Remembering and Forgetting
1. The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting. –Milan Kundera, Czech/French novelist 2. The Jews of my city are now forgotten, erased from its memory. Before, there were some…
The Slow Fix
This isn’t the Sudden Enlightenment School By a long shot It’s the Show-up-Each-Day- Sit-Down-and-Shut-up-School It’s meditating morning and night Then gathas throughout the day It’s tending to the garden of the mind And smiling to…
After Reading John Dominic Crossan*
Dear Shimmelstoy After our talk the other day (So many tears … but how energized I was when we parted!) I went home to read and came across this line: “We live in the shadow…
Makes Me Happy
To receive a vivid piece of writing (poem, rant, trans-genre) from a friend and then get permission to share it with others who are adept at appreciation To bike in Forest Park, run up Art…
Western Reverence for Life
General William Westmoreland once said “The Oriental doesn’t place The same high value on life As does a Westerner In the Orient life is cheap It doesn’t matter” The general said this in 1972 27…
Share the Wealth: Ayos Lang: Exploring Faith, Hope, and Love, with Nebu Kolenchery
In fall 2013 Nebu Kolenchery studied abroad in Manila, Philippines through the Casa Bayanihan program. Come join us as he shares his experience of being challenged and loved. During his time there, Nebu wrote: “I…
My Good News/14
My good news is I met Lindsey Weston and she made me cry: tears of compassion, tears of gratitude My good news is I can handle whatever is coming and if I can’t, that’s OK…
So I Hugged a Book Today by Sara Rendell
I am not sure why, but when I finished reading The Book of Mev, I hugged it. Maybe my body wanted to be closer to tangible truth. Maybe I was trying to express my gratitude to…
Scintillating Promises (The Joys of Reading and Writing/Reinaldo Arenas)
Reading Reinaldo Areas’ novel The Color of Summer was a breakthrough experience for me. From him (and Eduardo Galeano) I figured out how to structure what eventually became The Book of Mev. The following are some passages I love from his Before…
To Convert the Whole World
Napoleon is said to have described the English as a nation of shopkeepers. It is a fitting description. They hold whatever dominions they have for the sake of their commerce. Their army and their navy…