Composing “HOWL”
Here’s Allen Ginsberg talking about the process of writing HOWL, which is reminiscent of Natalie Goldberg’s project in Writing down the Bones, to free the writer within: I thought I wouldn’t write a poem but…
Author: Mark J. Chmiel
My Beloved Syria, My Beloved Alawi Friends: A Presentation by Steve Tamari
For our next gathering of Share the Wealth, on Sunday 7 October, Steve Tamari will briefly explain the context for the civil war in Syria and share why sectarianism is a reality but not the…
Clarity
The original sin of the prevailing world system has first of all been colonial domination. This is the first sin; all the others in the system spring from it. The greater sins are those that…
Today’s Aspiration
No hostilities Firecrackering off In my mind
Wednesday 19 September
A sunny day 70 degrees Sitting outside together We discuss the future— Prospects, possibilities, The quixotic quest for balance in this topsy-turvy world
Gratitude of the Day
Best breakfast at Half and Half with Dr. Sadat in Clayton!
On Seeing and Solidarity: Jimmy Carter, Palestine, Vietnam
1. In his 2007 book Palestine Peace Not Apartheid, former U.S. president Jimmy Carter had this to say: “When we arrived there in January 1996, it was obvious that the Israelis had almost complete control…
Latin America Reading Group
Julia Thomas, Mary Shannon and I are beginning a Latin America Reading Group. Our first book will be Che Guevara’s The Motorcycle Diaries. We hope to meet up in mid-October at Café Ventana, and will…
The American Mind/The Asian Mind
1. “I don’t really see that we’re the bad boy.” “Why should I feel responsible?” “But the thing which I think I will remember about Vietnam when I am a hundred years old and will…
The Asian Mind/The American Mind
1. The following remarks are from Captain Ted Shipman, a U.S. intelligence officer in South Vietnam: “You see, they do have some–well, methods and practices that we are not accustomed to, that we wouldn’t use…