Welcome to my first ever website and blog post. It’s an exciting and daunting process. Exciting because I’m discovering new insights as I prepare materials to upload. Daunting because I’m just now learning to format the site in effective fashion. I’ll probably end up sharing some of the ups and downs of starting a website when you are not particularly tech savvy.

I love to write. I enjoy doing research and get really excited when I feel like I’m bringing something novel to the table, whether to a reader, a classroom, or a workshop. I haven’t always gotten what I’ve produced to a wider audience, however. This is my effort at doing precisely that. It is turning out to be more fun than I would’ve guessed.

As I said in my About page, this website is all about telling and retelling stories: personal stories, ancient tales and wider histories. In each of these efforts, my goal is to incorporate diverse voices, characters and perspectives into those narratives.

My Mom’s favorite saying was “We are blessed to be a blessing.” As a psychologist and writer, my gifts seem to run in the direction of being a good listener, being of help to others to help themselves, and sharing stories that somehow move the conversation forward.

My goal is to update this website and blog monthly. In this initial kick-off of the site, I’ve included an article about how to further explore the hero of your own personal story, namely you. I have done what I encourage you to do and found it helpful. Revising the “plotline” of our personal stories is an ongoing process that we all engage in, whether we’re fully aware of it or not. I figure we might as well be intentional about it.

Under the retelling ancient tales banner, I include a story I wrote a few years ago featuring a favorite character of mine, the Gatherer of Tales. I think it’s a fun choice to being with because it features three different storytellers telling the Gatherer three different stories of how gender and the varied passions came to be. It embodies my sense that different folks bring different perspectives, and if we look at old stories from fresh perspectives we are enriched by that process.

Obatala’s “Mistakes” also features two elements I’ll be revisiting later. One of the storytellers is Irais, one of four prophetic daughters of Philip, briefly referenced in the book of Acts in the New Testament. While I give her a fictional treatment here, there are some intriguing non-Biblical historical details of these four women which I will offer up next month. And Irais’ story about Eve is one I expand on in my completed novel, Conversations with the Serpent, which is currently available for representation.

Finally, I include an abridged excerpt from the first chapter of another project, The Lavender White House: Queer Lives, American Presidents. As part of my larger goal of fostering both diversity and inclusiveness in our narratives, I tell the stories of how the 18th and 19th century predecessors of LGBT folks crossed paths with future and contemporaneous presidents. I absolutely fell in love with the larger than life Baron von Steuben and hope you do, too.

Along the way, I hope to add some static contact to the site. Among the articles I’ll be uploading will be some regarding Lakota spirituality, written by my husband, Jason Ghost. (He’s how I ended up getting the second half of my name. We considered becoming the Ghost-Carlsons, but that made us sound like a couple of dead Swedes. I like the surname we chose much better!)

That’s all for now. Needless to say, I’m also interested in getting your feedback and seeing what all of this becomes. I invite you to subscribe and receive monthly notices when I upload new materials or have other news of interest to relate. As a thank you gesture, I’ll send you a short piece I wrote, 26 small answers, summarizing many of the principles I’ve found helpful over the years as a therapist.

See you next month!
Mark