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A Morning When Everything Fell Into Place: July 28, 2011 I’d driven down to Los Angeles to interview a well-known artist, and afterwards had met friends in Culver City for dinner. I hadn’t reserved a room anywhere, and after saying good night, I ended up at a Motel 6 fifteen or twenty miles east on Highway 10. It was still hot outside, maybe 90 degrees. From the look of things, I was deep in gang territory. The young couple checking in ahead of me added to this impression. I'd seen them getting out of their low rider. His arms and neck were covered with tattoos. She had lots of piercings and heavy ... Aug 4, 2021, 4404 reads


 

A Conversation with Shin-Ichiro Terayama: A Radical Healing Story This conversation took place as an Awakin Call on May 19, 2018. Rahul Brown: host Richard Whittaker: moderator Rahul:  The purpose of our weekly Awakin Calls is to share stories from change-makers from around the globe. Our hope is that these conversations will plant seeds for a more compassionate and service-oriented society while catalyzing our own inner transformation. Behind each of these calls is an entire team of ServiceSpace volunteers whose invisible work allows us to hold this beautiful space. We're grateful to them and to all of you, our worldwide listeners, for ... Nov 3, 2018, 17704 reads


 

A Conversation with Davis Dimock: The Gift There are people whose entry into one’s life is marked by something mysterious and recognized immediately, if without sharp outlines. A connection from some hidden realm is sensed, the sort of thing one hears spoken of as having met in another life. It was like that over fifty years ago, when my younger brother, John, brought his new friend, Davis, to visit me in my small apartment east of Los Angeles. My brother had won a scholarship to Pomona College in Claremont, California, and Davis was a classmate. I was two years older, married already, and like millions ... Dec 7, 2019, 9617 reads


 

A Conversation with Adam Campbell: A Taste For Life It was one of those bright mornings we’re blessed with so often in the Bay Area. No matter that it was mid-December. A week earlier, I’d been ambushed by Pancho Ramos Stierle and Sam Bower. They were excited. A visitor was staying at Casa de Paz who I had to meet - Adam Campbell. Neither Sam nor Pancho twist my arm very often and when they do, I pay attention. Sam was the founding director of greenmuseum.org and Pancho, a founding member of Oakland’s Casa de Paz at Canticle Farm. I agreed that I had to meet Adam.      When the morning ... Dec 13, 2012, 71139 reads


 

An Early Morning Revelation: Chuck St. John Are there pivotal moments in life, those moments where nothing is quite the same after?   If you asked me for my strongest experience, I would offer you this.  It is the spring of 1968; I was living in Berkeley California in a small house up on the hill with my wife and two young sons.      Like almost every other night of my life, I woke up needed a trip to the john. And there, standing in front of the toilet bare naked, reality somehow made a very strong shift.  It was a physical sensation, as if life were blurred - and had been blurred ... Sep 9, 2008, 8476 reads


 

God Will Send the Wind, but You Have to Raise the Sails: A Performance at The Marsh - Berkeley, California photo: r. whittaker From time to time, I'd have a fantasy about maybe doing a performance on The Moth Radio Hour. It could be a way of introducing more people to works & conversations. But I'd never done anything like it and the possibility seemed so remote I gave it little thought.      Meanwhile, I got on with my life. And more to the point, I focused on on putting together the next issue of the magazine (issue #41 at the time of the performance). The first piece of the new issue took shape in my mind's eye when one ... Aug 28, 2022, 3153 reads


 

A Conversation with the Amazing Yoo-Mi Lee: Money and Meaning I first met Yoo-Mi Lee at a ServiceSpace retreat in 2007 (when ServiceSpace was called CharityFocus). Yoo-Mi encountered the founders of the group at their first public meeting in 1999 and was so impressed that she joined.      Having served in many capacities, she's now the coordinator of KarmaTube, one of ServiceSpace’s several projects. Until recently, I knew almost nothing about her personal story, but from the beginning of my acquaintance with Yoo-Mi I was struck by her self-possession, forthright intelligence and ... May 7, 2015, 12817 reads


 

Wells of Living Waters: (from the Collection, My Life on the Water) photo, r. whittaker Back home we had a well. The water was so sweet. It was not the hard iron water that turned the wash pans rusty or bit you when you drank it. Almost everybody else around had "city water" that came through pipes. It didn't taste right to me. Even the hard ground-water that was harsh with iron seemed more honest. The sweet water was a bonus. Besides, I could lead down a bucket on a rope fifteen feet long in August and lift up cool November waters. There were water fountains in the halls of the grade school. I tried them a couple of ... May 26, 2020, 4700 reads


 

A Conversation with Melanie DeMore: Sound Awareness The music program at St. Paul’s Episcopal School in Oakland, California opened my eyes. I have grandkids there and have been treated to several of their school concerts. Every student, from the kindergarteners to the sixth-graders, performs. The performances, under the tutelage St. Paul’s several music teachers, have always been impressive. Striking is the eclecticism of the music chosen, the quality of the children's performances and the musical versatility of the instruction that is always in plain evidence. Listening to my first concert there, it was ... Jan 1, 2001, 74555 reads


 

Three Bird Stories: Ronald Hobbs For the better part of twenty-three years I found myself running a bird store in San Francisco. It was a small storefront, the space inside narrow and deep —maybe sixteen feet wide by seventy deep, about 1200 square feet in all.        Imagine, simply, this place with cages and flight cages running along the walls, some pegboards, of course, and a few shelves for books. It is not exactly beautiful, not a “birdie boutique.” The walls are stark white. There are some paintings and second-rate bird prints tacked up here and there ... Jul 15, 2007, 8037 reads


 
 

A Man Impossible to Classify photo: r. whittaker One of my first experiences in San Francisco ... Read More 749290 views


The Dumpster       “We can’t use these. They look like ... Read More 161698 views


Cotton and Silk Vorbeck quilt, detail I’m working on the last panel of a pair of ... Read More 14480 views


Say Grace I am deeply delighted to live on a planet that is so big and varied that I can ... Read More 13159 views


An Interview with Betsy Damon I first heard about Betsy Damon from Sam Bower of greenmuseum.org. Water ... Read More 48472 views


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A Man Impossible to Classify photo: r. whittaker One of my first experiences in San Francisco ... Read More 749290 views


Interview with Bill Douglass - Jimbo's Bop City and Other Tales At the time I'd first gotten to know the widely respected ... Read More 371341 views


Greeting the Light It was thanks to artist Walter Gabrielson that I was able to get ... Read More 326218 views


Interview: Gail Needleman Gail Needleman taught music at Holy Names University in Oakland, ... Read More 196715 views


The Dumpster       “We can’t use these. They look like ... Read More 161698 views


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