About Me
Yeah, that headline is me, all over. At the ripe old age of 50, I still have the idea stuck in my head that words are the most powerful tool we have to bring about "tikkun olam," healing the broken fragments of the world to make it whole again. Maybe I'm one sick puppy, but I still believe that soul-force will always ultimately triumph over physical force, that words of love and nonviolence can temper the most brutal and steel-willed of hearts--and that, absurdly enough, I have things to say as a writer, even one still toiling in obscurity, that can bring about the changes I dream of every day. With such lofty goals, am I boringly heavy? I hope not. I can still have fun, and kick back my heels with the best. I can sometimes seem like two people residing in the same body: painfully shy, yet relentless and passionate on behalf of others, funny as can be but sometimes so moody you want to lock me up and throw away the key until the mood passes, sometimes eloquent and heart-stirring in both my writing and public speaking, yet also frustratingly long-winded and a little didactic, even for my own tastes. I am a core idealist, though, always ready to see the best in people; if hurt, I forgive easily and naturally, because I am simply not comfortable with being angry towards others, and because I am no one who has earned the right to cast the first stone. I laugh easily, love deeply, share generously, and am the type of friend who will walk into hell with someone, and stay there with them until they can walk out on their own. Two of my best, and most influential, friends taught me to "walk by faith, not by fear." It's a journey I'm still on, a belief that's still often hard to trust in, but I've yet to see it proven wrong. Faith can mean many different things to many different people, but faith in my ability to make my own small contribution to making the world a better place is, literally, what gets me up each morning and puts a smile on my face.
