Home---the heart of our journey from Homer to The Wizard of Oz. I have been exploring this theme for many years, beginning with A Passion for This Earth, a book about our place in the natural world, acclaimed by the geologian, Thomas Berry and the Jungian analyst Marian Woodman---and more recently, with the anthology, Sanctuary: The Inner Life of Home, with contributions from the fields of psychology, architecture, science, literature, and mythology. In process, Our Story of Home, my own essays with writing prompts that allow readers to summon up their own memories. 

 

This new volume contains my musings on the role of cats and music in the house, the pleasures of eating, writing, and reading, the perils of minimalism, and the domestic habits of our literary icons, from Jane Austen, Herman Melville, and Marcel Proust to Mary Oliver and Toni Morrison. 

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Why am I obsessed with home?  Perhaps because I've moved so many times, 32 in all, half of these as an adult. Among my favorite sanctuaries: a Greenwich Village studio, a1790 stone farmhouse in the Hudson Valley, a colonial in Western Massachusetts, a sun-filled condo in the Sonoma wine country, a Georgian apartment overlooking San Francisco Bay, and a cottage among the California redwoods. 

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In 2019, I founded a digital magazine called Reinventing Home that struck a chord during the pandemic when this place became the center of our lives. I was inspired by C.G. Jung who believed that caring for the home provides an much-needed antidote to the speed and stress of modern times.

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Reinventing Home tackled big issues, from the devastating impact of climate change to growing political divisiveness, asking "Who feels at home in America? What is happening to our sense of community and belonging?" 

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Yet the magazine also covered light-hearted themes. With artist Ann Arnold (Fanny at Chez Panisse and Fanny in France) we produced articles on Slow Housekeeping----akin to the Slow Food movement---- focusing on the sensual aspects of keeping up the home.  The poet Rilke found housework an intimate pursuit. After dusting his furniture in the wee hours of the morning, exploring every nook and cranny of the house, he said, "There's nothing that you do not know!" 

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Ann and I also collaborated on The Secret Lives of Our Possessions, exploring the personalities of everyday objects. These pieces have become the basis for two illustrated books, now in their final stages of completion.

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Stay tuned for more on the inner life of home.​​​​​