An Early Morning Revelation: Chuck St. John Are there pivotal moments in life, those moments where nothing is quite the same after?   If you asked me for my strongest experience, I would offer you this.  It is the spring of 1968; I was living in Berkeley California in a small house up on the hill with my wife and two young sons.      Like almost every other night of my life, I woke up needed a trip to the john. And there, standing in front of the toilet bare naked, reality somehow made a very strong shift.  It was a physical sensation, as if life were blurred - and had been blurred ... Sep 9, 2008, 8715 reads

Peace Chain-Reaction: A Conversation With Joe Peace (Joe Murphy) There was a little bag on the table. "Okay, everyone reach in and take one," said Nipun, clearly relishing the moment. There were fifteen or sixteen of us at a CharityFocus retreat and Nipun Mehta had come up with a new surprise. Each of us pulled out a little ceramic medallion with the word "peace" in bas relief and a cord for wearing it around the neck. Each was in a different language. Then Nipun began the story, "These are peace chains. There's this guy...."  It was the first time I'd heard about "Joe Peace." And ... Nov 21, 2010, 27159 reads

The Sound of One Hand Clapping: An Conversation with Terrance Meyer One morning I looked up from my cup of tea in a local coffee shop and was surprised to see a man at work on a little painting sitting at a table nearby. Such a sight was a first for me in this particular neighborhood. I walked over, took a peek, and was surprised again. It was really good. I complimented him on his work and we struck up a conversation.        He was just passing through, he told me. He’d been in Seattle and had come down to the Bay Area where he was staying for a few days with a friend. It didn’t sound like his accommodations were ... Oct 2, 2000, 47016 reads

A Morning When Everything Fell Into Place: July 28, 2011 I’d driven down to Los Angeles to interview a well-known artist, and afterwards had met friends in Culver City for dinner. I hadn’t reserved a room anywhere, and after saying good night, I ended up at a Motel 6 fifteen or twenty miles east on Highway 10. It was still hot outside, maybe 90 degrees. From the look of things, I was deep in gang territory. The young couple checking in ahead of me added to this impression. I'd seen them getting out of their low rider. His arms and neck were covered with tattoos. She had lots of piercings and heavy ... Aug 4, 2021, 4782 reads

A Conversation with Davis Dimock: The Gift There are people whose entry into one’s life is marked by something mysterious and recognized immediately, if without sharp outlines. A connection from some hidden realm is sensed, the sort of thing one hears spoken of as having met in another life. It was like that over fifty years ago, when my younger brother, John, brought his new friend, Davis, to visit me in my small apartment east of Los Angeles. My brother had won a scholarship to Pomona College in Claremont, California, and Davis was a classmate. I was two years older, married already, and like millions ... Dec 7, 2019, 10191 reads

God Will Send the Wind, but You Have to Raise the Sails: A Performance at The Marsh - Berkeley, California From time to time, I'd have a fantasy about maybe doing a performance on The Moth Radio Hour. It could be a way of introducing more people to works & conversations. But I'd never done anything like it and the possibility seemed so remote I gave it little thought.      Meanwhile, I got on with my life. And more to the point, I focused on on putting together the next issue of the magazine (issue #41 at the time of the performance). The first piece of the new issue took shape in my mind's eye when one afternoon, at an open house ... Aug 28, 2022, 3441 reads

A Conversation with Melanie DeMore: Sound Awareness The music program at St. Paul’s Episcopal School in Oakland, California opened my eyes. I have grandkids there and have been treated to several of their school concerts. Every student, from the kindergarteners to the sixth-graders, performs. The performances, under the tutelage St. Paul’s several music teachers, have always been impressive. Striking is the eclecticism of the music chosen, the quality of the children's performances and the musical versatility of the instruction that is always in plain evidence. Listening to my first concert there, it was ... Jan 1, 2001, 75418 reads

A Conversation with Bebe Barrett. : Seen and Unseen photos by R. Whittaker I couldn’t call my meeting with Bebe Barrett a coincidence exactly. I was walking in Kensington in the East Bay Hills just north of Berkeley, and had stopped to photograph a sculpture at the edge of a quiet street. And as I was looking for the best angle, I noticed an older woman slowly making her way up the street. She stopped and was watching me. As I continued looking for a good angle, she remained stock still, watching me from behind dark sunglasses. But aside from that, there was something else that set her apart. Once I was finished, I ... Dec 1, 2021, 5916 reads

Wells of Living Waters: (from the Collection, My Life on the Water) photo, r. whittaker Back home we had a well. The water was so sweet. It was not the hard iron water that turned the wash pans rusty or bit you when you drank it. Almost everybody else around had "city water" that came through pipes. It didn't taste right to me. Even the hard ground-water that was harsh with iron seemed more honest. The sweet water was a bonus. Besides, I could lead down a bucket on a rope fifteen feet long in August and lift up cool November waters. There were water fountains in the halls of the grade school. I tried them a couple of ... May 26, 2020, 4938 reads

A Conversation with the Amazing Yoo-Mi Lee: Money and Meaning I first met Yoo-Mi Lee at a ServiceSpace retreat in 2007 (when ServiceSpace was called CharityFocus). Yoo-Mi encountered the founders of the group at their first public meeting in 1999 and was so impressed that she joined.      Having served in many capacities, she's now the coordinator of KarmaTube, one of ServiceSpace’s several projects. Until recently, I knew almost nothing about her personal story, but from the beginning of my acquaintance with Yoo-Mi I was struck by her self-possession, forthright intelligence and ... May 7, 2015, 13477 reads