Spiritual Passage to India
Love everyone, feed everyone, and remember God. Neem Karoli Baba I recently gave Ram Dass’s Be Here Now to Laura, an exceptional Maryville University graduate and psychology major. Previously, I had mentioned to her that…
Author: Mark J. Chmiel
Where Antiwar Efforts Begin and End by Andrew Wimmer
I received the following reflection from my friend Andrew this morning… Here is Boeing’s latest press release about fighter jet training capabilities coming to St. Louis. And Lacy Clay’s (MO 1-D) elation: “I’m proud that…
At Home in the World: A Summer Writing Class 2017
Thich Nhat Hanh is regarded by many as one of the most skillful and pragmatic of spiritual teachers. In 2016 he published At Home in the World, a succinct autobiography of his ninety years of…
Thanks, Jack
I first read this in August 2005, a seed Dear Layla came out in 2015, fruit That is why I want to use short chapters, each with verselike heading, and very many such chapters; slowly,…
Wednesday 10 May: Share the Wealth with Magan Wiles — BECAUSE MY HEART IS HUNGRY FOR YOURS: My Torrid Love Affair With Argentine Tango
Argentine Tango developed in the late 19th century in the working-class neighborhoods of Buenos Aires, which were teeming with lonely young men from Italy and Spain who crossed the ocean to seek their fortune, never…
I Beseech You, Orianne Aymard
Peace and harmony appear so closely woven in every cell of her being that the spirits of darkness would search in vain for a loophole. –Melita Maschmann, Encountering Bliss: My Journey through India with Ānandamayī Mā …
Metta, 4.30.2017
May Neeta be happy. May Neeta be peaceful. May Neeta be liberated. –Dr. Neeta Shenai has been my student, friend, and teacher since 2005.
The Truly & Exceptionally Ecstasy-Inducing Good News, 4.29.2017
Last September, Brendan, and Jen, friends whom I had in Social Justice class years ago at SLU, told me that he had been diagnosed with malignant metastatic melanoma. The other day, Jen sent me the…
While Walking on Telegraph Avenue, It Hit Me
Thy eternal narcissism shall not fade, Alas –from novel-in-progress, Our Heroic and Ceaseless 24/7 Struggle against Tsuris
Cultivating Avidity
Books of poetry will teach you more than your mentor or professor or the well-known poet you have traveled to a conference to work with. Reading is like food to a writer; without it, the…