Karen joy Brown

There is no situation too difficult to be bettered and no unhappiness too great to be lessened. This mic drop of a sentence forms a part of the closing reading in Al Anon. I'm sure I repeated it a hundred…

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I just finished a meditation from a favorite new source, Artist Morning. The title of the mediation, Calling All Angels, would have put me off before. But I am currently much…

One of the things we learn at Al Anon meetings is self-compassion. Strangely enough, we do this by listening to each other week after week, non-judgmentally, with a loving smile on our face and hugs after the meeting if we…

What does fear feel like to you? 

During a conversation with my Al-Anon sponsor about leaving my life-long public teaching profession, she delicately but directly suggested that what I was really talking about was fear. I had called to sort…

While I have compiled and recorded two music albums, I have yet to put together or publish a poetry chapbook. Since it's only been a year and a half since my father died, it's not surprising that I've been starting…

I woke up in the early morning dark in a funky old $600 a month apartment above the old El Rey theater downtown. Aware of it being at least $200 more than I could afford, I couldn't resist the second…

There's going to be construction every day this whole summer vacation right outside my front door. The city is tearing up the street to replace water pipes; a necessity for long term viability. This was not good news for my…

I’ve been thinking a lot about Mary for several months now and woke up compelled to write about her this Mother’s Day morning. Not growing up Catholic, my relationship with her is distant and my impressions vague. Even so, she…

In the second episode, meet guest/co-host Katie Phillip and learn how music and Al-Anon brought her and Karen together as they deconstruct Hafiz's poem, "I Know the Way You Can Get," uncovering the roots of our exasperated behavior.  

SONGS IN…

Good friends push us in a good way. After talking to one of those good friends at a rough spot in the beginning of this new year, I decided to to publish the first episode from a podcast I started…

Sun sparkled on the water as I surveyed king tide waves at Bodega Head on my fiftieth birthday. I asked Higher Power what I should focus on this mile-marker of a year. A delightful series of images and ideas rolled…

I didn’t want to do it. I wanted to write about something else, to distance myself from a profession with which I’m locked in a terminal love-hate relationship. Surely, as I boldy devoted precious morning energy hours toward the creative…