Dear Friends, Spring is in the air. I’ve heard the first cardinals warbling to each other outside. There are small flocks of chickadees and gold finches flitting by and chattering in the trees around our yard. I see the trees waking up. If they could yawn, they would. I’ve been silent throughout this winter, with my last newsletter sent in October. I’ve felt Winter’s call to slow down, and so I have. I used to dread the winter—I saw only its cold, its rigidity, and none of it

🎃🎃🎃 When I was asked to illustrate Mouse Tales several years ago, I didn’t expect the witch in Hansel and Gretel to challenge me so much. It’s hard to illustrate a witch without falling into old stereotypes. In the illustrations that follow, I explain my thoughts behind the drawings -see for yourself if you think I succeeded! 😱 Dear Friends, Walking through the Halloween aisle recently, this really hit home. Surrounded by life-sized witch figures, I suddenly realized what

Dear Friends, I struggled with writing this newsletter, as I’ve been studying for my energy medicine practitioner exams (two more to...

'Us' and 'Them.' There is a global resurgence of an old 'monster': Prejudice. This Hans Holbein woodcut from the 1500s reflects a time when plague threatened survival—yet today, racism and prejudice remain even more devastating to humanity and our shared future. Dear Friends, I’ve written a lot about Unity in Diversity, and how, as a Baha’i, my faith shapes my belief that humanity is ONE. When I visit schools to share my picture book, The Nightingale’s Song, I always tell the

Dear Friends, The Great & the Small - Part Two In 2022 I was given the chance to revise my illustrated young adult novel, The Great & the...