For six months I’ve gotten to read and learn and grow with a real sweet group of folks. Mark Chmiel is such a generous teacher, and the communities he builds, so loving and expansive. An…
Written in the Margins of Ginsberg’s “Why I Meditate” There are 10,000 reasons to meditate (at least) There are 10,000 beings to save (for starters) There are 10,000 demented states of consciousness to purify (carpe…
By the Blue Light of a Cell Phone by Katie Consamus Dr Chmiel, I just flipped on CNN after getting home from rehearsal and immediately thought of our encounter on New Year’s Eve as I…
Zainab al-Ghazali, Return of the Pharaoh: Memoir in Nasir’s Prison Translated by Mokrane Guezzou Our goal is reformation and not sabotage, edification not destruction. Zainab al-Ghazali Nawal el-Saadawi may have met her match in Zainab…
Writing is essential to my life, like breathing. I can live without a husband but I cannot live without writing. By writing I become one with the world and with myself. —Nawal El Saadawi What…
How to Live Jesus had his students Dipa Ma had her devotees Joanie French has her students Jesus sat with people Dipa Ma sat with people Joanie helps people to sit without pain Jesus placed…
It Was Love at First Haiku Maria told me to contact you When you were fresh back from El Salvador And perhaps needing another shoulder to lean on After re-entering this meshugah militarized greed culture…
November 12, 2007. Smithfield, NC. After Reading Levertov’s Poem on the 1972 Christmas Bombing for Andrew Wimmer and Suzanne Renard Haven’t you had a similar fantasySure, a different decadeA different civilization now being destroyedDifferent…
In the Writing Our Own History course, I share some gleanings from my reading. For example, the following passages are from Natalie Goldberg’s book, The True Secret of Writing: Connecting Life with Language. Maybe one…
Before Class In the School of Revolutionary Mindfulness When students arrive early to class No smart phones are anywhere to be seen In the minutes before class begins Students and teachers are sitting Breathing calmly…