A family of coyotes built a den below our next door neighbors’ property, and must have been mystified for ten years by the next door neighbor dog who chased them one minute and howled with them the next. We’re not sure what Lobo was saying when he joined in with their songs, but he sounded like a songdog just tuning …
Lessons from Lobo #5
As protective and fierce as Lobo could appear, sometimes he was a big baby. He must have heard Thunder speak to him like a great god who came ripping over the mountain growling and barking with a voice big enough to send him under the dining room table or huddled behind my office desk. Our Tucson monsoons are …
Lesson #4 from Lobo
Whatever breed made up most of Lobo’s genetics, he was a watchdog. Perhaps his primary job was to protect his property, and most of all, his two-legged underlings. His ideas about who was suspicious may have come from unfortunate early experiences, and this gave him the appearance of prejudice. He barked at anyone with dark skin, anyone wearing a …
Lobo’s Lesson #3
It didn’t take long to discover that the poor excuse for a fence around our yard was not going to keep Lobo at home. We weren’t sure all our neighbors were as enthusiastic about his presence as we were. Judi, who lives next door, gently pointed out that her husband Rick was not a dog lover. Lobo was turning up …
Lesson #2 from Lobo
Lobo at 1 in 2005, with our grandson Simon Amnesia works in strange ways. In the same way a mother forgets the agony of childbirth and signs up to do the same thing again, dog lovers forget what it’s really like to have a puppy. “He’s going to be big,” our vet friend Sonny said, looking at the giant paddy …
Lessons from Lobo #1
Portrait of the young Lobo by Tomar Levine (http://www.newyorkpetportraits.com/memorial-portraits.html) Lesson #1 Lobo first came to me in a wild and mysterious dream. A dream unlike any I’ve ever had. It was 2004, I believe. The year I had my second bout of breast cancer. So perhaps I thought it was effects from the radiation. Or simple madness. I …
The Stunning Light of One Life
I drummed as people gathered and took their seats, and then welcomed them and explained the parts of the unique event to follow. Creating a memorial service for a woman devoted to indigenous spirituality felt like a huge responsibility, especially when I worry about people’s comfort levels with shamanic practices. But the family assured me that everyone there would appreciate …
What Kids Taught Me about the Active Imagination
Since I was in love with photography, I wanted everyone else to be as well (nothing like the fervor of the converted.) So,I decided to teach small group photography classes in my living room. Right away, it was clear to me that I raced through the part about f-stops and dove into explorations about light, the energetic nature of …
Passages
In my 30’s I began to photograph in earnest. Now that was back in the ‘70’s, so picture me stepping out in a safari-like photographer’s vest and smoking brown More cigarettes. (The More bohemian and rebellious, the better.) I set out to explore the other side of the tracks. Mind you, I was raised in San Marino, CA, bastion …
The creative wellspring
When I was about 30, I entered therapy, thinking that what I wanted was a better marriage, but unconsciously beginning a long journey into becoming more of my real self. I wanted wholeness, the real meaning of the word “healing.” During that same period, I bought my first 35mm camera and began taking pictures of my two adorable daughters. …
