With timing I’d like to claim as atypical but is probably the opposite, we are trying to sell our house. That puts me somewhere near the bleeding edge of the rather remarkable shakeout we are now experiencing. The image that keeps coming to me is a Gargantuan dog arising from slumber, noisily shaking itself awake, […]
I have been trying to clear my mind of obstacles so I can think without the impediments created by attachment to things as they appear to be. If that sounds a little abstract, imagine a farmer prying stumps or boulders out of a field before plowing and sowing; or a painter smoothing and priming a […]
My relationship to the idea of God is in constant flux. My one certainty is that literalist, fundamentalist views can’t possibly encompass whatever could be true. The irony is that literalists come from two camps, both of which were evidently established sometime before the invention of metaphor or symbolism. Some literalists are doctrinaire believers, certain […]
This has been a week of collecting horror stories of behavior by people who seem to utterly lack a moral compass. As a friend of mine said, “Sometimes the world offends me.” But is it true? Are some people entirely lacking, without moral conscience in the way that someone might be born without wisdom teeth, […]
A small gray bird lives in a palm tree in my back yard. Every few minutes for the past several weeks, the bird flies straight toward a high window, then pecks at it with vigor and determination. So far the window holds. A friend asked me to write here about the immigration issue. Every time […]
Everywhere I look these days, I see an new, integrated awareness emerging from collaborations that transcend just about every conventional boundary there is: national borders, cultural differences, race, religion, gender—you name it.
Two weeks ago, my good friend was one of more than 1200 people attending an event at the Pachamama Alliance, an extraordinary group […]
The signs of cultural change can be subtle and hard to read, but now, an unmistakable signifier has emerged from the muddle: the United States has become a recipient of charity from other nations.
This fall, Senators from both parties urged oil executives to take part in winter fuel assistance programs by donating a percentage […]
Last week, amidst the news of earthquakes, storms and governmental misdeeds, I sat around the dinner table with half a dozen friends, having “the conversation”–you know the one I mean. These conscientious, thoughtful people contribute a great deal of time and resources to heal the earth and create more just societies. But on this evening, […]
The full extent of damage to lives and property on the Gulf Coast is unknown, but experts are expressing certainty that in terms of what it will take to repair a significant part of the damage, it is the worst such disaster to afflict the United States. The scenes of people mourning their homes and […]
My name is Arlene, and I’m a hypocrite.
Remember on April 29th, when I wrote about how the “peak oil” documentary The End of Suburbia, when I wrote about my determination to put up with the inconvenience of a one-car family so as to minimize my complicity with Big Oil? Well, the shelf-life of that […]
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