Poetry: An Invitation
Tuesday, May 6th, 2008April was National Poetry Month, and what a heart-warming celebration the past few weeks have been for me:
Archive for the ‘Poetry’ Category
Who Is Blameless?
Monday, February 4th, 2008These days, whatever your nationality or political leaning, it’s easy to feel a sense of despondency about the condition of our world.
- American leaders blame Arab extremists.
- Arabs accuse the West.
- The Jews fault the Muslims.
- Iran suspects Christians.
- Democrats indict Republicans.
- Republicans blame China.
- China complains about American liberals.
- Liberals point to Conservatives.
- Christian conservatives say it’s God’s will.
In our fear and anger, we all demand action, but when it’s time for action, we ask indignantly,
Who me? What can I do? (more…)
Esfaniari Released - Iran Hears Our Combined Voices
Tuesday, August 21st, 2007 
Last month, while attending the International Women’s Peace Conference in Dallas, I was reminded of the plight of women around the world. Inspired to be more proactive, I returned home to find an opportunity to do that. The Feminist Majority Foundation, a group I link to at my website, www.InSpiritry.com, was requesting for emails to be sent to the Iranian government regarding an imprisoned Iranian-American scholar, Dr. Haleh Esfandiari. It told how Dr. Esfandiari had traveled from the United States to visit her elderly mother and, while in Iran, was abducted and imprisoned. That evening I saw an Iranian propaganda videotape of the scholar as well as a public television interview with her husband and daughter begging for her release, claiming she had lost weight and seemed dejected. I was compelled to take action. Immediately, I sent an impassioned email to Iranian officials as requested.
That was a month ago. (more…)
A Hundred Ways
Monday, August 6th, 2007There are a hundred ways to kneel and kiss the ground.
Jelaluddin Balkhi (Rumi)
The Essential Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks
Imagine yourself so filled with gratitude and joy that you feel compelled to kneel–to kneel!–and kiss the very ground on which you stand, to thank God/Nature/Life for the pleasure and priviledge of living! Now imagine a hundred ways to express that joy!
InSpiritry Podcast: Peacemaking
Monday, July 9th, 2007
InSpiritry PODCASTS-
Twenty Minutes to Rekindle Your Spirit!
Theme: Peacemaking
Are you disturbed by the conflict in the world or maybe even the conflict in your own life?
Join Anne McCrady for this as she takes a look at how we can be peacemakers for ourselves and others.
Anne shares how peace is not just the absence of global violence, peace is a choice we make about how we live each day. In this compelling program, Anne McCrady inspires listeners to make peace a personal intention and peacemaking a daily practice. She reminds listeners that if we join forces for peace, the outcome can be a better world, a healthier society, a more loving family and that greatest of blessings: a peaceful heart.
Quotes by: Mahatma Gandhi, Howard Hunter, John F. Kennedy, Deepak Chopra, Isabel McCrady
An Inspirational Story about: Betty Williams, Northern Ireland Peace Activitist, 1977 Nobel Peace Laureate
Books Recommendations for: Peace Is the Way by Deepak Chopra; The Search for a Non-Violent Future by Michael Nagler; Speak Peace by Marshall B. Rosenber
Poems: What I Tell Children and Sus Madres by Anne McCrady
Read the complete text for this Podcast! (more…)
No One Told Us - The American Experience
Friday, June 8th, 2007
Posted by Anne McCrady
Every year as June begins, I am returned to the joy of being ten or twelve with a whole summer ahead. Those days in the mid sixties were a hot, humid heaven!
Already there were forces at work inside me as I took part in the American experience. A science nerd, a Southerner, a white female, an upper middle class Christian, I saw the world as safe and just with unlimited potential, and I wanted that for everyone (especially the unconverted people we had never seen in China and Africa and Russia).
But there were things to come we could not foresee. (more…)
Hope as Public Health Policy
Tuesday, May 8th, 2007With all that the tragedy we see in the world, hope seems to be in short supply these days, yet it is essential if we are to believe we can change the world.
Where do you find hope?
Who is a source of hopefulness for you?
How can we instill hope in others?
I believe words used well can do a lot to keep hope alive: stories, poems, essays, conversations, sacred texts. Each week or so, I will be producing InSpiritry Podcasts for the Greater Good. I hope you will find hope there.
For now, believing in the power of poetry to inspire, here is a poem I wrote years ago that has become a mainstay of my inspirational presentations and performances.
Just imagine what this kind of health policy could do for the world! (more…)