writing : blog
On this day of celebration in the U.S., it is too easy to take for granted the freedoms we enjoy here. Let’s pause–amidst the rambunctious grilling of soy burgers and the shopping for extra long jersey knit sky blue dorm room sheets–to list the freedoms we have. Go ahead. I’ll wait. Fold up that list and put it in your…
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Scenario One: Tinkling bells of ice cream truck sound in the distance. We sit up straighter like dogs listening to an invisible whistle, cocking our heads to one side. "Is it?" we ask, and bolt for the door. Half dressed or not, we’re going out. We run down the front walk, Mr Brilliant in front carrying Tess like a sack…
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You are six or seven years old. Your sweet Poppy is a giant to you, so tall that when he sits in his large corduroy Barcalounger, his legs from hip to knee provide a big table on which you can sit for hours and watch reruns of M*A*S*H, one of his favorite shows–and now yours, too. You both laugh, at…
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Oh, my. I love to shop on Etsy. Real artists making art. I’ve made a conscious commitment to buy handmade. My dream is to create a small shop at 37day.net that will include only handmade objects that relate to my blog and book (did I mention I’ve written a book?), so in service to that vision, I’ve been exploring Etsy…
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The first principal of nonviolent action is that of noncooperation with everything humiliating. – Cesar Chavez I was in my early 20s, in graduate school studying literature (mainly American) and art history (mainly the figure of the artist in fiction). There’s a huge employment market for people who have studied the figure of the artist in fiction, of course. My…
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Several years ago, I heard Eve Ensler was coming to Charlotte, North Carolina, just a few hours’ drive from here, to perform her new play, “The Good Body.” Ensler’s internationally acclaimed work, “The Vagina Monologues,” continues to be performed around the world, and her V-Day organization is a force to be reckoned with, a global movement to end violence against…
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I have to say that ranting feels good. Ranting with intention feels even better. It’s a step beyond Grumpy Patti, which is the nickname my business partner, David, has recently given me. "Grumpy Patti is good," he’ll say, smiling, after I’ve said my truth in a meeting with a client, not the Euphemistic Blither-Blather Truth to Get More Work, but…
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At some point in our lives, we’ll all just have thirty-seven days to live. Maybe that day is today. Maybe not. There are new, interesting eyes (and, presumably, whole faces) peeking into 37days recently—many as a result of this site being newly noted as a TypePad Featured Blog. Thanks, TypePad! What a wonderful surprise and honor… Welcome. Look around. Poke…
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We fight for men and women whose poetry is not yet written. –Robert Gould Shaw, abolitionist In 2008, I will be a better advocate for those who need—and want—my advocacy. Long ago on a faraway planet, I once worked in an organization where I sat through a management meeting every Monday. Dante’s Ninth Circle of Hell no longer scares me….
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There is no virtue in being uncritical nor is it a habit to which the young are given. But criticism is only the burying beetle that gets rid of what is dead, and, since the world lives by creative and constructive forces, and not by negation and destruction, it is better to grow up in the company of prophets than…
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Patti Digh is the author of six books, including bestsellers Life is a Verb and Creative is a Verb. She travels the world teaching others about mindfulness: to live fully, love well, let go deeply, and make a difference. Patti's comments have appeared on PBS and in The New York Times, Fortune, the Wall Street Journal, the London Financial Times, and many other international publications. She writes a thank you note every morning.
