Sealing the Deal
Long ago, I did a reading and signing of The Book of Mev at Left Bank Books in the Central West End. I asked one of my former students, Magan Wiles, to read the very…
Author: Mark J. Chmiel
People Power, Then and Now
1. To advocate human conversation as the means to restore hope to the future is as simple as I can get. But I’ve seen that there is no more powerful way to initiate significant change…
Morning at Wash U with Shahrnush Parsipur
Matt Miller invited to me to an event today at Wash U. Students and people from the community met with Shahrnush Parsipur, one of the foremost writers in Iran. Fatima Keshavarz translated the question and…
The Rhythm of Life
On Saturday Wedding ananda On Monday Jury-duty
Your Life Is Your Message: A Toast
An older Gujarati man was sitting in a train about to leave When a reporter came up to his compartment window and asked “Do you have a message I can take back to my people?”…
Written in the Margins of a Page in a Book by George Steiner
Pain is our teacher Our nurturer of memory Our judge of the quotidian Our provocateur for empathy Give pain your respect
Simple
One Zen Master When asked to explain the wonder of reality Pointed to a cypress tree and said “Look at the cypress tree over there.” –Thich Nhat Hanh, The Miracle of Mindfulness: A Manual on Meditation…
Poem of the Morning
I came across this poem by Adrienne Rich, and thought of the work you two do at Queen of Peace. My heart is moved By all I cannot save So much has been destroyed. I…
An Exemplar of Gramsci’s “Optimism of the Will”
My optimism rests on my belief in the infinite possibilities of the individual to develop non-violence. The more you develop it in your own being, the more infectious it becomes till it overwhelms your surroundings…
Take Your Pick/2
Pascal raised the question: How do you know whether God exists? He said, if I assume that he exists and he does, I’ll make out OK. If he doesn’t, I won’t lose anything. If he…