“I was born by myself but carry the spirit and blood of my father, mother and my ancestors. So I am really never alone. My identity is through that line.” ~Ziggy Marley

From the warmth of my childhood, it was…

As the temperature plummets, the world and I are frozen in place. Winter means fewer gigs, sorting through endless notes and scraps of paper, and waiting. This hibernation is both comforting and disconcerting. I take a deep breath and remember…

From my front row to heroism, I wrote We’ll Hold the Light. For decades, my wife Linda, an anesthesiologist at a safety net hospital/trauma center, has worked long, stressful shifts within an overtaxed medical system. 

“Working all night at…

Like many women, my experiences around reproduction are complex. 

I am a mother and sister by birth and adoption and also a stepmom in a blended family. My friends have had abortions as well as easy and challenging pregnancies. Assistive…

“Each time a girl opens a book and reads a womanless history, she learns she is worth less.”  ~Myra Pollack Sadker, professor, author, researcher and activist 

As a young girl, I loved reading biographies of strong women. As soon as…

“It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”  ~Antoine de Saint-Exupery 

If you were an Ancient Egyptian, you probably believed your lifetime of good and bad deeds were recorded…

When I began attending songwriting workshops, I felt slightly annoyed by the emphasis on being “satisfied” with our own songs. Is this the best we could hope for when we all have big dreams? 

And then you learn that Spotify…

What are your favorite sounds from childhood? (I’ll give you a minute to ponder….) 

My top picks include listening to my mom play piano downstairs as we fell asleep, the school librarian reading us another chapter, Stevie Wonder singing as…

“Dr. Wilson (note: her husband) has determined to go to California. I am going with him as there is no other alternative…Oh, my dear mother…I thought I felt bad when I wrote you from Independence, but it is nothing like…

“Don’t live the same year 75 times and call it a life.” ~Robin Sharma 

Next to love—or the loss of it—time might be the most popular song topic. Consider “Time After Time”, “Time is On My Side”, “Back in Time”…

“Life shrinks or expands proportional to one’s courage.“  ~Anais Nin 

I once heard that our most vivid childhood memories involve loss. The deepest mark is often left by discomfort or pain. 

Revisiting my own childhood brought back two such scenarios…

During this long winter, did you envision a day when the weather would warm, the vaccine would spread, and we would breathe more deeply again? We could gather safely with treasured people and even hug after being fully vaccinated. Then…