I bet you have one too. Lynne is a spitfire. When I first started working for her several years ago, doing landscaping and minor home repairs, I was astonished at how much energy she had, how much she could get done in a day, (far more than I, and I…

This Daily Blog is a report on the building and destruction of a glacier. — I’m lucky/unlucky enough to live on the coast of Washington state. Lucky because the views are spectacular, the wildlife is gorgeous, and the constant smell of the wide ocean is a wonderful scent to live with. …

The first step might surprise you — This last week I was in the ceramics studio, fixing a potter’s wheel with a colleague. As I was pulling things apart to get a good look inside the workings of this particular Laguna Pacifica potter’s wheel, a potter who also works in the studio approached me with glee, explaining…

Substitute the word “Life” for pottery or pottery-related words. — I recently wrote an article for the Burnish Clay Studio Blog. I realized that when I teach and speak about pottery, or ceramics, I am really talking about life. This is the great thing about teaching pottery to beginners. You get to watch people wake up to their bodies, to…

I live like a queen on very little. And entertain myself endlessly. — I live a very simple life in a luxuriously decadent way on less than twenty thousand dollars a year. I drive other people’s cars and live in other people’s beautiful homes and have very few expenses. I eat fresh, local food. I have excellent health care. I live near the…

And I will tell that story here. — At first, it was somewhat of a joke. My brother and I would do ridiculous things around each other in public and then say to each other, “To thine own self be entertaining.” This went on for years. Then, several years ago, I made a movie within which the main…

May the Fourth turns sour. — I have a tradition during the May 4th season. I watch a lot of Star Wars. It is magical to me and has been since I was seven, when I saw A New Hope in the old fashioned theater my dad used to work in back east. I was wee…

And why you should learn it as soon as you can. — My life improved immensely after my parents died. It’s not that I didn’t love them, or that we didn’t get along. But in the truest sense, after they died, my life actually began. The reality that I can admit to you now, after 16 years of mulling their deaths over…

What are you prepared to do? — According to the latest statistics, in Somalia, 76% of children ages 5–14 are child laborers. They work in the fishing, agriculture, construction and mining industries. In Pakistan, 13% of kids, aged 10–14 are exploited for their labor. It’s estimated that there are 33 million child laborers in India. Among many…