September 11, 2026

REMINDER: YOUR SUBMISSIONS ARE ENCOURAGED

Overview for this week.

1. Bindu's Corner: Sit Chat Ananda, defining words of reality in Hindu Vedanta philosophy that express truth, awareness, and bliss.

2. National Day of Service and Remembrance: Six months after the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York, two men created the philanthropic organization 9/11 Day to heal their own loss and turn that day's immeasurable tragedy into motivation for a day of service to our fellow citizens.

3. Rosh Hashanah: It's Rosh Hashanah, and the start of a new year, 5787, on the Hebrew calendar. Shanah tovah!

4. The Arts: Tucson Lifestyle Magazine has published its 2026-2027 Arts Guide with comprehensive previews and listings of performing and visual arts for the rest of 2026 and through spring 2027.

5. Bragging Rights: I'm bragging about my son, Michael G. Kassser, this week, who has carried on the family tradition of competing in triathlons.

6. Volcanoes: Anak Krakatau, known for its violent and deadly 1833 Eruption that has been credited as the loudest sound in human history and caused deadly tsunamis has erupted again this past week.

7. Birds: New Zealand's critically endangered flightless nocturnal parrot, the Kākāpō has started to rebound after a concerted conservation effort reaching a population of 300 for the first time in 75 years.

8. Communication: Tips to help you hone your speaking skills for presentations.

9. Wellness: Relieve pain and stiffness from arthritis with simple stretches and range of motion exercises from Harvard Health.

Now, to this week's Flock.

This phrase from Hindu Vedanta philosophy illuminates your true nature as eternal existence (Sat), pure consciousness (Chit), and blissful happiness (Ananda). A simplified rephrasing is “Truth, Awareness, and Bliss.”

Friday, september 11, 2026 marks the 25th anniversary of the worst terrorist attack in the nation's history. Politicians and dignitaries will attend ceremonies at Ground Zero in Lower Manhattan, the Pentagon, and the field in Shanksville, PA, where Flight 93 crashed after passengers fought back against the hijackers. Around the country, more than 50,000 volunteers will pack 18 million meals for families in need.

A Commitment to Take Back The Day

In the weeks after September 11, 2001, the country was raw. Among the nearly 3,000 lost was Glenn Winuk — an attorney and volunteer firefighter who, when the South Tower fell, had run toward the danger to help others.

Glenn’s brother Jay Winuk and his longtime friend David Paine spent the months that followed asking themselves the same question: how do you honor a loss this large? How do you make sure the memory of this day — and the people lost to it — becomes something more than grief?

Their answer was disarmingly simple. Take back the day. Turn the anniversary of 9/11 into a day of doing good. Not despite the tragedy — because of it.

25 years. The largest day yet.

On the 25th anniversary, 9/11 Day calls on 50,000 volunteers across 50+ U.S. cities to pack 18 million meals for families facing hunger — the largest single-day meal pack in American history.

Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, began Friday at sundown and will continue through the weekend until sundown this Sunday. I wish everybody a sweet and abundant year: “L'shana tovah u'metukah.”

Rosh Hashanah 2026 FAQ

From: Chabad.org, By Menachem Posner

When is Rosh Hashanah 2026?

Rosh Hashanah 2026, which ushers in the Jewish year 5787, starts just before sundown on Friday, Sept. 11, 2026, and ends after nightfall on Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026.

Observed on the day G‑d created Adam and Eve, it’s celebrated as the head of the Jewish year. The central observance of Rosh Hashanah is blowing the shofar (ram’s horn).

Rosh Hashanah feasts traditionally include round challah bread (studded with raisins) and apples dipped in honey, as well as other foods that symbolize our wishes for a sweet year.

When is shofar blowing on Rosh Hashanah 2026?

This year, the shofar is blown on Sunday (Sept. 13). If you are unable to attend services, please contact your rabbi to arrange for a home visit, which can take place any time before sundown.

Tucson Lifestyle magazine has released its comprehensive guide to performing and visual arts for the rest of 2026 and through spring 2027. The guide includes theatre, dance, and live music performances; upcoming music and film festivals; and visual arts exhibits at galleries and museums in and around Tucson. You'll also find extensive listings of performing arts organizations, theatres, and music venues. I'm proud to say that my husband Michael's business, Holualoa Companies, underwrote the production of this year's guide. I'm also including two theatre productions that you can catch in Southern Arizona in the next month, but be sure to click through to the full Arts Guide.

Arizona Theatre Company
Proof

When Catherine, the daughter of a late prize-winning mathematician, allows her father’s protege access to his archives, he discovers an impossible math proof – improbably solved. What follows is a debate over the proof’s true author, a clash between sisters over plans for the estate, and a romance that pushes Catherine to trust her heart. A story about escaping the isolation of genius and embracing the promise of love, Proof is the inspirational story we all need right now.

Broadway in Tucson
The Who's Tommy

Centennial Hall
October 20 – 25

In 1969, The Who created a rock opera that changed the course of music history. And now, it’s back in a dazzling all-new production that feels more relevant than ever. 

Myth and spectacle combine in this fresh reinvention that includes the unforgettable anthems “I’m Free,” “See Me, Feel Me,” “Sensation” and “Pinball Wizard.” After witnessing his father shoot his rival, the young Tommy Walker is lost in the universe, endlessly and obsessively staring into the mirror. An innate knack for pinball catapults him from reticent adolescent to celebrity savior. Tony Award-winning composer Pete Townshend and Tony Award-winning original director Des McAnuff find powerful resonance reexamining this classic story for today.

I'm so proud of my son Mikey. Here he is at the CVC San Diego Half 70.3-mile triathlon last month.

This photo of Mikey reminds me of a quote from last week's Flock:

“Man is so made that he can only find relaxation from one kind of labor by taking up another.”

– Anatole France

In 1833, the Indonesian volcano Krakatoa violently erupted with an explosive equivalent of 200 megatons of TNT, destroying two-thirds of the Island. Many residents and sailors in the surrounding area suffered hearing loss from the blast, which could be heard as far as 3,000 miles away. Nearby coastal villages and towns in Indonesia were destroyed by the resulting tsunamis, taking tens of thousands of lives. Since then, subsequent eruptions have formed a new volcanic cone now known as Anak Krakatau, which erupted this week.

Anak Krakatau Erupts for 25 Hours in Indonesia, Reigniting Mega-Tsunami Fears

From: Surfer Magazine, By Dashel Pierson, September 9, 2026

In early September 2026, Mount Anak Krakatau unleashed a violent, continuous 25-hour eruption in Indonesia’s Sunda Strait, spewing massive lava fountains and sending a towering plume of volcanic ash 50,000 feet into the upper atmosphere.

The dramatic eruption forced government authorities to temporarily close six regional airports—including Jakarta’s main international transportation hub—grounding more than 300 flights and sending loud booming blasts and ground tremors echoing across the neighboring islands of Java and Sumatra.

And with the most recent explosion, it echoed previous instances – and reignited the fears of a potential mega-tsunami, like has been seen in the past. The renewed volcanic explosion reignited widespread panic and tsunami fears among vulnerable coastal communities in Banten and Lampung provinces.

History provides terrifying precedent in the Sunda Strait: in August 1883, the original Krakatoa volcano exploded in a cataclysmic blast that produced what is widely cited as the loudest sound in recorded human history—heard over 3,000 miles away across the Indian Ocean. That historic explosion generated towering 120-foot tsunamis that completely obliterated 165 coastal villages and killed more than 36,000 people.

Everything We Know About Krakatau's Eruption - Will Another Tsunami Strike?

New Zealand's critically endangered Kākāpō is a conservation success story. Once on a path to extinction, a state-run conservation program that nurtures and monitors the breeding population in restricted preserves has brought this unique bird back from the brink.

From: New Zealand Department of Conservation, September 1, 2026

Ninety chicks from the 2026 breeding season were officially added to the population today (1 September), after the youngest surviving chick reached 150 days of age, the milestone at which young kākāpō have fledged and are considered independent enough to join the official tally.

Department of Conservation Kākāpō Recovery Operations Manager Deidre Vercoe says the population increase reflects another exceptional breeding season for the species.

"We had a four-year gap between breeding seasons, so it’s fantastic to finally see the population increase after all that time. It's also a significant milestone for the species, as the last time the population is thought to have exceeded 300 birds may have been as long as 75 years ago."

DOC Kākāpō Recovery Programme began in 1995 with a population of just 51 birds, including only 20 females. Since then, the species has been through 13 breeding seasons, with recovery efforts working to overcome challenges associated with low genetic diversity, including infertility and poor hatching success.

"There is still a long road of recovery ahead, but ninety chicks in a single season is a record. In the early years of recovery, it took 16 years to produce that many chicks."

Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu representative on the Kākāpō Recovery Group Tāne Davis says the measure of success isn’t just in the numbers.

“This season, the programme trialled several approaches aimed at reducing intensive management, such as fewer egg and chick checks through careful monitoring of remote nest technology data, and reducing supplementary feeding," Tāne says.

"Our focus is increasingly on determining where intensive intervention is still needed and where we can start to return to more natural levels of kākāpō breeding outcomes.”

The successful season also highlights the importance of creating more predator-free habitat for the species, and he has his sights set on a predator free Rakiura.

"All but one of the founders of the modern population came from Rakiura, so seeing their ancestral home become safe for them to one day return remains a key aspiration.”

Background info

Since 1995, DOC’s Kākāpō Recovery Programme and Ngāi Tahu have worked together to rebuild the population from just 51 manu (31 males, 20 females) and in that time we’ve supported the species through 13 breeding seasons.

Each kākāpō wears a small backpack radio transmitter to help track their location and monitor their activity levels.

There are three breeding populations, on Whenua Hou/Codfish Island near Rakiura, and Fiordland’s Pukenui/Anchor Island and Te Kāhaku/Chalky Island.

The Kakapo Bird: One of the World's Greatest Conservation Success Stories

This article offers simple rules to help you communicate efficiently and with authority in the boardroom or classroom.

From: CNBC, By: John Bowe, September 2, 2026

"Executive presence" is usually taught like a cross between acting lessons and finishing school: Dress the part. Stand up straight. Project confidence. Make direct eye contact. Speak in low tones. The underlying idea is that if you learn to look and act like a certain type of leader, people will treat you like one…

Leadership boils down to consistently demonstrating good judgment, usually through what you say and how you say it. The people we perceive as authoritative tend to know what to say before the rest of us. They seem to convey more meaning with fewer words, organize complicated ideas in simple ways and, crucially, know when to stop talking.

These habits make people want to listen to you. Fortunately, they're not personality-based, they're skills you can learn. Here are the two most important places to start:

1. Say less

Imagine someone asks, in a room full of colleagues, "Will the report be ready Tuesday?" Compare these two answers:

• "Well, ahh, I mean, I think we probably should be able to have it ready by then? We're still waiting on a couple of numbers from the finance team, but depending on what happens there — just assuming we get those by Monday morning or even later on Monday before, I guess, 3, then yes, Tuesday should hopefully be doable."
• "Yes. We'll have it Tuesday."

In my experience, the more senior the rank, the shorter the answers tend to be. 

Junior employees often have too much sense of self and too little awareness that their audience doesn't want to hear them think out loud or prove their intelligence. Overexplaining is one of the fastest ways to weaken your authority.

So the first big step toward executive presence is stripping away the extra words and phrases that get in the way. Here are a few common types of verbal clutter, as I call it, to start editing out of your speech:

• Filler words like "um" and "you know" require your audience's ears and brain to work harder but contribute nothing to their understanding.
• Hedges are words or phrases that weaken a statement without changing its content, like "I think," "maybe," "sort of," "I just wanted to quickly say…" and "if that makes sense."
• Clunky phrasing or extra words just get in the way. Swap "about six or seven" for "seven." Replace "assuming we get those by Monday morning or even later on Monday before, like, 3 p.m." with "if we get those by Monday at 3 p.m."
• Jargon dulls your audience's attention and makes you harder to understand. Always use (notice I didn't say "utilize") the simplest, most direct terms possible.
• Extraneous explanation, process, context and answers beyond the scope of the question muddy your points with unnecessary and often unhelpful information

2. Give the answer first

The key is to begin every answer with… the answer

• When someone asks when the project will launch, start with: "Tuesday."
• If they ask whether you support the proposal, start with: "Yes."
• If they ask what happened to the acquisition, start with: "We decided not to move ahead."

Then explain why, giving three to five distinct supporting points0à

The more you learn to speak in concise, declarative language, and the more practice you get putting your answers first, the easier it will be to stop rambling, prune your bad verbal habits and deliver responses that feel intentional and easy to follow — even when the topic is complex.

You'll probably also become less nervous and more confident. At some point, you won't need to manufacture or "project" authority. You'll have it.

Harvard Health offers four stretches and range of motion exercises to relieve pain and stiffness from overuse, exercise, or arthritis.

Range-of-motion exercises for arthritis

From: Harvard Health Publishing, February 23, 2026

The pain and stiffness of arthritis can make it difficult to perform the daily tasks most people take for granted, from putting on socks to cooking dinner. Fortunately, stretches and range-of-motion exercises can help improve the mobility and flexibility of your joints.

To increase your range of motion, move a joint as far as it can go and then try to gently push a little farther.

Here are four range-of-motion exercises that you can do at home any time, even when your joints are painful, as long as you do them gently.

Hand

Open your hand, holding the fingers straight. Bend the middle finger joints. Next, touch your fingertips to the top of your palm. Open your hand. Repeat 10 times with each hand. Next, reach your thumb across your hand to touch the base of your little finger. Stretch your thumb back out. Repeat 10 times.

Shoulder

Lie on your back with your hands at your sides. Raise one arm slowly over your head, keeping your arm close to your ear and your elbow straight. Return your arm to your side. Repeat with the other arm. Repeat 10 times.

Knee

Sit in a chair that is high enough for you to swing your legs. Keep your thighs on the seat and straighten out one leg. Hold for a few seconds. Then bend your knee and bring your foot as far back as possible. Repeat with the other leg. Repeat 10 times.

Hip

Lie on your back, legs straight and about 6 inches apart. Point your toes toward the ceiling. Slide one leg out to the side and then back to its original position. Try to keep your toes pointed up the whole time. Repeat 10 times with each leg.

To learn more, check out the Harvard Special Health Report Living Well with Osteoarthritis.

Red Hiscus from Flock reader Divya Shroff's Nashville garden.

These Flock regulars are always here for you:

Cita Scott for paintings, photography, and culinary art. Cita will be in and out of town all summer. Don't hesitate to give her a jingle. (520) 404-1551

Kimberly Gomer, MS, RD/LDN:

Registered and licensed Dietitian/Nutritionist. Find me on my website at KimberlyGomer.com for information about nutrition coaching.

Sarah Smallhouse & Make Elections Fair ArIzona

– Sign the petition here

Sensitive & Specific: The Testing Newsletter by Mara G. Aspinall and Liz Ruark. Mara is always here to help in understanding testing knowledge and how it's being applied.

Kyria Sabin of Fletcher Pilates:

(520) 323-7070

The Fabric Jeanie!

Tap to learn more. 

(520) 245-0589

Linda Collazo, mezzo-soprano:

for piano and voice lessons

Andres Valbuena: drum selection, drum basics, and more.

Dr. Hayward M. Fox, Ph.D.

The institute of Personal andTranspersonal Knowledge

Tucson Village Farm:

Vegetaable growing in the summer heat.

The Physio ShopThe Physio Shop:

Elite physical therapy services and more.

Icebox Cryotherapy:

Icebox Tucson’s unique enhancers allow you to be your best version! 

Nathan Anderson of Catalina Acupuncture:

(520) 999-0080

Greer Interiors: Insightful, elegant spaces that complement your life. True beauty begins with alignment. 
(970) 570-3039

Tanya Joy Wellness: Look and feel your best - inside and out.

Skincarecare, Integrated Health Coaching, Energetic Clearing, and Pilates.

Don't Be Shy: Share Your Stories!

I'm looking forward to sharing more of your personal stories - oral, written, or otherwise, as we enter our third year. I'd so love to present them to The Flock, hit a mailbox below to share your story.

Holualoa Ed Fit Wellness & Culture 2

520-818-4433

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