and the third is to transform sorrow into song." ~Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel Life is very heavy right now. Weight is added each day, sometimes many times in one day. Today, the White House press secretary announced that the president will be visiting the Florida site where new detention centers for “illegal aliens” are being built. With a straight face, she said its informal nam

June 23, 2025 Dare I speak of love while bombs are falling? What threatens to float to the top of my heart and imagination instead are feelings of fear and fury, fighting words. Dare I speak of love in these times? Dare I not? We just returned home from a trip to see son Michael and his family in Brooklyn, NY. All visits with the family are special, but what was extra special about this visit was that we got to attend granddaughter Maddie’s preschool graduation. I fell in lov