4:54 am (minus 7 minutes): I wake up to the sound of the literal early birds chirping outside my apartment. A glance at the clock tells me it is 4:54 am. The clock is 7 minutes fast, and I am too tired to do the math, but not tired enough…

Why do good people meet untimely endings? — This week, my Uncle Claude — a man whose mind sparkled with wonder, vivid color, laughter, silliness, love, and joy — met an unexpected and abrupt end when he was killed in an accident. My father’s sister, Diane, met and fell in love with my Uncle Claude when they were…

I will never blame others for the place I am — or am not. The actions and choices of others, while they may affect my feelings, do not define me. My choices steer my direction. Period. People will hurt my feelings. They will trample on my kindness and mistake it…

Communicating is crucial, yet a constant struggle for me. I possess a reflective view of the world and my place in it and my art (when I find time to create it) focuses on deconstructing and reconstructing that view. I aim to capture the details that are often overlooked. In…

Recently, I was asked to define what I think a good “people picture” is. This is infinitely harder to answer than it first sounds. My mouth opened to answer, but I quickly found myself at a loss to sum up what I thought into words. I had to pause and…