Is it magic?

What is magic about The Magic Barrel?

Well, first, what is The Magic Barrel?  Every year the Willamette Valley’s literary and charitable communities gather to celebrate great stories and lively music while raising funds to feed the hungry. The event benefits Linn-Benton Food Share, a county where 1 in 5 residents receive emergency food.

The magic? That caring people help feed their neighbors. Almost 4,000 volunteers help to serve 350,000 emergency meals and distribute more than 5 million pounds of food.

The magic? That “barrels” like this one are being filled and re-filled by involved, compassionate, generous people in counties all over the state (like mine, Lane County) and cities and counties all over our country.

The magic? That you can be a part of this, so easily, by coming to the show this Friday or, if you don’t live nearby (mid-Willamette valley), by donating.

The magic of the evening? Ten Oregon writers—all genres—on stage sharing their work. I am honored to be part of this event and will be reading a piece about an unlikely love story in prison from my book A Grip of Time: When prison is your life. I will also be introducing a man I have come to know and respect and care for deeply, a writer, a thinker, an activist—a man behind bars going on 26 years for a crime he committed as a teen. He is a long-time member of the writers’ group I run at Oregon State Penitentiary. His name is Sterling Cunio.

The magic? That we are in this for the long, that we continue to care about our neighbors and our communities. That, in the face of the rancor and hatred and selfishness spewing from the White House, we persist.