Dear reader: I wrote this for World BEYOND War, where I’m director of technology. While this isn’t about me, it feels like one of the most personal things I’ve ever written, because I had to dig deep and work hard to try to explain my most elusive beliefs about … Read the rest
I threw the I Ching for America the other day.
This is a good spiritual practice when you come to a moment in your life when things are changing fast and you want to get a grip on what’s happening. My own version of this ancient Chinese tradition is quite … Read the rest
“Out demons out!” I don’t know why it’s feels so cathartic to me every time I listen to the recording on the 1968 Fugs album “Tenderness Junction” of a historic event a year before, the exorcism and attempted levitation of the Pentagon in USA’s capital city by a determined group … Read the rest
I spent the final days of 2023 desperately scrambling to complete two episodes for the two podcasts that represent the clashing sides of my brain.
I was possessed by a superstitious idea that I needed to launch both episodes before 2024 began – a superstition I probably manufactured as a … Read the rest
Jack Kerouac was born 100 years ago today, on March 12, 1922. I wrote a poem about this.
… Read the restThe poets are coming out of the woodwork lately
Called by a voice, and our careworn restless souls
Jack Kerouac! We called you famous for a book
He stared at me, waiting for an answer. At home we didn’t get in other people’s faces like that. You talked towards a space and the other person had a choice of entering or not entering …
I was today years old a few months ago when I first heard … Read the rest
I’m reading Diane di Prima’s “Revolutionary Letters” this morning. The great Beat poet died this weekend. I haven’t heard many details yet – the news hit social media late last night – but since this is the morning of October 26 2020 here in USA where our Supreme Court is … Read the rest
There’s a smell of scorched earth in the air lately, here in America.
It’s smoke from Pacific coast wildfires, and it’s something more: the warning scent of an authoritarian future we must avoid, even as our society chokes on climate change, racism, social injustice, predatory capitalism and military escalation. Scorched … Read the rest
I went to the climate march in New York City last week. This was on Friday, September 20, connecting with a massive strike and protest happening all over the world on the same day. My friend Attila had just flown in from Portland, Oregon, and the sprawling scene all over … Read the rest
