stories

Music for Reflection, Courage, and Hope

by Kerry Dexter /
Kerry Dexter's picture
Mar 21, 2022 / 0 comments

Connection and community: as events  shift and change, so do understandings and perspectives about events and circumstances.

Music can offer a thread that pulls through, a life line, even a life boat, in times of change. There are dark times; there are lighter times. Music can be a friend along the way through all these shifts and changes.

That is something people in Ireland have known a good bit about through the long course of the island's history. One aspect that recurs in the song and tune of Ireland is the ability to lift spirits in the midst of hard times.

Dr. Jessie Voigts's picture

Write This: Author Lọlá Ákínmádé Åkerström on Intercultural Life, Social Issues, and Including the World

We have long loved the creative artistry of Lọlá Ákínmádé Åkerström. She's a magnificent writer and photographer (check out our early interview with her here), a compelling speaker (listen to her TED talk!), and has a new book out that I absolutely DEVOURED. 

Winter's Music for Connection and Celebration, Solitude and Reflection

by Kerry Dexter /
Kerry Dexter's picture
Dec 20, 2021 / 0 comments

Winter: it's a season of connection and celebration, solitude and reflection.

It is also a time of stories, and of music.

Quite a few of those stories have to do with Advent, and Christmas. Whether those are within your faith or not, there is much to enjoy and learn in the stories. There are many stories of the season told with no words, as well.

Winter's Music for Connection and Celebration, Solitude and Reflection

Music for Autumn's Landscapes

by Kerry Dexter /
Kerry Dexter's picture
Nov 15, 2021 / 0 comments

Shadows slant differently in autumn light. Nights draw in sooner; there may be an edge to the wind. That wind often plays music on the rustling leaves as they turn to autumn's colors of red and gold.

It is a time of gathering as well as solitude, of reflection as well as celebration. All these take place in the frame of the natural world. Those changes and connections are subjects artists often turn to for reflection themselves.

May this music aid in your reflections and actions on the changes of this autumn season.

Dr. Jessie Voigts's picture

The Best Funny Global Read? I Named My Dog Pushkin (and Other Immigrant Tales)

I love this book—and I think you will, as well. The new intercultural memoir from Margarita Gokun Silver, entitled I Named My Dog Pushkin (and Other Immigrant Tales), is both an extremely humorous memoir about living an international life, and an unflinching glimpse into (as expected, with a global life) the never-ending process of cultural adjustment.

Dr. Jessie Voigts's picture

Your Summer Must-Read: From Hell to Challah: Rising from Fragile to Fearless, One Grain at a Time

Here’s my recommendation for your must-read book this summer: Shari Wallack’s extraordinary memoir, From Hell to Challah: Rising from Fragile to Fearless, One Grain at a Time. Here’s why…

This book is an exceptional glimpse into pandemic travel, reconnecting, friendships, food, mental health, growing into fearlessness, the importance of travel and always expanding your worldview, and self growth. It’s one of the best travel books (and memoirs) I’ve ever read, and is funny, to boot!

Exploring Nature in Music

by Kerry Dexter /
Kerry Dexter's picture
Jun 21, 2021 / 0 comments

Nature is a deep source of inspiration for musicians. At times, that might lead to a symphony, or a concerto. It might lead to a children's song, a dance tune, or a hymn. There are many paths to explore and consider nature through music, through stories of weather, time, space, landscape, and many more aspects.

Exploring Nature in Music

Stasia Lopez's picture

Lindsay Eisaman: #CommunityCollegeBecause ... being in a small sized classroom with professors makes a world of difference

Lindsay Eisaman is a December 2019 Nursing Program graduate from the Community College of Allegheny County (CCAC) Boyce Campus. She has landed her dream job as an Obstetric Nurse at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) Magee-Womens Hospital on the High Risk Antepartum Unit, and is pursuing a BSN at Aspen University. Lindsay loves helping people and is following the example of her grandmother Estellebelle Eisaman, who was a NICU nurse. 

Christopher Wurst's picture

22.33 Stories: Curing Homesickness in a Hurricane with Salma Oubkkou

Featuring first-person stories of people finding themselves in the middle of a culture that is foreign to them; each week, 22.33 will deliver interesting tales from people who share how they were able to create mutual understanding through cultural exchange. 

Season 01, Episode 22 - Curing Homesickness in a Hurricane with Salma Oubkkou

Karen Gershowitz's picture

Travel is about the Journey: Climbing Kilimanjaro

 

More people have climbed Kilimanjaro than one might imagine. I asked everyone I could what they knew about Kili. After much well-intended but useless advice, Sue, a client of mine, provided some crucial tips: “It’s freezing on the top. Bring the warmest clothes you have.” She shivered in remembrance. 

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