Maria Shriver

Dana Gray

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Blog Posts

• August 18, 2011

  Creative Experts

  

  5 Tips for Greening Your Graze

  This time of year, there is a bounty of fresh fruit and vegetables to be had, and when I visit the farmer’s market, it kind of makes me want to skip. I take inspiration from all the people devoted to feeding us with their endless labor of love. The abundance, variety, and colors on display are a sensory delight. I want to photograph it, paint it, write it a poem, and then fry it up with some garlic and olive oil. I am particularly inspired by tomatoes this time of year, all sweet, juicy, and sunshiny. The bacon, lettuce, and Perfect Tomato sandwich is one of the most beautiful things on Earth, and it’s all for you. The chorus of a bluegrass song sings, “There’s only two things that money cain’t buy, and that’s true love and home grown toe-maters.”

  Another thing you can’t buy is a new planet. The choices we make about the food we intake influences our health, local communities, and the whole wide world. Please consider these 5 tips for greening your graze:

• July 25, 2011

  Creative Experts

  

  5 Things Happy Campers Know

  Could you successfully organize a group of 50 people in a massive game of capture the flag -- or would you at least seriously consider playing (even though you might be 36 years old)? Do you secretly hope your homeowners association will organize a neighborhood scavenger hunt, or maybe that human resources will facilitate a lively song circle at the next office birthday party? You are an Adult Happy Camper. AHCs are known for a certain playful joie de vivre. Also, most AHCs know all the words to “If I Had a Hammer” and are not totally adverse to a good food fight.

  But summer camp is not all ropes courses, s’mores, and panty raids. In addition to making lifelong friendships at summer camp, many folks inherently learn certain life skills and lessons that travel very well into adulthood. Consider the 5 things happy campers know:

• July 7, 2011

  Creative Experts

  

  Gracious Considerations

  I think some social niceties are being lost along the way as we become more immersed in a “reality” culture of electronic devices and communication technology. There is a growing collective mood around communication that is somewhat childish and ungracious.
  
  Part of what we like about technology is it gives us permission not to listen. We don't have to listen to the human creatures directly in front of us if we are interacting with the electronic device in our hand. We are always in control of email and text messages because we can decide when and how to respond. We can listen when we are ready to listen, or we can just delete it.

• June 8, 2011

  

  10 Things Every Lady Should Know

  As an art teacher, I often find myself mentoring young women. The first young-lady-intervention was an impromptu eyebrow clinic in my classroom at lunch. The young ladies were plucking and tweezing their brows into oblivion, and something had to be done immediately; the advice was well received. As these relationships evolved and the ladies advanced to life beyond the schoolyard, I found myself dispensing more advice -- advice I'd been given from my grandmother, or mother, or summer camp counselors.