On May 15, 2026 Dalyce Elliott Young and I performed music and poetry from our 2011 CD Perfect Harmony. This episode is the recording of two of the evening's pieces, Ibn Hazm's Overhanging Boughs, and Ibn El-Arabi's Perfect Harmony. Brothers Jesse and Ryan Dermody provided percussion for these two pieces.

On May 15, 2026 The Brothers Burn Mountain, Jesse and Ryan Dermody, joined my wife Dalyce and I for a music and poetry presentation at the American School of Storytelling in Minneapolis. Jesse played percussion and Ryan played guitar. Dalyce provide her uniquely beautiful violin improvisations. on Alone With Her.

On April 26, 2026 Dougie Padilla, Thomas R. Smith and I read poems for a Como Cottage Poetry Scrum. This is the third round of this non-competitive scrum. We had a great time, and heard each other read great poems, too.

After five years working in Frogtown, and helping establish the Frogtown Community Association, I had to find other projects to work on. The United Way cut the FCA's share of funding for this impoverished neighborhood. Other funders followed the United Way's lead. Frogtown was the poorest and most heterogenous community in the Twin Cities metropolitan area. Hundreds of neighbors had volunteered at the center. One year 4,000 of the 13,000 residents put in 40,000 volunteer hours at the center. The moneyed interests abandoned the area much too soon.

On April 26, 2026 Dougie Padilla, Thomas R. Smith and myself were featured for a Como Cottage Poetry Scrum. This is the second round of this non-competitive scrum. We had a great time, ribbing one another, too.

This essay was published in the first online issue of the magazine, Inroads, Creativity, Men, Soul on April 1, 2026. The original Inroads Magazine existed in the late 80s and the early 90s and was published by Anthony Signorelli with contributing editors Jonathan Stensland, John Lang and Thomas R. Smith. These magazines featured essays by James Hillman and poetry by Robert Bly and other men affiliated with or influenced by the Minnesota Men's Conferences Bly began in the early 80s. A few of my essays and poems also appeared there.

On April 26, 2026 Dougie Padilla, Thomas R. Smith and myself were featured for a Como Cottage Poetry Scrum. This is the first round for this non-competitive scrum. We had a great time, a phun time, as Dougie says.