“Talk does not cook rice.” -Chinese Proverb, quoted from productivity guru David Allen‘s latest newsletter. (His mantra is Getting Things Done or GTD.) I’m a great fan of talk myself. However, in most situations, the conversation (or the monologue) has to be followed by action for any “rice” to result. Rice, I now realize, is […] Read More

My sister-in-law Ruth Sheehan, a truly bold writer, is a columnist for the local News & Observer. She has often used that space to champion better treatment for the mentally ill. Recently she started a column saying: “It took a lot of guts to write this book.” Which would have gotten my attention even if […] Read More

Made a recent personal discovery: I have more courage in the morning. I don’t mean the arduous moments of struggling to wake up, but instead after I get rolling. Then the world feels new, or newish, and I’m out in it. Fatigue, on the other hand, does not make me bold. And that’s probably just […] Read More

Last night’s national college men’s (NCAA) championship was a contest in which neither side backed down or got rattled or gave less than a terrific performance. An underdog team went up against a school that has won the title several times, but not in quite a few years. An aging super-star coach competed against a […] Read More

It’s Passover. It’s Easter. It’s spring. I wish you refreshing newness of life and the strength of your roots and traditions. Add to del.icio.us - Stumble It! - Subscribe to this feed - Digg it Read More

This little rock garden plant emerged between the front steps of my office building and has been blooming cheerily for about a week. Everyone is careful to step over it. This is a good demonstration of the crack/flaw in an object being part of its charm. Remember the story of the cracked pot and “do […] Read More

Dropping by my local library a week ago, I looked around toward the desk to say “hi” to my favorite librarian. I didn’t see her and figured it wasn’t her Sunday to work. A few more steps and I came upon a picture of her, surrounded by fresh camellias from someone’s yard. Joyce. That’s the […] Read More

However you feel about the healthcare reform bill passed this week(and I’m heartily in favor), it’s surely clear that Obama is a president who has stuck his neck out. Who bet the farm. Who put his eggs in one basket. And any of the other cliches that stand for high-risk persistence over a long haul […] Read More

Just ran across this item about repairing roads with garbage in Saathee, which is a magazine for Indians living in the Carolinas. It doesn’t sound as if the idea is entirely worked out. However, this is the kind of thinking we all need to be doing: using one problem as the solution to another problem, […] Read More

One of the five offices in the charming 1910 Raleigh house where I work has been transformed. The room or half the room can be rented by the week or the month, by a writer or anyone else needing a place to work quietly within a small creative community. Above you see Desk One in […] Read More