Don’t prohibit gun ownership. Don’t make guns as easy to collect as toys, either — Stand up to the NRA It’s time for gun owners to stand up to the NRA. That’s right. Set your limits. It’s time for intelligent women and men to insist they have the right to control the sale and distribution of weapons that don’t belong in everyone’s hands. As a Texan, I know what gun…

Even if it’s not in style — “The world is so full of a number of things I’m sure we all should be happy as kings.” Robert Louis Stevenson said that before I did. He beat me to it by a mile, and more than 100 years. I agree with his every word. …

Find yourself in Gershwin and Chagall — Lesson Number One-and-Only — The music and paintings are about YOU Light from a power so much bigger than ourselves shines out of the Arts. It cuts through the darkness of our lonely souls, and shakes the sleepy awake. Big words, but they’re true. I’ll stop playing the grand piano now, but it’s necessary when standing in the light of genius…

Listen for dead poets to chime in — How Women Should NOT Behave Tequila, Wine, or Beer? He asked me sincerely, and full of the grape, what would you rather it be? A shot of tequila, a stem of dark wine, or a glass of ice cold beer? I considered his question a while as I drummed my fingers on the bar. “Wrong…

Ways to lead yourself through the night — hope, optimism, perspective — When the difference between expectation and realization equals disappointment — jump into a book to find solace Good literature is all about you, and me. It’s about the condition of being human, which includes disappointment. So pull a cloak of literature around you and rest. Literary characters experience life’s pains as sharply as we do, and they come out on the other side. Favorite authors can be…

A story of everlasting love — Ghosts, romance, death, life lessons — Augie and Miss Lillian painted their house PINK like a showgirl’s smile. It was a warm and glorious shade. It was the color the gods splash across the horizon just before they let the sun slip out of the sky for the night. — From Sirena’s journal I was stunned…

How to make love, or how to be happy — same recipe different dance Warm cream does a tango with the deep blackness of melting chocolate. Back and forth liquid sways across a vessel licked by blue flames. …

a story of everlasting love — Ghosts, life, death, life lessons — I am spinning, spinning round. My feet are rising to the ground. — from Sirena’s journal Miss Lillian’s shadows circled my dripping body as waves sloshed against slick sand beneath my feet. …

Brilliance from beyond is in the Arts and helps us grow. How to see it, hear it, feel it— best if read with Rhapsody in Blue playing in the background — Gershwin, Chagall, Nureyev, and Baryshnikov The rhapsody of Gershwin. The cacophony of Chagall. The passionate power of Nureyev and…