poetry wednesday : it might have been otherwise
I flew home from San Diego on Sunday after two amazing engagements there–a speech to the California Association for the Education of Young Children and a workshop that Jane LaFazio and I created, combining writing and art-making about grief. Full, intense, wonderfully tiring days. Then up early in pouring rain …
Come, let’s ride brightly painted inner tubes, you and I
If you have watched TV commercials for the new teeniny microscopic MacBook Air, perhaps you will recognize this song by Yael Naim. Come, let’s ride brightly painted inner tubes, play cymbals in a field of sunflowers, sing with a gorgeous Israeli-French accent, and realize that there is a whole big …
J is for jijnasu
Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known. -Carl Sagan In 2008, I want to be a jijnasu, a seeker of wisdom, an inquirer. When I was preparing to talk with Billy Collins the other day (doesn’t that sound casual?), Mr Brilliant was holding the paper bag while I hyperventilated, …
With gratitude for this intentional community
We were born to unite with our fellow men, and to join in community with the human race. –Cicero As this third year of 37days ends, I’ve spent this last week reading again the comments left on this site in 2007—and visiting the websites of their authors, as well as …
Becoming Larger Than Our Skin Allows
And no, that title isn’t a reference to overeating. In the U.S., today is Thanksgiving Day (and my friend Karrie Manson’s birthday, so a shout out to her for being so powerful that the nation stops when she ages). This year, I’m not spending Thanksgiving at a long table full …
Let go of the monkey bar
“When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.” – Lao Tzu Sometimes taking flight takes letting go. Letting go takes faith. Faith takes letting go. It all requires wings. And so it goes. As Kierkegaard has said, “Without risk there is no faith, and …
With gratitude for the ampersand
"I am a part of all that I have met." – Tennyson The end of a year brings closure of many kinds. Some involve owning what didn’t get done that year; others involve thankfulness, still others center on the celebration of things accomplished, friendships deepened, things and people let go …
Draw circles
“The eye is the first circle; the horizon which it forms is the second; and throughout nature this primary figure is repeated without end. It is the highest emblem in the cipher of the world.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays –"Circles” Let’s imagine that all learning takes place in a …
Open your hand
“To receive everything, one must open one’s hands and give.” –Taisen Deshimaru “If my hands are fully occupied in holding on to something, I can neither give nor receive.” –Dorothee Solle One of the wisest people I know is a man named Eliav Zakay from Israel, CEO of a national …
Break stride
"We don’t see things as they are. We see things as we are." -Anais Nin Coming home from Chicago two weeks ago, I was struck irretrievably ill in the cab on the way to the airport, that kind of I’ve- eaten- an- alien- food- poisoning- I’m- unable- to- stop- shaking …
