ALL IN THE FAMILY
Let's make it a requirement for North American highschool students to study abroad for one year. Education is more than the acquisition of skills - it is exposure to different ways of being and the development of a worldview - a type of learning not possible through...
Ishmael
Five years ago I ended up in San Francisco just 40 miles from where I'd been born. The City By the Bay was to be the nest from which I would take exploratory flights in search of a nifty nest abroad. Oh, but how I dug my talons in, trying with all my might to put off...
Quote I love
Life is short and we have not too much time for gladdening the hearts of those who are traveling the dark way with us. Oh, be swift to love! Make haste to be kind. Henry Frederic Amiel - 1885 (thanks to Rose for this, and welcome back from Bali!)
IF YOU WANT A LIFE CHANGE…
The next door neighbor in my new Noe Valley (SF neighborhood) digs, tapes a different quote in his window every morning. Here is today's and my favorite: IF YOU WANT A LIFE CHANGE... 1. Do it immediately. 2. Do it flamboyantly. 3. No exceptions! OK, it's like I've...
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!
What a year! The past three months especially have been auspicious. I'll fill you in in my next journal. Until then I wish you love and serenity wherever you may be. Happy holidays and huge blessings on you all. -- RobinSalvador, Brazil
THE STATE WE ARE IN
My rear view mirror filled with pick-up trucks and SUV's and then they were all around me. The sides of the freeway sprouted signs. MACY's, WALMART, HOME DEPOT, TARGET, and IN AND OUT BURGERS. Bumper stickers on rear windshields said Vote Bush/Cheney. I pulled into an...
MY DINNER WITH ANDRE
Movies come and go, mostly unseen when you are on the road. You don't feel like you've missed anything until you begin to hear and read references to films which have changed the collective consciousness of those who stay at home. At some point, it's like not having...
BRAZIL COMES TO BERKELEY
When the curtain rose on the Bale Folclorico da Bahia at the Zellerbach Auditorium in Berkeley last night, the sparse crowd applauded politely. Sandra and I were amazed that so few people had shown up. Two intermission-less hours later, the oh so cool Berkeleyites...
GATED COMMUNITIES AND HOMELESS DINNERS
An old friend from my Tahoe days, visits me in San Francisco. We haven't spoken in over four months, pre-Brazil. "Natasha" has a new condo in the East Bay with a private lake, a tennis court, AND she adds proudly, "It's in a gated community". Perplexed, I ask, "What...
STUFF SHOCK
Left Coast Writers Meeting. Larkspur, California. Four days after my return to the US. Fellow writer: "Wow Robin, just back from Brazil! How does it feel?" "I don't know. I'm still processing it." I wasn't back. Not all of me. There's not a lot of sympathy wasted on...
