dreaming

Be Still My Soul

When my grandfather died, my three brothers and I sang at his funeral. My grandfather was a professional singer and had a divine voice, well suited to liturgical music. He would have been a little critical of our diction no doubt – getting those consonant endings crisp enough was a pet peeve. We acquitted ourselves […]

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When All Trust is Gone: Seeing Color in America

Since coming back from Mozambique a couple of weeks ago, I’ve been asked over and over, “How was it?” It’s a question I’ve never known how to answer because you simply can’t parse complex experiences, people and their stories into a quick sentence. I landed on a mantra of “it was amazing and complicated and depressing and inspiring […]

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When Mandela Asks, You Say Yes

In October 1990, just a few months after his release from 27 years in prison, Nelson Mandela toured the world to thank those countries and people who agitated for his release and the end of apartheid. One of his stops was at St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney, Australia, for an non-denominational service where he captivated […]

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Is Life About Being Happy?

I have been on and off the road all month, for lots of wonderful opportunities and experiences. I am grateful for each of them. But right this minute, I’m tired, and I miss my family. I had a conference in Washington DC over the weekend and first part of this week — and brought them […]

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When Dreams Become Reality

I had a dream a few years back. A dream of connecting with others around the world, a dream of writing and engaging in rich dialogue that led to action and change. I wrote an essay about that dream for Whitney Johnson, then an acquaintance, now a friend. Today a few of my words are […]

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Between Two Worlds

I have lived in America for twelve years. My Beloved is American. My children bleed stars and stripes. I love this country. She has been very, very good to me and to my family. But I am a foreigner. The majority of the time, I forget this. And then I hear an accent, a song. […]

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We All Have Dreams: What Are Yours?

For International Women’s Day, a group of bloggers gathered in a G+ hangout to talk with Niger’s Country Director for the WFP, Denise Brown. Our amazing partners at ONE.org made it all happen. We listened intently, asked some questions and mostly tried to learn. The conversation was both sobering and inspiring. Denise created a virtual picture for […]

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Frozen in Fake Fraudulence

I wrote a note to a very successful blogger and leadership coach once, that was slightly critical — I greatly like her work and still follow it. She would temper her sales pitches with feelings of anxiety and fear over what she was asking and how it made her ill to ask for business (though […]

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Why Does My 7 Year Old Think She’s Fat?

There is steam coming out of my ears this morning (and this right after a post on struggling with my temper). The anger is not directed at my children, nor anyone close to me. It is aimed squarely at our culture. An amorphous shape-shifting enemy that at this moment I don’t know how to fight. […]

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What Gets You Up in the Morning?

“The question is not what keeps you up at night but what gets you up in the morning.” ~ Bill Taylor, Co-founder, Fast Company Focus Forward from Care.com Energy conservation (yours, not the planet’s), story-telling to the power of ten, paradigm shifting solutions for how we train teachers and in turn prepare our work force, […]

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