Author Archives: Jeff

Midnight Special

Posted on April 12, 2021 by Jeff

Midnight Special is a folk blues written from the standpoint of someone in prison. There are many versions. My favorite is Creedence Clearwater Revival’s version (on YouTube, search for “Midnight Special CCR” if the link doesn’t work). As far as … Continue reading →

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“Do You Love Me

Posted on April 9, 2021 by Jeff

… now that I can dance.” There is some incredible creativity going on in the world. Boston Dynamics, a robot maker, posted a video of its robots dancing to “Do You Love Me”, a song from my youth at the … Continue reading →

Posted in Cancer, COVID-19, Creativity | Leave a comment

Espresso Romano Riposato

Posted on April 5, 2021 by Jeff

Italian for rested Rome style espresso. Espresso in Italian means pressed as in coffee pressed into the porta-filter, extracted by pressure, and express, i.e. quickly. We been experimenting with espresso romano, espresso with lemon peel and optionally sugar. We’ve found … Continue reading →

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Jazz Writing

Posted on March 3, 2021 by Jeff

The Art of Jazz: Learning to Co-Write with a Partner arrived in my e-mail box just after someone else’s draft in a writing group we share struck me as having a lot of potential to go in several ways. Rather … Continue reading →

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What Takes To Do a TEDx Talk

Posted on February 24, 2021 by Jeff

The editors of Loud Coffee Press entered the competition to do a Western New England University TEDx Talk. In a recent post they shared the process of moving from idea to “show time”. It is a process the TEDx Talk … Continue reading →

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Reimagining democracy as a work of love

Posted on February 24, 2021 by Jeff

I’ve tried in poems, prose, essays, and action to articulate a way of moving beyond the over-partisanized politics in Texas and the United States (see my Social Justice category). Reimagining democracy as a work of love by Luke Roberts does … Continue reading →

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Learning to Pray – Austin Kleon

Posted on February 24, 2021 by Jeff

Austin Kleon is one of my favorite writers on the creative process. I’ve bought several of his books and read his blog.He shares bits of his work and parts of his process. Learning to Pray hit me from out of … Continue reading →

Posted in Spirtual Practice | Leave a comment

Tale of Two Cities

Posted on February 15, 2021 by Jeff

Laurence Musgrove’s newest project is Texas Poetry Assignments. He previously published my poem, The Work of Inauguration. Today he published Tale of Two Cities on the Capitol Riots of January 6, 2020. Reading it in light of subsequent news (stolen … Continue reading →

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Mindfully Leaving

Posted on February 11, 2021 by Jeff

When I lived as a kid in Larkspur, California, it was a middle class town in an upper class county (2nd or 3rd highest per capita income in the US). I’ve visited several times in the decades since and watched … Continue reading →

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Editing Advice

Posted on February 8, 2021 by Jeff

Beneath the Skin: Levels of Editing Poems, a guest post by Marilyn McCabe is one of the better sets of advice I’d run across on how to improve a draft. Applies to prose too. She elaborates three levels: text on … Continue reading →

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