The year is almost over, friends, and I have yet to understand exactly what is happening. How about you? I mean, sure, the COVID numbers, the unemployment figures, the police murders, the packed prisons—all of this can be quantified and at least on the level of sheer numbers, comprehended. But what boggles my mind is …
I have no reason to believe artists are better or smarter than other people, but I know that artists are often skilled at helping others to see the world more clearly, at focusing awareness and attention. Skilled at perceiving patterns, seeing through the surface of things to deeper meanings, using the connections between things as …
“If I am not for myself, who will be for me? But if I am only for myself, what am I? If not now, when?” Rabbi Hillel (Pirke Avot 1:14) I got the idea from Rabbi Hillel, who lived at about the same time as Jesus. The three questions at the head of this essay …
In normal times, I fantasize that something I see or say might help save the world. I’m aware of the grandiosity of my ambitions—and their psycho-spiritual roots—but what can I say? “An ill-favoured thing, sir, but mine own,” wrote Shakespeare. But when the current pandemic hit a triple (virus, climate crisis, and response to violence …
After working with nonprofit organizations for a zillion years, I don’t put much faith in mission statements, for one simple reason. The process of articulating identity and values can be exciting, fun, and satisfying; to be sure, living the examined life is as important for organizations as for individuals. But most of the time, once …
Sometimes the memory is so fleeting I can’t quite bring it into focus, but most of the time, memories flow like a river carrying everyone I’ve ever known, everywhere I’ve ever been. It started a few weeks into the pandemic, and it’s been keeping a steady beat ever since. In the space between laying my …
Once in a while a book calls to me such that I need to ask you to read it—perhaps half a dozen books since I began this blog in 2013. Today, that book is Begin Again: James Baldwin’s America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own by Eddie S. Glaude, Jr. A friend urged me …
There is only one thing I am absolutely sure of when it comes to the future: people who don’t get their hopes up will never see their hopes realized. Nothing can be created that has not first been imagined. It may be slightly tacky to quote oneself, but since they say that all the cells …
I feel sad this morning. There is blame-slinging all around. It’s all about the last few weeks at the moment, as if all that came before had been forgotten. I’m seeing people blame sexism as the sole cause for defeating Warren, as if her own choices were entirely irrelevant. I’m seeing people focusing on the …
NOTE: I was wondering what might cheer me up when this fictional narrative came to mind. Try to suspend disbelief as you read it. Those few minutes of fantasy may be just what you need. I was cleaning the residence sitting room. As usual, I was tripping on how many McDonald’s wrappers there were and …