Wintry Mix
As I write, big fat flakes of snow are falling against a pale gray sky that is struggling to turn to daylight. It is too early to know how much of the storm will be snow or freezing rain or… (READ MORE)
Baksheesh and Brahman
I spent a few hours this weekend reading Joseph Campbell’s Baksheesh and Brahman, which is Campbell’s journals from a year in India from 1954-55 (I’m now about a third of the way through). Campbell writes that he went to India… (READ MORE)
Mahabhutas (the great elements)
The mahabhutas are the grossest, most physical of the 36 tattvas described in Kashmir Shaivism. They are: prithivi — earth or solidity; ap (or jala) — water or liquidity, agni (or tejas) — fire or formativity; vayu — air; akasha… (READ MORE)
A Personal God (Ishta Devata)
My earliest exposure to eastern mysticism was through Salinger and the Beats, which I read avidly in high school and even junior high. The Beats were hipper and smarter than I could ever hope to be (and they weren’t so… (READ MORE)
Buy a Coffee Mug (and never forget)
I didn’t buy a coffee mug, but I did take the picture. If only remembering was as easy as buying a souvenir. Memory, though, it much more ephemeral. I’ll remember this day. Sometimes I will deliberately recall it. Sometimes, images… (READ MORE)
Privilege and Periphery
At about 10:30 am, I left my house and walked over to the Capitol. I knew that by leaving the house at that hour, instead of at 7am, I would be outside the fence, but I instead practiced in the… (READ MORE)
Aerial View
If I had been born a different person and chosen an entirely different career path (say a secret service agent), I might have had a view like this today. Would it have been worth it? So interesting to watch the… (READ MORE)
“Yes We Can”
Yesterday’s inaugural concert spurred all sorts of memories from me. When I was a child, we went a number of times to the Clearwater Revival Festival and other folk festivals where Pete Seeger was a headline. He is just ten… (READ MORE)
January Cold
Here’s a picture of the chard I harvested last Wednesday. I don’t usually harvest that much at a time just to feed myself, but it was harvest Wednesday or let it die back. I have most of my chard plants… (READ MORE)
Advance thoughts on the inauguration festivities
The picture on top shows police blockades put up on the west side of the Capitol for inaugural preparations. The bottom picture shows a bandstand erected at the extreme west end of the Capitol lawn looking over the reflecting pool… (READ MORE)