A Classified/Personal Ad from a dying female seeking male to have end of life sex with. Requested: a recent photo, a couple of handwritten paragraphs, and astrological sign. Only serious need apply – and, please, no drama seekers.   Thus begins Marla Norton’s End of Life Sex , featured in the The 2026 Chapel Theatre play festival.   GET TICKETS HERE: https://chapeltheatremilwaukie.com/2020/12/01/chapel-theatre-co-play-festival/   I’m tickled pink to introduce my co-star and o

Dear Friends, Students and Colleagues,   If you celebrate Christmas, I hope you had a warm and joyful day yesterday with people you enjoy being around. My husband and I had a quiet holiday with our cat this year and look forward to welcoming overnight guests on New Year’s Eve.   And here’s something else I’m excited about: The 2026 Chapel Theatre play festival!   I went on medical leave June 1 of last year shortly after my last performance, with the NW Senior Theatre Company,

My life changed in 1999 when I helped create a women’s group that was begun for the “soul” purpose of helping each other realize our dreams and goals. The concepts we used were so simple and so effective, and I became so impassioned about sharing them, that I wrote my first book ( Six Degrees to Your Dreams   https://www.iuniverse.com/BookStore/BookDetails/101438-SIX-DEGREES-TO-YOUR-DREAMS ). Patty DuToit and Judy Yriarte initially pulled us all together, and I’m forever grat

Dear Students, Friends & Colleagues,   Happy Halloween! Below are a couple photos of my favorite past Halloween costumes.   I am so happy to be back teaching again! I have room for two or three more regular students every other week, so if you’ve been thinking about taking a voice lesson, now is a good time to do it!   One of my new students told me last week that I was helping heal her inner child. She had never sung in front of another person before that lesson, even though

I’m starting this final chapter four weeks and two days after undergoing ostomy reversal/takedown and reattachment surgery.   In the...

Chris Storey, MSW Please join me for my interview with Chris Storey, author of SOCIAL WEAPONS: The Peaceful Self-Defense System. I was...

Peaceful people don’t wage war.   Peaceful people are more powerful than that. Powerful beyond measure.            Power and force are...

Before the start of this chapter, here's a note for my students and colleagues that I am undergoing surgery on July 29. I hope to be back...

What you are seeing and hearing right now is nothing but a dream. You are dreaming right now in this moment. You are dreaming with the brain awake . -Don Miguel Ruiz, THE FOUR AGREEMENTS "Domestication and the Dream of the Planet" from THE FOUR AGREEMENTS: A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO PERSONAL FREEDOM by Don Miguel Ruiz with Janet Mills, copyright © 1997 by Miguel Angel Ruiz, M.D., and Janet Mills. Used by permission of Amber-Allen Publishing, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group,

Let’s further explore this idea of surrendering our old beliefs and outdated systems. Of truly examining the assumptions we hold. Of challenging ourselves to look honestly at our own beliefs and how they may or may not be helping the collective peace and growth of the human species.   Why? Very simply, because people’s beliefs underlie everything from the merest of random thoughts to the severest of inhumane violence. And here’s where it gets crazy. Most of us never even look

I’m curious what it would be like if everyone in the United States of America woke up tomorrow morning and there were no political parties. (So, of course, nobody would be affiliated with one.) When this “random thought” first popped into my head a few days ago (I’m sure it wasn’t really random, but it felt like it), I mentioned it to someone I love very much. That person’s initial reaction, which was apparent on their face, was one of discomfort. I’d say extreme discomfort.

Dear Students, Friends and Colleagues,   Not since HOW ABELLA FOUND HER VOICE have I felt so strongly about writing another book.   I’m going to approach this one, my fifth, differently. Here is the prologue. As I complete each chapter (anticipated 2-3 weeks each chapter) I will put them out in my blog and newsletter.   What I need from you is your feedback. What you like and everything you dislike, anything you might feel resistance to. If you like what you read and it reson

Muriel by Jeremy Okai Davis I’m thrilled to share my interview with Jeremy Okai Davis. I recently commissioned a painting from this...

This morning, I chatted with Robert Middleton for one of his Ordinary Visionary interviews. We both had a lot of fun, and I look forward...

I hereby declare 2025 the year of self-nurturing.   I need it after the year I had in 2024! Perhaps you do, too.   Since my last...

Dear Students, Friends and Colleagues, I don’t know about you, but 2024 has been a year full of surprises for me. And they haven’t all...

Dear Students, Friends and Colleagues, I’m glad and grateful to be writing this update, my first in months. I haven’t dropped off the...

Time flies while in rehearsals – it’s hard to believe it’s been nearly a month since I sat down and wrote something to share with my...

The Sherwood library here in the Portland area recently had a Six Word Story contest. A friend of mine who lives in Japan recently moved...

Most people know me as a voice teacher or performer, but I’m also a serious bibliophile. I just love books and words; I’ve written four...