Saint Thomas Church (Boys) Choir School
New York’s Saint Thomas Church is one of the only boarding schools in America where talented young boys can go to learn to perform top notch liturgical chorale music and get a good secular education at the same time. Once puberty and the change of voice hit, their sweet sopranos are gone. In the meanwhile […]
Provincetown’s Vanishing Portuguese Community
Provincetown, Massachusetts, at the tip of Cape Cod was once home to one of the thriving Portugese communities anywhere in the world outside Portugal (and the Azore Islands, where most of those “Portagees” come from). Fishing was their livelihood (once mixed with whaling) was their livelihood. But with the near decimation of the North Atlantic […]
Young Broadway Hopefuls
Every year, hundreds, or even thousands of talented young people come to New York to study, audition and do their damnedest to make it big on the stage whose ultimate Holy Grail is Broadway. In this story, I speak to some of these starry-eyed youth as they prepare for the Big Time in Musical Theater […]
Radical Acceptance: The Buddhism of Tara Brach
In our culture, self-denigration and unease with ourselves and others is a common theme. Our internal dialogs can mesmerize us, making us unhappy, and our lives unproductive and robotic. Being at peace in the moment, whatever arises, in a compassionate mode is a Buddhist way. In this piece, I discussed Radical Acceptance with Dharma teacher […]
American Profile: Poet Naomi Shihab Nye
Perhaps no one has done more to spread the spirit and craft of poetry more than Naomi Shihab Nye, a Palestinian American whose award winning books for both adults and children explore themes of loss and exile, the pace of modern life, family ties and spirituality – often with humor. I spoke with her while […]