Sparks Ignites

  We’ve just celebrated Independence Day and the grilling days of summer are underway. Millions of Americans celebrate July Fourth with backyard barbeques and continue their outside cooking throughout the season.

Quiet the mind and the soul will speak – Ma Jaya Sati I’ve wanted to learn the art of meditation. Articles I’ve read extoll the virtues of learning to regulate the mind. It helps reduce stress and ease health issues like depression, anxiety and high blood pressure. Plus, Oprah does it so why wouldn’t I want to give it a try? I read an article that Harvard researchers found meditation does produce beneficial effects in the brain and in the gut. It can help people with symptoms of IBS, IBD, IRS, IDIOT and TRUMP. Finding inner peace and wellness can take you to a much better place – like checking out of the Roach Motel and into the Ritz-Carlton. With proper instruction, I could become one with the universe. Focus my chi and enjoy my Chai. I needed to find a place to learn the principles of meditation. There are books and phone apps, but I need to learn by participating. I’m a hands-on learner. I have to see it in action or in this c...

The 68 th annual Philadelphia Writer’s’ Conference begins tomorrow, so I’ve been thinking about writers and books. As long as I can remember, I’ve been in love with books. Before I could comprehend a written sentence, my dad would read stories to me. He was very good at acting out the characters and doing voices.   He created my appreciation for the art of good storytelling.

I believe I was born with social anxiety. I know we are supposed to think we’re born with a clean slate, but my slate had a few smudge marks. Probably my first thought after delivery was, “Everyone is looking at me. OMG I’m naked in a room of strangers. Hey, someone get a diaper over here. Don’t look at my folds and creases. God, already I need the Beverly Hills Nursery Diet.”   I had tiny baby hands and you know what that means.

Since the Republican debates began, I’ve been strangling my sofa pillow in shock and frustration. I’ve watched Presidential Psycho and checked into The Debates Motel. You must leave your sanity and decorum at the door. Don’t use the shower; someone with tiny hands might want to show you their national endowment. Yes, that’s what the political process in our country has become; a finger pointing, yelling match between some of the worst presidential candidates the Republican party has ever offered up. It’s the Real House Husbands of DC. A bad reality show with character slurs, profanity and penis jokes.

I always celebrated Easter when I was growing up. Both my parents were Catholic, so of course we observed the holy day. It was the special weekend when we gorged on baskets of chocolate, ate a baked ham, and watched The Ten Commandments . Sometimes we would also catch a broadcast of the King of Kings . This is the film where Jesus is a blonde-haired, blue-eyed, prophet. It seemed he should’ve been carrying a surf board for his sermon on the mount. “Blessed are the meek and hang ten.”

  There is an annual event in Philadelphia, and for all its notoriety, there is still an audience that hasn’t experienced its unique beauty and creativity. The event is the Philadelphia Flower Show presented by The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (PHS).