Interview: Godfrey Reggio: A Call for Another Way of Living Photos of Godfrey Reggio - R. Whittkaer One Friday morning I happened to tune in to KQED’s morning program Forum where an interview with Phillip Glass and Godfrey Reggio was underway. They were in town for a weekend showing at Davies Symphony Hall of Reggio’s Qatsi Trilogy: Koyaanisqatsi, Powaqqatsi and Naqoyqatsi. Phillip Glass, along with his ensemble, would be performing the music he had composed for the films.          Koyaanisqatsi left a deep impression on me when I’d first seen it in 1983, as did Powaqqatsi, which came out five ... Feb 18, 2006, 56097 reads

The Whole Child and Urban Education - A Waldorf Perspective: A Conversation with Ida Oberman An unexpected invitation to Betty Peck and her daughter Anna Rainville’s home for an intimate conference on education, specifically on Waldorf education, is what led me to Ida Oberman. There were a few of us at the gathering who were not especially knowledgeable about Waldorf education, but Betty and Anna have always liked expanding the circle. For decades, Betty Peck’s weekly salon has been a meeting place for a wide range of creative individuals from a variety of perspectives in the thick of Silicon Valley culture.      This particular gathering ... Mar 31, 2015, 10883 reads

What Do Gardens Mean?: From works & conversations #3 – The Garden As Art  - photos, r. whittaker Can the garden be used as a fine art medium? My own encounter with the question was accidental. It happened only because, just before tossing another piece of junk mail into a recycling bin, I noticed the words “University of Chicago Press” and hesitated. On closer inspection, I saw it was a list of publications and, in thumbing through it, I found one title so appealing – What Do Gardens Mean? by Stephanie Ross – that I ordered it.     ... Jul 25, 2021, 3447 reads

This Larger Thing in the World: A Conversation with Mildred Howard I met Mildred Howard at her Berkeley home and studio on a Friday morning, the day she takes off from a very busy schedule divided between her on-going work as an artist and her duties as the director of the Alice Waters "Edible Schoolyard" at Martin Luther King Middle School in Berkeley. I interviewed her for issue #3 of works & conversations. We began talking about gardens in general.—Richard Whittaker ​Mildred Howard: I especially love vernacular gardens. There’s something about them. works:  Yes. The gardens of regular folks. ... Jan 28, 2000, 131831 reads

A Conversation with Dr. Ann Petru: A Doctor for Life Ann Petru is my neighbor. I don’t recall when I learned she’s Ann Petru, MD. Even then, all I learned is that she worked at Children’s Hospital in Oakland. The other things I knew were that she put effort into our annual neighborhood party and was the keeper of the neighborhood email list. Oh, and from time to time an offer was sent out for neighbors to drop by and take some hens and chicks she’d thinned out from her front yard.      I vaguely recall an email a few years ago from Ann soliciting donations for an AIDs walk. But this year I read ... Sep 24, 2017, 11226 reads

A Conversation with Milan Rai: To Follow a Butterfly Guest: Milan Rai Host: Pavi Mehta Moderator: Richard Whittaker Awakin Calls are an all-volunteer run offering of Service Space. Pavi:  Welcome. My name is Pavi Mehta and I will be your host for our weekly global Awakin Call. Behind each of these calls is an entire team of ServiceSpace volunteers, whose invisible work allows us to hold this space. Today our guest speaker is a visionary artist from Nepal, Milan Rai. And our moderator today is Richard Whittaker. As founding editor of the magazine works & conversations, Richard has spent three decades seeking out ... Jun 16, 2018, 4897 reads

A Conversation with Pat Benincasa: A Geometry of the Heart Pavi Mehta brought artist Pat Benincasa to my attention. She suggested we have a conversation, the three of us. Then she told me a stunning back story, I looked at Benincasa's work on her website and that settled it. The following conversation took place on February 17, 2020. It will appear in works & conversations #38. - Richard Whittaker works:  At the age of 16, you’d been drinking and went out and laid down at night in the middle of a busy street. I mean you could have died there. Pat Benincasa:  Yes. I was a teenager, drunk—feeling all ... Feb 17, 2020, 8508 reads

Interview with Photographer Elaine Ling: Remote Wonders Elaine Ling was born in Hong Kong in 1946. At the age of nine, her family moved to Canada. She came to my attention when I got a note inviting me to a lecture she giving in San Francisco. Two of her photos were attached and caught my attention immediately. A quick Google search led me to her website where I was able to look at many more of her photos. No question, a portfolio of her work would be perfect for the upcoming issue of works & conversations. Often, pieces of each new issue fall together more from serendipity, than design. Discovering Elaine Ling's ... Jun 27, 2011, 30788 reads

Following Taya: As many readers of this magazine will know, Taya Doro Mitchell is unusual. [see issue #16] What readers won't know is that, at the age of 74, Taya left East Oakland and moved to a small agricultural community on the Rio Grande in New Mexico. It wasn't that Taya was tired of her practice of decorating the new bullet holes in her windows from nighttime activities in her neighborhood. She had lived there a long time and wasn't afraid, she told me, even coming home late at night-which was typical. And she was content with solitude, she assured me.       Taya ... Sep 22, 2011, 48480 reads

The Secret of Bayou Teche: Jerome untied the pirogue and picked his way out a few feet from the banks of the Atchafalaya. The morning sun reflected off the river and a solitary black nutrea rat skimmed waters creating a wide, silvery wake. It had been a long time since Jerome had crossed these waters, almost eight years, when he was ten. As he eased upstream near the bank of the slow moving river, he was careful not to disturb Dewey Hebert’s trotlines. Jerome knew that they were Dewey’s by the distinctive knotting on the low-lying branches from which they hung. Since the lines were ... Apr 28, 1999, 1940 reads