Ko Un
1. Ko Un‘s Ten Thousand Lives is a remarkable sample in English of his twenty-volume work in Korean, known as Maninbo. In his early years, he was a Buddhist monk. Later, he was part of…
Category: Activists
“Whatever Gets You through the Night…”
My friend’s typical work day 90 emails to respond to 7-8 meetings to move through 3 fires to put out 5 staff people in crisis to support 7:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. It’s go, go,…
On “Happiness” by Thích Nhất Hạnh
In her 1938 essay, Three Guineas, Virginia Woolf cautioned women to think critically about joining the professions men have created. She writes, “Those opinions cause us to doubt and criticize and question the value of…
An Evening with Danielle Mackey
We invite you to join us in welcoming Danielle Mackey back to St. Louis! An alum of the Casa de la Solidaridad program and Saint Louis University (2008), Danielle has worked in El Salvador with…
American Classics: Emma Goldman
Dear Friends, This month for our American Classics Reading Circle, we will explore Emma Goldman’s essay “Patriotism: A Menace to Liberty.” It is available on-line here. We meet on Wednesday 23 May and begin with…
I Remember by Nima
Nima, one of my former students, took a “Writing as a Spiritual Practice” class with me and one evening we explored the theme of memory. Now a fourth-year medical student, Nima wrote this recollection of…
You Have To Be Ready For Ridicule by Ed Sanders
Leonardo packing up the Mona Lisa in 1516 to live near the King of France You have to be ready for ridicule The plane plops on the beach in 1903 after just a minute You…
For Amal and Amal
The enemy is all about erasure Tactics: derision and denial Insults and salt in the wounds When you’re a student of history It’s no surprise— That’s what the powerful do So tell them over and…
Word of the Day: Apokatastasis
Allen Ginsberg: …The conditions of revolution in late twentieth century are conditions unforeseen by any other civilization. We are going to the moon, we have drugs that go to the moon inside, we’ve recovered the…
Crosses, Values, Options
1. “Really living like Christ will not mean reward, social recognition and an assured income, but difficulties, discrimination, solitude, anxiety. Here, too, the basic experience of the cross applies: the wider we open our hearts…