“So Don’t Flip”*
When it comes to righteous indignation She makes Arundhati Roy seem timid At a public reading of The Book of Mev I made sure she read last reading aloud the last chapter To mark the…
Giving No Peace to Those in the Country Who Are Violating All the Laws of Truth
She represented the honor and conscience of Russia, and probably nobody will ever know the source of her fanatical courage and love of the work she was doing. — Liza Umarova, Chechen singer Colleagues helped…
Alexander Cockburn on Edward Said
Only last week did I learn that Alex Cockburn had a book that came out in 2013, A Colossal Wreck. Earlier today I was reading entries from 2003, and came across this tribute to Edward…
Three Questions
Gregg Krech, Naikan: Gratitude, Grace, and the Japanese Art of Self-Reflection (Stone Bridge Press, 2001) I learned of Naikan through consulting the bibliography of Patricia Ryan Madson’s book, Improv Wisdom. Therein, she cited books on…
Three Views: Lévy, Golan, Chomsky
1. Bernard-Henri Lévy wrote a “Love Letter to Israel in Seventy Lines,” published in The Tablet under 70 REASONS TO CELEBRATE ISRAEL. He is a philosopher who lives in Paris, France. Here are a…
“Why Must the Poet’s Mouth Be Bloodied, His Teeth Caved in?”
More than a decade ago, octogenarian Jesuit felon Daniel Berrigan spoke at the local Jesuit university (in the auditorium of the business school, no less). During the Q & A, a friend of mine asked…
Received in Today’s Mail
1 paperback, Italo Calvino, Six Memos for the Next Millennium 1 check from S, for Improv Wisdom class tuition 1 graduation ticket for T’s May commencement ceremony, Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design 1 hand-written…
Composed after Listening to NPR
I was just listening to an NPR story about 15th anniversary of the U.S. bringing down Saddam Hussein’s regime. An Iraqi Kurdish journalist was interviewed. He said he was happy to see the US troops…
Everything Is a Gift by Jennifer Vanbooven
Jennifer Vanbooven is in my Comparative Religion and Culture class, and wrote this response to the documentary, Walk with Me, about life at Plum Village. I am happy to share it here. Kaley and I…
The Pithy, the Necessary, the Clear, and the Plain
Charles Reznikoff: Man and Poet, edited by Milton Hindus National Poetry Foundation, University of Maine at Orono, 1984 Poetry presents the thing in order to convey the feeling. It should be precise about the thing…