Random Connect Points:
Reba's Stories

House concert: (hous KON-sert) - A gathering of friends and neighbors in an intimate home setting to celebrate and support local musicians. OK … so I kind of made up that definition, but that does describe the concept. The practice of house concerts goes back generations to Appalachian traditions. Performers en route to another gig may have a free night so they would play at a host’s home along the way in exchange for a good meal and place to lay his head. The host would charge a small ticket price with proceeds going to the performer. So that’s what’s going on October 28 – a house concert featuring the fabulous Danielle Howle. And actually Danielle is kind of en route to another performance (she kicks off touring with the Indigo Girls out west starting November 11), and this will be her last hometown date before she takes off … so let’s give her a huge Columbia send-off. If you aren’t familiar with Danielle’s work , you need to be! Friend her on Facebook and follow her o...

The end of summer means cleaning out the beach leftovers from my car…the orphaned flip flop, a broken beach chair, fraying towels, empty sunscreen bottles. Then there's that LL Bean bag stuffed with books I had planned back in June to start, finish or re-read. A quick inventory tells me I've gotten at least halfway through almost every book. The same is true for a similar bag stuffed with yet more books I keep in the house. Plus, I also always have a book in my computer bag, bike backpack, car, gym bag and travel carry-on for those unanticipated moments where I can read a few pages. Almost every book is about words. If someone who loves all things about food is a foodie, I guess those of us who love words could be called a "wordie." Not much makes me happier than an hour just browsing in a bookstore - independent, not a chain, of course (this earlier blog post  makes the case for an indy bookstore in Columbia). I’ve developed a travel habit of seeking out loca...

“ The really wonderful moments of joy in this world are not the moments of self-satisfaction, but self-forgetfulness. Standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon and contemplating your own greatness is pathological. At such moments we are made for a magnificent joy that comes from outside ourselves. ” I found this quote while doing research for my recent trip to the Grand Canyon. It really resonated with me, so I pasted it into my journal wondering if I’d have this same reaction to seeing the Grand Canyon. A conference in Phoenix recently gave me the chance to fly out a couple of days early and experience this natural treasure. A Grand Canyon visit had always been a travel bucket list item, so being less than four hours away, it made sense to take an extra day. Two willing travel companions – my sister, Bootie, and her 18 year-old son, John – gave me good reason to make more than a day trip out of the visit. We had a great two-and-a-half days at the national park expe...

Note: I always enjoy writing when my professional interests can overlap with personal passions. This article appeared in the August issue of Midlands Anchor. What are the building blocks of a great community? The quick answer might be money, political will or progressive leadership. Certainly these elements are important. But in most cases, real community boils down to trust, connections and relationships. The arts and culture environment in a community can be a driving force in establishing and cultivating these connections. Communities that invest in a flourishing arts and culture scene are the communities that thrive across demographic and geographic lines in good times and in challenging times. These connections build the social capital necessary to create the community engagement that drives economic growth. Just as a business needs an ongoing investment of financial capital to be successful and grow, a community needs an ongoing investment of social capital to b...

With all the awful name-calling during this political season, it got me thinking about the importance of name. T.S. Eliot’s beautiful poem “ The Naming of Cats ” is one of my favorite songs in the play “Cats.” It contemplates the importance of a name. The great self-improvement guru Dale Carnegie once said, “Remember that a person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language” I couldn’t agree more. One little thing that matters to me greatly is for people to remember my name. Maybe it’s important because I’m just so bad at remembering people’s names. I try those tricks you learn in leadership development classes – find a feature of that person to remind you of his name. But if I look at someone named Ernest and try and remember his name by the fact his hair looks like a bird’s nest, I probably end up calling him something like Jay or Robin next time I see him. A name is everyone’s most personal possession. It’s your label, your identi...

Writing can be a personal expression of creativity, experience, knowledge, expertise and connection. It's an art and a science where the practicality of clarity and crisp communication converge with the creativity of inspiration and flow. Rules abound in the craft of writing, and many of them deserve respect. I love the structure of rules in life and especially love rules for writing. I spend many hours reading about the craft, the rules and how the writers whose work I love approach their writing. My reading preferences reflect my love of writing. Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird, the classic on the craft of writing, sits dog-eared and well-loved at the top of my stack of books I re-read when I need inspiration. The day the new AP Stylebook comes out is always reason for celebration for me. My new copy already has sticky notes clinging to the pages. And doesn't everyone still have their high school grade grammar book? Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) the writing prof...

Today is the one-year the "bike-iversary" of the day I wedged my new yellow bike into the back seat of my convertible and drove it home to Columbia from the Greenville bike shop.   It was an impulse buy for sure. I’d always liked a bike as much as the next gal when I was growing up. A bike was just part of the southern suburban experience. Getting new bikes was kind of a rite of passage from tricycles to training wheels to first real bikes to cool teenager bikes to grown up practical bikes. I have a great photo of me and my grandfather as I sat on my first tricycle. As a tween, I loved my pink bike with the banana seat and sissy bar. The last bike I owned was stolen from my backyard in Washington more than 25 years ago. Since then, it wasn’t I disliked biking…it just never came up as a mode or transportation or form of exercise. A year ago, I had the random chance to rent a bike one hot, sunny Friday afternoon in Greenville. I stopped into the shop I’d ...