tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-156729062009-12-15T06:57:01.709-07:00Sustenance for the socially consciousSustenance Scouthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12980573661955592633noreply@blogger.comBlogger278125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15672906.post-41245289250193661022009-12-02T16:36:00.004-07:002009-12-02T16:54:50.007-07:00

Charity doesn’t have to hurt. Even if you’ve heard about this and tried it in the past, in this season of giving consider spending a little time (and a little brain power...think you’re good at vocabulary...or math, science, geography, art history?) by playing the Free Rice game on the Free Rice site. For every correct answer, the site donates 10 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food

Sustenance Scouthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12980573661955592633noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15672906.post-91501984576338676352009-11-30T11:10:00.007-07:002009-11-30T11:34:32.778-07:00

Denver’s Same Café is featured in a video just up on TheNextUs.com! TheNextUs, “a journey into the heart of America,” features “those who are thriving while supporting high standards of community, sustainability, ecology, and cultural evolution.” Founder and filmmaker David Mackenzie puts it this way: “I need to find stories of people finding a way to prosper, grow and live larger than the fears

Sustenance Scouthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12980573661955592633noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15672906.post-45651142935046857282009-11-26T21:46:00.003-07:002009-11-26T22:23:54.312-07:00

When human rights lawyer Shirin Ebadi won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003, she was the first Iranian woman to win the prestigious award. Three weeks ago, Iranian officials became the first national officials to steal the award from one of its citizens. Ebadi actively campaigns for the rights of women, children, and refugees, and is an outspoken critic of the Iranian administration’s record of

Sustenance Scouthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12980573661955592633noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15672906.post-14129394716951613022009-11-22T19:08:00.003-07:002009-11-22T19:29:00.646-07:00

Yes, I should be doing something productive, but this t-shirt is too much fun not to share with others who may suffer from writerly tendencies: Top ten clues you may be a writer: 1. You would rather talk to the voices in your head than the person sitting by you. 2. You know the library’s phone number, but not your work number. 3. Some of the letters on your keyboard are completely worn off. 4.

Sustenance Scouthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12980573661955592633noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15672906.post-77120277287173700042009-11-11T20:12:00.005-07:002009-11-11T20:24:26.784-07:00

In an attempt to resurrect BEYOND Understanding on a manageable basis, I’m going to experiment with brief posts on resources that deserve recognition. For starters on this Veterans Day, I’d like to help spread the word about author Paul Malmont’s program for providing books (print and audio) to U.S. troops, including those who’ve been injured and hospitalized. Visit Operation Warrior Library to

Sustenance Scouthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12980573661955592633noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15672906.post-71656192307482341592009-09-05T15:45:00.002-06:002009-09-05T15:51:29.502-06:00

I’ve been reading Laila Lalami’s writings for a while now, first on her blog (originally called MoorishGirl), then via her short story collection Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits, now in her first novel, Secret Son. And what strikes me every time—beyond her mastery of English, just one of the languages she speaks—is her lovely ability to make even the most melancholic characters memorable.

Sustenance Scouthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12980573661955592633noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15672906.post-12152403514293225332009-08-11T13:21:00.015-06:002009-08-11T19:06:39.393-06:00

Fellow Denver author Janis Hallowell debuted with The Annunciation of Francesca Dunn in 2004. Though I remember seeing this captivating cover in local Tattered Cover Book Stores and hearing about Janis via Denver writing institution Lighthouse Writers, for some reason I never picked this one up. Luckily I finally did.Francesca, a 14-year-old cellist whose divorced mom is a busy paleobotanist and

Sustenance Scouthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12980573661955592633noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15672906.post-36798145629867678112009-07-24T17:41:00.008-06:002009-07-24T18:00:05.452-06:00

The arrest of renowned Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. last week in his Cambridge MA home has infuriated a lot of Americans. Though unfortunate, a U.S. case involving a black man accused of breaking into his own home and then arrested on a trumped-up charge is really not all that surprising, even in 2009. Tell me I’m playing the race card by instantly siding with a person of color and I’

Sustenance Scouthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12980573661955592633noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15672906.post-57139260138639280102009-07-05T21:48:00.008-06:002009-07-06T07:14:20.874-06:00

Book reviews on BEYOND Understanding are usually limited to titles that explore issues of prejudice or celebrate diversity in some way. Carleen Brice’s Children of the Waters does both. Carleen, a friend and fellow Denver author, debuted as a novelist last year with Orange Mint and Honey, a book that not only won awards but became a fast favorite among book clubs (including mine). Her newest,

Sustenance Scouthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12980573661955592633noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15672906.post-21452129695745141102009-07-03T09:03:00.005-06:002009-07-03T09:33:23.447-06:00

Writing about an event I attended weeks ago makes me realize how much of an impression this particular event made on me. Lighthouse Writers Workshop’s annual LitFest was a mid-June whirlwind of classes, salons, readings, and panels (and oh yes, a coupla nifty parties). One of those salons, In and Out of the Niche (or is it “neesh?”), featured Denver authors Carleen Brice, Mario Acevedo, and

Sustenance Scouthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12980573661955592633noreply@blogger.com104tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15672906.post-20430954267156018432009-06-22T14:21:00.006-06:002009-06-22T15:13:05.276-06:00

So you forgot to send flowers to your mom for Mother’s Day, forgot to mail a card to Aunt Tilly for her birthday, and forgot to call your dad on Father’s Day. How can a well-meaning but not-exactly-organized person safe face in such situations? Tell them all you were shopping on-line for the perfect gift and only now discovered what you should have been giving them every year: a gift donation in

Sustenance Scouthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12980573661955592633noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15672906.post-81460802347960911852009-06-17T19:56:00.003-06:002009-06-17T20:13:29.345-06:00

That’s certainly a hopeful possibility for the future of book publishing, though plenty of folks would rather stick to paperbacks and leave e-book bickering over formats, readers, and price points to Amazon and Google. But plenty of other industry players have entered the race to profit from the blossoming e-book market. As I state in a new KnowSomethingProject.com article “E-Books: Where

Sustenance Scouthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12980573661955592633noreply@blogger.com26tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15672906.post-14574035333945768702009-06-12T10:45:00.005-06:002009-06-12T11:12:08.202-06:00

I just walked in the house with blinders on, bee-lining to the computer so I could get all this down. The potential diversions are many, with laundry at the top of the list. But here’s what I thought about on the drive home from dropping off my girls at a theatre camp; here’s what I need to talk about:I’m going crazy. I’m driven to take on too many projects, I welcome them into my life and brain,

Sustenance Scouthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12980573661955592633noreply@blogger.com78tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15672906.post-51125760564662487092009-05-26T10:40:00.009-06:002009-05-26T11:31:04.587-06:00

The goods, that is. Whether you’ve never driven down East Colfax in Denver or driven through the neighborhood a million times, make it a point to visit SAME Café next time you have a few minutes for lunch. That’s all it takes to enjoy the relaxing ambience and delicious food served up by Brad and Libby Birky...and pitch in a little extra to help local folks when you pay for your own delicious (

Sustenance Scouthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12980573661955592633noreply@blogger.com25tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15672906.post-74617998666320430602009-05-20T08:25:00.007-06:002009-05-20T08:49:39.537-06:00

The folks at BlogCatalog have rated their favorite posts from the 10,000 (!) written April 29 for the BloggersUnite for Hunger and Hope challenge. I’m very pleased to see my post on SAME Café here in Denver (where fellow bloggers Carleen and Lisa and I are meeting for lunch today!) listed as one of the top posts reviewed! See the entire list and read much more about world hunger and efforts to

Sustenance Scouthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12980573661955592633noreply@blogger.com36tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15672906.post-11221223025502502152009-05-09T17:53:00.002-06:002009-05-09T18:02:03.154-06:00

One of my sisters-in-law recently passed along this tribute written by one of her cousins for the Utica (NY) Daily News:On July 4th, 2007 I was admitted to University Hospital in Syracuse for bacterial encephalitis; a few days passed and my condition only seemed to worsen. Shortly thereafter, I fell into a coma for what would be a total of five days, during which I had emergency brain surgery,

Sustenance Scouthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12980573661955592633noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15672906.post-18335627249786161902009-04-28T21:56:00.001-06:002009-04-28T21:59:02.185-06:00

SAME is an acronym for So All May Eat, the philosophy behind SAME Café of Denver. Located in a store front a short distance east of the gold-domed Colorado State Capitol building, SAME Café and owners Brad and Libby Birky have been profiled by nearly every print publication in Denver as well as national outlets like NBC Nightly News and Cooking Light magazine. While such exposure has helped with

Sustenance Scouthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12980573661955592633noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15672906.post-29814913727528734502009-04-10T09:42:00.003-06:002009-04-10T09:48:20.732-06:00

Playing For Change began as a celebration of street musicians in the U.S. that focused on performers in NYC, LA, and New Orleans. Consider this June 2006 PFC blog post about a trip PFC folks took to New Orleans as the city struggled to recover from the humiliation and devastation of Hurricane Katrina. One of the staff wrote of a singular moment during a performance by “Grandpa,” who’s sung “on

Sustenance Scouthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12980573661955592633noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15672906.post-28866436554935814552009-04-08T12:53:00.003-06:002009-04-08T13:00:00.640-06:00

Serendipity strikes again. While my daughter’s in an orthodontist appointment this morning, I pick up a magazine I’ve never seen: Outside. I crack up through the personal essay Who’s Your Daddy by 50-something adventurer Ian Frazier and make a note to look up Outside online. Back home a few hours later, I stumble across the magazine’s blog, scroll down a few posts and discover Greg Mortenson of

Sustenance Scouthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12980573661955592633noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15672906.post-80458425092219461372009-03-16T08:07:00.003-06:002009-03-16T08:21:47.465-06:00

Robin over at Blackwater Tales has awarded BEYOND Understanding a Fabulous Blog Award! Thanks, Robin! I'm going to cheat and ask anyone who'd like to visit a fabulous blog I enjoy to check out my list of links on my right sidebar; many, many sites dedicated to bettering our world deserve increased attention and support.Hearing from Robin is always fun for me; she and her husband and their first

Sustenance Scouthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12980573661955592633noreply@blogger.com28tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15672906.post-34901527260899750062009-03-13T10:37:00.008-06:002009-03-13T18:28:55.763-06:00

Funny how serendipity works sometimes:Lisa Kenney has been immersed in Proust this winter; I opened a December 2007 issue of The New Yorker last night (an issue I'd saved for a Raymond Carver piece I still haven't read) to see this terrific David Sipress cartoon. Enjoy, Lisa!The middle-school Junior Great Books group I help lead discussed Emerson's Self-Reliance essay earlier this week; my review

Sustenance Scouthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12980573661955592633noreply@blogger.com30tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15672906.post-44230600604387947722009-02-15T09:52:00.012-07:002009-02-15T19:58:21.043-07:00

This year has started out on a new curve for me with little exercise, much more work as a freelance editor, and (a bonus!) lots of determined reading. I credit Lisa Kenney with inspiring me to read every spare minute. Since finishing Snow by Orhan Pamuk during the first days of January, I’ve read six books in six weeks, a record for me. The latest: Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David

Sustenance Scouthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12980573661955592633noreply@blogger.com28tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15672906.post-45271490156006045852009-01-20T11:12:00.007-07:002009-01-20T11:34:48.999-07:00

On such a memorable inauguration day, I’m pleased to have helped launch a new website: The Know Something Project. As the site’s mission statement puts it:The Know Something Project is dedicated to the dissemination of details and information to which all citizens of the United States deserve access. The humanistic approach of the Know Something Project centers on the discussion of civil

Sustenance Scouthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12980573661955592633noreply@blogger.com100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15672906.post-76540826376071778882009-01-11T08:51:00.005-07:002009-01-11T09:09:18.055-07:00

The 10th Anniversary Edition of James McBride’s tribute to his mother, The Color of Water, includes an afterword by the author and an update on Ruth McBride Jordan, an 84-year-old (in 2005) lady in Ewing township, NJ, who took yoga three times a week and volunteered regularly to run reading groups at a local library, feed the homeless, and help homeless pregnant teenagers. But that’s far from all

Sustenance Scouthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12980573661955592633noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15672906.post-67096452370863091782008-12-31T17:36:00.010-07:002009-01-01T09:05:47.096-07:00

Thanks to author/bloggers Carleen Brice and Tayari Jones for leading me to GirlsWriteNow.org, a terrific resource for young women in New York City who love to write. According to Tayari, GWN “matches teen girls with writing mentors and provides a safe space for girls to find their voices, explore their options, and learn what the future may hold for them.” In a city where about half of high

Sustenance Scouthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12980573661955592633noreply@blogger.com6