Mev and Andrew
For Suzanne Renard Mev Puleo died 28 years ago today and, out of the blue, I just remembered something Andrew Wimmer had written about the book I wrote about Mev way back in 2005. Even…
Category: Friends
Yesterday, While Sitting in Barnes Jewish Hospital with Suzanne…
she shared her enthusiasm for the writer Niall Williams, and quoted from memory the opening line of his novel, On Earth As It Is in Heaven: “There are only three great puzzles in the world,…
Sharing Gratitude This Evening
Dear Friends, This evening I will be on Zoom to facilitate a sharing of gratitude from today, this week, this fall season, or this year. Here’s an apt reflection to consider from Thich Nhat Hanh…
Live, Trash, Love: Share the Wealth with Katie Murphy
Winter 2023 River Terrace, a small neighborhood in Washington, DC The protagonist begins as they often do – irked about one thing or another. She dons a pair of blue nitrile gloves, trash bags stuffed…
For Katie Murphy
Photo by Natalie Long
An “Epic” Share the Wealth, with Andrew Ivers
My name is Andrew Ivers. I’m a freelance editor and have been friends with Mark since he was my teacher at SLU. For the last fifteen years I’ve been reading my way through great works…
Serendipity
I was searching for one thing on my laptop, and I came across this feedback from a SLU student in 2006… Dear Dr. Chmiel, I am writing you to finally submit my insertion. I apologize…
An Incomplete and Ever-expanding List of the Horrible (and Often Absurd) Beauty of It All by Yael
Ram Dass in Risk Being Human talk: “…and I began to expand my awareness to be able to look at the universe as it is and see the horrible beauty of it all…” An incomplete…
Chris Wallach and I Inter-Are
Care is something one learns by observing the way careful/caring people live. It is not a quality that can be learned from a text on moral psychology or Buddhist ethics but only by living and…
Share the Wealth with Christina Gebel: “Hello, God. I’m Not You.”
In the summer of 2022, I found out I was not God. It might sound like a silly conclusion to come to, or a good one if I’m an otherwise self-absorbed, prideful narcissist. Whatever I…