Month: August 2015
Reflections for Today’s Sangha Meditation
If we meditate on and develop compassion—the wish that all others be without suffering—we hold within us the essence of all other Dharma practices. We should unhesitatingly give ourselves to any beneficial task, no matter…
Appeal for Gaza
Norman Finkelstein has been calling on people to make a donation to al-Awda Hospital in Gaza in the hopes of raising $100,000. Please consider making a donation of $10 if you can. One of the…
A Frenzied Gut
Just got back from a weekend retreat in the mountains where I devoured Dear Layla: Welcome to Palestine. I’m so grateful for you and your recommendation. There was so much I needed to connect with….
A Nation of Words
Miriam Weinstein’s Yiddish: A Nation of Words is a compelling book. Go to Amazon.com and type in “Yiddish” and many books will come up whose titles are cheap, sentimental, ridiculous, goofy. Weinstein has a sense…
Writing to Wake Up
1. Natalie Goldberg: I also place on the altar a photo of Allen Ginsberg in a yellow wood frame, sitting in a white shirt, cross-legged, his face captured in an uncanny smile. He is our…
On Bhakti Yoga
1. Allen Ginsberg: Well, the Hindus say that this is the Kali Age or Kali Yuga or Kali Cycle, and we are all so sunk in matter, the five senses are matter, sense, that they…
Share the Wealth with Oliver Clark: “The Other Side of St. Louis”
For our next Share the Wealth, Oliver Clark will be speaking about his experiences doing street photography in North St. Louis. In the past year Oliver has photographed the homelessness, drug addiction, abandonment, and recent…
Reading Dear Layla, While on an Airplane back to NYC
I read the whole thing on the way home I was simmering Simmering Simmering Shimmelstoy brought me to a boil –Katie Madges is a Social Worker (NYU, MSW, 2012) who lives in Brooklyn.