This is real cool! Using simple, illuminative paper-cut puppetry, this enchanting video imagines the moment of witness that inspired Gwendolyn Brooks to write her landmark poem, “We Real Cool.” It was created by Manual Cinema in association with Crescendo Literary, with story by Eve L. Ewing and Nate Marshall, and music by Jamila Woods and Ayanna Woods. Poetry Foundation posted We Real Cool on June 6, 2017 as part of the upcoming centennial celebration of her birth that year.
Everything about this video is excellent—the background story, Brooks’ dialogue, the poem read by her and sung by the chorus, the lifelike facial expressions, outlines and movements of the paper-cut puppetry, the jazzy driving music—all make for a lively and enjoyable realization.
The 6-minute video is a companion to a live staged production of No Blue Memories: The Life of Gwendolyn Brooks. It premiered November 2017 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Brooks’s birth. See the trailer for that show when it played in Vancouver at the Chan Centre. “We Real Cool” starts at 26 minutes into the 68-minute performance.
Gwendolyn Brooks (June 7, 1917-December 3, 2000) won the Pulitzer Prize at 32, and at 68, was the first black woman to become a consultant in poetry for the Library of Congress, aka the 29th Poet Laureate, 1985–86. A prolific poet, author, and teacher, she received a lifetime achievement award in 1989 from the National Endowment for the Arts.
It’s interesting how some poets are only remembered for one special poem. In this 1986 HoCoPoLitSo interview with Gwendolyn Brooks for The Writing Life series (remastered in 2005), she was asked how she felt about being remembered for only this one poem (18:38). She said that the poem was published in many anthologies and that children always ask her to read “We Real Cool” and respond enthusiastically.
But instead of asking myself, “Why aren’t they in school?” I asked myself, “I wonder how they feel about themselves?”
Gwendolyn Brooks’ thoughts on seeing The Pool Players, Seven at the Golden Shovel, which became her poem, “We Real Cool.”
Instead of judging the students, her curiosity and compassion cause her to look deeper. She shares her thoughts about the boys’ situation, and is then asked to recite the poem, which she does at 21:05.
Guitarist Jeff Beck’s unexpected passing earlier this year took the rock world by surprise. He died suddenly of bacterial meningitis. He was 78. R.I.P. (June 24, 1944–January 11, 2023)
A guitar player’s guitar player, Jeff Beck was considered one of the top five of all time. An eight-time Grammy winner, he was inducted twice into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame—as a member of the Yardbirds, and for his own Jeff Beck Group.
Once news of his sudden passing came out, many searched his music online. I was impressed by his amazing virtuosity and versatility. Equally at home in different musical genres, he had his own unique style of playing that defied categorization. Jeff never sang; his guitar did for him.
Part of Gene’s comment (5th from top) explains: “He is a fusion of blues, soul & progressive rock. He could manipulate the strings, whammy bar, volume & tone knobs simultaneously, with technical mastery, to seamless & absolutely dazzling effect. He had voice on the guitar that was exceedingly rare and distinct.”
Enjoy Jeff Beck – Performing This Week… Live at Ronnie Scott’s. Accompanying Jeff Beck are Vinnie Colaiuta on drums, Tal Wilkenfeld on bass guitar, and Jason Rebello on keyboards. Amazing musicians in their own right, together they produce an exciting cohesive sound. The show’s twenty-one performances include a few surprise star guest appearances. And the camera catches a few famous musicians smiling in the audience. Jeff concludes the evening with the hauntingly beautiful Where Were You.
Jeff Beck also beautifully played all of Women of Ireland, Live in Moscow at Crocus City 2010, and with violinist Lizzie Ball Live at Madison Square Garden 2013. “Mná na hÉireann” (Women of Ireland), a poem written by Ulster poet Peadar Ó Doirnín (1704–1796), became famous as a song.
Over the past two years I’ve been joining the daily morning and evening group meditations on Zoom facilitated by Bob Roth, a longtime Transcendental Meditation (TM) teacher, CEO of the David Lynch Foundation (DLF), and author. Before each group meditation, Bob likes to share interesting scientific information about how the body works, or something in nature, and ends the call with an inspirational poem, quotation, or word.
Bob also answers questions that have been sent in. One that comes up often is how is TM different from other types of meditation, in particular mindfulness. Bob’s answer was so clear, I wanted to share it with you. It was transcribed and approved for posting. I found two relevant images in an article on TM Basics in Enjoy TM News that will help highlight Bob’s explanation. He also addresses the notion of the active “monkey mind” and how it can be calmed without effort, a key point.
Bob Roth: I want to address a pretty basic question that many of you know the answer to, but many of you don’t. And since this is a community experience (these group meditations), I want to be sure that everybody feels comfortable and is up to speed. And one of the questions that frequently comes up, even among people who practice TM, is, “How is this different from other types of meditation, or mindfulness meditation?” Because we hear that term: mindfulness meditation.
And I like to use a very simple analogy; that you have a cross section of an ocean. (You ever hear me use that analogy in the past?) And you have choppy waves on the surface. And that can be analogous to the thinking mind. And people who are familiar with different types of meditation often talk about the nature of the mind being like a monkey mind. It bounces all over the place and, just in search of, just bouncing, bouncing, bouncing. It’s an active mind.
And if you want to control the mind, if you want to have a calm mind, then you have to stop the monkey mind from bouncing all over the place. And so, many types of either mindfulness meditation or other types of meditation involve some type of control of the mind.
So, in that cross-section of the ocean, it would be attempting to stop the waves on the surface of the ocean. That if you want to have a calm ocean, what disrupts a calm ocean? Waves. So, if you could stop the waves, then you’d have a calm ocean.
By analogy, if you want to have a calm mind, what disrupts a calm mind? Thoughts. So, if you want to have a calm mind, stop thoughts. You’ll have a calm mind.
That approach to meditation is called a cognitive approach. Cognitive means attending to your thoughts, your moods, your feelings, your actions. So, in that type of meditation, there’s some degree of control of the mind.
In Transcendental Meditation, we know there’s no control of the mind.
In Transcendental Meditation, we know there’s no control of the mind. We appreciate that the surface of the ocean may be turbulent, but we also recognize that there’s a vertical dimension to the ocean, and that there’s a depth to the ocean. And the depth to the deeper levels of the ocean? More silence.
In the same way, we appreciate that the mind is an active mind. All of the thoughts that we have during the day—we’re busy people. And we’re upset about things, and we’re happy about things, and we’re depressed about things, and we’re anxious about things, and we’re in love, and then we’re hurt.
All this stuff that’s going on are like waves on the surface, thoughts on the surface of the mind. And we call that the “gotta-gotta-gotta” mind.
Transcendental Meditation recognizes that there’s a vertical dimension to the mind. Just as there’s a vertical dimension to the ocean, there’s a vertical dimension to the mind. And the deeper levels of the mind are increasingly quiet, more settled.
Just as there’s a vertical dimension to the ocean, there’s a vertical dimension to the mind. And the deeper levels of the mind are increasingly quiet, more settled.
We know that when we want to talk to a dear friend about something important to us, we don’t say, Let’s go to a noisy sports bar. We say, Let’s go someplace quiet. Because when it’s quiet, we can think more clearly. We feel more settled within ourselves.
So, deeper levels of the mind—quieter. In Transcendental Meditation, we don’t try to stop thoughts on their surface. We effortlessly access what’s called (go in the direction of what’s called) the source of thought, from where thoughts arise deep within the mind of everyone—from where thoughts arise.
And that level of the mind is naturally quiet, like the ocean depth is naturally quiet. It’s there. That’s the hypothesis. You don’t have to believe in that. That’s the hypothesis. Deep within every human being is a level where the mind is already quiet. All we do in Transcendental Meditation is set up the conditions for our mind to effortlessly access that.
Deep within every human being is a level where the mind is already quiet. All we do in Transcendental Meditation is set up the conditions for our mind to effortlessly access that.
We don’t try to stop thoughts. It’s a waste of time. It’s impossible. It doesn’t accomplish what we hope to accomplish. And what do we hope to accomplish? Just set up the conditions for the mind to settle down within. And why will the mind settle down within? Because your mind doesn’t wander aimlessly. The mind is in search of something more satisfying. When it goes out through the senses, we look for something—something more beautiful, something more delicious, something more fragrant, something more pleasurable.
When we close our eyes, wait a half a minute, and then begin to think the mantra in an effortless way, then the mind is drawn inward to these quieter levels. And as that happens, our body gains deep rest.
And then as we get deep rest, the body throws off stress, and that increases the activity in the body. And then we come up a little bit. And then we settle back down. And we come up and we settle back down. This is Transcendental Meditation.
So, it’s that vertical dimension—accessing a level of the mind that is already quiet. So, no control in this. Concentration and control, just is trying to manipulate the surface. And that is just difficult and uncomfortable and not Transcendental Meditation.
Easy, comfortable, let the attention turn within, and we settle down, we come up. And that is TM—transcendence. Going beyond ordinary human limitations.
More on that in times to come, but let’s do our meditation now.
* * *
This infographic on the TM website compares forms of meditation techniques and their impact on the brain by looking at amount of mental effort required, images of different EEG signatures, types of brainwave activity, and their descriptions identified by the Mayo Clinic.
January 16, 2022: Today is YEBBA’s 27th birthday. We wish her peace of mind, a joy-filled heart, and a successful fulfilling career.
Born Abigail Elizabeth Smith, she went by Abbey Smith until she changed her name professionally to Yebba—Abbey spelled backwards—in honor of her mother who had given her that nickname. More on that later.
I recently discovered this amazing artist on YouTube. She is an American singer-songwriter from West Memphis, Arkansas. Over 5 years ago, when she was 21, she gave a powerful, emotive performance of her song “My Mind” at Sofar (Songs From A Room) in New York City. Sofar NYC had recorded it and later posted it on their YouTube channel. It went viral.
I can’t get it out of my mind. I never heard a singer express such raw emotion, yet within a precise musical structure. She does this with her very versatile voice and just her guitarist softly backing her up. That’s it.
The song opens with her discovering that her partner has been cheating on her, then shows her reaction. Her voice slowly builds to a powerful expression of rage, hurt, and grief, to the point where she is about to lose her mind. The audience is spellbound. The camera shows some women sitting motionless in rapt attention.
YEBBA performing “My Mind” at Sofar NYC on September 30th, 2016. Sofar Sounds connects artists and music-lovers around the world through intimate shows in unique venues.
Losing love can be a painful thing. I normally wouldn’t post something like this, however. This is such a profoundly visceral experience executed with the utmost skill and talent I just had to share it.
Having written and performed My Mind at Sofar in front of a live audience must’ve been part of her healing process, and a cathartic experience for those listening who may have also suffered a betrayal and loss of love. After it was over, I like how she matter-a-factly stated, “That’s that one.”
Reactions
Hundreds have reacted to this video over the years, some technically, others emotionally, recalling their own memories of betrayal. It is a powerful performance that triggers anger, compassion, tears. It reminded me of that famous line: ‘Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned’.
I think the main thing that I felt when I heard that was this overwhelming sense of wanting to protect her and make the pain go away because it was just watching a woman in distress crying out for help in such a harrowingly poetic and beautiful way. It shows you what beauty can come out of such intense pain. And we need that, we need a pioneer of expression.
All of her vocal effects—from the runs, to the aspirations, to the yodels, to the calling or crying that she’s putting into the sound, to the distortion—all of it sounds suitable, if the emotional content of the song that she’s putting in, like, you can’t help but feel something when you’re watching her sing this because it’s like her heart is in her hands. This is an incredible emotional performance and the vocal delivery is stunning. I mean I don’t think she overdid anything that wasn’t warranted by the lyrics that she was delivering.
Voice teacher John Henny said Yebba uses a minor pentatonic scale, a five-note scaffolding on which her voice ascends and descends. Her riffs sound like Middle Eastern runs or from a gospel choir. Yebba’s father is a pastor and she used to create choral arrangements and sing in his church. At times, it sounds like she’s wailing. John provides us with this insight into her talent and technique.
I gotta tell you, it is so hard to take your voice and your emotions to the edge of tears but you don’t lose the ability to sing. That’s really difficult, because as you begin to touch that emotion you lose control in the voice, and she’s right on the razor’s edge of that. That’s really fantastic! I’ve seen Barbra Streisand do that effectively well. It’s incredibly hard to do.
He concludes by saying “She’s just amazing” and then provides us with this final analysis:
The song itself—there’s not a lot there. I mean very simple chords. It’s not like it’s this hook-driven ditty. It really is just a vehicle for her to express herself emotionally. And what I love, is her riffs, her choices. None of them are done to be showy. It’s not, ‘Hey, look-at-me,’ vocals. It’s, ‘Let me express myself to you.’ ‘Let me communicate to you.’ So, this is absolutely fantastic!
Collaborations and Grammys
To date, this video has almost 20 million views. Ed Sheeran saw Yebba sing and it brought him to tears. He immediately signed her to his record label and later invited her to London at the famous Abbey Road Studios (same name!) to record one of his songs as part of his No. 6 Collaborations Project released in 2019. It included many top artists and produced several hits mentioned in the notes. It’s posted on his YouTube channel: Ed Sheeran – Best Part Of Me (feat. YEBBA) (Live At Abbey Road).
Yebba’s mother, Dawn, a high school science teacher, encouraged her singing. Sadly, she committed suicide in October, shortly after Yebba’s performance at Sofar went viral. Yebba returned home traumatized, putting her career on hold, and tried to deal with her PTSD and OCD.
Yebba mentions a feeling of constant panic and grief in this 5-minute synopsis of an NPR interview that Sam Sanders did with her when her debut album, Dawn, came out last September: With The New Album ‘Dawn,’ Yebba Sheds Old Beliefs.
Listen to the complete intimate 24-minute interview where they discover they have a lot in common growing up around music in the church: Yebba Sheds Old Beliefs With A New Album. Both include the transcripts.
NPR also posted Yebba: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert of her performing songs from the album with her amazing band and vocal backup group.
Trying to come to terms with her mother’s death, Yebba processed a lot of emotions and memories. She titled and dedicated her first album in her name. Symbolically, it became the official dawn of her career.
September 8, 2021: This Tiny Desk Concert has been in the works since the spring of 2020, when the album was completed but shelved until Yebba (and the rest of the world) was in a better place. It was worth the wait.
In the YouTube documentary, “How To Be: Mark Ronson,” when Mark and Yebba are in the studio, he says, “she is one of the top five greatest vocalists I’ve ever recorded, just the kind of person that when they’re singing in a room, everybody just suddenly engages more.” And Mark has collaborated with and produced the best, like Amy Winehouse, Adele, Bruno Mars, Q-Tip, Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga, to name a few.
Yebba Is The Real Deal wrote Stereogum’s Chris Deville in his informative review for The Week In Pop and concludes: “She sounds ready to take over the world.”
Natalie Maher interviewed Yebba for Harpers Bazaar: Yebba Isn’t Afraid to Feel It All. The singer-songwriter’s debut album, Dawn, is a hauntingly beautiful ode to the art of healing.
Song versions
Yebba doesn’t usually sing her songs the same way twice. Her song, Boomerang, is on the album, but this live version posted on her YouTube channel sounds better.
Same with this live version of October Sky. The song is based on a memory of her mother firing off bottle rockets she had brought home from science class for Yebba and her brother. Gerard Hern explained it in his comment quoting Yebba on how she wrote the song.
“I wrote this whole story about remembering her sliding down the hall and telling us ‘Come outside we’re shooting off bottle rockets,’” Yebba explains. “That memory came to me and the words just spilled out: this story of her and the promise that she broke, in a way, because she killed herself in October. I genuinely feel like she was standing there in the room with me as I was writing it, in my studio apartment in Brooklyn.”
Nick Cave and Lady Gaga are two of many musicians who have spoken about the benefits of Transcendental Meditation (TM) for their grief and pain, respectively, and to boost their creativity. Katy Perry and Sting have participated with other artists in fundraising concerts for the David Lynch Foundation (DLF), which offers TM for free to traumatized communities.
My screen is getting blurry. ❤️ So moved. Thank you for showing what’s been hiding in my own work through your profoundly powerful and soulful take. You are so special I can’t stand/understand it sometimes. ♥️♥️♥️
And now John Mayer’s 2022 Sob Rock Tour will include Yebba as his opening act in some March to April venues. Official #1 Fan, Yebbite Smith, posts videos from concerts, like these clips from Luke Edgemon of Yebba and her funky band opening for John Mayer in LA. Luke also posted Yebba singing October Sky from that Forum concert. Jayla R posted Stand from the Tampa show.
I first discovered this great Canadian aboriginal writer on a blog I follow. I looked into the book she quoted from, Embers: One Ojibway’s Meditations by Richard Wagamese, and bought it based on this first entry I read in Chapter I: STILLNESS.
I AM MY silence. I am not the busyness of my thoughts or the daily rhythm of my actions. I am not the stuff that constitutes my world. I am not my talk. I am not my actions. I am my silence. I am the consciousness that perceives all these things. When I go to my consciousness, to that great pool of silence that observes the intricacies of my life, I am aware that I am me. I take a little time each day to sit in silence so that I can move outward in balance into the great clamour of living.
These two entries in Chapter II: HARMONY are equally profound. This first one, about the relationship between the soul and the body, reminds me of what the Sufi mystics said about the body and the universe, the microcosm and the macrocosm.
I USED TO believe my body contained my soul. That was fine for a while. But when I started thinking about oneness with Creator, I came to believe that it’s the other way around. My soul contains my body. It is everything that I am. I am never separate from Creator except within my mind. That’s the ultimate truth, and I need to be reminded, to learn again, to learn anew in order to get it. When I do, I know the truth of what my people say: that we are all spirit, we are all energy, joined to everything that is everywhere, all things coming true together.
Interestingly, when the mind forgets this oneness, loses its connection to inner wholeness, the result is what Maharishi calls Pragyāparādha, the mistake of the intellect, which identifies with a changing limited reality instead of our unbounded inner Self. This identification with the world and loss of memory of the Self is the root cause of all of our suffering, the difference between bondage and liberation.
The other entry, about coming under the influence of the muse, reminds me of William Stafford, another poet who would also get up early every morning to write before sunrise. Although similar in theme, but not as profound, his poem, When I Met My Muse, is more lighthearted.
WHEN THE MUSE is full upon you, you move to the chair at your desk as if entranced, and in that ghostly glow against the full dark before sunrise, story becomes a shape-shifter, a presence that cajoles you, tempts you, coaxes words to eke out onto the page, creating worlds and people from the fire deep within you so that this alchemy of creation becomes transcendent, making time lose all its properties. There is just you and the universe and this creative fire moving through your fingers in bold palettes of colour chasing the dark away until you emerge in the sure, calm light of morning and feel like a writer again.
I discovered a similar transcendent experience described by Canadian Realist Painter Sarah McKendry as she paints through the night until sunrise. See my comment and her quote below in the Responses section.
Discovering Richard Wagamese the Storyteller
Richard Wagamese (October 14, 1955 – March 10, 2017) was an internationally renowned, award-winning author, newspaper columnist and reporter who had also worked in radio and television. In this CBC interview, Candy Palmater asks Richard how a library helped him become a writer. As a destitute, homeless teenager, he walked into a building for warmth and noticed it was filled with silence and many books. He didn’t know where he was. A kind librarian brought him some food and showed him how to find what he was interested in. Richard had only a grade 9 education and devoured books on a wide range of topics. He taught himself how to become a writer and would copy sentences by hand of the great authors who moved him just to see what it felt like. He tells Candy the role he played in the making of the film based on his book.
Indian Horse, the novel and the film
I had just watched an emotionally-charged film on Netflix called Indian Horse. I checked and found out that the film was based on the award-winning novel Indian Horse written by this same Ojibway author! Clint Eastwood was the executive producer. It tells the tragic, yet hopeful and redemptive story of the main character, Saul Indian Horse. Events unfold during a dark era in Canadian history, when young native Indians were separated from their families (including Wagamese’s parents), and sent to notorious Catholic Residential Schools where they were forced to not speak their language or practice their culture. The nuns and priests tried to “scrape the Indian out of them” violently molding them into Christians, traumatizing them for life.
Despite this, Saul finds salvation in the unlikeliest of places and the most favorite of Canadian pastimes — hockey. Fascinated by the game, he secretly teaches himself how to play, and develops a unique and rare skill. Saul’s talent leads him away from the misery of the Residential School to a Northern Ontario Indigenous league and eventually to the pros – but the terrors of Saul’s past seem to follow him.
Wagamese suffered from second-generational trauma, abused drugs and alcohol, was homeless and landed in prison many times. He would eventually be diagnosed with PTSD, which gave him a better understanding of his helpless situation, and finally sought treatment.
A wise tribal Elder told him his role in life was to become a storyteller. Writing would become a healing redemptive practice for him. Surprisingly, many of his readers felt seen, understood. His stories helped them too in their healing journey, fulfilling his destiny.
People who knew Wagamese said he was the creator, parent and protector of stories. Host of CBC Radio’s The Next Chapter and chancellor of the University of Victoria, Shelagh Rogers said of her longtime friend, “Richard really believed everybody had a story.” Listen to Shelagh Rogers’ tribute to Richard Wagamese, a great man who passed away unexpectedly and too soon at the age of 61.
The nature of a writer‘s life
As a writer, Richard Wagamese would win many prestigious awards. On November 3, 2015 in Toronto, the Writers Trust of Canada honored him with the 2015 Matt Cohen Award: In Celebration of a Writing Life. In his humble, at times emotional acceptance speech, he beautifully described his early morning rituals followed by sitting for a while in the candle-lit darkness, thinking about what it is that he is about to do, “and you ask for as much guidance and strength from The Creator as possible.” He heads down the hall to a place where he will sit for hours at his computer. “And you sit there and you breathe and you hope and you dream and you close your eyes, and you feel the essence of that gift radiating inside you. And you put your fingers on that keyboard and watch while they emerge out upon the screen.”
I love this part of his speech: “And you wait for that time when you know that that perfect sentence has just occurred. And there‘s a gladdening in your spirit when that happens, and you seek to write another one, just like it, to follow it across the page. And in my experience, that‘s the nature of a writer‘s life. That immaculate sense of solitude, when there‘s just you and the language and the air and the universe and that gift that The Creator downloaded you with free-of-charge…. “
Richard Wagamese 2015 Matt Cohen Award speech
And in my experience, that‘s the nature of a writer‘s life. That immaculate sense of solitude, when there‘s just you and the language and the air and the universe and that gift that The Creator downloaded you with free-of-charge.
Writing for the story’s sake and not your own
In this talk at the University of British Columbia (Nov 27, 2013) on his book tour for Indian Horse, author Wagamese gives some valuable advice for young writers. His years of experience honing his craft as a journalist and a writer for radio and television prepared him to become a successful novelist and poet. “In that way of writing you learn how to be sharp, simple and concise, and learn how to trim the fat from every sentence, and you learn how to say exactly what you mean and to mean what you say.” He emphasized “that conciseness and that brevity that results in perfect clarity really served this novel well.”
He goes on to explain that it wasn’t necessary to be overly dramatic or poetic in his prose. “You harness that, you reign that back in and you learn to work for the story itself. And if there’s any aspiring or perspiring writers in the room, that’s the biggest advice I can give you, that if you work for the story’s sake all the time it will spare you the anxiety and the inner debate about how much you should write or in what way you should write it because you’re writing for the story’s sake and not your own. And again that particular rule served me well in the writing of Indian Horse.”
In a July 4, 2014 Globe and Mail article, we learn where he got that advice from: Q: What’s the best advice you’ve ever received? A:Norval Morrisseau once told me to “work for the story’s sake” and that is the best advice I’ve ever received. When I work for the story’s sake I leave my ego at the door and the energy of the story emerges without my interference. It’s why Indian Horse and Medicine Walk ring so resonant with people – because me and my ego are not in the way of the story pouring outward.
Embrace everything and write what you don’t know
A year later (Nov 18, 2014), Richard Wagamese was invited to read from the MacEwan Book of the Year 2013/14, Indian Horse. It included an on-stage interview with author Richard Van Camp. He read from Indian Horse, answered good questions from the audience, and concluded with a reading from his new book Medicine Walk, a story about a reconciliation between an absent father and his son, something Wagamese had been grappling with in his own life. MacEwan University posted this inspiring event on YouTube.
He offered good advice to hopeful writers and shared his process, how when he goes on long walks, he connects with the land, and thinks about ideas that get triggered. He says them out loud to himself as he develops a story until it’s clearer to him, then returns home to type it up on his computer, offline to avoid distractions. He told them to be open to anything as it could trigger a story. They should open themselves up to and embrace everything as it would impact their writing and keep their readers engaged.
He also touched on the notion that “some courses and programs tell you to write what you know.” I found his take on that advice revealing: “But it’s come to me over the course of the last few books, that if I write what I don’t know, then the process of me discovering the answers to what I don’t know makes the journey of following the story in the book stronger for the reader, because we both get to find the answer together.” (These great writers said the exact same thing.)
But it’s come to me over the course of the last few books, that if I write what I don’t know, then the process of me discovering the answers to what I don’t know makes the journey of following the story in the book stronger for the reader, because we both get to find the answer together.
This final question was very interesting, one that he “was not often asked.” He gave a surprising and impressive answer. He shared how his 16 months of yoga and meditation practice, along with a change in diet had improved his life physically, emotionally, and spiritually. On all these levels, yoga was “informing my sense of myself.” It brought a peace and a quietness within the process “that I’ve been waiting for all my life.” Answering her question specifically he explained, “and so when I turn to the act of writing, I bring that same sense of holism into the process of writing.” He then described the kind of improvements he experienced in his skill as a writer, attributing them to that influence, which, he concluded, created “a big leap forward” that showed up in his new book, Medicine Walk. (A good question that elicited a great answer!)
Learning to become a better person
In her informative and heartfelt obituary (March 24, 2017, updated May 16, 2018): Ojibway author Richard Wagamese found salvation in stories, Globe and Mail journalist Marsha Lederman wrote that “his last book, Embers: One Ojibway’s Meditations, came out of Mr. Wagamese’s daily Facebook posts. They had a devoted following and Douglas and McIntyre head Howard White proposed publishing them as a collection. On March 7, Embers was nominated for a BC Book Award. Two nights later, Mr. Wagamese went to sleep and didn’t wake up.”
The book actually did win the 2017 Bill Duthie Booksellers’ Choice Award. This is the conclusion to her article: In one of Mr. Wagamese’s final Facebook meditations, posted in November, he wrote about starting his day with candlelight, tea and meditation, and what the years had taught him. “Actions born of contemplation are wiser than those made in quiet desperation. If all that’s true, and I feel it is, then I have grown some in these 61 years. I have learned and become a better person. And from that maybe it’s the years ahead that will be the richest of my life. A quiet man moving forward, gladly beyond all expectation.”
Two new posthumously published books by Richard Wagamese
CBC Books posted news of two new posthumously published books by Richard Wagamese: the unfinished novel Starlight (Mar 01, 2018) and One Drum (Nov 06, 2019). This latest book review also includes 3 earlier CBC Radio interviews, 2 of which are referenced in this blog post. You can Read an excerpt from Richard Wagamese’s final book, One Drum.
Related posts: I later found this excellent book review by Eldon Yellowhorn in The Ormsby Review posted on BC Booklook: Richard Wagamese’s third solitude. He concludes Indian Horse “is the composition that will forever evoke the name Richard Wagamese.”
Alberto Lidji and Dr Tony Nader on The Do One Better! Podcast
Enjoy this simple, clear and effective explanation of Transcendental Meditation. Here is the program description to a delightful discussion that aired 3/22/2020. Instagram photo posted by Adrienne Schoenfeld.
CEO of Transcendental Meditation organizations, Dr Tony Nader, joins Alberto Lidji on The Do One Better! Podcast to discuss the TM movement, how to start practicing TM, and why it can benefit your mental and physical well-being.
Dr Nader sheds light on his personal journey, from PhD research on cognitive sciences at MIT to leading the Transcendental Meditation Program across the globe. He explains how this simple technique can give you energy, strength and make you feel rejuvenated.
We hear what makes TM unique and learn some of the overarching principles that underpin it. For those who are curious, there is an explanation of what practicing TM actually looks like and why it has the potential to improve mental and physical well-being.
Tony is clear that TM is not a religion, nor a philosophy, nor a belief system and, indeed, there are individuals from all faiths who practice TM.
Transcendental Meditation was launched in the mid-1950s by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. And, while many people may associate TM with celebrities, Tony remarks that TM has a presence in most countries around the world and has 12 million people practicing it. He describes it as a grassroots organization – a big family that is open to everyone.
Tony’s key takeaway: we are fullness within; every one of us is wholeness. And, there is something very beautiful, very deep within ourselves. It is our consciousness that is an expanded field of being that we can reach, that we can experience; know the beauty of who we are, know ourselves and the real depth of what we are and live life in fullness and wholeness and perfection. This is the birthright of every human being. And, it is not a hope or a wish, it can be achieved systematically, scientifically and repeatedly.
Visit Lidji.org for guest bios, episode notes and useful links, and share widely if you enjoy the podcast — thank you!
New podcast on Transcendental Meditation and Philanthropy
A second podcast, this one on Transcendental Meditation and Philanthropy with Jeffrey Abramson, was posted August 24, 2020. A key goal of Jeffrey’s philanthropy is to expand the research into TM and give people around the world access to their potential; to unleash their drive so they can impact their own lives and their own communities.
Jeffrey discusses how he discovered and benefited from Transcendental Meditation, his time with TM Founder Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the work of the Rona and Jeffrey Abramson Foundation, and his support of Maharishi International University and the David Lynch Foundation. Jeffrey also explains how he aligns business with philanthropy and how TM is integral to his company’s success and operations.
I had never heard of her and was impressed with her powerful voice and candid nature. She can sometimes sound like Stevie Nicks or Adele. Listen to this Fleetwood Mac cover of Dreams and you’ll understand why.
Around 9 minutes in she talks about a peace she found in Mt. Pleasant at her great-grandmother’s funeral. She carried it with her to California and always came back to visit family. Then she says, “I went to Fairfield and took a TM course, Transcendental Meditation.” We checked and verified that Lissie had learned TM in June 2014.
They embed the video from Oct. 11, 2016: Folk musician Lissie escapes back home to Midwest. After leaving the Quad Cities area for the fast-paced lifestyle in Los Angeles, Folk-style musician Lissie discovered an Iowa farm was better for her soul than the fast lanes of Southern California.
I’ve been to Fairfield to learn Transcendental Meditation.
Lissie says: “I spent my time growing up in Iowa. I had this kind of romanticized dream or idea that some day I’ll have a farm in Iowa. I visited the Bridges of Madison County. My mom and I took a road trip and we went to John Wayne’s house. You know, like I’ve done some things in Iowa. I’ve been to Fairfield to learn Transcendental Meditation. And I’ve just always had this soft spot for Iowa.”
Lissie identifies as a Midwesterner from the Heartland and says how much she loves Iowa, describing all the reasons why. It’s where her heart belongs. Looks like she found her roots and is at peace with herself.
Dean Hurley, the show’s music director, and a collaborator since 2005, said she “is an incredibly emotive performer who completely embodies her music and gives everything. Lissie was definitely one of the acts that David wanted involved from the beginning. He’s been a big fan of hers for years and discovered her by a series of videos she posted on YouTube covering Lady Gaga, Metallica, etc.” (See others including Bonnie Raitt and Bob Dylan.)
In that interview, The Music of Twin Peaks: The Return: Lissie, Dean further explains what David looks for in a musical performance when realizing his ideas for the series. He blends intense music, emotion and acting, so the power of Lissie’s music fulfills that for him.
He said “David doesn’t attend a lot of concerts, but when she came through LA years back, he wanted to go. I can’t emphasize how rare that is for him to want to go out to a show.”
He added, “An artist like Lissie thrives in the live performance arena, she’s one of these people that almost can’t be contained on a recording because she’s the fullest realization of herself live.”
See the Update below where Lissie explains how she and David connected, how she learned TM in Fairfield, Iowa, then went to have coffee and talk with him in LA, and ultimately received an email from him asking her if she wanted to be part of the new Twin Peaks.
I enjoyed this short video profile on iHeartRadio: Lissie – Artist Stories – Interview (2016) – Part 1 and Part 2. It starts with her intention: “I would like to be successful with my music, but it’s about more than that, it’s about, like figuring out what my purpose for being on this planet is.”
This is an interesting description from that interview: With a career that has seen her open for renowned artist Lenny Kravitz an early supporter, Tom Petty, and even been asked to perform at Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore’s wedding, Lissie has had a wealth of incredible experiences that have made her the confident and determined artist she is today.
Verse 2 of Ojai is pure poetry; so succinct yet says so much!
I miss the seasons, I miss the land I miss them for reasons I don’t understand I took it all for granted I bloomed where I was planted
She sums up her approach: “You know, I’m not trying to do anything. I’m not trying to be cool. I’m not trying to ever have a fresh sound or a cool look for an image. I’m just singing songs about my life in the most heartfelt genuine way I can, and I’m gonna be moving on to more songs very soon. And it’s as simple as that.”
I wonder if some of these developments may have come about after she learned TM? Lissie had the courage to trust and act on her inner yearnings and is happier for it. She followed her heart and is now living her life on her own terms.
It’d be nice if she decided to visit and play Fairfield one day. Some of us are reaching out to her. She’s on tour, so we’ll see if anything happens.
Update: Now that I’ve been finding and listening to more of her performances and interviews on YouTube, I noticed Lissie mentions again her learning TM in Fairfield, in last year’s BUILD interview, and also says it’s where Maharishi University is located in Iowa.
Further into the interview she’s asked how she got into Twin Peaks, and extends what Dean Hurley had mentioned about David Lynch going to see her in concert. “We ultimately ended up talking on the phone and he came to my show. He’s really into TM, so after I had been in Iowa to take this TM course, I had reached out, and ended up joining him at his home and drinking coffee and catching up on life. And so we just stayed in touch over the years and he’s just been very supportive and kind to me. So I think it was 2015, I got an email, ‘Hey would you want to be on the new Twin Peaks?’ So of course, like yes, that’s amazing, like this legendary status. Ya, he wanted me to be a part of it, and I performed in episode (14) for Twin Peaks!”
Further Update: A little over 7 months later I would finally get to hear Lissie perform in person. A strong supporter of Bernie Sanders, Lissie had posted on her Instagram that she was going to open for him at the Steamboat Senior Center in Burlington, Iowa on Saturday night, and then at the Bridge View Center in Ottumwa the following night, Sunday, December 15, 2019.
I drove with a friend to the Ottumwa event. We sat up close to a makeshift stage in the lobby area surrounded by rows of chairs. When she sang, I felt my head tingling! Wish fulfilled. After she left the stage, I introduced myself, that I was from Fairfield, Maharishi University, mentioned her TM teacher, her meeting David Lynch, what he thought of her as an artist, and that I felt the same way.
I asked her what it was like when David invited her to perform in Twin Peaks, The Return. She was driving at the time and had to pull over to the side of the road to read his message. What an unexpected surprise!
Lissie said David’s friendship and support did a lot for her self-esteem. David’s like that. He recognizes talent when he sees it. He’s given several unknown artists a chance to shine, drawing out their best performances that would launch their careers. Naomi Watts comes to mind.
Of course in Lissie’s case, she was already a fully formed exciting artist, as Dean Hurley explained in his interview. What David did was offer her a legendary venue to perform in and be heard by a much larger audience!
None of this fame seems to have gone to Lissie’s head. She’s very down to earth, accessible. I found her to be very friendly, quite lovely actually. She introduced me to her sister Annika, who took our picture. Here is a cropped closeup of one of them. Looking forward to Lissie visiting us some time next year.
Meeting Lissie at the Bridge View Center in Ottumwa after her opening for Bernie SandersonSunday, December 15, 2019
Newer addition: Feb 19, 2021: @ipondrnetwork posted a short video profile of Lissie today on her farm in NE Iowa. This musician didn’t know she was missing something. Until now. Musician @lissiemusic migrated back to the Midwest after spending time in California, and was surprised to find how creatively fulfilled she felt there. The pandemic has afforded her more time to enjoy her new home and appreciate the passing of the seasons. Lissie also posted a clip from it on her Instagram. See the full 5:09 minute video here.
Winter Holiday addition: Saturday, Dec 18, 2021: A Holiday Winter’s Eve Concert with Lissie. Just in time to kick-off the season, Lissie returned to The Parkway Theater for a very special holiday performance which was filmed and will be streaming for you. Join in for a festive show of holiday classics and some of Lissie’s originals accompanied by piano. Lissie will be live-chatting during the premiere on Dec. 18 at 1pm PT / 3pm CT / 4pm ET / 9pm UK time – come say hi! If you can’t watch the premiere you can watch the stream On Demand through December 26th. Get your tickets: https://bit.ly/lissiexmas.
New Album: Sept 2022: Lissie’s new album, Carving Canyons, is out now and she’s on tour starting in Norway. While there she collaborated with Darling West for a new Family Session where they recorded a beautiful cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams.”
Sheila Moschen asked me to read 3 of my love poems for a Valentine Day’s Show on her KHOE radio program, Let Your Heart Sing. This 38-minute show (#56) aired on Monday and Tuesday this week at 1:00 and 7:00 pm, and will soon go into her archive. The last musical selection Sheila played was the beautiful love song, Longer, by Dan Fogelberg (at 33:05). The 3 short poems, about a special relationship I shared with my sweetheart Sally Peden, complete the show (at 36:34).
UPDATE: The show also replayed the following year on Valentine’s Day, Wednesday, February 12, 2020 with new links on OneDrive and YouTube.
June 10, 2018: Listen to this fabulous Rich Roll 372 Podcast: Strength in Stillness: Bob Roth On The Power of Transcendental Meditation & Bringing Calm To The Center of Life’s Storm. Also scroll down to see Rich’s comprehensive SHOW NOTES.
What do you do to unwind after a long, hard day at work? Some of us like to veg out on the couch, drink a glass of wine, or — in the case of some of the world’s top business leaders — practice meditation. Specifically, Transcendental Meditation.
Transcendental Meditation is a technique that involves closing your eyes, 20 minutes twice a day, so that you can “experience a field of calm deep within.”
Bob Roth, a teacher of the technique and author of the book “Strength in Stillness: The Power of Transcendental Meditation,” joined us to discuss its popularity in the finance industry and some of the health benefits that you can receive from it.
David Brancaccio: So the guy who founded the biggest hedge fund in the world, Ray Dalio at Bridgewater Associates, does Transcendental Meditation. He’s proud of it. He is not alone here in the financial services capital of the world?
Bob Roth: No, and actually, Ray’s been doing it for almost 50 years, and he says it gives him energy, it gives him focus, it gives him clarity, it gives him creativity. It wakes up the creative centers in the brain. And he also says it allows him to be like a ninja — great term — where everything is coming at him very fast. But inside, it’s coming at him slow motion, and he can really discern, he can really make the correct decisions. It’s really important to him. As a matter of fact, he’s made it available to 700 of his employees at Bridgewater.
Brancaccio: And he’s not alone on Wall Street?
Roth: No, hedge funds, banks, financial services, institutions, as well as media companies and everyone else. Anywhere stress is a problem and the need to be focused and creative and innovative and a good problem solver — why not? It’s a simple tool and it’s accessible to anyone.
Brancaccio: So not just the finance and private equity crowd, I see you were doing something with Jerry Seinfeld — the comedian — the other day?
Roth: Again, we live in an epidemic of stress, we live in an epidemic where things are going faster and faster and faster. It requires creativity. Again, focus. Clarity of mind. And stress can overcome that. Stress can cloud thinking. And Jerry Seinfeld is a comedian — has to be on his toes and is alert every moment of the day. So he’s also been meditating for over 40 years, and he says it’s hard enough to get to the top. And people in business will know that it’s much tougher to stay at the top, so he says his 20-minute practice twice a day of TM is a game changer for him.
Brancaccio: Bob, the book emphasizes that the approach here isn’t hard. How can it not be difficult? All you have to do to make me think of something is to tell me not to think of something.
Roth: There are types of meditation that we hear about. You have to clear your mind of thoughts. You have to believe in stuff. You have to focus and concentrate. Fortunately, that’s not Transcendental Meditation. I like to use the example of an ocean. Waves on the surface, turbulent waves on the surface, the depth of the ocean naturally silent. Our mind is the same, and we’d all like to have some inner calm or inner equilibrium. But where do you find it? Well, there’s the level of the mind deep within; it is already calm. That’s the hypothesis. And in Transcendental Meditation you learn a technique. You get what’s called a mantra, which is a word or a sound from a teacher. Nothing mystical here, just a tool. And then you learn how to use it to access that calm, that settledness, that equilibrium. The results are immediate. The research shows — and there is a lot of published research to show this —they’re long term, they’re cumulative.
Brancaccio: Published research — you mean scientific, peer-reviewed?
Roth: Peer reviewed in the American Medical Association Journal, American Heart Association Journal. For example, the National Institutes of Health have given tens of millions of dollars to show that Transcendental Meditation is as effective, if not more effective, for reducing high blood pressure and other ailment sides of heart disease than even anti -hypertensive medication — with no side effects.
Brancaccio: I know,but you must run into people who are suspicious of this. I remember in the book, when you first started out, you didn’t even want to tell your family members what you were up to outside.
Roth: That was back in 1969. Yeah, times, have changed and I think times have changed with the regard meditation has. No. 1, the problem with stress is greater than it’s ever been before. And we also know from medical science it’s more damaging than we ever thought. Second, we go to the medicine chest. “Oh, I’m stressed. What am I going to take?” “Well, fine, you can take Ambien if you can’t sleep, and your child can’t study so you give him Ritalin. All these medications, they have side effects. Or else we self-medicate. Alcohol. Too much coffee. The problem of stress is getting worse. We know we’re on a trajectory that’s not getting better. And why not take a few minutes out of the day and just access that calm, that equilibrium that lies within.
I’ll tell you one quick story. So a Wall Street guy came into the office sent by his meditating wife, I’m sure, and he came with his 14-year-old kid. And the guy said, “I really want to learn, it’s done great stuff for my wife. I’m under a lot of pressure. I’m not sleeping well, but 20 minutes twice a day — who’s got the time? I don’t got the time.” And I think the son was set up by the wife, because the son said, “Dad, there’s 1,440 minutes in a day. You don’t have 40 minutes for self care?” When he said self care, I knew it was the wife. “You don’t have 40 minutes to take care of yourself?”
So this is done first thing in the morning. You get up 20 minutes earlier, it’s better than sleep. It’s a deeper rest than sleep. And you do it sometime at the end of the day to get rid of stress and you sleep better at night and you enjoy your family more during the day.
Brancaccio: Let me just ask one last quick business model question. If you pay to learn how to do Transcendental Meditation, are you signing up like a gym membership and you’re stuck for life?
Roth: Transcendental Meditation is actually taught through the Center for Leadership Performance and/or TM.org. It’s a nonprofit organization. You do pay an initial course fee, like you would to do any educational program, and then that’s it for life. And part of the course fee when you pay to learn goes to teach veterans to learn for free. So you’re really contributing to people who really need the meditation and may not have access to it.
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