Jewish Folk Tale: The Shepherd and His Flute

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February has been designated as JDAIM, the Jewish Disability Awareness and Inclusion Month.  I have long mused how traditional Jewish folk tales and folk songs are rich with messages about inclusion, tolerance and refraining from judgement of another.  Clearly our ancestors knew that  there was room for all kinds of people in any community.  This is one of my favorite old stories.  It is here both in text and in a recording.  The recording includes a special treat that cannot … Continue reading →

“First Day Butterflies” or “First Day Angry Dragons” in Your Belly?

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Young people all over the northern hemisphere are starting back to school at this time. Locally, some school systems started last week, some this week, some next week. My 22-year-old son, who has autism, is going back to his third year at art school….and feeling anxious about the new beginning, to say the least. This morning, I received a notice from the blog published by the Children’s Music Network (https://childrensmusic.org/), about a sweet song that my friend Dorothy Cresswell had … Continue reading →

In Honor of Autism Moms: Motherhood

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It happens regularly: I am performing for a group of families, singing and dancing and genuinely having a great time with everyone. The room is full of children’s laughter and song and unabashed joy. Wow, I think, I have the best job in the world, playing music and making people happy. And then there’s always one kid, with a very tight look in his/her eyes, who just seems to be on a different wave-length, not quite noticing other people’s space, … Continue reading →

Is It A Good Thing, Is It A Bad Thing?

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I have often said that the most significant day of my life was the day that I heard the story of The Horse. The story’s premise is that it is pointless to judge events as good or bad, because what often looks good can lead to bad and vice versa, what looks bad often leads to good. The day I heard the story was the day I began to transition from childhood to adulthood, when I began to understand the … Continue reading →

Banu Hoshech Ligaresh/We Have Come to Oust the Dark

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It’s dark outside these days in the northern hemisphere. No wonder that so many cultures and religions have winter holidays that celebrate with light. Diwali, the Hindu winter holiday, Hanukah, the Jewish holiday of lights, Solstice, celebrating the longest night and the return to light, Christmas, Kwanzaa, the African American winter holiday of community, and Chinese New Year, celebrated with lanterns and dragons breathing fire. And of course, world events and politics seem to be reflecting that light/dark conundrum as … Continue reading →

We All Love To Feel Smart

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Each year, in the weeks before Thanksgiving, I like to share a wonderful picture book called “Thanks For Thanksgiving,” (written by Julie Markes and illustrated by Doris Barette,) with my music classes. I created a gentle melody to accompany its lovely simple rhymes. This year, one rhyme really stood out to me: along with numerous thanks for everyday things, on one page it says “Thank you for school, I love to feel smart; thank you for music and dancing and … Continue reading →

How Truly Inclusive Can A Tent Be?

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Many of us are hurting today after the Nov. 8, 2016 presidential election. We are scared and concerned. And we are looking at both a country and an entire world that is clearly expressing pain, anger and fear. Just like in the US political scene, there are so many countries around the world that have fairly recently elected new, extremely conservative governments, or have adopted separatist, divisive, exclusionary policies aimed at keeping out the “other.” People who voted like me … Continue reading →

Is Addressing “The Elephant In The Room” a “Social-Interaction Difficulty?”

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Google the “signs of autism” and the very first thing that pops up on most of the lists is, “social-interaction difficulties.” As I have had the privilege to live in different cultures, and as culture determines what kind of social interactions are deemed appropriate, I’ve long wondered about how hard and fast this determination of autism can be, since social rules vary greatly from culture to culture. This was extremely apparent when we arrived in this country in 1998 when … Continue reading →

Yom Kippur – A Day To Assess How We Relate to Others, Or, Don’t Judge!

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Last night was the beginning of the observance of the Jewish Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, when we traditionally ask for forgiveness from those we feel we have wronged. Rosh HaShanah, the Jewish New Year, always falls 10 days before Yom Kippur, and the New Year is a time of self-reflection about one’s own behavior through the past year, and how we might like to work to improve things.  Yom Kippur, on the other hand, is a time to reach … Continue reading →