Stories, News & Updates...

Team Work

Thu, 10 Jun 2010 10:17:22 -0700

World Cup preparations are underway at team headquarters. The viewing schedules are color coded, the festive lights will go up tonight. Menu planning and ingredient procurement to align with the matches each day: all in the works. Today the radio shows are all talking to the US audience about the beautiful game and catching the “new” fans up on all the hoopla.
Lots to consider about team work, loyalty, theology (of course) and the generational transmission of ritual. As a “convert” now engaged in (merely) my second copa mundial, I know that I have little authority to stand on in reporting the full drama. Yet, there is a story that is emerging and I’m glad to be a part of it...

Out of the Desert

Sun, 28 Mar 2010 08:14:20 -0700

The Seder’s are starting and this morning the palms are out announcing the start of Holy Week. I am writing this last post of my Lenten Writing Challenge with the bright California sun beaming outside my window. It’s a warm sun today, and the earth is decidedly moist. Things are growing and blooming like crazy as the allergists know. There is almost a bit of fog lingering as the birds chirp and sing. A loud meowing comes from down the hall and morning routines beckon. Peace. Salam. Shalom.

i thank you God for most this amazing

i thank You God for most this amazing
day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky;and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun's birthday;this is the birth
day of life and love and wings:and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any-lifted from the no
of all nothing-human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?

(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

ee cumming

Invitation

Sat, 27 Mar 2010 08:14:21 -0700

You are cordially invited to join me on a new adventure! As the Lenten Writing Challenge wraps up, I’m going to start some writing projects and want YOU to join in!
CELEBRATING THE WORDS WITHIN! will be a highly interactive creative writing workshop and community building experience for people interested in the healing power of words. We will write, play, laugh, stretch and explore the ways in which language can transform our stuck stories and inspire bold and sacred possibilities in life during and between sessions. Come prepared to offer and receive soulful support and encouragement. Your next chapter is ready to emerge.
If you’ve found some personal benefit to writing each day (or some days!) I would also extend the invitation to set your own next challenge. After spending these weeks with words, I have found myself spiraling in and out of enthusiasm and despair, creative highs and lows. I do feel a certain joy that I have met my intention with the Lenten Writing Challenge: “to take creativity into the world.” In addition to continuing with (and expanding) my teaching work in the weeks ahead, I’m also excited that three interesting projects are on the horizon (more later! so check back, ok?) that will allow me to focus even more on the creative parts of life. It’s felt strangely risky, and oddly comforting to find myself on this path after a lot of time wandering in the desert, so to speak.
My gratitude to you who have joined for this journey of letting words out and spirit in!
xo
Michelle

I’m about to accept registration via Teachstreet.com but will give a 20% discount if you find me through the blog or my web page!

Who Are You?

Thu, 25 Mar 2010 13:36:49 -0700

I am a professor, a mentor and a coach for individuals and organizations. I am a sister, daughter, friend, spouse, aunt, cousin, niece and citizen of the world. I am a procrastinator, napper, and a Subaru driver. I am a Red Sox fan, dreamer and composter.
There’s a lot of theological implication in the question of “who do you say I am?” Faith and identity are topics of constant concern for me. So I pose the questions with radical intention: Who are you? And who do you say you are? And even, who do others say you are?
Somewhere in a stack of the unpacked boxes, I have an acrostic poem that a friend of a friend wrote for me...The writer was a young girl complete with floral flourishes in the margins, and multi-colored cursive replete with the heart dotted i’s of an artist aged maybe 7 or 8ish who had been told some story about me. She used on of the L’s in my name to describe me as a Lemon Lover. And that is one thing I can claim, most authentically! I love lemons and I love playing with words! Now tell me - who are YOU? It’s a profound question, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be really fun!
Mostly silly
Intensely
Creative
Hopeful to help
Enjoying this font
Looking forward
Loving words
Excited everyday

power

Thu, 25 Mar 2010 07:21:23 -0700

Powerful gale force winds. The storm rolls in, unexpected. Weather.com promised a sunny sky today. As the rain falls, I think of my beautiful friend, in her power suit, standing as the expert with the team in the impeccable office, artfully decorated, in a warm yet bold palatte. She is leading a tentative group through a brainstorming session (we don’t edit when we brainstorm!). There is a strength in her stride and she gracefully glides through the day. From a run on the beach to the farmers market with a hemp bag over filled with fresh antioxidants on her way to the loft where she will whip up a little something and hold her wine glass, her toned arm flexed. Powerful woman.
Speak truth to power, our Quaker friends say. Fight the Power. We sing along with Public Enemy. Power with, or power over? The students wrestle with the feminist ethic. Where is your center of power or your higher power? How do you relate to the powers that be and the power within?
Throughout the Lenten season I’ve been following the powerful renegade conversations of Ronna Detrick. Conversation as a powerful tool for redeeming ourselves and the world. I’ve also been listening to the public discourse over healthcare and have been astounded by the hate and fear that has been written and spoken with powerful invective during this season that, gosh golly, I thought might draw us towards compassion and the power of love.
The power of words. Time to write...