In June 1981 I attended the World Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors in Israel. I frequently overheard survivors asking other survivors, “in which camp or ghetto where you? When were you there?” When told, the…
Dear Srimatiji My heart aches Reading the last chapter of Dear Layla You are Layla Yet you’re as far away For practical purposes As the Gaza Strip You are a psychiatrist You are a resident…
Have you longed for the chance to sit outside and write while listening to the birds, smelling the sweetness of the grass and blooming trees, watching the beauty of the dancing trees, and feeling the…
Sleep faster, we need the pillows. –I learned of this from Harold Bloom.
Lindsay Sihilling shared this with me this morning, and I am happy to pass it on… This is your conscience, artists and writers. You know that your conscience has tried in every possible subtle way…
After President Obama’s acceptance of the Nobel Peace Prize, a prize he does not deserve, it is a good time to model what real peacemaking looks like. It is not beautiful speech making. It is…
There was nothing to do but wait it out. My mind has to become accustomed to loneliness. And when one is alone there is nothing to do but study. — I.B. Singer, In My Father’s…
What did people see in [Sri Anandamayi] Ma that so captivated their hearts? They found a combination of the sweetness of maternal affection and the profound depths of a mystical knower of God. In this…
As every cell in Chile will tell The cries of the tortured men Remember Allende, and the days before, Before the army came Please remember Victor Jara, In the Santiago Stadium, Es verdad – those…
I wrote this for a former student in late 2010, who wanted a list of recommended titles. I decided to give her a list of books I saw fit, for one reason or another, to…