I’m taking a break to rest, refresh, and catch up with my life. While I will not be publishing new posts during this time, I will repost some of the 52 reflections that have been sent in to Building Bridges Word by Word.

Please support these authors by commenting, liking, sharing, or restacking their reflections.

I hope their reflections will inspire you to send in one of your own - either in response to their stories or about a saying, quote, song, or poem that is meaningful to you. Check out the guidelines for more information.

I look forward to working with you - after September 22nd - to post your reflection here and on our website.

Take care and be well,

Megan

Many thanks to Dennis Huffman for his reflection: “Every day is a reenactment of the creation story.”

Every day is a reenactment of the creation story.
— Joy Harjo, “A Postcolonial Tale”

The opening line of Joy Harjo’s poem, “A Postcolonial Tale,”1 found me just in time.

I’ve always followed the news closely, priding myself on being aware of events here and around the world. But scrolling through the latest tragedies and travesties on my phone each morning was turning me into someone I didn’t want to be.

Social media, of course, made things worse. Reading posts from some of my childhood friends, folks I’d gone to church with, relatives, or an old roommate, could leave me angry and distrustful of people I’d known for most of my life. My views of those with whom I disagreed were hardening. Fossilizing. My vision of people and events was increasingly painted in black and white. I was stewing in a sort of hopeless self-righteousness.

Harjo’s proclamation that “Every day is a reenactment of the creation story” broke the spell. Her poem, published in 1994, puts most of the blame on TV, which she calls, “the box that separates the dreamer from the dreaming,” but it certainly applies to our more modern devices.

Lately, I’ve taken to starting my days with that opening line, reflecting on the creative potential of every morning. It challenges me to look for signs of new life, rather than just the news. It enables me, at least for a moment, to set aside the past and imagine what healing might look like. Most importantly, it reminds me that this sort of imagining is open to everyone, every day.

“A Postcolonial Tale” was published as a poem in How We Became Human and as a song on the album, Letter From the End of the Twentieth Century, by Joy Harjo and Poetic Justice.

Dennis Huffman
I grew up on an apple farm in northeast Ohio and attended a Mennonite college in Indiana before heading to grad school and landing in the DC area. I’ve recently retired from a career as a community college administrator and enjoy writing, combating invasive plants in our local parks, and traveling with my wife.

What’s Your Story?

“Every day is a reenactment of the creation story.” This opening line from Joy Harjo’s poem, “A Postcolonial Tale,” helped Dennis break out of his drive to seek out the latest news, which often left him angry and distrustful. The poem challenged him to “look for signs of new life, rather than just the news” and “imagine what healing might look like.”

Is there a line that speaks to you in this way? A line that gives you a new perspective on how to view the world and your actions in it? A line that gives you hope in the potential of a new day, a new year? Tell us about it by commenting below or sending in a short reflection (up to 250 words). Why send in a reflection? Your story can help us to move beyond our “hopeless self-righteousness” and be part of the bridge we are building across our divides.

How to get started? Check out the guidelines for next steps and prompts that you might find helpful. Questions? Email mscribnerbuildingbridgeswbw@gmail.com. I look forward to hearing from you and working with you to post your story here and on the Building Bridges Word by Word website.

I’m taking a break to rest, refresh, and catch up with my life. While I will not be publishing new posts during this time, I will repost some of the 52 reflections that have been sent in to Building Bridges Word by Word. I hope they will inspire you to send in one of your own - either in response to one of the posts or about a saying, quote, song, or poem that is meaningful to you. Here are the guidelines. I look forward to working with you - after September 22nd - to post your reflection here and on our website.

— Megan Scribner, Building Bridges Word by Word

Many thanks to Sara Engram for her reflection: “A Gracious Plenty.”

“A gracious plenty”
— Said around my grandmother's table, one summer day

My Southern childhood was rich with fresh vegetables, colorful relatives, and vivid phrases that still resonate.

One phrase was particularly memorable. I first heard it on a summer day at a table groaning with a midday dinner.

Back then, many mothers, including mine, tried to wave us kids away from exclaiming “I’m full!” after a big meal. They preferred: “I’ve had plenty.” Sure, “plenty” sounded polite. But why use three words when two are accurate?

My resistance weakened that summer day. At my grandmother’s crowded table, I heard a variation that captured my imagination and gave the word “plenty” a new allure.

I can’t remember which good-natured elder was asked the inevitable question: “Would you like more?” But I loved their response: “No, thank you. I’ve had a gracious plenty!”

A gracious plenty? How is that different from plain old plenty? Or just “full”?

With time, I’ve come to understand why it sticks in my mind.

“A gracious plenty” is knowing when we have “enough” – and that stopping there is a beautiful thing. It signifies satisfaction, but with a teaspoon of kindness, courtesy, and charm.

In the super-sized culture we inhabit today, the phrase invites me to wonder:

Why do we so often forget – at the table, in our closets and cupboards, in our use of Earth’s resources – that going beyond enough can make us miserable?

Savoring this phrase feeds my hope for reclaiming our innate wisdom that “enough” is always a gracious plenty.

Sara Engram
I am a former newspaper reporter, editor, and columnist who has also been a spice entrepreneur and preschool teacher. This varied path in life has given me unique perspectives on life's seasons and transitions. I now write the Substack Mortal Matters, where I explore how confronting mortality and life's realities, rather than avoiding them, can help us live with greater purpose, gratitude, and joy.

What’s Your Story?

Sara Engram’s reflection centers on a seemingly simple saying spoken at her grandmother’s table many years ago. She digs deeper finding layers of meaning that went far beyond that summer meal.

Having seen Sara’s mention of “a gracious plenty” in one of her Substack Notes, I wanted to know more about it. Sara’s reflection added to it in ways that went far beyond what I had imagined. She has made me a great fan of “a gracious plenty” and I plan to add it - and the wisdom it carries - to my vocabulary.

I suspect that many of us grew up with such sayings. Ones that may have been casually uttered at the dinner table or while cleaning up, or ones that were purposefully handed down as familial or cultural words of wisdom. Perhaps we heard the same ones?

Take a minute to think through your life, take note of a saying you heard and what it meant and means to you (perhaps this has changed over time) and send in a short reflection.

Why do so? Sharing our reflections on sayings (quotes, poems or songs) can help us see what we may have in common or discover what we can learn from those who have different perspectives. Either way, we gain a better understanding of ourselves and each other - and can begin to build bridges across our divides.

How to get started? Check out the guidelines for next steps and prompts that you might find helpful. Questions? Email mscribner.buidlingbridgeswbw@gmail.com. I look forward to working with you to share your story on this Substack and our website.

I’m taking a break to rest, refresh, and catch up with my life. While I will not be publishing new posts during this time, I will repost some of the 52 reflections that have been sent in to Building Bridges Word by Word. I hope they will inspire you to send in your own reflection - either in response to the posts or about a saying, quote, song, or poem that is meaningful to you. Here are the guidelines. I look forward to working with you - after September 22nd - to post your reflection here and on our website.

— Megan Scribner, Building Bridges Word by Word

Many thanks to Sheila Dembowski for her reflection: “The Hands We Hold.”

How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because someday in your life you will have been all of these.
— George Washington Carver

Compassion, kindness, love. Each and every day, we have the chance to pass on these blessings. Several months ago, I listened to a local pastor who shared an interesting analogy in a sermon.

Imagine you are standing next to your mother on one side of you and your father on the other side and you are holding their hands. On each side of them are your grandparents, and their parents, on and on, with each added generation also holding hands. Each one of the people in this human “chain” are connected through a combination of genealogy and historical experiences.

For example, when I held my mother’s and father’s hands, I was holding the hands of people who had lived through the Great Depression and World War II.

Within each of our chains, the lineage is different, but they all have love - and the human spirit that creates that love – in common.

What can we learn from these chains of humanity? That we are all connected and with that connection comes an obligation to spread the love beyond our own chain in acts of kindness and compassion.

The saying goes, “You reap what you sow.” But maybe we need to focus more on sowing, so that others can reap. Loving so that others can heal. Being tender, compassionate, sympathetic, and tolerant, knowing that someday we will have need of all of these.

Remembering the hands that we once held. Who, in essence, hold us still.

Sheila Dembowski
Spreading kindness as often as possible has been a goal of mine for years and I hope that my Kindness Boomerang newsletter does just that. I am an empath, mother, writer, teacher, librarian, and an ambassador of anything related to kindness. In essence, I love books, technology, writing every day, lengthy conversations, hearing my son laugh and spending quiet time every day being thankful.

What’s Your Story?

I am delighted to share Sheila Dembowski’s thoughtful reflection. Stories about kindness, compassion, and love resonate with me, particularly these days when they seem in short supply. And, as someone fortunate to have close family ties and enjoys spending time researching my ancestors, I am taken by the idea of the chains of humanity and who is holding each of our hands.

I’m also pleased that Sheila’s reflection is the second in response to my Substack’s “Call for Stories.” The first was Patrick Watters’ reflection “Man's heart away from nature becomes hard” and I’ll soon post another one that is waiting in the wings. Generating and sharing these reflections is the purpose of Building Bridges Word by Word Substack and the mission of the project.

Recognizing that we live in challenging and divisive times, Building Bridges Word by Word aims to provide a safe space where we can step back from the rifts that divide us, listen to each other’s stories, and discover that no matter how different we may be, there is much that we have in common - and with that understanding begin to build bridges across our divides.

The project is modeled on three successful poetry anthologies that I co-edited with Sam Intrator, Teaching with Heart, Leading from Within, and Teaching with Fire. In these books, educators and leaders reflect on a favorite poem and its meaning in their work and lives. Readers of these books shared how these stories resonated with their own life experiences, sometimes in surprising ways.

Describing Leading from Within on her blog, No map. No guide. No limits, Lane Wallace wrote, “to unexpectedly stumble onto something that jolts you into seeing the bigger picture again is a gift, wherever you find it… [such as] stumbling onto the quiet wisdom of others who have had to struggle for courage and perspective in adventures and battles of their own.” These insights became the premise of Building Bridges Word by Word.

I hope you will join Patrick, Sheila, and many others by sending in a short reflection (up to 250 words) on a saying, quote, song, or poem is meaningful to you. Check out our Substack to see many of these reflections and the Building Bridges Word by Word website to learn more about the project.

To get started, click on the button below for prompts, guidelines, and next steps. Questions? Contact me at mscribner.buildingbridgeswbw@gmail.com. I look forward to hearing from you and working with you to share your story.

Share Your Story

Last week, I wrote about Project Hail Mary and Small Things Like These. While the two movies are very different, they both point to what gives us strength to do what we need to do. As captured in these lines from Project Hail Mary:

They reminded me of the reflection wrote for Building Bridges, Never forget that justice is what love looks like in public, and the two questions she asks herself:

Carrie’s questions and the films’ charge to “find someone to be brave for” are helpful guide posts in discerning what we are called to do and how to take care of ourselves while doing so. I’ve been holding them in my heart, turning them over in my mind.

Doing so has made me realize that I need to take some time off to think these through and create a better balance between my Building Bridges work and the rest of my life.

It’s hard to step away from posting but I know by doing so I’ll come back with more energy and be more effective in sharing your stories and helping to build bridges across our divides. Something needed now more than ever.

While I’m taking this break, I will repost some of the 52 reflections that have been sent in and posted over the past three years. I hope they will lift your spirits and inspire you to send in a reflection of your own (see details below).

Thank you for your stories, your efforts to build bridges, and for being brave for the planet, the world, and each other. And thanks for your patience and understanding.

See you on September 22^nd.

With gratitude,

Megan
Be Kind. Be Strong. Be Well.

What’s Your Story?

When I return, I would be delighted to work with you to post your story here on Substack and on the Building Bridges Word by Word website.

Why write? Writing and sharing our reflections can help us see what we may have in common with others or discover what we can learn from those who have different perspectives. Either way, we gain a better understanding of ourselves and each other - and can begin to build bridges across our divides.

Plus, taking the time to write a reflection is a good way to give yourself a break from the stresses of the world. In addition, your story will appear under your own byline; you will be able to introduce yourself and your work (including links to your Substack, website, books, or projects) in your 75-word bio; and you will be entered into our monthly Book Giveaways of autographed books by outstanding authors.

How to get started? Pick a saying, quote, or a few lines from a song or poem and write up to 250 words on why it is meaningful to you, such as:

● How you came across the saying, quote, song, or poem.
● What it meant to you then and/or what it means to you now.
● How it gives voice to something that’s important to you.
● How it helps you to build bridges or shows the challenges for doing so.
● How it helps you to get up in the morning or go to sleep at night.

Check out the story guidelines which include additional prompts that you might find helpful and the steps for sending in your story. Questions ? Contact me at mscribner.buildingbridgeswbw@gmail.com

Thanks for raising hope, being brave, and building bridges!

I watched Small Things Like These and Project Hail Mary back-to-back on an airplane last week. I had already seen Project Hail Mary on my outgoing flight and watched it again after seeing Small Things Like These on the way back home.

Project Hail Mary

I found Project Hail Mary laugh-out-loud funny. I’m a big fan of Ryan Gosling’s deadpan delivery and his pratfalls in the movie had me in stiches. I was also surprisingly moved by the film and afterward sat quietly in my seat thinking about it.

While there are many comedic scenes, there’s nothing funny about the premise of Project Hail Mary. Written in 2021 by Andy Weir, who also authored The Martian (adapted into the 2015 film starring Matt Damon), the book and movie focus on a desperate, last-chance mission to save the earth. (I’ve been told by those with much more expertise than me that the scenario is unlikely at best. I’m sure they’re right, but it didn’t take away from my enjoyment or its impact on me.)

Project Hail Mary isn’t about superheroes; it’s about ordinary humans doing extraordinary things. Sometimes on purpose, sometimes not. In an exchange Ryland Grace (Gosling), the “hero” of the film, thanked the astronauts for taking on something that he felt incapable of doing.

That last line stuck with me. Both in terms of who we choose to be brave for and who needs us to be brave on their behalf.

In a summer of intense storms, tornados, earthquakes, record heat waves and domes, wildfires, and smoke-filled air across the planet, the evidence is clear. Nature is sending us messages, huge neon billboards, begging us to pay attention and take action.

The trouble is that every day there are many other important issues that are experiencing their own Hail Mary moments. While certainly challenging, these feel more immediate and more within reach compared to the existential crisis of our planet.

But all of them depend on us having a healthy planet.

We need to understand that this is a Hail Mary moment. We need to be brave for our children, our children’s children, and all future generations. We need to be brave for our planet.

I know I’m not doing enough. I need to be brave and do more. The good news is that there are many people already working on this. The challenge is identifying which individuals and organizations are most effective and the best way to be involved and support them.

If you have ones to recommend, please let me know in the comments.

Small Things Like These

Project Hail Mary uses humor and star power to deliver its message. Even so, it’s very title shouts to us to do more. Small Things Like These takes the opposite approach. It does not shout from the rooftops. It does not wrap itself in humor or offer a spoonful of sugar to help the message go down.

Small Things Like These is based on a true story about an act of bravery on a much smaller scale but no less significant.

Bill Furlong is a witness with wounds of his own that compel him to see that there is someone he must be brave for. In the small town where he lives and works, everyone knows the power of the Catholic Church and knows what he risks in standing up.

The film slowly, quietly reveals the dilemma and the danger. On a side track, it gives us an understanding of Furlong’s wounds and why what he has witnessed tears at him. It also gives brief, yet telling, glimpses into how the other people in the town have come to grips with this known and yet unacknowledged situation that pains him so. And how they acquiesce to save themselves and their children. As his wife tells him, “To get on in this life, there are some things you have to ignore.”3

It is very much a movie about who we are to be brave for. As one reviewer noted,

This hit home. When I read books or watch movies about World War II, I often wonder what I would have done. Both in Europe but also here when “about 120,000 people of Japanese descent were forcibly relocated and incarcerated in ten concentration camps in the United States.”5

Would I have been brave enough to step up, to challenge what was going on, to protect those around me?

It is no longer an abstract, philosophical question. Each day people are taken, deported, disappeared. This too is a Hail Mary moment.

I have been doing small things locally but need to do more. I need to find the time to be involved, so later on, I’ll know what I did, who I was brave for.

I will reach out to those who are active locally. I’d also like to know how best to be involved on a larger scale – both in support of those who are suffering and to challenge those who are behind this.

Again, if you know of individuals or organizations doing this work or actions to take, please let me know in the comments.

Thank you for all your good work and for helping me to do more.

To be brave.

What’s Your Story?

Have you seen Project Hail Mary or Small Things Like These?
If so, what lessons did you take from them?
If not, what other movies have had an impact on you?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Or send in a short reflection (up to 250 words) on a saying, quote, song, or poem that speaks to or for you. We’ll post it here on Substack and on the Building Bridges Word by Word website.

Next steps? Check out the story guidelines and the steps for submitting your reflection. Questions? Email us at mscribner.buildingbridgeswbw@gmail.com.

I look forward to hearing from you and working with you to post your story.

The more I think about hope

No. Scratch that.

The more I feel hope,

The more I feel its power.

When I read stories about kindness and compassion, courage and community, the tightness in my chest begins to ease. Without thinking, I often give a slight nod, gently smile, break into a grin, or well up with tears.

All in recognition and gratitude for what I’ve found there.

When I feel that deep yes echoing through my body and spirit – I feel hope.

I feel its power.

Hope is not fluff. It’s not silly. It’s not an inconsequential cherry on top.

Hope is not something to be dismissed.

Hope helps us see the world not through rose-colored glasses, but glasses that let the light, warmth, and beauty shine through.

It’s a virtuous cycle. The more hopeful we are, the more light and beauty we see, and the more light and beauty we see, the more hopeful we become.

Just as sunlight strengthens plants, hope makes us strong,

Where do I find hope?

I find hope in posts that highlight what Abraham Lincoln called “the better angels of our nature.”

I am grateful for those who write about people who are kind and generous, who reach out and support others (whether they know them or not, whether they get credit for it or not), and who stand up, speak out, and take action in ways both large and small.

I am thankful for those who write thoughtful pieces illuminating the times that we are in, exploring what enables people to step forward and what holds them back, and their own struggles to not let despair overwhelm them, to be strong and kind even when the days can be dark. They give me hope and inspire me to do what I can and see that I can and must do more.

Fortunately, there are many who write such stories, too many to name them all. Here are just a few of the ones I read on a regular basis. I’ll add more to the list in a future post.

, , , , , , , , and .

In the comments, please share the writers who lift your heart and give you hope.

I find hope in the posts that shed light on the tough stuff.

I am grateful for those who look unflinchingly at the facts and report the unknown or untold details of what’s happening behind the curtain. The writers I follow believe that democracy has a fighting chance and that each of us can make a difference. This belief, this hope, fuels their writing. It also sets the tone. Their writing is not malicious or vindictive, they do not belittle, they do not burn bridges.

Each day, I read their work to pay attention, be informed, take action, and even find glimmers of hope.

Hope? Yes, hope.

In their posts, they detail the corruption and anti-democratic actions of many in power. But they also write about everyday people and leaders who are stepping up with strength and determination to fight for our democracy.

This gives me hope.

There are many who are writing excellent posts, here are the ones I turn to. I’ll add more to the list in a future post.

, , , and .

Please share in the comments those you turn to for the difficult truths, those who give you hope.

I find hope in YOUR stories.

Building Bridges Word by Word is based on the notion that when we write a reflection on a saying, quote, song, or poem that is meaningful to us, we reveal something about our life experience and what we value and hold dear.

When we read each other’s stories, it gives us chance to discover what we may have in common or learn from those who have different perspectives. Either way, we gain a better understanding of ourselves and each other - and can hopefully begin to build bridges across our divides.

For instance, perhaps you’ll read a reflection written by someone who appears to be different from you in almost every way. In his reflection, he writes about a saying his mom told him over and over again when he was growing up - and how it drove him crazy. But now he hears it in a different way.

Turns out your mom did the same thing. And it drove you crazy too! Maybe you still don’t have a lot in common but knowing about his mom and his reaction to the saying may help you to see him (and the saying) in a new light, one that illuminates a connection you would never have guessed was there.

In these ways, Building Bridges Word by Word provides a way that we can see ourselves in each other’s stories.

And that gives me hope.

What’s Your Story?

Many of us, perhaps all of us, are exhausted and overwhelmed. The idea of building bridges or even writing a reflection may seem too hard.

But there are benefits to taking a step back and writing about something that is meaningful to you. It can give you a welcome break from the noise inside and outside your head, transport you to another place and time, and help you breathe deeper, quieter.

It can give you hope.

And you know, some days that’s enough. In fact, can be a lot.

I’d be delighted to work with you to post your story here on Substack and on the Building Bridges Word by Word website.

How to get started? Pick a saying, quote, or a few lines from a song or poem that is meaningful to you. Write up to 250 words on why it is meaningful, such as:

• How you heard the saying, quote, song, or poem.

• What it meant to you then or what it means to you now.

• How it helps you sleep at night or get out of bed in the morning.

• How it gives voice to something important to you.

• How it helps you to build bridges.

• How it shows why it’s so hard to build bridges.

• How it gives you solace.

• How it gives you hope.

Check out the guidelines which include prompts you might find helpful and the steps for sending in your story. Questions ? Contact me at mscribner.buildingbridgeswbw@gmail.com

Thanks for raising hope and building bridges!

Sit with that for a minute.

The quote is from a speech Thurgood Marshall gave on July 4, 1992, at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, accepting the Prestigious Liberty Award.1 I found it when I was in the early stages of dreaming up Building Bridges Word by Word. To me, it speaks volumes.

It was one of the two quotes that I put at the top of every draft I wrote trying to articulate the vision and purpose of the project. The other quote is the one below by Parker J. Palmer.2

Their words inspired and challenged me – they still do.

I am inspired by their belief in what is possible when we really see each other. Importantly, they do not say we should ignore or paper over our differences. Rather, they suggest that when we see each other for who we are, the differences become less important.

In other words, before we can “achieve freedom,” “create community,” or bridge our divides, we need to recognize that while we have our own unique life experiences, we also have many of the same hopes, fears, and dreams for ourselves, our families, our communities, our country. Only with this realization can we engage with each other in ways that draw us together rather than drive us apart.

But seeing each other in this way takes work and the belief that it is both possible and worth the effort. To do so, we need to “learn to appreciate what is different and muster the courage to discover what is fundamentally the same.” And trust that when we do, “we can build a better world.”

These insights stayed with me and became the guiding premise and spirit of Building Bridges Word by Word. That said, it’s not like it’s a done deal. Living out these insights cam be a challenge.

On the one hand, I believe that we are not as different as we may seem, as we’ve been led to believe, or even as our political affiliations imply. Even so, I sometimes shake my head in bafflement (to say the least) that someone can possibly see the world in such a different way.

These times can make “learning to appreciate what is different” a tough assignment. Especially at first glance. I believe that was part of his point. He wanted us to see what was behind the other’s point of view, to look beneath the surface to see how it was that they came to that perspective. In doing so, we could gain some understanding and appreciate what is different and why it is so.

It would also help us “muster the courage to discover what is fundamentally the same.” Not only do we need to appreciate our differences, but we also need to realize that we may not be that different after all. Maybe we are all trying to work through similar things – how to be safe, how to belong, how to thrive, how to protect ourselves and others – but we can’t see it.

How can we see each other more clearly? How can we grasp what we have in common and find a way to connect?

One way is to share our stories and listen to those of others. That’s what Building Bridges Word by Word is all about. It’s based on the belief that when we reflect on a saying, quote, song, or poem that is meaningful to us, we open a window into our life and what we value. And maybe, just maybe, reading each other’s stories will enable us to find a glimmer of a shared value or experience.

The reflections are short (no more than 250 words), and the epiphanies may be small. But they can be a step that enables us to “learn to appreciate what is different and muster the courage to discover what is fundamentally the same” and “create community with each other.”

On this 4^th of July, that could be a lot.

What’s Your Story?

We invite you to send in a reflection on the quotes by Thurgood Marshall or Parker J. Palmer. Or some other saying, quote, song, or poem that is meaningful to you. We would be delighted to work with you to post your reflection here on Substack and on the Building Bridges Word by Word website.

Here are the guidelines and information on how to send in your reflection. Questions? Let us know at mscribner.buildingbridgeswbw@gmail.com.

Thurgood Marshall’s Speech

In his speech on that 4^th of July in 1992, Marshall described some of the courageous people in our country who had struggled for liberty, freedom, and justice. He bemoaned that despite their work, he saw “not a Nation of unity but of division” and encouraged us to do more. His words still resonate today.

July 2^nd was Thurgood Marshall’s birthday. Today is the 4^th of July. I believe we honor both by taking his words to heart. Here is his entire speech, the following paragraph is the most often quoted from his speech:

The words that I turn to in his speech are in the next and final paragraph of his speech.

Behind them stretched the roadway they had travelled.
Ahead, mist hid the track.

Unspoken the question hovered:
Why go on? Is life not short enough?

Why seek to pierce its mystery?
Why venture further on strange paths, risking all.
— Excerpt from “Trasna”1 by M. Raphael Consedine

On reading “Trasna,” by M. Raphael Consedine

We take a lot of our crossings for granted. Perhaps there’s a river or canyon – or maybe a four-lane highway – between us and where we plan to go but, never fear! Others have been there before us and, literally, paved the way.

That’s not always the case, however. Sometimes, as in “Trasna,” the next step requires an act of faith. Trasna is an Irish word for “crossing,” and the poem finds a group of pilgrims who have just made it to a mountain pass. You’d think such a moment would be joyful, but in this case, fog shrouds the way forward, and they’re stopped in their tracks, unsure of what lies ahead.

There’s no GPS signal; no glowing screen telling them how many minutes they are from their destination. Some of them lose confidence. They long for the familiar and want to turn back. Faced with uncertainty, they just want to go home.

One doesn’t have to be hiking in the mountains to appreciate this metaphor. A lot of our most difficult crossings take place in our own heads. If I take on this task, will I be able to do it? If I go into this room, will I be welcomed? Can I trust this person? Is my idea crazy? That’s the way it is with most of the critical moments in our lives. There are few clear signals. There are no guarantees.

The poem asks, “What am I seeking? What is my quest?” Then it counsels: “When your star rises deep within, trust yourself to its leading.” This is similar to the Quaker concept of attending to one’s inner teacher.

If you’ll indulge this grandfather for a moment, I’ve recently been marveling as my granddaughter begins to crawl. She’s not doing what she does because she has it all worked out – and I’m certainly not crawling along ahead to show her the way! Rather, she’s learning to crawl by following something deep within and trusting herself to its leading. She’s learning to crawl by crawling.

Crossing into new territory is like that. Building bridges to community is like that. Democracy works like that. We need to trust in ourselves and learn by taking that first step.

— Dennis Huffman

Sister M. Raphael Consedine (1928 – 2000) was born in Melbourne, Australia. She was a member of the Presentation Sisters of the Virgin Mary. Her birth name was Eulalie Consedine. Her publications include: One Pace Beyond (1977), Listening Journey (1983), Fire on the Earth (1988), and Songs of the Journey (2001).

Dennis Huffman’s Story

I’m always grateful for Dennis Huffman’s reflections. As an advisor to Building Bridges Word by Word, he gets what we’re all about. We believe by reading each other’s stories, we can take a breath, gain some insights, and discover what we may have in common or learn something new from someone who has a different perspective. Something we need now more than ever before.

Here in this safe space, we can do all this without the fear of what might happen when we cross into an unknown space with “few clear signals.” Hopefully, by reading these stories and discovering that down deep maybe we’re not so different after all, we can begin to “trust in ourselves” and others and “take that first step” out in the world.

Dennis is also terrific at finding ways to link a poem, a metaphor, to a real-life moment and the challenges and possibilities we face when building bridges. His image of his granddaughter learning how to crawl does that. There’s something refreshing and reassuring in her learning this new skill, suggesting that sometimes we need to let go of all the thinking and worrying and just do it.

What’s Your Story?

Have you crossed into some new territory?
What enabled you to do so? What did you learn?
If not, what’s holding you back?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Or send in a short reflection (up to 250 words) on a saying, quote, song, or poem that speaks to or for you. Perhaps a line from “Trasna” or Dennis’s reflection. We’ll post it here on Substack and on the Building Bridges Word by Word website.

Next steps? Check out the story guidelines and the steps for submitting your reflection. Questions? Email us at mscribner.buildingbridgeswbw@gmail.com.

I look forward to hearing from you and working with you to post your story.

May & June Book Giveaway: Teaching with Heart

As a thank you to our paid subscribers and those whose submissions are posted on our Substack (by 6/30) - we will enter your name in the drawing for Teaching with Heart: Poetry that Speaks to the Courage to Teach autographed by Parker J. Palmer (Foreword), Taylor Mali (Introduction), and Sarah Brown Wessling (Afterword).

Teaching with Heart is a book by teachers and for all who teach. It also has universal appeal and insights for all people and professions. To learn more about the book, its connection to Building Bridges Word by Word, and how to win a copy — see May & June Book Giveaway: Teaching with Heart.”

The New Colossus

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

—Emma Lazarus

Randi Weingarten’s reflection1 on “The New Colossus” is the first entry in Teaching with Heart – our Book Giveaway for May & June.2 Given Weingarten’s standing as an educator and how she deftly situates the role of teachers in the context of our country’s history, principles, and aspirations, it was a fitting beginning.

Teaching with Heart was written by and for teachers. That said, the ninety educators’ reflections are about much more than “just” teaching. They’re about showing up, paying attention, making connections, standing up for what and who matters, and the words that inspire or challenge us to do so.

While it’s been 12 years since Sam Intrator and I co-created Teaching with Heart and 143 years since Emma Lazarus wrote “The New Colossus,” the poem, the book, and Weingarten’s reflection still have much to say to us today.

Origins and meaning of the Statue of Liberty

In preparation for this post, I read the poem and Weingarten’s reflection multiple times - each time gaining something more. I also looked into the history of the statue to remind myself of its origin and purpose. While I knew it was a gift from France. I didn’t remember much about how it came to be or what the gift was supposed to commemorate.

It turns out that in 1865, a Frenchman, Édouard de Laboulaye, proposed the gift to commemorate the centennial of the Declaration of Independence, the close relationship of France and the U.S., and the abolition of slavery in the U.S. The sculptor, Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi, represented these ideas in the design of the statute.

I was surprised to learn that it was Bartholdi who chose the site for the statute, while on a trip to the US in 1871, viewing it as the “gateway to America.” Showing that from the start, it was meant to celebrate what America stood for and welcome those new to this country.

It was agreed that the public in France would finance the creation of the statue and the cost to assemble it in the US and the America public would fund and build the pedestal. The sculpture was completed in July 1884 and sent to the US in 362 pieces, arriving on June 17, 1985, and was placed on the pedestal on October 28, 1886. The plaque with “The New Colossus” was added in 1903.

I was struck by Lazarus’s words and Weingarten’s note, “Unlike the ‘conquering’ Colossus of old, this new Colossus is welcoming and embracing,” and wondered about the statue Lazarus references. I learned that the “old Colossus” was a statue of the god, Helios. It was begun in 292 BCE to celebrate Rhodes’ victory over a mass invasion and planned siege. It was built in part from the iron and bronze of the weapons the defeated attacking army left behind. It stood until an earthquake in 226, toppled it, cutting it off at the knees. While there is no existing image of the sculpture, artists tend to depict it as a huge statue (in the pictures it looks much larger than the Statue of Liberty, though it was two-thirds its size) standing on or over the harbor, strong and protective but not menacing.

As Lazarus writes, the “New Colossus” was not a “brazen giant of Greek fame” It made me wonder about the sculpture’s choice of a woman to personify the concepts of liberty, friendship, and the principled stand for equality and justice. In researching this decision, I found a remarkable link to our current time and what our country is facing.

The many faces of the Statue of Liberty

As I searched for the image to use for this post, I looked at many pictures of the Statue of Liberty. I was surprised to see how different she could look based on the angle of photograph. I always had one image for her in my mind, somewhat stern and unfeeling, stony in material as well as disposition. Instead, I found that she sometimes appears strong and fierce. From another angle, she seems soft, caring, welcoming - calling out to those who come into her harbor. Another version was strong as in a mother tiger with a “don’t mess with me and what I care about” vibe.

With all the talk these days about arches and monuments, I am struck that the French, rather than choosing a statue that glorifies power or intimidates, gifted us a statue that holds up the best about our country – our liberties and our generosity of spirit – inviting and welcoming those who come to our shores. And how in that welcome lies our strength.

What’s Your Story

Looking at a text or picture repeatedly or coming back to it after time away can reveal something we didn’t see before. Reflecting on what’s different in this reading from the last or how the text or picture seems to have changed over time, enables us to see it and perhaps ourselves in a new light. And maybe that new way of seeing is closer to another’s, perhaps in ways surprising to them and us.

That’s the essence of Building Bridge Word by Word. Sharing our stories so that we can see things from other people’s point of view, perhaps finding that we have more in common than we thought, or learning to appreciate what is different. Either way, learning more about ourselves and each other can enable us to work and live together with more understanding and compassion.

Let us know your thoughts in the comments below or send in a reflection (up to 250 words) and we’ll post it here on Substack and on the Building Bridges Word by Word website. Next steps? Check out the story guidelines and the steps for submitting your reflection. Questions? Email us at mscribner.buildingbridgeswbw@gmail.com. I look forward to hearing from you and working with you to post your story.

May & June Book Giveaway: Teaching with Heart

As a thank you to our paid subscribers and those whose submissions are posted on our Substack (by 6/30) - we will enter your name in the drawing for Teaching with Heart: Poetry that Speaks to the Courage to Teach autographed by Parker J. Palmer (Foreword), Taylor Mali (Introduction), and Sarah Brown Wessling (Afterword).

Teaching with Heart is a book by teachers and for all who teach. It also has universal appeal and insights for all people and professions. To learn more about the book, its connection to Building Bridges Word by Word, and how to win a copy — see May & June Book Giveaway: Teaching with Heart.”

And scull across his roof and make for shore,
With twisted face and pocket full of seeds.
— from “Epitaph for the Race of Man, X1” by Edna St. Vincent Millay

I am 79, in need of repair, much like the rest of the country, and it seems to me that in the last twenty years the arc of history has definitely turned downward.

The horrors have been quite abundant: Starting with the greatest tragedy, 9/11 (see W. Szymborska’s poem, “Photograph from September 11“), the years, a decade later produced Hurricane Sandy, a terrible storm and flood that stopped two blocks from my house. Then, luckily, I escaped the ravages of Covid, only to lose my best friend, Tony, an EMT who worked tirelessly for the city during the scourge. And we are not even beginning to discuss the political instability that has divided our country.

How then to survive the visitation of these plagues, natural and man-made?

Millay’s lines from her poem encourage me to believe that man will not only “endure, but prevail.” (Faulkner’s words2).

Our farmer who has been flooded out has in his possession a “pocketful of seeds” with which to start again. His grit and resiliency serves to remind us that we are all capable of rising above the terrible times and storms that would try to drown us all.

Mel Glenn
I retired in 2001, after teaching thirty-four years of high school English. I’ve written many books for young adults and others who are not so young, including Brooklyn Diner and Other Places. I could not have been a writer if I were not a teacher. When not writing, I am obsessed with “Jeopardy” and am the biggest Mets fan in Brooklyn!

Mel Glenn was the first person to respond to Building Bridges Word by Word’s Call for Stories. We already knew of Glenn’s fine work as a teacher and his gift for writing. His reflection on Edgar Lee Master’s “George Gray” in Teaching with Heart: Poetry that Speaks to the Courage to Teach, showed his dedication to his students and his understanding of the challenges they faced.

Later on in the same book, Harriet Sanford, then president and CEO of the NEA foundation, reflected on Glenn’s moving poem, “A Teacher’s Contract,” written in the wake of the mass shooting in Newtown, Connecticut.

You can find these reflections and poems and many more in Teaching with Heart which is this month’s Book Giveaway. See below for more information on the book and how to enter to win.

For more of Glenn’s writing, check out his many YA and poetry books on Amazon. My favorite is Brooklyn Diner and Other Places. In my Amazon review, I wrote

What’s Your Story?

In his story, Mel Glenn reflects on Edna St. Vincent Millay’s poem, “Epitaph for the Race of Man, X.” Though the title may seem bleak and Glenn shares how he and the rest of the country have been through tough times, he does not despair. Rather he takes encouragement from Millay for reminding that with grit and resiliency, “we are all capable of rising above the terrible times and storms that would try to drown us all.”

Thanks to Glenn and St. Vincent Millay for giving us hope that we will not only “endure but prevail.” The phrase comes from William Faulkner’s acceptance speech for his Nobel Prize in Literature on December 10, 1950. Faulkner spoke about how the fears of the time — “When will I be blown up?” — made it difficult for the young men and women writers of his day to focus on “the old universal truths lacking which any story is ephemeral and doomed – love and honor and pity and pride and compassion and sacrifice...” In his speech, he calls poets and writers to their higher duty to lift our hearts and help us “endure and prevail.”

Mel Glenn, Edna St. Vincent Millay, and William Faulkner write of the challenges of their times. But thankfully, they do not leave us there. They “remind us that we are all capable of rising above the terrible times and storms that would try to drown us all.”

Glenn asks: How then to survive the visitation of these plagues, natural and man-made? And answers: Hold on to the belief that we will not only endure but prevail.

What text (saying, quote, song, or poem) helps you to hold on to honor, hope, and compassion in these tough times? What helps you to not only endure but prevail?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Or send in a short reflection (up to 250 words) and we’ll post it here on Substack and on the Building Bridges Word by Word website.

Why write? We all need help lifting our spirits and rising above the storms. Who knows? Maybe your reflection will be the one that helps someone else to not only endure but prevail.

Next steps? Check out the story guidelines for the steps for submitting your reflection. Questions? Email us at mscribner.buildingbridgeswbw@gmail.com.

We look forward to hearing from you and working with you to post your story.

May Book Giveaway: Teaching with Heart

As a thank you to our paid subscribers and those whose submissions are posted on our Substack (by 5/30) - we will enter your name in this month’s drawing for Teaching with Heart: Poetry that Speaks to the Courage to Teach autographed by Parker J. Palmer (Foreword), Taylor Mali (Introduction), and Sara Brown Wessling (Afterword).

Teaching with Heart is a collection of ninety treasured poems, each accompanied by a teacher’s brief personal reflection on how the poem helps them make sense of the challenges and possibilities in their work.

The diverse group of Teaching With Heart contributors represent a broad array of educators: K-12 teachers, principals, superintendents, college professors, as well as many non-traditional teachers. The anthology includes a rich variety of poems from Emily Dickinson, William Stafford, Maya Angelou, Mary Oliver, Tupac Shakur, and many others.

Teaching with Heart is a book by teachers and for all who teach. It also has universal appeal and insights for all people and professions.

To learn more about the book, its connection to Building Bridges Word by Word, and how to win a copy — see May Book Giveaway: Teaching with Heart.”

But first, congratulations to the winner of our April Book Giveaway!

Congratulations to Kim Tucker-Gray, Exit 352, for winning Sally Hare’s The ElderGarten: A Field Guide for the Journey of a Lifetime. We were delighted to post Kim’s lovely reflection, Noticing, and her blog post, “An Open letter to the weary and the willing.”

Many thanks to Sally Hare for donating her book and for her support of our bridge building efforts. For more about The ElderGarten and Sally, see our post: April Book Giveaway: The ElderGarten.

Next Up: Our May Book Giveaway: Teaching with Heart

We’re delighted to announce that our May Book Giveaway is Teaching with Heart: Poetry that Speaks to the Courage to Teach See below for more about Teaching with Heart, its connection to Building Bridges Word by Word, our Book Giveaways (how you can win!) and how authors can have their books be part of our Book Giveaways (a great way to introduce your book to a wider audience).

About Teaching with Heart: Poetry that Speaks to the Courage to Teach

Teaching with Heart honors the heroic optimism of teachers and their belief that despite the many challenges and obstacles of the teaching life, much is possible. The book is a collection of ninety treasured poems, each accompanied by a teacher’s brief personal reflection on how the poem helps them make sense of the challenges and possibilities in their work.

The diverse group of Teaching With Heart contributors represent a broad array of educators: K-12 teachers, principals, superintendents, college professors, as well as many non-traditional teachers. The anthology includes a rich variety of poems from Emily Dickinson, William Stafford, Maya Angelou, Mary Oliver, Tupac Shakur, and many others.

Teaching with Heart is a book by teachers and for all who teach. It also has universal appeal and insights for all people and professions.

Praise for Teaching with Heart

Teaching with Heart: Poetry that Speaks to the Courage to Teach is the most poignant book that has come across my desk in a long time…. I am having trouble finding the right words to describe my feelings about this book. I opened it at random and was drawn in. Hours–and a few tears–later I emerged, feeling stronger personally and more optimistic about education’s future. I wish I could afford to buy copies of “Teaching With Heart” for all the teachers I have interviewed in my 40 years of reporting. – John Merrow, Education Correspondent, PBS NewsHour, President, Learning Matters, Inc. Read the full review here.

As a poet and a teacher, I’m always looking for what is essential and how it can be of use. Teaching with Heart inspires and models the use of what matters in life and community. – Mark Nepo, author of The Book of Awakening and Seven Thousand Ways to Listen

Paired with poetry that has stood the test of time, the reflections of these educators remind me of the sheer volume of good people–strong people–that share this profession. In an era where teachers are sometimes devalued by society, it is important to let these strong voices anchor us, to help us refuse to be swept away by a current of negativity. This book does that. It’s an anchor, and a beautiful one at that. Amy Hertz, “Book Celebration and Review – Teaching with Heart. Read the full review here.

Here’s a suggestion for the summer. If you care about learning, teaching, schools or parenting, get a copy of “Teaching with Heart… The book contains some of the most majestic, memorable writing I’ve ever read. Whether as a parent, grandparent or educator, you’ve probably experienced the exhilaration, and sometimes frustration, of working with youngsters. You’ll recognize, identify with and enjoy the complex array of emotions described here. – Joe Nathan Column, Director at the Center for School Change. Read the full review here.

For the Table of Contents, and other details about the book, see our Teaching with Heart, Fire, and Poetry website.

Teaching with Heart’s connection to Building Bridges Word by Word

Sam Intrator and Megan Scribner (Building Bridges Word by Words Substack) co-edited a series of poetry anthologies: Teaching with Fire, Leading from Within, and Teaching with Heart. These are not your typical poetry anthologies. More than a collection of poems, they capture the spark that occurs between a reader and a poem.

The books are modeled on one of Sam’s favorite assignments that he gave his high school students in his sophomore English class.

For the poetry books, Sam and Megan asked teachers and leaders to reflect on their relationship with a cherished poem, such as how they might turn to it for companionship, solace, or wisdom. The contributors’ reflections highlight how poems can mark a special moment in our life and work and inspire us to dare and dream.

Readers shared how the reflections in all three of the books often resonated with their own life experiences, sometimes in surprising ways.

On her No map. No guide. No Limits blog, Lane Wallace reviewed Leading from Within, she wrote, “to unexpectedly stumble onto something that jolts you into seeing the bigger picture again is a gift, wherever you find it… [such as] stumbling onto the quiet wisdom of others who have had to struggle for courage and perspective in adventures and battles of their own.”

These insights became the inspiration for Building Bridges Word by Word. Distressed about the growing rifts in our country, the project offers a safe space where we can share our stories, discover what connects us, and learn from those who have different perspectives. In doing so, we can gain a better understanding of ourselves and each other and can begin to build bridges across our divides.

We can’t do it without you!

We invite you to be part of this bridge building effort by writing a short reflection (up to 250 words) on a favorite saying, quote, song, or poem that is meaningful to you. By posting your stories here on Substack and on the Building Bridges Word by Word website, the project reflects the rich diversity of our country and our common humanity.

Check out the guidelines for how to get started. Questions? Email mscribner.buildingbridgeswbw@gmail.com. I look forward to working with you to post your story!

What are the Book Giveaways?

The Book Giveaways are our way of saying thank you for your support and participation!

Each month, we have a drawing for an autographed book by an outstanding author. The winners are picked randomly, notified by email, and announced here.

Who is eligible?

1. Paid Subscribers. This is a reader-supported publication, powered by volunteers. Your support helps to keep us going!

1. Those whose submissions are selected for posting. Building Bridges Word by Word provides a space where we can read each other’s stories and discover what we may have in common. But we can’t do it without you! Recognizing this, all those who have their submission selected for posting are given a byline for their post and are eligible for the Book Giveaways. To learn more about how to participate, click below.

Calling All Authors

We hope you will join the other fine authors who are participating in our Book Giveaways. It’s a great way to promote your book!

Here’s how it works.

Benefits of participating
If you choose to donate a copy of your book to the Book Giveaway, your book will be:

1. Highlighted in our Substack newsletter

2. Promoted on our Substack on our Book Giveaways tab and on social media

3. Promoted on the Building Bridges Word by Word website

4. Included in the ongoing list of Book Giveaways

Book promotion includes:

● Image of your book cover
● Book description
● Author bio
● Author website (optional)
● Purchase book link/info

In return, we ask that you share our Substack publication and the Building Bridges Word by Word website with your networks and mail an autographed copy of your book to the winner of the drawing.

Interested? If so, please respond to the questions in the Book Giveaway Submission Form and email your answers (and any questions you may have) to us at mscribner.buildingbridgeswbw@gmail.com. We look forward to hearing from you!

Book Giveaway Submission Form

When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves. — Viktor Frankl

Man’s Search for Meaning is one of those books that I re-read. It’s an especially powerful book to read now, because it illustrates how to keep our hearts and our humanity alive in spite of cruelty and corruption that, at times, seem to be winning.

There’s a scene in Frankl’s book that stays with me: He is on a train with prisoners being moved from one concentration camp to another. They are riding in box cars, like cattle. It is early morning and the sun is rising over the mountains in the distance. Frankl and some of his fellow prisoners clamor to the side of the train and through the slats, they watch the sunrise, drinking in the beauty. Those men could still find and appreciate beauty in the ugliest and most horrific of times. They refused to give up on their humanity.

We can be stripped of our rights, but our hearts and souls can never be stripped of love and beauty. I stand with that resolve as my moral compass. Reach out and help one another. Give of yourself. This unfolding history challenges each one of us to be the change. I believe that outside events can transform when we change ourselves through attitude and action. If there was ever a time . . .

Stephanie Raffelock is the author of Creatrix Rising, Unlocking the Power of Midlife Women. She also penned the award-winning book, A Delightful Little Book on Aging and is the editor of the anthology, Art In The Time of Unbearable Crisis. A graduate of Naropa University’s program in Writing and Poetics, Stephanie has worked as a freelancer for The Aspen Times and The Rogue Valley Messenger. She has written and blogged for numerous publications and currently writes a weekly Substack, Creative Eldering.

What’s Your Story?

Many thanks to Stephanie Raffelock for her powerful and timely reflection. On her recommendation, I borrowed Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning from the library. I can already see why she and others return to it again and again.

It can be challenging to know how to respond to all that’s happening these days. When we are weighing what to do, most likely we are thinking of specific actions we might take. There is no one right way. Each of us must figure out what we are called to do, and how we can be the most effective.

Yet as Frankl’s story illustrates and Raffelock’s reflection points out, there is something fundamental underlying all that we do – the self that we bring to it. The quality and impact of our actions are shaped by the spirit we bring to them. Whatever the circumstances, if we can hold on to our appreciation of beauty, recognize our common humanity, and give of ourselves to others –we can be the change so needed in the world.

“When we are no longer able to change a situation,
we are challenged to change ourselves.” — Viktor Frankl

“This unfolding history challenges each one of us to be the change.
I believe that outside events can transform when we change ourselves
through attitude and action.” — Stephanie Raffelock

How does Frankl’s words and Raffelock’s reflection fit with your understanding about how change happens? How have you found ways to hold on to your sense of love and beauty in these times? How has this helped give you strength to carry on?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Or consider sending in a reflection (up to 250 words). We’ll post it here on Substack and on the Building Bridges Word by Word website.

Why write? By reading each other’s reflections, we can better understand how we can bring our best selves to these times and lift up and help each other.

How to get started? Check out the story guidelines and the steps for submitting your reflection. Questions? Email mscribner.buildingbridgeswbw@gmail.com. I look forward to hearing from you and working with you to post your story.

The practice of hope is entangled with the practice of noticing and naming and nurturing: The more I notice the cracks, the more Light I am able to name and nurture. The practice of hope invites us to see The Possible: some things have to be believed to be seen. — Sally Z. Hare, The ElderGarten

Sally Z. Hare’s The ElderGarten: A Field Guide for the Journey of a Lifetime is this month’s Book Giveaway. Thanks to Sally for generously donating her book for the Book Giveaway.

All paid subscribers and those who have their reflections posted on the Building Bridges Word by Word Substack will be entered into a drawing on April 30th for an autographed copy of Sally’s book.

The ElderGarten is a thoughtful field guide for the lifeline journey to becoming an Elder, including a series of practices that “allow us to jump back into our lives, our memories, our experiences in order to live into the role of Elder and discern the meaning of life.” Check out our April Book Giveaway: The ElderGarten post for more about Sally, The ElderGarten, and our Book Giveaways (with information about how to have your book to be one of our monthly Book Giveaways).

In addition, you can check out the World of Learning Institute’s podcast interview with Sally. Here’s what wrote about the book and their conversation.

This book beautifully illustrates the dual process of learning and unlearning, encouraging us to shed ingrained fears and biases that hold us back. In our discussion, we delve into the transformative power of vulnerability as a springboard for growth and resilience. Dr. Sally Hare’s insights guide us through the importance of introspection and self-awareness, highlighting that each of us possesses the innate ability to cultivate resilience, and even begin the journey of eldering in Kindergarten. By embracing life’s complexities with courage and authenticity, we can navigate our paths with grace and wisdom.

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Intrigued? Want to know more? Consider signing up for an upcoming retreat led by Sally Z. Hare and Lori Yadin on becoming an Elder.

A CyberCircle of Trust® for Nurturing
the Power of Leaders as Elders

This retreat is for you if you have some understanding of the power of reflection and inner work - and now want to go deeper to nurture leadership skills through the lens of an Elder. This three-retreat series invites people into time for reflection, time to hear their own Inner Teachers, time to notice their life’s experiences thus far, and to understand the need for Leaders to lead from the role of Elder.

Zoom Retreat Schedule
May 6, Session 1, 2-5 pm ET: Leading with Integrity : Embracing the Journey of a Lifetime

May 20, Session 2, 2-5 pm ET: The Space Between: Noticing and Naming and Nurturing

June 3, Session 3, 2-5 pm ET: We Lead Who We Are: Taking Our Inner Selves into the Outer World

Registration cost for the 3-retreat series is $149. To register, please email Lori to receive a registration form – Director@CreateSafeSpace.org. We look forward to gathering with you.

A beast will always smell the blood of a coward
And a narrow-minded fool will always follow down the narrow path
To the blade that can make a god bleed
— Whitechapel, “I will find you”

I’d been preparing to watch my father die.
Mesothelioma filled his lungs. He’d felt it running; breaths laborious, pleading gasps. It was a death sentence. Doctors gave him weeks, maybe months. I mourned what hadn’t happened, what was to come.

My faith all but disappeared. I had managed to live in a world of widespread injustice and sadness, but this hit home and broke through my defenses. It took a hammer to my personal creed, left me cursing and abandoning God. Guilt joined mourning because of that.

Weeks passed. Months. A year.
Dad got better. Chemotherapy and targeted therapy put him into remission. One in a million.
My faith is intact, but barely. My sea of shame and mourning is now a sea of melancholy questions and occasional swells of hope.

Whitechapel’s “I Will Find You” has become an admonitory hymn, a grim and encouraging altar to remind me of how flimsy and susceptible and shallow my belief in things unseen had been; how wide and liminal the crossroads before me seems.

I hear it as a tale of escape from the devil’s nihilistic domain where the escapee and the devil scream poetic taunts at each other across the darkened plain.

“Let it burn, let it die, blind the all-seeing eye,” the escapee declares in the first verse.

”A beast will always smell the blood of a coward and a narrow-minded fool will always follow down the narrow path to the blade that can make a god bleed,” the devil retorts in the second verse.

Essentially: “You’ll be back. I’ll be waiting. I’ve seen this ‘faith’ of yours.”

And I wonder what’s next.

Ryan Pfeil
I live with my family in Medford, Oregon where I produce videos and other web content for local libraries and also work part-time as a web editor for a local newsroom

What’s Your Story?

What music speaks to you?
What song tells your story?

Many thanks to Ryan Pfeil for his thoughtful and deeply personal reflection. I appreciate his willingness to be so honest and share a crisis of faith that I think many of us face in our lives. I suspect many will take strength from his courage in sharing it.

I’m not surprised by Ryan’s powerful writing. Almost exactly two years ago, he wrote a reflection, Love Finds Us, centered on “Constance” a song by Spiritbox, a heavy metal band. The song depicted the ravages of dementia and the pain for those losing their loved ones and their shared memory of their life together. It also portrays dementia from the inside out, how the person with dementia experiences the melting away of their memories, images, and words. As Ryan wrote, Spiritbox’s music became an affirmation of the pain he was experiencing in his own life.

Its brutal but beautiful songs have been a constant companion following the COVID-19 lockdowns, a massive 2020 fire that wiped out thousands of homes and businesses where I live, and the cancer my father has been fighting for close to a decade. “Constance,” offered an empathetic hand, crystalizing the ache and uncertainty that comes after loss, how it feels not so much like an end or beginning, but a liminal pause that can leave you feeling directionless.

At the time, I knew very little about Heavy Metal Music (I still don’t know much). But after reading Ryan reflection and its connection to “Constance,” I watched the music video of “Constance,” and watched some reaction videos of Metalheads listening to the song. As I wrote in my post, Sometimes you need a sad song, spending more time with the music added to my understanding and appreciation of Ryan’s reflection and the song.

So, when Ryan sent me his reflection using Whitechapel’s song, “I Will Find You,” as the focal point, I knew that his story and the music would take me on a journey.

After reading his reflection, I went online to watch and listen to the “I Will Find You” music video. The song was my introduction to Death Metal’s growling vocals. I’d had little exposure to this kind of music. While I had heard some clips here and there, I hadn’t ever sat down to listen to an entire song. Lead singer, Phil Bozeman’s dark guttural growls, the raging lyrics, and dark images were a lot to take in. His clear beautiful voice for two of the last lines was much more my style, and the contrast to the other was strange and obviously significant, in ways I didn’t yet appreciate.

I closed the video wondering what drew Ryan and many others to this song. The video had 2,586,111 views, 4.9k were positive. There were no negative responses. The chat comments were effusive.

This is pure power, and taking control. Listen to it again. And then again. Peace at its finest....

This is honestly one of the most well put together metal song I ever heard crisp sound Bozeman voice is insane very talented music

Wow. Is all I got to say. Such bold lyrics. Whitechapel is one of the only bands that I listen to for the lyrics. The messages sound so divine.

Obviously, I was missing something here.

I put the video to the side and went back to Ryan’s essay. While I still didn’t really get the music, I did connect to his writing. Ryan and I emailed back and forth a few times, sharing thoughts, raising questions, and considering small edits. Each email conversation deepened my understanding of Ryan’s reflection and my enjoyment of being in the process with him.

Having arrived at a final version to post, I returned to the music video of “I Will Find You.” Unlike the first time I listened to it, I had Ryan’s perspective of the song, a copy of the lyrics, and the album’s description to accompany me.

Opener “I Will Find You” takes place right after the last track off The Valley, “Doom Woods,” which sees Bozeman entering into his life following the events characterized on that album. “I am being followed by my alternate reality/evil self. It’s the part of me that can’t let go and will go to any heights to find the real me and pull me back into the dark past that I want to move on from.”

Watching this time, I could understand Bozeman’s words as he sang, growled them. I didn’t even need the lyrics. His mad run through the woods, the intense guitar and drums, all started to come together, to tell a story worth telling. As one person in the chat said, “You can see Phil’s journey of life in his lyrics. Once an enraged man finding himself through struggle and pulling himself away from the beast inside.”

I listened twice more, finding it more compelling each time. While the song won’t be on my repeat list, I can now see why it would be on those of others.

What music speaks to you?
What song tells your story?

What music have you yet to explore?
What might you learn?

Part of the magic of telling your stories, sharing music that has meaning for you, is that it enables the rest of us to listen in a more open way and perhaps discover that we have more in common than we might have thought.

Let us know your thoughts in the comments below. Or send in a short reflection (up to 250 words) on Ryan’s story or on a song that speaks to you. We’ll post it here on Substack and on the Building Bridges Word by Word website.

Next steps? Check out the story guidelines and the steps for submitting your reflection. Questions? Email us at mscribner.buildingbridgeswbw@gmail.com. We look forward to hearing from you and working with you to post your story.

April Book Giveaway: The ElderGarten

As a thank you to our paid subscribers and those whose submissions are posted on our Substack (by 4/30) - we will enter your name in this month’s drawing for Sally Z. Hare’s The ElderGarten: A Field Guide for the Journey of a Lifetime.

The ElderGarten is Sally’s invitation to you to join her in becoming what the planet most needs now: Elders. There are more old people than ever on the planet – but fewer Elders. Yet, there has never been a time when wisdom and leadership and integrity were more needed.

Sally understands that being an Elder is not about being old – but rather about a life of integrity and wholeness and meaning. As she has discovered that she should have begun that work long before her seventh decade, she is reaching out to others of all ages who resonate with the idea of becoming an Elder as the journey of a lifetime.

She envisions The ElderGarten as the field guide for learning to be an Elder. This non-linear journey of a lifetime invites us into becoming fully who we are and using our gifts in service of the planet. The journey requires resilience and commitment. In this field guide, Sally shares the practices she has discovered to build that strength.

Click here to learn more about Sally Z. Hare, The ElderGarten, and our Book Giveaways.

In The Future Is Peace, Sarah and Inon take readers on a transformative weeklong journey across a sacred and bloodstained land. Facing competing narratives, they explore how compassion and unity can pull humanity back from the precipice of blind hatred. Throughout their travels, they have been constantly asked: In the face of so much loss, how can we ever find hope? Their answer is always the same. One cannot find hope. We must create it. — The Future is Peace, publisher’s book description

On Monday night on The Daily Show, Jon Stewart interviewed Aziz Abu Sarah, a Palestinian, and Maoz Inon, an Israeli, about their new book, The Future is Peace: A Shared Journey Across the Holy Land.

At first glance, it would seem that these two authors have nothing in common. One could even assume they would be on opposite sides of the historic and ongoing conflict between their two countries. Yet, they have written a book of their travels together across their war-torn countries in search of and in support of peace.

When I first heard of their book, I thought it was The Future of Peace. It’s only just sunk in that the title is: The Future Is Peace. I’m still working to get my head around what a radical, optimistic title that is.

Some may call them naïve, yet they argue that they are not naïve, rather they are “pragmatists, the voice of reason.”

We are those who learn from history that the only way to reach a sustainable peace and justice is only through dialogue. Only through looking into the other side in the eye, start feeling his pain, start listening to his trauma, to his challenges, acknowledging them, not necessarily agree, but acknowledging and recognize his suffering, his pain. And then start working together to create hope. – Maoz Inon1

How could these two men find common ground from which to travel and write together? What could possibly have brought them together? It turns out that their experiences of tragic loss and grief, their amazing empathy, and their visions that things could be different enabled them to take this journey together. They decided that they had to be more than their differences, more than their anger.

They did not come to this quickly or easily. In the interview, Stewart asked about their personal life experiences, they both spoke movingly of their losses and how they came to realize “we don’t have to be on opposite sides. We can be in the same side fighting for justice together, fighting for peace together.”

I am in awe of people like Aziz Abu Sarah and Maoz Inon and their ability to put aside their grief and anger to open pathways for dialogue and understanding. I highly recommend listening to the entire interview. It is both moving and inspiring.

What do you do in those moments where two histories collide, with narratives that don’t in any way align?

At one point, Stewart asked the question above. It opened up a fascinating conversation about how our perceptions are formed and how challenging it can be to move beyond our narratives. As an example of this, Sarah told a remarkable story about his father’s awkward, yet honest, question and how it was used to open, rather than shut down, understanding and compassion.

My father came to a peace meeting. He was very opposed to me going and meeting Israelis in the beginning. Mainly he was afraid they’re gonna put me in prison, the same thing that happened to my brother and to his cousin would happen to me. He came [to the peace meeting] and after he heard a few minutes, he raised his hand and he goes, “I have a question. This Holocaust thing, you guys talk about it. Did that really happen? Or did the Israeli government use it for what it’s doing to us?”

You could hear a pin drop in the room. Nobody knew how to deal with it. And then our good friend, whose father was in Auschwitz, stood and he said, “I don’t want you to believe in something you never learned about. If you are willing, I’ll have my dad, who was in Auschwitz, take you to the Holocaust memorial and walk you through it and listen to what he went through.” And that’s what we did.

Seventy other Palestinians went with my dad to the Holocaust memorial with the parent’s circle who organized this. And it was incredible. It wasn’t easy. There were moments that were very tense. A whole day. People cried. People were hurt at times. People were upset at times.

Two weeks later, the Israelis, in the same organization came and said, “You did this. We want to do the same. Can we come to a Palestinian village that was destroyed in 1948? We want to hear your story.” And again, it was not easy. It was really difficult.

But unless we ask the difficult questions. Unless we are willing to not just walk on eggshells which many people do (even the peace movement sometimes). We can’t walk on eggshells. We need to be honest and say, “Here’s where we disagree. Let’s go and visit, let’s talk. Let’s understand.”

What’s Your Story?

“What do you do in those moments where two histories collide,
with narratives that don’t in any way align?”

“I don’t want you to believe in something you never learned about.”

I keep coming back to Stewart’s question and the extraordinarily generous response to Sarah’s father’s question. They seem particularly relevant to these times in our own country. Even though we live in the same country, we can’t assume that we all know the same history or have heard (or are hearing) the same news, the same stories. What does that mean for us? How can we learn from each other’s experiences, listen to each other’s narratives, so that we can say, “Here’s where we disagree. Let’s go and visit, let’s talk. Let’s understand.”

I don’t even pretend to measure up to the heroic work of Aziz Abu Sarah and Maoz Inon. What they’ve lived through, their capacity for listening, their generosity toward others and their courage walking into areas of conflict - is far beyond me.

But the belief in the power of words to connect, to bring people together, and to discover what we may have in common or what we can learn from those who have different perspectives (narratives) has some resonance with their work and is at the heart of Building Bridges Word by Word.

I hope you’ll listen to the interview, buy The Future Is Peace from your local bookstore or via bookshop.org (where you can designate a local bookstore to support), and share your thoughts about their work and what they said in the interview in the comments below.

Or, even better, send in a reflection and we’ll post it here on Substack and on the Building Bridges Word by Word website. It doesn’t need to be long. In fact, the limit is 250 words.

Why write? By reading each other’s reflections, we can add to our understanding of each other’s narratives - and begin to create hope.

We’ll work with you to make sure you’re comfortable with your story before posting. Here are the guidelines for submitting your story. Questions? Let us know at mscribner.buildingbridgeswbw@gmail.com.

We look forward to hearing from you and working with you to share your story.

About The Future Is Peace

I haven’t read the book yet, but I have placed an order for it. The following is the publisher’s book description.

Two lifelong peace activists and guides to Israel/Palestine, both of whom have lost family in the conflict, take readers on a revealing life-changing journey across this holy, bloodstained land and discover the mythic, political, and personal history that divides but also binds them and their peoples.

“We do not see ourselves as Palestinians and Israelis, or as Jews and Arabs, but as human beings who believe in fostering a culture of dialogue, a culture of forgiveness, and a culture of peace. To those who see only division lines, we say: If you must divide us, let it be as those who believe in peace and equality and those who don’t ... yet.”

Palestinian Aziz Abu Sarah and Israeli Maoz Inon forged a bond of brotherhood when the world expected them to be enemies. Both have lost family to the conflict. Both have known the bitterness of righteous anger. Yet, they chose a different path.

In The Future Is Peace, Sarah and Inon take readers on a transformative weeklong journey across a sacred and bloodstained land. Facing competing narratives, they explore how compassion and unity can pull humanity back from the precipice of blind hatred. Throughout their travels, they have been constantly asked: In the face of so much loss, how can we ever find hope? Their answer is always the same. One cannot find hope. We must create it.

This book is a rebuttal to a broken world and a bold challenge to the belief that more violence can ever bring security. Told with unflinching honesty, their story is proof that peace is not a naive dream, but a courageous choice—for reconciliation to heal the wounds of revenge, for partnerships to change a destiny of war, and for empathy to save us from drowning in sorrow.

Pairing unapologetic candor and inspirational prose, Sarah and Inon are sending an urgent message that the people have the power to make change. Peace is inevitable. For Palestinians, for Israelis, and for the world that awaits their example, it is not just possible—it is the future.

April Book Giveaway: The ElderGarten

As a thank you to our paid subscribers and those whose submissions are posted on our Substack (by 4/30) - we will enter your name in this month’s drawing for Sally Z. Hare’s The ElderGarten: A Field Guide for the Journey of a Lifetime.

The ElderGarten is Sally’s invitation to you to join her in becoming what the planet most needs now: Elders. There are more old people than ever on the planet – but fewer Elders. Yet, there has never been a time when wisdom and leadership and integrity were more needed.

Sally understands that being an Elder is not about being old – but rather about a life of integrity and wholeness and meaning. As she has discovered that she should have begun that work long before her seventh decade, she is reaching out to others of all ages who resonate with the idea of becoming an Elder as the journey of a lifetime.

She envisions The ElderGarten as the field guide for learning to be an Elder. This non-linear journey of a lifetime invites us into becoming fully who we are and using our gifts in service of the planet. The journey requires resilience and commitment. In this field guide, Sally shares the practices she has discovered to build that strength.

Click here to learn more about Sally Z. Hare, The ElderGarten, and our Book Giveaways.

April is a time of wonder, when the spring peepers emerge from hibernation and begin to call, when robins and redwing blackbirds come back north, and when new green life appears. That is one of the greatest of all wonders, the growth of a bud and a leaf from a seed or a root that has lain dormant in the earth all winter. ~Hal Borland (1900–1978)1

At this time of year, Mother Nature is resplendent. Each leaf, each flower, each new plant breaking through the soil is a miracle in and of itself. Combined, they create a dazzling spectacle that can take our breath away.

“There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature - the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter.” — Rachel Carson

In the midst of so much that is dark and difficult, when chaos abounds, it can be hard to even lift our head up to see the beauty that surrounds us. Yet it is there, waiting for us, ready to sooth our souls and give us the energy and courage we need to face another day.

With this in mind, I decided to “Celebrate Spring” by posting a picture and quote each day on Notes. Below are the ones from the first nine days of April.

Enjoy!

What’s Your Story?

What picture, what quote, lifts your heart?

I’ve really enjoyed taking these pictures (or finding them on my phone) and pairing them with quotes. Looking up high into the flowering trees, peering down low to see the violets coming up through the cracks in the sidewalk, and eyeing what’s blooming in between — has lightened and brightened my days.

Try it! You don’t have to do it for a whole month or week. Even just doing it once will be a welcome break from the doom scrolling that can take up so much of our energy and time.

Share your pictures and quotes in the comments below. At the end of the month, I’ll pull them all together in a collage or two and share them here.

Or write a short reflection (up to 250 words) on why the picture or quote means so much to you. I’d be delighted to work with you to share your reflection here on Substack or on the Building Bridges Word by Word website.

Why write? Consider it a gift to yourself. A chance to step back, catch your breath, and see the world anew.

Why share? Consider it a gift to the rest of us. A chance for us to get a fresh perspective and realize that we may have more in common than we’ve been led to believe. Knowing that, we can begin to build bridges to each other.

How to send in your story? Here are the guidelines with the details and next steps. Questions? Email me at mscribner.buildingbridgeswbw@gmail. com. I look forward to hearing from you and sharing your story!

Here are the posts for the first nine days of April.

“Spring: A lovely reminder of how beautiful change can truly be.” — Tracy McMillan
April 1, 2026

“And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees... I had the familiar conviction that life was beginning over again.” — F. Scott Fitzgerald
April 2, 2026

“In the spring, I have counted 136 different kinds of weather inside 24 hours.” — Mark Twain / April 3, 2026

"Spring has returned. The earth is like a child that knows poems."
— Rainer Maria Rilke / April 4, 2026

"Blossom by blossom, the spring begins." — Algernon Charles Swinburne
April 5, 2026

“I sit before flowers hoping they will train me in the art of opening up.”
— Shane Koyczan / April 6, 2026

“Spring is nature’s way of saying, ‘Let’s party!’” — Robin Williams
April 7, 2026

I saw this tree while I was walking home from a City Council Meeting. I’m thankful that there are still places where we can civilly speak, listen, and even disagree — for that is what democracy looks like. April 8, 2026

"April prepares her green traffic light, and the world thinks: Go."
— Christopher Morley / April 9, 2026

Winner of our March Book Giveaway: No One Swims Alone

Congratulations to Daniel Wolfson for winning our March Book Giveaway: Judy Brown’s No One Swims Alone.

Next Up: Our April Book Giveaway: The ElderGarten

We’re delighted to announce that our April Book Giveaway is Sally Z. Hare’s The ElderGarten: A Field Guide for the Journey of a Lifetime.

About The ElderGarten

The ElderGarten is Sally’s invitation to you to join her in becoming what the planet most needs now: Elders. There are more old people than ever on the planet – but fewer Elders. Yet, there has never been a time when wisdom and leadership and integrity were more needed.

Sally understands that Elder is not about being old – but rather about a life of integrity and wholeness and meaning. As she has discovered that she should have begun that work long before her seventh decade, she is reaching out to others of all ages who resonate with the idea of becoming an Elder as the journey of a lifetime.

She envisions The ElderGarten as the field guide for learning to be an Elder. This non-linear journey of a lifetime invites us into becoming fully who we are and using our gifts in service of the planet. The journey requires resilience and commitment. In this field guide, Sally shares the practices she has discovered to build that strength.

See below to find out how you can win an autographed copy of this fabulous book!

Praise for The ElderGarten

As a long-time meditator and self-described mystic, I value inner work deeply. In my view, the complex societal and world problems we face today can only be resolved through ways of being and doing that arise out of sustained inner work. By exploring who we are as individual human beings, we come to know our connection to each other and every other thing on the planet. And the love for ourselves that we develop through self-knowledge is essential for us to love others. We turn inward in whatever ways work for us to develop and access love for ourselves, which we then offer to others, to the world. In short, inner work helps us know how to be so we can know what to do.

Sally Z. Hare knows this. She has lived this for most of her years on the planet. And through her teaching, retreats, mentorships, and friendships, she has shared with others this knowledge, as well as practices, ways of thinking, and exploration opportunities that help others to do inner work effectively. The ElderGarten: A Field Guide for the Journey of a Lifetime is another step Sally is taking to help us know the importance of inner work and how we might approach it for our own good and for the good of the world.

Sally’s message is especially helpful for those of us who may feel that we no longer have much to offer the world because of our age, because we are older. She makes it clear that we have much to offer! But her message is not just for older people. Through this beautiful text, we learn that to best offer our gifts to the world as elders, we must begin learning how to do so earlier in life. In this way, The ElderGarten is for younger people, as well. — Veta Goler, Retreat facilitator, artist, and retired Spelman College professor

The ElderGarten is Dr. Sally Z. Hare’s birdsong. It is an eloquent and melodic offering from her beautifully crafted “nest” of wholeness, hope, and love. With her song she beckons us to become more aware of the importance of our presence in this world and to journey into greater depth of who we are. In her field guide, Sally profoundly shares that she has “embraced her role as Elder and courageously being present in this transitory life.” This courage is simply who Sally is.

Her courageousness has uplifted and inspired me on my own journey. Over the last decade, I have been fortunate to have Sally’s song as an accompaniment through various transitions in my life. She has welcomed me to explore elderhood in community and on my own. On this journey, I have discovered a greater understanding of what it means to courageously be myself and to take my gifts, my wisdom, and the beauty that I am into every space and place that I occupy.

With Sally’s offering of The ElderGarten, you will feel welcomed and invited and encouraged to see your gifts, to embrace your wholeness and renew your understanding of what it means to be you. Allow Sally to introduce you to the role of Elder and you will gain an awareness of why sharing the Beauty you love is sacred and necessary. – Jonetta Moyo, founder of My Inspiration Studio

Unlike a GPS map that directs you from starting point to destination along the fastest route possible, Sally Z. Hare’s The ElderGarten: A Field Guide for The Journey of a Lifetime removes concepts of linear, fast, and end point. Push a little harder about where you begin to step into this journey toward becoming an Elder: she will tell you, “Wherever you are at the moment.” Again, unlike a GPS map, this process doesn’t seek to avoid obstacles, but to engage and navigate them.

The ElderGarten is about integrity, both personal and communal. It is about becoming whole in the sense of bringing your inner and outer worlds together, into a unique way of being. It’s about identifying and growing your particular gifts – Sally names them birthright gifts – that emerge from learning what you love, what gives you joy.

The ElderGarten speaks to the recognition of your life patterns – the ever-changing fluidity of hope and possibility – and asks of you the question, “How can I direct my passions and talents for the enrichment of the earth community?” Sally’s work transcends the paradox of community and selfhood and calls us to a vision of what is emerging. And so, this book is also about formation – not into a particular way of being – but according to who you are and how you might imagine your birthright gifts in service to the whole.

I look at this process of becoming an Elder as a canvas whose colors never dry. Always a new color, a new shape, a new pattern, and all that wisdom passed along. The great privilege offered to all of us in this field guide to The ElderGarten is to leave the last brush stroke wet. — Caroline Fairless, Growing Up Girl, and founder and co-director of The Center for Children at Worship

About the Author

I am a lifelong teacher and learner, feminist and activist, and a passionate steward of the planet. When I turned 70, I researched to see how I might be of use in the time I had left. I learned that we have more old people on the planet than ever before – but fewer Elders, and that our planet really needed Elders. I couldn’t find a book to guide me, so I wrote this field guide.

Sally Z. Hare is a lifelong teacher and learner, feminist and activist, and a passionate steward of the planet. She has worked with Parker J. Palmer for more than 30 years and credits Parker with being part of the reason she loves her life. The other reasons are her husband Jim and her dog Hope and her ocean and being a reader.

With a Ph. D. from the University of South Carolina, Sally is the Coastal Carolina University Singleton Distinguished Professor Emerita and president of still learning, inc. She served for more than a decade as Dean of the Graduate School at Coastal and considers herself a student of community. That focus was highlighted during her three-year Kellogg National Fellowship in the early 1990’s, when she explored the concept of community across cultures and countries, including Bali, Greece, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Senegal, Benin, and much of the United States and Canada. Now, coming full circle, she recently served as advisor to the most recent Kellogg National Fellows.

Where to purchase The Elder Garten

In the myrtle Beach, SC area: Burroughs and Chapin Art Museum, and the Brookgreen Gardens Gift Shop

Online:

The ElderGarten a book by Sally Z Hare - Bookshop.org US (You can designate a local book store to receive the profits from your purchase.)

eldergarten | Barnes & Noble®

The ElderGarten : A Field Guide for the Journey of a Lifetime used book by Sally Z. Hare: 9780989504294

The ElderGarten: A Field Guide for the Journey of a Lifetime: Hare, Sally Z: 9780989504294: Amazon.com: Books

Book Giveaways

Each month, we have a drawing for an autographed book written by an outstanding author. All paid subscribers and those whose submissions are selected for posting are entered into the drawings. The winners are picked randomly, notified by email, and announced here.

Many thanks to all the authors who generously donate their books for our Book Giveaways. Interested in being part of the next Book Giveaways? It’s a great way to share your book with others and support our efforts to build bridges. For details, check out the “Calling All Authors” section at the end of this post. How can you win a Book Giveaway?

Each month, we have a drawing for an autographed book by an outstanding author or poet. It’s our way of saying thank you to those who support our work by being a paid subscriber and/or by sending in a reflection that is selected for posting.

Who is eligible?

1. Paid Subscribers. This is a reader-supported publication, powered by volunteers. Your support helps to keep us going!

Subscribe now

1. Those whose submissions are selected for posting. Building Bridges Word by Word provides a space where we can read each other’s stories and discover what we may have in common. But we can’t do it without you! Recognizing this, all those who have their submission selected for posting are given a byline for their post and are eligible for the Book Giveaways. To learn more about how to participate, click below.

Share Your Story

Calling All Authors

We hope you will join the other fine authors who are participating in our Book Giveaways. It’s a great way to promote your book!

Here’s how it works.

Benefits of participating
If you choose to donate a copy of your book to the Book Giveaway, your book will be:

1. Highlighted in our Substack newsletter

2. Promoted on our Substack on our Book Giveaways tab and on social media

3. Promoted on the Building Bridges Word by Word website

4. Included in the ongoing list of Book Giveaways

Book promotion includes:

● Image of your book cover
● Book description
● Author bio
● Author website (optional)
● Purchase book link/info

In return, we ask that you share our Substack publication and the Building Bridges Word by Word website with your networks and mail an autographed copy of your book to the winner of the drawing.

Interested? If so, please respond to the questions in the Book Giveaway Submission Form and email your answers (and any questions you may have) to us at mscribner.buildingbridgeswbw@gmail.com. We look forward to hearing from you!

Book Giveaway Submission Form

Good Morning!

I love the way a new day feels.
Those few moments when
Yesterday’s memories
Are slept into a docile file for later.
When rest gives birth to new eyes
That see a life with energy and hope
And a chance to try again.
— Jim R. Rogers, Starts and Stops Along the Way

From the first moment I heard this poem, the words spoke to my tired teacher-soul. They spoke to me as I woke each morning long before the sun, kissed my children goodbye, and drove the long drive to school.

Like every teacher, every day, I joined my students in their world. A world that sent me sleepy children, brilliant children, hungry children, energetic children, angry children, sad children and joyful children. Children who came to school yearning to learn and seeking stability and structure in their young lives. Twenty-five different needs to be met and each one deserving the best of me.

I knew how important it was for me to greet each child each day with a smile. This poem said it all to me. Each day is a new day. Forget what happened yesterday. Each and every day, every child and every teacher deserves a chance to “see life with energy and hope.” — Jane Zalkin

What’s Your Story?

In Teaching with Heart, Jane Zalkin wrote about how she shared Jim R. Rogers’ poem with her class of 4-year-olds. The children loved it and began to recite it with her. Soon it became part of their morning routine. In thanks, they made a video for the poet, sharing their delight with the words that started their school days.

Given their response to the poem, you might think “Good Morning!” came from a children’s book or a book about education. It turns out that the book, Starts and Stops Along the Way, is about aging. As one reviewer said, “I recommend this book to anyone who is aging, or is thinking about aging, or has a friend or relative who is aging. And to anyone who is wondering about losses and grief, joy, love, strength, and wisdom.”1

That’s the way of poetry. It can speak to you whether you’re 4 or 40 or 104. It can give you permission to put yesterday behind you and give you energy and hope for the days ahead. A “chance to try again” — isn’t that what we all need?

“When rest gives birth to new eyes
That see a life with energy and hope
And a chance to try again.”

What do those words mean to you? How might they help you get through the day?

Let us know in the comments below. Or consider sending in a reflection (up to 250 words). We’ll work with you to post it here and on the Building Bridges Word by Word website. Here are the guidelines to help get you started. Questions? Email me at mscribner.buildingbridgeswbw@gmail.com. I look forward to working with you!

Thanks to Jane Zalkin for her reflection and for introducing us to Jim R. Rogers’ poem. Jane retired after almost 40 years of teaching four and five-year old children in lower-income communities outside of Charleston, South Carolina.

Thanks to Jim R. Rogers for his permission to share his poem with you and for his reflection, Building Resilience, posted here on May 6, 2025. For more of his writing, check out his children’s book, Bark! Bark! Bark in the Dark: Family Pets Save the Night. Dogs by their very nature are not only our best friends, but our warning systems whenever anything is out of the norm. They are our loyal protectors. You can find Jim’s book at bookshop.org where your purchase can support your local bookstore.

“Spring: A lovely reminder of how beautiful change can truly be.” ~ Tracy McMillan

The contrasting colors of the winter green wheat and the golden rust of the background hills, makes the photo look unreal. As if AI had run amuck.

But, while Mother Nature usually likes to start spring with small blossoms poking through the mulch of winter - sometimes she likes to be dramatic.

For the month of April, I’ll be “Celebrating Spring” by posting a picture and quote each day on Notes and sometimes here. I hope you’ll join me and send in your favorite spring pictures and quotes. By the end of the month, we’ll have quite a collection!

Looking forward to it!

April 1, 2026

On Tuesday’s post, Stepping Back or Piling On?, I shared Judy Brown’s “Fire”, and included not only Judy’s own reflections about the poem, but also those of Tara Branch, Maggie Alexander, and Becky Van der Bogart. All in all, I felt pretty good about the post.

This morning, I realized I got the title wrong or at least it’s not the question I’m asking myself. The need for “stepping back” is real; it’s important to keep from being so overwhelmed that we can’t cope. But I’m more concerned with figuring out how to live into this time, not stepping back from it.

For me, a better question would be “Creating Space or Piling On?” Unlike the first pairing, both of these words connote action, forward movement. They ask me to consider how I can best embrace my life – with all the messy, stressful parts – rather than step back from it.

It’s a combination of Becky Van der Bogart and Maggie Alexander’s take aways from the Judy’s poem:

But what would my life be like if I didn’t have that fire that fuels my beliefs and these “doings”?... despite all my work to focus on “being” rather than “doing,” when faced with death I realized that my being is “doing.” I learned to embrace my need to have too many logs burning. — Becky Van der Bogert

I realized I was piling on too many logs too tightly and the flame inside me was beginning to wane — even smolder at times. I was desperate for some ‘space.’ … I am learning, for myself and for my students, to choose consciously the logs I place on my own fire. — Maggie Anderson

So maybe my question is “Creating Space AND Piling On? To figure out how to do all that I want or feel I need to be doing, but in a way that feels more spacious. To value my space AND my “to do’s.” Appreciating that there is enough space for both, if I lessen, shift, or eliminate the logs that smother my fire and carefully place the logs that fuel the flames.

18-month Checkup

I created the Building Bridges Word by Word Substack in September 2024, though I wasn’t very active until December of that year. So, this marks about 18 months of my Substack, a good point to gauge the Substack’s progress, evaluate how I’m managing the balance between Creating Space and Piling On, and consider what changes I need to make.

I’m delighted to say that I have 645 subscribers and 2,370 followers! Thank you for signing on for Building Bridges Word by Word. I really appreciate it! I hope you are finding something here that speaks to you and that you will consider sharing your story with us. (I’d love to work with you to post your story. Here are the guidelines, including prompts and steps for submitting your story.)

When I launched this Substack, I decided I would post two newsletters a week. It seemed like a reasonable goal. From December 2024 on, except for a few weeks here and there, I’ve managed to meet it. (Though the behind the scenes rush to the finish line is often a bit chaotic.)

While my Substack posts are relatively short, they do take quite a bit of time. And though two posts a week may not sound like much, when you do the math (2 x 52 = 104 essays a year), it gives a better sense of the time and energy this takes.

While I’ve managed to meet this goal, it hasn’t left me with enough time to do the other work needed to support this project, such as inviting more people to share their stories, expanding the readership and audience for the stories, and posting Notes and sharing the stories on other social media platforms.

I also want to dedicate more time to responding to your comments and the other thoughtful Substack posts and Notes that I read each day. I know that responding to these means a lot to the authors and helps their posts get seen more widely. It also helps to build the Building Bridges community.

I’ve detailed these aspirations and how you can participate in the “What’s OUR Story? section below.

To make time for all of these efforts (to create the space for these important logs), I’m going to cut back to posting one Substack a week, most likely on Tuesdays. If I happen to have more than one post ready to roll in a week, I’ll post them on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

This shift may not seem all that earth shattering to you. I don’t imagine you’ve been sitting on the edge of your seats waiting for each one of my posts! But it’s important for me to publicly “announce” this. It helps to alleviate the guilt I have about this change and sends a clear message (to me!) on how to better manage my time.

In other words, it helps me Create Space and Pile On!

Thanks for your understanding and your help in building bridges!

Megan
Be Kind. Be Strong. Be Well.

What’s OUR story?

Building Bridges Word by Word – what’s it all about?

Building Bridges Word by Word isn’t about me or my stories. It’s about you and your stories. It’s about all of us. It’s about reading the stories of people like us and the stories of people who aren’t like us and maybe finding some unexpected things we have in common.

With that in mind, Building Bridges Word by Word provides a safe space where we can share our stories, discover what connects us, and learn from those who have different perspectives. In doing so, we can gain a better understanding of ourselves and each other and begin to build bridges across our divides.

By sharing your stories, Building Bridges Word by Word provides something we desperately need – a way that we can begin to see ourselves in others.

What can I write about and how do I send in my stories?

Building Bridges Word by Word is based on the premise that writing a reflection about something that is meaningful to us and reading reflections of others can yield insights into what is significant and enduring in all of our lives.

Join in this bridge building effort by writing a short reflection (250 words or less) on a favorite saying, quote, song, or poem that is meaningful to you.

Wondering what you might write about? Think about a line or two that speaks to who you are and what you believe, such as:

• A saying you’ve heard many times but seems particularly significant these days or a new one that seems to say it all.

• A quote that you’ve taped to your refrigerator or tacked on to your email signature because it captures how you feel about the world.

• A song that helps you get through tough times or makes you get out and dance.

• A poem that gives you peace or challenges you to think or act differently.

Here are the guidelines, prompts, and next steps for sending in your story.

Encourage others to share their stories.

The mission of this project – building bridges across our divides – depends on including people from across the country who have a wide range of perspectives and life experiences. We hope to engage people from many different backgrounds and perspectives, including gender, age, race, and ethnicity as well as a wide range of geographic, educational, political, religious, and social backgrounds.

My contacts and networks can only go so far.

If you know of family, friends, colleagues, neighbors, and networks who might be interested in participating, please share this Substack, the Building Bridges Word by Word website and/or the “Call for Stories” with them. Feel free to share the “Call for Stories” as a printout or as a link in an email message.

If you’d like a sample email you can use to share this project and invite potential story tellers or if you have recommendations of people or organizations I might contact, please email me at mscribner.buildingbridgeswbw@gmail.com

Help build our audience and share your stories far and wide

If you find one of our Posts or Notes meaningful, please like, comment, or restack it. This really helps to increase our visibility – leading to more stories and bridges being built across our divides.

Ideas, thoughts, questions? Please email mscribner.buildingbridgeswbw@gmail.com I’d love to hear from you!

Many thanks for your support!

March Book Giveaway: No One Swims Alone

As a thank you to our paid subscribers and those whose submissions are posted on our Substack (by 3/31) - we will enter your name in this month’s drawing for Judy Brown’s No One Swims Alone.

No One Swims Alone is a book of poetry as evocative as the title itself. The book and the poems within ask us to recognize, particularly in these chaotic and uncertain days, that we all swim together. And, more importantly, it reminds us that none of us need to swim alone. It calls us to take care of others, ourselves, and know that we are all in this together.

I hope these poems might be a gift for you. I can only hope. One of the mysteries, for me as a poet, is how poems that emerge in my morning journal, reflecting some unexpected inner explorations, may turn out to be a gift to a stranger or friend. It is a process as mysterious as writing down the poems themselves. What may catch your attention? Why? What words evoke a yes for reasons I could never know, never imagine. So, I send these poems off to you, like a note in a bottle, bobbing on the waves, landing eventually on a distant shore moved by tides and winds like so much of our lives. May this collection meet you where you are in your life. — Judy Brown

Click here to learn more about Judy Brown, No One Swims Alone, and our Book Giveaways.