With so much magic and wonder on the set of The Lion King, it was the image of the great Baobab tree where Rafiki the Mandrill lived that has stuck with me most. This is a sacred tree of the African savannahs, one that brings shelter and comfort to humans and creatures alike.
I found this […]

Once upon a time, I thought I might want to be a librarian when I grew up. I enrolled in graduate school and started night classes, pleased to be learning something new. I didn’t really like my first teacher because he told me most of the people in his class would figure out they didn’t […]

In Alice Walker’s The Temple of My Familiar, Lissie is an old woman who tells stories of her past lives. Although she has lived in the southeastern United States all her life, many of her memories are from Africa.
She remembers living in the African trees in one of her earliest incarnations. She remembers living on […]

My first introduction to Tom Robbins was through his book Skinny Legs and All, and it changed my life, taking me on a very unexpected journey and giving me a direction to follow for years to come.
Tom Robbins set me free. I figured, if he can give a bunch of inaminate objects personalities and purpose […]

One of my dearest friends shared her copy of Alice Walker’s The Temple of My Familiar with me a few years ago, knowing how I was consumed with thoughts of trees and memories of past lives.
Walker’s character Lissie takes us on a journey through history and pre-history. Her memory is long, for “Lissie means ‘the […]

About fifteen years ago I was helping my mother chop down a magnolia tree in her back yard. The poor tree was crammed into this tiny space between the house and the concrete deck surrounding a swimming pool. It was a mercy killing as much as it was a defense of the pool and the […]