Blog
How I Became an American Ghost in the Czech Highlands
On my final day living in the Czech Highlands, yellow light from the train station hovered over the snow falling on the tracks. It was a cold December night, and my friends had kept me out drinking until the last train left Havlíčkův Brod at midnight. I found a car...
Put Down the Phone and Turn Off Your Screens
How to take breaks from media, messaging, and the digital world This morning, I woke up, put on my robe, climbed slowly down the stairs, had my vitamins, and put a pot of coffee on. I did the dishes from the night before, cleaned the kitchen, prepared a cup of...
I believe that the best way to create is to let truth dance with myth.
The best creations come from the swirling dance between our personal stories and our mythological fantasies. We're all Dorothy in Oz, Frodo going to Mordor, and Luke Skywalker facing his father in the books we write, the movies we make, and everything we produce....
Tedium – The Bartendress in the Center of Nowhere
Numbed and on edge after surviving the drive through a night of torrential rain, with lightning piercing through the dark like a strobe light in a throbbing dance club, Jarette had arrived in Middlegate, Nevada. A speck in the center of nowhere. My mind feels like...
Your life is a fascinating and heroic adventure.
It's 2023! What adventures do you have planned? What projects do you plan to produce? What creations are you going to unveil to the world? Every single person on the planet earth is the hero in their own story. Your life is an adventure completely unique to you. No...
Choose to be kind and refrain from anger.
It's the Holiday season for billions of people and the Winter Solstice, Hanukkah, Christmas, and Kwanzaa are all approaching soon. It's a time for celebrations both spiritual and secular. It can be a time of great joy but also a time where people feel lonely,...
Had Myself a Sleazy Seattle Christmas (in the Early 90s)
It was Christmas Eve in Seattle in 1992, I had pneumonia, and I invited Boner and Rat Boy over to my apartment to drink Jack Daniels. The sun had sunk hours before, but you could still see the city lights reflecting off the thick clouds that hung low over the Emerald...
Our best stories and songs come from our own experiences.
Of all the stories and songs in the world, the greatest ones are true. Or, at least, mostly true. I believe that when people create using their own experiences, the work they make is the best. There is no better source of inspiration than your own life. I'm a...
The Blue-Eyed Woman from Hanoi
I went to Vietnam to surf and was forgiven for a war. My knees were bent and nearly touching my stomach as I sat in a small, red plastic chair. I was dripping with sweat and sipping a beer on the curbside of a corner bia hoi in Hanoi, Vietnam. Feeling like a...
Do you need help getting where you want to go?
Where you want to go isn't necessarily a destination. It can be getting your words read or your art seen. It can be getting your team to work together with an innovative mindset or getting your band to play together at a higher level. Where do want your organization,...