Postscript
Dear Bella Levenshteyn. I just wrote you a love letter. Stamped and licked the envelope. I loved writing it. Loved thinking about you. Loved thanking you. Love that a pol-sci major has become such a…
Consider the Source
The Pentagon will gladly supply, on request, such information as the quantity of ordnance expended in Vietnam. From 1965 through 1969 this amounts to about 4.5 million tons by aerial bombardment. This is nine times…
Monkey Mind
Dear Bella Levenshteyn Do you ever have one of those days When you swing from wanting One thing to another Days like I seem to have with such frequency I know for sure I’m meshugah…
Reasons of State Or Reasons of Memory
First published in The Ecumenist, 1997. Edward T. Linenthal, Preserving Memory: The Struggle to Create America’s Holocaust Museum. New York: Penguin USA, 1995. $27.95, U.S.A; $36.99, Canada. Throughout this spring, there have been several…
On Gillian Rose’s Love’s Work: A Reckoning with Life
–first published in Episcopal Life, 1997 This memoir grabbed me from the moment when I first read its opening epigraph, “Keep your mind in hell, and despair not.” I remember laughing with gratitude, “Yes! How…
Tao of Writing
“When you accept writing as what you are supposed to do, after you’ve tried everything else–marriage, hippiedom, traveling, living in Minnesota or New York, teaching, spiritual practices–there’s finally no place to go.” –Natalie Goldberg, Writing…
Compromismo, 1983
I came across this excerpt from a 1983 statement from Brazilian Bishop Pedro Casaldáliga in response to a request from the Salvadoran Human Rights Commission on behalf of Salvadoran refugee children. This statement reminds me of the commitment of…
Share the Wealth with Susan Clark and Chris Wallach: A Workshop Among the Stars Of Mindfulness and Compassion
In October, Susan Clark and Chris Wallach attended the Mind and Life International Symposium for Contemplative Studies. The Mission Statement of the Institute states: The Mind & Life Institute is a non-profit organization committed to…
What You Understand Depends on Where You Stand/1
For Brent and Brett On Daniel Berrigan’s Night Flight to Hanoi Night Flight to Hanoi is an account of Jesuit Daniel Berrigan’s odyssey in late January and early February 1968, when he and historian Howard Zinn traveled…
Present Moment Wonderful Moment
Spent the morning with Thuy Khuu at Café Ventana: Breathing in, I know that life is precious in this moment. Breathing out, I cherish this moment of life. gatha by Thich Nhat Hanh