In the Cab with Dream Queen

This week’s book club discussion covers Kahlil Gibran’s “The Prophet” “On Pleasure.” When do we give ourselves (and others) permission to serve ourselves the nectar of Being? No day is promised to any one of us, recent tumultuous times aside. The body and its needs and desires are not a burden, but “the harp of your soul, and it is yours to bring forth sweet music from it or confused sounds,” as G...

Travis and I in the book club discussing Kahlil Gibran’s “The Prophet” “On Prayer.” “For what is prayer but the expansion of yourself into the living ether?” Ah, such a beautiful piece, such a delightful conversation. We touch on dharma, the paradox of existence, the mind and body, vows and being an intentional being. Join us. Listen to the complete radio show as it aired LIVE on KMRD-LP, at the M...

Bad DJ joins me to talk about closeness and healing. What is possible once we stop identifying with our traumatic wounds? Is completion possible? How can we support our loved ones and ourselves through the process? An important reminder about culturalization and being human in America today, the challenges we face regarding isolation, rage, and Love. We revisit “All About Love,” “The Chiron Comple...

Travis returns to the book club to discuss “The Prophet” “On Good and Evil.” Gibran says, “Of the good in you I can speak, but not of the evil. For what is evil but good tortured by its own hunger and thirst?” We also branch out to the multiverse, the “mano-sphere,” authenticity, Don Miguel’s Parasite (what?) and another thing or two. Pulling threads and spreading seeds of ideas. Join us. Visit th...

I talk about Nina Simone's song “Why? (The King of Love Is Dead)” and the “Unfulfilled Dreams” of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The song was written and recorded live at the Westbury Music Fair three days after the April 4, 1968 assassination of Dr. King. I weave in current astrology: the Libra Full Moon, more about Neptune’s big transit, Mars, Venus and Saturn’s conversation, and how their epic myt...

I welcome Little Queen Trash Mouth in her role as a food systems expert to talk about food security, the current state of the US food chain, the stigma attached to food assistance, what to brace for this year, and how we can support each other immediately and going forward. We had a little scheduling mix up, which brought Travis to spontaneously join us for a conversation that is practical, spirit...

I welcome Travis Stroope back to the book club discussion of Kahlil Gibran’s “The Prophet.” This week is the poem “On Time.” Gibran says: “The timeless in you is aware of life’s timelessness…” Travis and I traverse the known and ponder the unknown, discuss how we each measure the passing of moments, the nature of memory, our existence through vibration and harmonics, and our society’s serious need...

I went off track a couple of weeks ago, and am circling back now to discuss Kahlil Gibran’s poem “On Friendship” alongside bell hooks’s “all about love: new visions” chapter on community. As we navigate these divisive times where many people are facing executive orders that put our lives at risk, some of us find our relationships are suffering. What is at stake has put friendships under pressure a...

ITC Book Club continues with Kahlil Gibran's "The Prophet," Chapter 19, "On Talking.” My papers got jumbled this week, and we find ourselves out of order with “On Talking” instead of “On Friendship.” We’ll circle back to friendship next time. In this episode, I discuss how the poems on talking and teaching seemed related. “You talk when you cease to be at peace with your thoughts…” Who can be at p...

ITC Book Club continues with Kahlil Gibran's "The Prophet," Chapter 18, "On Teaching.” This week, this life, is full of teaching and learning moments. In my opinion, we are in school and forced to learn hard lessons together, especially here in America. Alongside Gibran’s poem, I hold up yesterday’s Oval Office interaction between the two presidents, Zelenskyy and Trump. I share the nuance of what...

In The Cab On the Road with wood sculptor, Travis Stroope. Travis and I continue the book club discussion of “The Prophet” by Kahlil Gibran. Travis is a captivating story-teller, taking us on a journey from New Mexico to the jungles of Jamaica, where he discovered the book and felt its impact. We talk spirituality, parenthood, our collective future, life in rural Jamaica and New Mexico, and more....

ITC Book Club continues with Kahlil Gibran's "The Prophet," Chapter 17, "On Self-Knowledge.” “Self is a sea, boundless and measureless.” In a time when the Truth is buried, knowing one’s self, and embracing and enhancing one’s intuition in order to have discernment is of utmost importance. Self-Knowledge is a survival tool. Also, don’t become a robot. I hope you will join me on the journey with th...

ITC Book Club continues with Kahlil Gibran's "The Prophet," Chapter 16, "On Pain.” “Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding.” No one likes to hear how necessary suffering is for growth, yet here we are. In this episode, Gibran and I try to make use of the pain that is to be endured and accepted. Who can “watch with serenity through the winters of your grief,” as he...

ITC Book Club continues with Kahlil Gibran's "The Prophet," Chapter 15, "On Reason and Passion.” Gibran states: “Your soul is oftentimes a battlefield, upon which you reason and your judgement wage war against your passion and your appetite.” According to Gibran, “reason, ruling alone, is a force confining, and passion, unattended, is a flame that burns to its own destruction.” I draw some connect...

Welcome to the first broadcast from the “In The Cab, On The Road” series. This is a pre-recorded field interview with my neighbor Barbara Branche. Barbara shares her experiences as a peace/civil rights activist in the 1970’s to 2017. She offers wisdom on how to stay safe and live according to one’s own moral compass in a world and time when this may be unpopular and dangerous. We also welcome her...

This episode is a meeting of words from Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, and Khalil Gibran. I read from selected sermons by Dr. King, melding them with the next topic from "The Prophet", by Khalil Gibran, "On Freedom." Very appropriate for the observation of Dr. King's Day. Please join me. "The Prophet" is in public domain and widely available online. Visit our Linktree to see the book club resour...

ITC Book Club continues with Kahlil Gibran's "The Prophet," Chapter 13, "On Laws.” It is a piece addressing the notion that those who make laws are usually driven by their own Shadow, rather than what is Just. What of laws that are made only to bend otherwise Free Spirits to the will of the powerful? I hope you will join me on the journey with this stirring text. "The Prophet" is in public domain...

ITC Book Club continues with Kahlil Gibran's "The Prophet," Chapter 12, "On Crime and Punishment.” I consider this to be the first in a series of 3 poems on Justice. This is the longest poem in the book, aside from the introductory and closing chapters. In this piece, Gibran presents the idea that we are each responsible for the other, and for our own demise. I weave in theories of Collective Resp...

ITC Book Club continues with Kahlil Gibran's "The Prophet," Chapter 11, "On Buying and Selling.” In this poem Gibran states about the marketplace: “Unless the exchange be in love and kindly justice, it will but lead some to greed and others to hunger." We go deeper into American culture’s relationship with greed, from colonization to overwork, to worth of self and others. This powerful piece remin...

ITC Book Club continues with Kahlil Gibran's "The Prophet," Chapter 10, "On Clothes.” “And though you seek in garments the freedom of privacy, you may find in them a harness and chain.” Things get a little spicy here as the topic of clothing, modesty and privacy segue into a discussion of desire, women’s autonomy, the abusive nature of patriarchy and assault. I hope you will join me on the journey...

ITC Book Club continues with Kahlil Gibran's "The Prophet," Chapter 9, "On Houses.” In this piece, Gibran illustrates the home as an extension of the dweller, and he also calls us back to consider the wild, loner nature of the deep self. I would be remiss to discuss houses without touching on the issue of housing and the houseless community members in our lives. Sanctuary, perceived security and c...

TC Book Club continues with Kahlil Gibran's "The Prophet," Chapter 8, "On Joy and Sorrow.” This poem opens with the line: “Your joy is your sorrow unmasked.” It reflects the times this week in the US, as many took cathartic glee in the shooting of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO. As nonviolence is often a topic on this show, in the light of our last book club selection, sermons by Martin Luther King, Jr.,...

ITC Book Club continues with Kahlil Gibran's "The Prophet," Chapter 7, "On Work.” One of Gibran's famous lines is, "Work is love made visible." How do we embody love in our work within a society where, for many, work is the source of tribulation? Can the joy found in volunteerism and creating art replace what cannot be exchanged in the construct of commerce? I ponder this and more, after reading t...

ITC Book Club continues with Kahlil Gibran's "The Prophet," Chapter 6, "On Eating and Drinking.” Coincidentally, this reading falls on the weekend before the biggest feast day in the States. As many gather to give thanks and partake, we are reminded that all beings are interconnected, life for life. Gibran advises: “…let your board stand an altar on which the pure and the innocent of forest and pl...

ITC Book Club continues with Kahlil Gibran's "The Prophet," Chapter 5, "On Giving.” In this poem Gibran explains the common motivations behind charity, and the ultimate rewards. We are all deserving givers and receivers, through which we are witness and tools of the Divine. “You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.” I hope you will...