sharonksobotta

Noel Paul Stookey (Paul from Peter, Paul & Mary)

Worry less about hitting a wrong note and more about making music together.

I grew up loving the folk tunes of Peter, Paul and Mary. I remember day dreaming and imagining singing their songs with my own children. In 2008, when I had accepted that I wouldn't meet my blueprint plan of having a husband and a child before the age of thirty, I wrote a book of universally applicable lessons that I had learned from interviewing people of all backgrounds from around the world. By chance, I ended up having a signing in the same bookstore as Peter Yarrow in Roseville, Minnesota. Though childless at the time, his music brought me back to my childhood and the sight of grown adults singing alongside young children brought tears to my eyes. I had dinner with Peter that evening and met up with him at subsequent concerts and events several times. In 2013, when I was in New Orleans attending the National Conference on Race and Ethnicity, I finally had a chance to introduce my then 18-month old daughter to the Paul of Peter, Paul and Mary. Paul presented a program called Music to Life, in which he showed the capacity that music, combined with love, has to change our world.

 

What did you give up for Lent? Are you wanting to change some bad habits?

Listen to internet radio with BestLife Barb on Blog Talk Radio

What are you giving up this Lenten season? What if instead of giving up chocolate or coffee, you give up apathy or indifference? If you’re open to considering some habits to kick so that you can contribute to a more just and fair world, keep reading! It doesn’t matter if you’re Catholic, Lutheran, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Taoist, Baha’i, Agnostic, Jewish, or Atheist…If you’re interested in being the change you wish to see in the world, this book is for you.

No Permission Necessary--Debbie Macomber

Debbie Macomber knew she had her work cut out for her when she decided to pursue her dream of being a writer. She struggled with dyslexia throughout childhood, graduated near the bottom of her class and married as a teenager. Debbie recalls her third grade teacher telling her parents, "Debbie is such a nice girl, but she probably won't go far in life." Unwilling to be talked out of her dream, Debbie kept it a secret. In spite of her learning disability Debbie was bursting at the seems with stories that she thought had to be told. At 29, Debbie rented a type writer and began pecking out her stories, taking breaks to attend to parenting duties and to make room at the table for family meals. Thirty years later, Debbie has written over 100 books, several of which are New York Times Best Sellers and some which have been made into movies. Perhaps Debbie's third-grade teacher is eating her words. The moral of the story--If you have a dream, don't ask for anyone's permission, instead just pursue it relentlessly!

Maria Murnane--Author of Perfect on Paper