Recommendations

Rick on YouTube.

Go to YouTube and type in Rick Gilbert. Along with many others with that name, you will find some of my Speaking Up: Surviving Executive Presentations videos. I especially like this one:

Go to number 3:35 to see me grab a cell phone and toss it across the room. Thanks to Amy Ferber for helping with this routine.

Longfellow Reads Longfellow

Longtime friend from my speaking days, Layne Longfellow, has released an amazing CD, Longfellow Reads Longfellow; Dreams That Cannot Die. The content and production quality  are top of the line: Layne’s poetic, soulful reading, plus beautiful musical accompaniment, plus a 64-page booklet with all the poems and production details.

An extraordinary package. For more info: www.laynelongfellow.com

BTW, Layne is, in fact, a distant relative of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

Shine On / Terry Garthwaite

 Imagine a blend of gospel, the rhythms of the Joy of Cooking, and Gregorian Chants, all blended together with the spirituality of the high priestess of song, Terry Garthwaite and you’ve got a new album, Shine On.

This remarkable CD presents the highest quality of harmony and instrumentation. Some of the musicians are veterans of the Joy of Cooking, yet instrumentation including a harp, a glass harp, and a cello reflects Terry’s journey beyond rock and roll.

For more information: njoy@terrygarthwaite.com

Choosing To Die

I’ve been a huge supporter of Compassion and Choices, the organization behind California’s new “aid in dying” legislation. So when I learned of the book, Choosing to Die by Phyllis Shacter, I was very interested.

Phyllis wrote the book after helping her husband of 26 years, Allen Alberts, end his life through voluntarily stopping water and food. Allen was suffering from Alzheimer’s and wanted to end his life rather than go on in such a diminished state.  Phyllis was by his side during this process. See her TedX talk, or buy her book: infor@phyllisschacter.com.

Tom Greening’s Poem, Waning

My life is waning much too fast–
I grasp at ways to make it last.
I pile up photos, books, and gelt,
recall emotions I once felt.
But still my time grows racing by,
and still I’m vainly asking why
its end will come before much longer,
doomed by a destiny that’s stronger
than my poor quaking mortal will
which all too soon will fade, be still.

Tom Greening

Tom was a major mentor of mine during my days in psychology, especially as the inspiration for my PhD research dissertation: Jazz, Rock and Roll and the Revolution in Psychotherapy, 1940 – 1975.

In Waning, Tom has nailed the way I’m feeling at 78.

On the lighter side:

Trump got you down? There is a cure: