Monday Morning Muse

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Someday I’ll write a song for the country that I love. Today I practiced the 4th verse of Francis Scott Key’s “The Spar-Spangled Banner” after a morning walk ‘round Prospect Park Hill in Somerville. The Grand Union flag is a beauty surrounded by pollinator gardens and birdsong. Muse on this: what song do you most associate with a place you love? Many of my favorites are protest songs that capture...

Von’Erik Barren-Tucker has a mind like no other. From roller blading as movement meditation to commending hyper awareness as a form of artistry, this conversation has had me marveling all day long. I prefer in-person connection to screen time, so it was fun to sit down in my apartment living room for this conversation. Talking with someone who thinks in code kaleidoscopically helps me see more cle...

for Fieldsy top row far left Soprano 1 steady gaze, lyrics memorized, worlds of adolescent wanting waiting on the other side of this concert for students you are haven, for colleagues you are ballast, to your family you are the door that won’t ever be deadbolted in February you let me take this yarn June 6th I’m knitting leg warmers back pew Portsmouth while you read Wendell Berry to introduce Dee...

Hannah Trav , Esq. is a stand-up comedian, writer, and lawyer based in Philadelphia. We helped grow each other up by sharing church life in the 90’s and early 2000’s. Hannah is witty, winsome, and dynamic on stage. As a kid she made up sketch comedy with friends. We both remember her hilarious turn as Abednego in the kazoo-wielding Biblical musical It’s Cool in the Furnace . In this conversation H...

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mondaymorningmuse.substack.com/subscribe

Bob and I go way back: I posted about his kidney transplant 14 months ago, but we met c. 2008 at Stoneridge Children’s Montessori School, where I taught two of his four children and we shared the effervescence of early childhood magic. I had the good fortune of coaching Bob as a singer 2018-2020; in this video we reference musicals like Big River and Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat . Bo...

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mondaymorningmuse.substack.com/subscribe

Five-year-old me pipes up to begin this episode. While aspects of the memory are blurry, I’ll never forget the feelings of indignation that came when I was accused of stealing a toy. While I recently took a roll of painter’s tape from a workday at Windhover Performing Arts Center , I confessed it in an email to my friends there within 24 hours. My confessional streak - childlike at times - makes s...

Aloha vibes to the nth degree with the empathic and comedic Ryan Wilson. His Linked In profile suggests that he knows his stuff when it comes to sustainability and complex systems. This conversation runs the gamut from human psychology to spiritual practice, and it comes back again and again to the joy of being an inhabitant, explorer, and protector of Mother Earth. Ryan and I will schedule a live...

Wonderer, Warrior, and Witness. Triadic conversations delight me just as much as alliteration. Here I play the wonderer while introducing Warrior Von’Erik to bring in truth & tech-speak. Our wise & winsome Witness is Danika, Substack’s own Literary Spinster . Next week: I will air a conversation with Ryan Wilson , local engineer and consultant who is deep-diving on Boston Climate Week . I’ve enjoy...

Poetry, courageous expression, and compassionate action may yet shift the tides of foolishness and greed in the direction of love. I grew up learning that miracles can happen and I’ve seen many of them in my 45 years. This evening I’ll be facilitating Roxbury Read Aloud at Long Live Brewery : it’s a monthly event that’s just getting started. In this episode, I share video footage of Michelle LaPoe...

It’s Marathon Monday here in Boston, and over the past few days, I’ve fist-bumped women who traveled from France, England, and Michigan to test their endurance. The vivacity of these women may inspire a new song, but Robert Pipkins would advise me to stay focused. Rob made Olympic history in the sport of luge and here opens up about a few things you won’t find on his Wikipedia page or Linked In ....

Jahmo Chavez and I recorded this last Thursday afternoon…in between carrying boxes up and down the stairs of my old apartment. It was important to me to bless the space through song before I finished moving out, and Jahmo was the perfect soulful friend to help. Jahmo and I met at a Martin Luther King Jr. Day event in 2025, where he was a featured performer. Late in this video you will see a quick...

In this episode of Monday Morning Muse on Substack, I share a song by the amazing @joyoladokun to honor her birthday. This episode includes a brief description of "traumagic," a term I may or may not have coined a year or so ago. We are welcoming in spring on Easter Monday and uplifting hope even when the state of the world feels frightening. This episode talks about the power of the @bostoncyclis...

I start this episode reading Kobayashi Issa (1763-1828) as translated by Lucien Stryk & Takashi Ikemoto in John Brehm’s marvelous anthology The Poetry of Impermanence, Mindfulness, and Joy . Next, I give a quick recap of last year’s creative venture 44.4 the Musical , which is in the rewrite process and will become a documentary film at some point in the next three years. I briefly talk about Jake...

Tip of my tongue to the back of my teeth. Hand on belly, thumb at my tummy button. This is the term she’s using. I chuckle. Might as well be nine again, ready to audition for Annie , the songs memorized and determination gleaming in my eyes. I let sock feet sink into the crevices of the longsuffering slatted floor. My toes are tree roots imbibing breath. An “s” sound before vocal folds press toget...

This conversation was a long time coming! Claudia and I became friends in late 2017 when we swapped services: she is a masterful business coach who centers healing, growth, and gentle wisdom. You can find her in New Hampshire and on her website, https://hanielconsulting.com . I feel honored to uplift the voice of an introverted truth teller who is proud of her daughters, her capacity for heart-att...

Thanks for checking out this collaboration! Our posts are public: feel free to share the love :) Hannah Lynn Mell is Monday Morning Muse on Substack and can also be found in other social media spaces, including YouTube & Instagram. Her coaching practice is called Total Resonance (out of the Merrimack Valley in Massachusetts) & her Instagram team profile is team44point4. This is a public episode. I...

Hi there! As we navigate seasons changing & our individual wants and wonderings, I love my friend Andrea Coates Vinson ’s question. What if we do belong and the limitless love is all around us? I hope to someday share a podcast of a conversation with Andrea, but the question itself (from a poem she penned in November 2020) may make your week a little kinder, a little gentler. I include other favor...

Good morning! This is where I begin a new series, asking questions that prompt a mindset change. Feel free to skip the video. You can respond in comments here or on another social media platform. I’ll do a live video recording with someone that gets posted on YouTube by week’s end! If you have a question that prompted a mindset change for you, or if thinking about this question is helpful, please...

Mama, listen to “Sit down, you’re rocking the boat” from The Music Man. If you don’t know what I’m doing, it’s just ‘cause I’m not telling you yet. Said every writer ever. I’m not trying to be rude if I don’t respond to a comment. I’m just working on something that’s not finished yet! Monday Morning Muse is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming...

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mondaymorningmuse.substack.com/subscribe

Recently on YouTube I posted a quick rendition of an old worship song I recorded in 2002. The actual recording is what you’re hearing in this post. But as I sit in my new apartment in downtown Boston, I’m remembering “ messy desk zen ,” a 2012 post I wrote for my WordPress blog - Breathe Deep. The old blog could stand a redesign, but no rush. While I (hopefully) gather a little unemployment for th...

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mondaymorningmuse.substack.com/subscribe