The change wasn’t overnight, but I began to feel differences throughout my life rather quickly — There’s a sketch from MadTV that I think of a lot. A man & woman are seated at a restaurant, and the woman is, she insists loudly, not on a DIET, she’s on a LIVE IT. The woman, played brilliantly by Nicole Sullivan, is obviously hungry to the point of…

1.) I was born near the end of the Nixon administration — perhaps that’s what set me off on the wrong foot. It was a few days before Christmas in 1972 when I made my debut in Austin, Texas, the only child of my parents’ union and the only child…

the wraPUP from LeahLand — Hello, Magical Folx! It’s time for the September wraPUP, my monthly reckoning, the place where I assess my progress, do a check-in with myself on my goals, well-being, yada yada yada. I’ve been doing these semi-formal accountings since 2020, and now I find them to be key to my well-being …

Why I’m following Snoop Dogg’s Lead on World Gratitude Day — As I write this, it’s midafternoon on a Wednesday. It’s cool and drizzly out, but I’m cozy in my lair, drinking a cup of tea. I just discovered that today, September 21st, is World Gratitude Day, and I’m grateful for this silly old world, grateful for my life. …

The Equinox, the Wheel of the Year, and the Seasonal Redecoration of my Altar — Later this week, the seasons will change (all over the earth). Where I live, in the global north (Colorado, USA), the season will change from summer to autumn. …

On the Occasion of my 100th Medium Post — The story you’re reading now is my 100th on Medium, and that seems a momentous enough occasion to mark with a review of all that’s happened in the seven intervening years since that long ago first post. November 18, 2016: I posted my first Medium story . I don’t have any recollection of…

An inflection point offered by the death of the Western World’s Matriarch — It’s September 11th as I write this. Twenty-one years ago today, I was in graduate school in Texas, studying art history. Because it was a Tuesday morning, I had a seminar in the history of photography taught by a British Professor. As I was preparing to leave my house, I…