The Little There Is To Do
A friend sent us a letter At a loss for words of wisdom She simply wished she could be with us To share the day to day Do the little things That needed to be…
Author: Mark J. Chmiel
Brainard’s Memories
The NY painter Joe Brainard wrote a wonderful book, I Remember, in which he collected memories from days gone by in one long litany. He writes about ordinary things: chicken noodle soup, juke boxes, tanning,…
May We Always Be Amateurs
Nonrequired Reading: Prose Pieces Wislawa Szymborska Translated from the Polish by Clare Cavanagh Herein are a few score short pieces by the Nobel laureate (Literature, 1996), usually no more than a page or two, although…
The Good News of Art according to Jerzy Grotowski
Thanks to Magan Wiles, who shared this with me at Amy’s Corner Bakeshop this morning… Why do we sacrifice so much energy to our art? Not in order to teach others but to learn with…
Gratitude Journal/7
Dear Doc, Thank you for leaving voice messages for me. You may say three or four sentences, but your voice is always calming to me. (I trust that your voice has that same beneficent effect…
The Task of Our Lifetime
The ideological position common to nearly everyone in the system is that America is best, its ideals perfect, its history spotless, its actions and society at the highest levels of human achievement and greatness. To…
U.S. Ruthlessness
The leaders of the United States of Amnesia prattle on about our love for democracy, human rights, the rule of law, etc. But Abbie Hoffman knew the truth… “No one who read the fine print of…
Us, Ruthless? Never
I suspect that the Washington Post never used the word “ruthless” to describe Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger’s bombing of North Vietnam. Only the Giaps, Castros, and Arafats of the world are “ruthless.”
Gratitude Journal/6
Dear Kelley, Thanks for this week’s nocturnal emails expressing indignation, that, yes, injustice continues to spread misery all over the planet. What can I say in response? How can we resist being colonized, mentally enslaved…
Rant/1 (Welcome to Palestine/2)
From an internet cafe Somewhere on the outskirts of Ramallah 80 degrees and sunny outside Dear Layla So in your last email (Which I’ve read four times as of this morning) You wanted to know…