Making Changes
Making changes requires adjustments. Ten years ago, I radically altered my life to write a novel. Now it’s time to prune activities that have grown like tree suckers to encourage healthy growth in other areas.
Dynamic Woman — Changing Times
Making changes requires adjustments. Ten years ago, I radically altered my life to write a novel. Now it’s time to prune activities that have grown like tree suckers to encourage healthy growth in other areas.
Have you ever thought of writing a hymn? I was challenged in a Hymnology class to do just that. Under the guidance of our church music director, Dr. David Wilson, I adapted a poem and pianist Vitaly Serebriakov set it to music. On March 10, we introduced Dust and Ashes to the congregation at Christ Church in Goodyear, AZ. I’m sharing my notes on the process, hoping to encourage others to try their hand at hymn writing.
At its best, social media is a platform for people to engage with each other. The engagement may be commercial or personal. The experience can be sublime or annoying and downright abusive. I love the relationships I have been able to sustain and deepen because social media allows me to keep in touch.
Wealth redistribution is a political hot button but, framed differently, making an effort to spread the wealth is not a bad idea. For example, Amazon.com wants to do it all for you–fill every need on your wish list, tie it up with a ribbon, and set it gently on your doorstep. Whether you consider the big shopping jungle a boon to convenience or the bane of small business “shop local” campaigns, bypassing expedience on occasion for a deeper experience is a DIY project that can pay off. More satisfying experiences enrich our lives.
I’m always up for a discussion about reader’s taste. On August 4, 2018 literary critic Adam Kirsch wrote a thoughtful piece titled “The Way We Read Now” in the Wall Street Journal. There he posits that we can educate our literary taste.
Disaster is the worst kind of distraction. Disasters upend daily routine and reset expectations to a default, anything-could-happen mode. I dumped a drink on my MacBook Air. I tried every resuscitation method I could think of, but machine did not respond. Off to the Genius Bar we went. Then the real drama started.