Greetings from Alison Wiley here in Portland, Oregon. I'm a writer/doer/thinker who lives happily by putting people, nature and God ahead of accumulating more stuff. Read more →
It’s Easter morning! And warmish out! My pear trees and blueberry bushes are blossoming, our baby chicks are growing into leggy adolescents, and I’ll soon walk over to choir practice at Tabor Heights Methodist, where we’ll rehearse — with trumpet players! - for the Easter service. It’s all so climactic. . . . diamond-cut, really. [...]
Tags: church·David Korten·Easter·Great Turning·happiness·Jesus·Joanna Macy·joy·life·music·Oregon·religion
How afraid are you of death, whether your own or that of someone you love? Because I feel certain of the soul living on after physical death, my fear has usually been of dying before I was certain I’d made a small but positive difference in the world. That fear of leaving this world too [...]
Tags: chaplain·death·dying·harp·hospice·ministry·music·thanatology
When do you feel the most vibrantly alive? Where do you feel it in your body? What activity or situation stitches your body, soul and heart all together into a joyous whole? I accidentally tripped into the zone of fierce vitality last night like Alice falling into the rabbit hole. It started out sedately. I [...]
Tags: Ashland·culture·dancing fool·exercise·fun·happiness·life·music·Oregon·Royal Blues Band
How do you get young people to carry forward the most precious parts of whatever culture you’re living in? How do you make what you love relevant to the next generation? Millions struggle with this daily, and not just parents and teachers. It’s more universal than that. I collided head-on with this question last night [...]
Tags: culture·music·Oregon·Rosalie Sorrels·Sisters of the Road·Winterfolk concert
Last week in Part I of Nights of Passion I noted that the arts make our lives richer and juicier, more soulful and joyous . . . . . definitely diamond-cut life attributes. I wrote this essay in the past while listening to the Portland Symphony Orchestra at Arlene Schnitzer Auditorium — but it’s set [...]
Tags: culture·French horns·life·music·orchestra·portland symphony orchestra·Schnitzer Auditorium·trombone·trumpet
My favorite tagline ever belonged to the Portland Opera: nights of passion, no regrets in the morning. I actually wrote today’s post (written in the past, but in the present tense) during a concert of the Portland Symphony Orchestra, but the principle of the passion-tagline rings true across the board: the arts make our lives [...]
Tags: brass·culture·happiness·music·orchestra·Oregon·portland symphony orchestra·Schitzer Auditorium·trumpet·violins
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