Paying it backward — For years, whenever I’ve gone through a Starbucks drive-thru, I’ve picked up the tab of the car behind me. It’s a practice in random acts of kindness, a phrase I thought was cheesy until I started doing it. My rules are simple: One: I pay the check no matter the…

A man sat at a cafe drinking a cup of coffee. He might have been reading the newspaper. He might have been painting, using a brush to dab water onto cakes of color. He might have been writing in a journal. I like that third one. Let’s go with that. …

Grief is said to come in waves. I’ve found this to be true. It’s a helpful image, and intuitive, maybe because we ourselves are such watery beings, gestating in water and made of it, consuming it, bathing in it and dressing wounds with it for our entire lives. Thinking of…

The truth is that all bodies are well and all bodies are not well. All bodies are healthy and all bodies are not healthy. Health is a dynamic, multi-faceted state, not a binary. Very few of us are “healthy” or “sick,” period. Most of us have systems in our bodies…

I was walking in Pt. Reyes on a strikingly hot day, the sun intense and shade scarce, and everyone was talking about it, hands shielding their eyes or fanning their faces. This part of the world is on tidal waters. There tends to be evening fog and all-day breezes, salty…

Listen. This is a different kind of post, because I just need some beauty, some reprieve. It has been a long few weeks. So, last night, at the dinner table, my daughter and I ate hot dogs and listed beautiful things. She had many. I had to think more; we…

Here is the letter I shared with the 5,000+ students, alumni, donors, and colleagues who are connected to The Thelton E. Henderson Center for Social Justice, where I work as Executive Director, following the Supreme Court’s ruling against affirmative action: Dear friends, I would prefer, if I’m honest, to rest…

I sometimes think of myself as the Primary Memory Maker. I’m speaking of myself as a mom, of course. Yes, my job is to keep my kid fundamentally safe in body, mind, and spirit, to help her build resilience and thoughtfulness, to help her learn the discernment, bravery, and vision…

My fomo peaks this time of year, as the days get long and school lets out. I’ve always felt pressure to live my life during June, July and August like a Country Time Lemonade commercial, despite the fact that I don’t live in the country or have a lemon tree…