Humankind is extraordinarily engrossing, enlightening and … uplifting. A perfect combination.

It may be the best newsmagazine-style show on NPR. Or maybe on the planet.

No offense, Terry Gross.

Find out when it plays on a public radio station near you. Or listen to it on the web. Or download whole programs as MP3s.

It will make your day. It may change your life.

You’ll find the complete archive at (more…)

Soliciting ideas, thoughts, input:

In what ways do we create community in our lives? In what ways do we access community? What are all the various (even esoteric) forms of community?

What do we “get” from community?

How do we manage “community” in (more…)

I dedicate this as an ever-evolving section about artsy eclectic, fiercely independent and ever-evolving Madrid, (pronounced MADrid) New Mexico (about 1-1/2 miles south of my land via deep arroyo and occasional raging river, about 3 miles via twisty dirt and paved mountain roads).

The arroyo roars with flash flood waters from the Ortiz Mountain washes, re-cutting the stream bed and running as deep as 5 feet in narrows (more…)

Yogurt was not something you could buy in a typical grocery store 40 or 50 years ago.

You certainly couldn’t find it sweetened, pre-mixed, in 30 different flavors in little plastic cups.

In fact, most people had no idea what yogurt was. But I did. Because my mother made it. And sold it. And we ate it. Along with her coarse, nasty, raw-wheat-germ bread and muffins.

That was bread in our house those years. No white flour — except for the occasional birthday cake. No candy at home, except on Christmas. No toasted wheat germ. Just raw wheat germ. Which has a bitter flavor and aftertaste. Toasting the wheat germ degrades its nutritional value. Think my Dad got that from Adele Davis. Or J. I. Rodale.

We had brewer’s yeast drinks daily — which I still like. And a handful of carefully chosen vitamins laid out for us. And raw sunflower seeds for snacks. And for treat, “wheat germ candy.”

Wheat germ candy was wheat germ and powdered milk and honey mixed together and pressed out (more…)