I heard from two friends almost simultaneously last Saturday morning (email will do that if you let it interrupt you). They offered insight into what this blog is wanting to be, a question in the back of my mind at the end of an eight-month hiatus. Sarah wrote in a…

I am standing on the northbound platform of CalTrain awaiting the 8:44 am to San Francisco. A train is announced and flies by going south — the “bullet” toward San Jose — a disturbance in the field, whistle blaring, wheels thundering, an evocation of the horrible majesty of the “iron…

I am initiating an experiment with this blog. Starting today. For a dozen years and more, I’ve been writing — often for invited speeches and at times just for myself — pieces of my story of learning to lead Wellesley College. Pieces, too, of attempts to apply, in different settings…

September, the back-to school-month, is behind us now. Living close to my beloved West coast family, my husband and I are settling in, with gratitude and pleasure, for another year. …

Just back in California Monday night from a peaceful personal summer enjoying the anodyne pleasures of Cape Cod. First stop was our daughter’s house to reconnect with her family, whom we’ve missed, including our almost-8-year old grandson, a voracious reader. As we drew near, we saw and heard, close by…

Labor Day Weekend already? Back at the Cape, taking stock as I annually do here, gathering from the shimmering beauty on and around Buzzards Bay energies to meet what storms may lie ahead. The imminent end of summer conjures impending storms — a residue of the sturm und drang the…

We depart in a few days for a long-anticipated two-week trip to the British Isles, an adventure my husband, daughter, and son-in-law planned with relish, and occasional kibitzing from the sidelines on my part. Recently, I stumbled on a couple of New York Times articles on how to manage “packing…

Just waking up and made the mistake (my bad!) of peaking at my iPhone (which I normally leave in my study not next to my bed) before going outside to sit on my zafu to meditate. The two items signaled in the title of this post launched a runaway thought…

We have been at our house on the Cape for over a fortnight now and the days and nights have been beyond beautiful, fireworks nightly in the distance, and sometimes a bit too close, but easily overshadowed by daily floral displays (especially, now, the hydrangea) and sunsets, reminding us that…