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The Everyday Magic Blog

I'm so happy to share my blog, started in 2008 as part of my writing practice and as way to connect directly with you! Please peruse the blog, and sign up to get the latest posts. You can also get my beautifully-produced and illustrated collection of many blog posts, Everyday Magic: Fieldnotes on the Mundane and the Miraculous through Meadowlark Press here. Thanks for being part of my everyday magic.

Birds! Music! And Why is Everyone Yelling at Me?: Everyday Magic, Day 1095

Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg

Mar 14
3 min

Birds! Music! And Why is Everyone Yelling at Me?: Everyday Magic, Day 1095

I finally got hearing aids after several years of Ken and my kids repeating things to me loudly and often with a...

The Miracle of "Fast Car" Then and Now: Everyday Magic, Day 1092

Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg

Feb 11
3 min

The Miracle of "Fast Car" Then and Now: Everyday Magic, Day 1092

By 1990, my Tracy Chapman cassette tape was played into such oblivion (and so repeatedly tangled in the car tape deck) that I had to buy...

Welcome (Back) to the Everyday Magic Blog

Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg

Oct 10, 2023
2 min

Welcome (Back) to the Everyday Magic Blog

Dear everyone, I'm writing to you because my hunch is you were among the 2,000+ subscribers to my Everyday Magic blog. It's a hunch...

A Sound Bath in Eureka Springs, Arkansas: Everyday Magic, Day 1086

Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg

Jul 27, 2023
3 min

A Sound Bath in Eureka Springs, Arkansas: Everyday Magic, Day 1086

I start out walking through cicadas, thousands, millions, maybe billions of them — this is Arkansas so it’s hard to know — a tunnel of...

The Power of Music: Everyday Magic, Day 1076

Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg

Feb 17, 2023
2 min

The Power of Music: Everyday Magic, Day 1076

This is the week of the Bruces for me — I saw Bruce Cockburn in concert Thurs. night, and Sat. night, I’m off to see Bruce Springsteen...

Make Mine an MRI With a Side of Enya and a Rainbow for Dessert: Everyday Magic, Day 1060

Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg

Oct 6, 2021
3 min

Make Mine an MRI With a Side of Enya and a Rainbow for Dessert: Everyday Magic, Day 1060

Question: How many MRIs does it take a claustrophobe to relax? Answer: When Brandon, the wonderful (re: tolerant) MRI tech asked I told...

10 Reasons to Come to Brave Voice: Everyday Magic, Day 1045

Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg

Aug 15, 2021
2 min

10 Reasons to Come to Brave Voice: Everyday Magic, Day 1045

Kelley Hunt and my 16th annual six-day Brave Voice, Sept. 19-24 in Council Grove, Kansas. We have strong Covid protocols in place to keep...

For the Love of the Song & the Singer: Remembering Martin Swinger: Everyday Magic, Day 1040

Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg

Jul 8, 2021
2 min

For the Love of the Song & the Singer: Remembering Martin Swinger: Everyday Magic, Day 1040

Martin Swinger, a virtuoso singer and songwriter, died suddenly in early July, leaving behind his husband (and partner of 35 years) Brian...

Life (and Tinnitus) in the Key of G: Everyday Magic, Day 1030

Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg

Mar 5, 2021
2 min

Life (and Tinnitus) in the Key of G: Everyday Magic, Day 1030

Last night, I found that my tinnitus buzzes and hums in the key of G. How did I find this? By singing in key with the tinnitus while...

On the First Night of August: Everyday Magic, Day 1012

Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg

Aug 1, 2020
3 min

On the First Night of August: Everyday Magic, Day 1012

Sometime in my early teens, I discovered Carole King’s Rhymes and Reasons, and like I had done with Joni Mitchell’s Blue (was there ever...

The Night John Prine Died: Everyday Magic, Day 1002

Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg

Apr 8, 2020
1 min

The Night John Prine Died: Everyday Magic, Day 1002

The Night John Prine Died The pink full moon rose over the pandemic singing through the tree, “Hello in there. Hello.” We listened, all...

Are We All Just Dust in the Wind?: Everyday Magic, Day 995

Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg

Jan 30, 2020
2 min

Are We All Just Dust in the Wind?: Everyday Magic, Day 995

That’s the question I kept asking myself as I replayed “Dust in the Wind” on my quickly-wearing-out but relatively new copy of Point of...

Annual Pilgrimage to Our Patron Saint: Mary Chapin Carpenter: Everyday Magic, Day 944

Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg

Jul 4, 2018
3 min

Annual Pilgrimage to Our Patron Saint: Mary Chapin Carpenter: Everyday Magic, Day 944

This year Kelley Hunt and I trekked to Wichita for a long day’s night to the Wabi Sabi (beautiful, decaying, and full of soul and...

I Hear America Singing At a Just-Closed Minnesota Music College: Everyday Magic, Day 921

Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg

Dec 21, 2017
4 min

I Hear America Singing At a Just-Closed Minnesota Music College: Everyday Magic, Day 921

Meanwhile, Jen, interim chair of the vocal department, and a long-time performer, educator, and arranger, made a miracle happen. Working...

The Everyday Miracle of Rainbows: Everyday Magic, Day 904

Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg

Jul 1, 2017
3 min

The Everyday Miracle of Rainbows: Everyday Magic, Day 904

Why I didn’t see a rainbow until I was 12 was because I wasn’t looking, not having imagined rainbows were possible in real life. Growing...

"I Will Not Be Afraid of Women" and Other Dar Williams Inspired Poetry: Everyday Magic, Da

Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg

Jan 4, 2017
2 min

"I Will Not Be Afraid of Women" and Other Dar Williams Inspired Poetry: Everyday Magic, Da

Dar Williams, in her performance at the Lawrence Arts Center. To get ready, I wrote a bunch of new poems, all inspired by Dar’s lyrics...

Saved (Again) By Music: Everyday Music, Day 860

Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg

Jun 6, 2016
4 min

Saved (Again) By Music: Everyday Music, Day 860

Celebrating Claudia’s birthday at the concert with Michel Loomis Listening to the astonishingly spirited Claudia Schmidt perform a house...

In Praise of Phil Ochs: Everyday Magic, Day 887

Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg

Feb 7, 2016
3 min

In Praise of Phil Ochs: Everyday Magic, Day 887

West Side Folk’s “A Night of Phil Ochs,” in which singer, actor and shining soul Zachary Stevenson completed embodied Ochs in voice,...

What Is a Year?: Everyday Magic, Day 833

Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg

Dec 31, 2014
3 min

What Is a Year?: Everyday Magic, Day 833

If 2014 was a mouse, I’d let my cats kill it, and then I would, like I do with all their usual triumphs, pick it up by the tip of its...

Oh Give Me a Poem Where the Buffalo Roam: Everyday Magic, Day 804

Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg

Jun 25, 2014
1 min

Oh Give Me a Poem Where the Buffalo Roam: Everyday Magic, Day 804

Like all book projects to the easily-optimistic, this one seemed kind of easy and fun. Fun it was, but “easy” quickly became a...

Get your copy of Everyday Magic: Field Notes on the Mundane & Miraculous -- a collection from this blog -- from Meadowlark Press.

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