Songs and Stories From Home

As I continue to talk about family secrets and share experiences of facing my deepest fears and learning to love myself, I want to take a moment and say how much I love my folks and my brothers. My dad was and remains one of my lifelong heroes.

Beginning in 2011 I shared the story of my life and career around 49 virtual campfires. The 49th campfire was “lit” in front of family and friends at a concert at Benaroya Hall in downtown Seattle in May of 2017.

At its best among the gifts that higher learning affords us is the time and the chance – in a safe and challenging environment – to grapple with essential existential questions: who are we – why are we here – what are we meant to do with our lives-

After lots of singing and talking we arrive at the moment of receiving my diploma. It was my good fortune and delight to be presented the degree by two of my favorite people, Jody Nyquist and David Domke.

Threshold moments are important to the human experience. They can be sacred or secular. We celebrate births and deaths. There are marriage rituals. Before their first birthdays my two grandsons were welcomed into their church with ceremonies involving baptism, confirmation, and communion.

In this section I’m getting ready to receive my college degree 50 years after I might have graduated. I describe issues we were confronting half a century ago that we continue to deal with to this day.

We are a culture that values action and doing. Too often we define or measure ourselves by things we accomplish and how those things “stack up” against others.

This section further illustrates the idea that we are all in this together, and that we are all somehow connected. It also touches on the idea that those who came before us can both haunt us as ghosts or help show us the way as guides or guardians.

One of the things that has become clearer to me over the years is that – like it or not, know it or not – we are not alone. We are all in this together. We are somehow connected to each other and all living things – often in ways that we may not be aware of and cannot easily define or explain.

In this section I talk about discovering the importance of faith - though not necessarily religious faith - while preparing to become part of a Civil Rights Pilgrimage in 2014.