Widow for One Year by John Irving

Everything is Illuminated by Johathan Safran Foer

Einstein's Dreams by Alan Lightman


Give me three musicians who've caught you by surprise this year (the past 12 months)

Lou Reed,. Patti Page, Mindy McCready (also Annette Funicello, Eydie Gorme,,Richie Havens, Van Cliburn, Jackie Lomax, Marian McPartland, and several more I'm sure)... all died this past year

gm3 things you can get in your hometown that you probably can't get anywhere else.

Place-specific postcards :P
A world-reknowned expert on an issue very close to my heart lives here
My comfort zone- I've lived in the same city all my life.

Probably not the types of answers you expected.

GM3 things you'd love to do but aren't essential enough to be on your bucket list.

winhing, hipocracy, bad speling

gm3 underrated qualities that you find attractive

Literally or figuratively?

Lord of the rings
Charlie and the chocolate factory (with Gene Wilder)
Freaks

GM3 films you would recomend

The drive around Cape Breton N.S.
San Diego to Vancouver hugging the coast
The walk along the ridge of Santorini or the Gorge in Crete ( 'course I was in love then)

GM3 of your fave holiday places

My imagination

My Garden

My studio

gm 3 of your worst moments in your history

the week before my first wife left

the week before my second wife left

the week before my third wife left

gm3 pleasures of your garden

The roses, bees, and out-of-control climbing vines.

Please give me three of the best views in the world (in your humble opinion).

Denali on the way to Talkeetna, Alaska; the rooftops and spires in Oxford, England; Arizona sunsets.

Gm3 moments/events that changed your understanding of another group of people.

The American Revolution, the French Revolution, the Russian Revolution ( on a personal level this q would be too complex to answer here).

GM3 of the things you regularly spend more than $100 for

1. telephone systems that require you to make one choice after another till you no longer remember why you're calling...and what you want isn't one of the choices offered at the end, anyway.

2. workers who too soon forget how happy they were when they got the job

3. CEO salaries

GM3 places you'd take a tourist in your area.

Really great question, Tiaras-&-Books!
I'm answering it, though it's passed, because it got me thinking this morning.

*The "Holy Cross School Riots" in Northern Ireland in 2002 were an eye opening experience for me, prior to that the ongoing conflict was a very abstract concept for me. I don't know that I will ever 'understand' the kind of violence I saw, but I definitely saw the world (not just Northern Ireland) through different eyes from that point on.

*In 2004 I attended a conference devised and run by young women who were 'unaccompanied minors' (people under the age of 18, seeking asylum, unaccompanied by a parent/guardian or other family member) - they worked with in one of our 'Voices' programs, many of them spoke basic English only. Prior to the conference I knew them as survivors of incredible atrocities, and young women still struggling to survive in a pretty hostile environment, I had an enormous amount of empathy and concern for them. After the conference I saw them as confident, eloquent leaders (and phoenixes) and I was bursting with admiration and respect (and happy tears).

*I feel very fortunate to have met and worked with and gotten to know 1000s of people who are different from me - culturally, socio-economically, ethnically, religiously, politically, artistically, intellectually different - I feel like I've had these 'AHA moments' all my life. And what the moments almost always boil down to is: though our differences are often vast - our human experiences: our reactions, our desires, our emotions are often very similar. And that has made the world seem pretty fucking amazing to me, despite the struggles and the suffering and the never ending treadmill to 'make it better'... that knowledge verges on religious for me, having one of those moments or remembering them has often brought me a sense of faith and hope - when I've felt defeated or exhausted.


*The Smith College Botanical Gardens (especially in the winter, it's a mini-refuge)
*The Montague Book Mill who's tag line is: "Books you don't need, in a place you can't find"
*Downtown Northampton because it has everything you could want in a "small town" Main Street district, original buildings, bustling sidewalks, bike paths, fun shops, artisan boutiques, restaurants of every flavour, cafes, and (mostly) friendly, happy people.


Margaret Sheperd is quoted as saying:
"Sometimes your only available transportation is a leap of faith"

Give me three 'leaps of faith' you have taken, or if you're feeling brave, give me three 'leaps of faith' you should take.