“Don’t Be Frivolous”

This morning at sangha at Sophia House, we distributed at random lojong slogan  cards and reflected on ones we received.  One of mine was #58, Don’t be frivolous,” which reminds me of the following recollection…

When Grades Are Less than Everything

Here is Lubna Alam reading a chapter from Dear Layla Welcome to Palestine.   [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/229895438″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]

Patience

I believe it’s a thousand year project; I don’t think this thing is going to be finished in my lifetime or in anybody’s lifetime. I think we possibly can get something started that will open…

Life Is with People

A world of images is offered by Christ —  better, dramatized by him — images of waiting, listening, observing, debating, healing, conveying hope and humor, telling stories than end with a question lodged like a…

Rant/2

Dear Layla Back home it’s common to hear people ask “Why Are They So Enraged?” It might have something to do With being unemployed for 17 months and five days, or With burying two children,…

A Bubbly Beautiful Great Soul

    From series, “Visions of Mev.” A scant 4 weeks after her debulking surgery for a glioblastoma (“grade 4”) brain tumor. Mid-May 1994. Mev is sitting enblanketed on couch in our Oakland apartment at…

Writing Topics

Mary told me she spent a Sunday rereading the notebook she kept in Social Justice class 4.5 years ago. She was rejuvenated to start writing more, so I sent her these topics, after consulting Natalie Goldberg’s…

I Can Relate

What I seem to have to do is to have someone to address in order to begin, then lose that, mix it up, get mixed up myself, let the language take over, work out some…