Precious Gems Happy Holidays 2025
What’s inspired you this year? As this year ends, I’m reflecting. I’ll share my inspirations; will you share yours?
First, the song accompanying these photos — Precious Gems — was written by me during a 7-week songwriting journey collaborating with the brilliant Stephanie Schneiderman. Sharing stories and making art in that circle of women was magic. I feel that the friendships born there are for life.
At Thanksgiving, I visited the Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind retrospective — seven decades of beauty. I’ll carry it with me into the coming year. My biggest takeaway: every single one of us is an artist. Her Wish Tree has lived in my heart for years; have you seen one?
If you’ve got three and a half minutes, watch and listen to Precious Gems. As you listen, the photos that cycle through include glimpses of my home studio, where I recorded two audiobooks this year — Hormones for Dummies and Big Reactors: Practical Strategies for Parenting Highly Sensitive Children. (Yes, I’m pretty sure I’m one of those highly sensitive humans!)
There’s a shot celebrating the Portland Fire — are you getting season tickets? We are! — and moments with the Portland Gay Men’s Chorus (not all men). You’ll find snippets of my continued dive into audio description, innovating alongside the brilliant Pearl Outlaw and her guide dog Samson and the ever-creative Rick Hammond.
Sprinkled in are the faces of beloved friends and family: my nephew’s wedding, two dear friends’ weddings and concerts I sang in — including the music of Burt Bacharach with the astounding Lo Steele and her dad Mark (thank you Niel DePonte;). And one of my favorites, Hey Old Friends, the music of Stephen Sondheim.
There are pics of my trip to New York to visit dear friend Luisa Sermol, who was working on BROADWAY! I saw plays, plays, plays. A photo of my daughter and me way up in the rafters at SoFi Stadium seeing Beyoncé — a dream date. Train and hiking adventures through Glacier National Park for my birthday with my bestie-husband, Gary. (Amtrak, you ROCK — so hard! Literally.)
One especially precious photo is with Steven Nash, a beloved friend who left us. My first show in Portland was with him, and my hair has not seen such heights since.
There are photos from museum exhibits; Edges of Ailey at the Whitney, shared with the incomparable docent and friend Floyd Sklaver; and Superfine: Tailoring Black Style at the Met. There are snapshots of skiing and protesting — our signs include:
• “Ikea has better cabinets”
• “Does this ass make my country look big?”
• “Super callous, fascist, racist, extra braggadocious!”
There’s our daughter graduating with her master’s from Boston University, and a treasured moment with my cousin Peggy in San Francisco.
I’m grateful to have shared this year with you.
May you discover your own artist within — in ways that delight and nourish you. As Judy A. Rose so beautifully puts it: “Sometimes this journey’s hard, yet I’ve found love.”
Wishing you and yours a beautiful new year.
With love,
Susannah