Newport is renowned for its audacious display of wealth, yachting, and its jazz festival. But there’s so much more to its current culture. The oldest tavern as well as the oldest lending library in America is here. As I researched, Newport’s vast and complex cultural...
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Salem Massachusetts conjures up…conjurers! For better or worse, the worldwide perception of Salem – derived from the Hebrew word for Peace – is that of witches, spirits, evil and human judgment gone so very wrong. Truly, my first impression walking down some of the town’s...
Read MoreLandscape shapes culture, but the people who come from elsewhere create impose their own terms and names onto the landscape. It is so interesting how different waves of immigrants saw and named the landscape differently. Since I’m from the Midwest “Notch” was a new term...
Read MoreI love attending music festivals – especially composer centric events where one can listen to 30-40 radically diverse new pieces from emerging and seasoned composers! This year’s breadth of music was inspiring, motivating and also affirmed my creative work. Crossing the continent to Portsmouth New...
Read MoreStart a discussion on Alaska, and people think of glaciers, cold, Eskimos, the gold rush and the oil spill. While it is all of those things, the culture embodies so much more. How Alaskans transform their experiences in this environment into works of art is...
Read MoreWater is thematically defining my work this year. Hiking and rafting the Rogue River inspired a horn trio. Later this summer, I will travel to Alaska to explore the Yukon and Charley Rivers Preserve in Alaska, and in the fall explore the history and culture...
Read MoreHave you been to the state of Jefferson? Have you even heard of Jefferson? Its topography spans a rugged shoreline, mountain highlands, and high desert. Some of the tallest and oldest trees on continent hug its coast, wild and scenic rivers – important watersheds -...
Read MoreThe Black Hills first registered in my mind as a special place when someone other than my mother gave me one of my very first pieces of jewelry - a tricolored gold ring that I cherished until I lost it about 10 years ago. My...
Read MoreOur mantra on this month-long cross country adventure was “there are no wrong decisions, only different ones”. We had planned to spend a two to three days in southeastern Wyoming exploring Cheyenne, and Medicine Bow National Forest, but a tire problem in Utah ate up...
Read MoreDuring our month long migration from Texas, we spent about a week in Utah. Like everywhere else this summer, it was uber hot! As always, I hear my environment as much as see it, and the southwest is such a different sound world. While hardly a...
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