smshige3Feb 31 min“It’s all about ME!”Occasionally I’m asked to be on a stage under bright lights with a microphone facing an audience staring and maybe listening. Before I go...
smshige3Jan 272 minGood-bye Body! I am more than just youMy friend just lost a precious body part. She writes that she grieves the loss of something so wonderful and vitalizing. Isa is a master...
smshige3Jan 241 min“You’ve come a long way, baby!”98 years, what a miracle! Not many people get to celebrate so many birthdays. A rebellious Tokyo girl who survived war, sexual and racial...
smshige3Jan 202 minWhen a child is bornThere was a huge earthquake just before our son was born but all our attention was on him. He needed to get out of the womb and begin...
smshige3Jan 131 minIt's my birthdayIt’s my birthday. WHOOPEE! Another year older. OH BOY! One step closer to the grave. CAN'T WAIT! Yeah, the thrill is gone. Just can’t...
smshige3Jan 111 minRe-memberRe-member— to put ourselves back together after being torn apart by life. Remember your lost loves with a poem. Make rituals and special...
smshige3Jan 61 min“Until it’s time for you to go”She jumped on the bed and licked my face. Was I in heaven? Or was I dreaming? Neither, I soon realized. I was awake and the dog was...
smshige3Dec 9, 20211 minAsking for blessingsWhen people who have met for the first time or anticipate some future connection, the ritual ending in Japanese is, Yoroshiku onegai...
smshige3Dec 2, 20211 minTrees of the TempleThe trees in the temple garden were scarred and yet still growing. Some had been split in half, burned, or shattered. But the wounds had...
smshige3Nov 10, 20211 minHow can you mend a broken heart?"How can you mend a broken heart? How can you stop the rain from falling down? How can you stop the sun from shining? What makes the...
smshige3Nov 8, 20213 minChoosing to not live with hate In the play Blue Lotus, written by Elaine Lai, I was the Old Man, a temporary emanation of the Awakened One, in an utterly ordinary form....
smshige3Nov 5, 20211 minBlue LotusMaking my acting debut tomorrow in Blue Lotus, an audio play written and directed by Elaine Lai with co-direction and sound design by...
smshige3Nov 4, 20213 minAs good as it gets!When I received the news that my book had reached a fourth printing I thought I’d find a happy photo of the time when it had first been...
smshige3Nov 1, 20211 minThe doggie monthNovember is my doggie month. That's because it's the eleventh month and the number "one" sounds like a dog's bark in Japanese, "wan." So...
smshige3Oct 28, 20212 minCelebrating Asian GrandmothersIn response to the horrific violence against Asian elderly we held a stuck-at-home concert in May celebrating the power and grace of...
smshige3Oct 25, 20211 minMomotaro: Storytelling the Peach Boy紙芝居 Kamishibai. A classic story of Kamishibai is Momotaro, the Peach Boy, that goes back at least to Edo Japan. The gods bestow kindness...