Bawling like a baby

December 20, 2009

I want to be able to tell a story like this one. It’s simple and short, but it has such depth of spirit. In our culture it’s rare to think of death as beautiful; loss is framed for us as something inevitably tragic and to be avoided. And it’s true that the pain of loss is inevitable, but it’s not the only truth present. The fact of mortality makes love and life all the more precious, and something to be deeply savored. This video is one of the most beautiful I’ve seen all year, precisely because it walks the line between the love and pain that are present when a loved one dies. I cried all the way through, for his losses and for mine.

Happy birthday Mom, I still miss you (and I know you would have cried too).

Last Minutes with ODEN from phos pictures on Vimeo.

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Wendell Berry Sums It Up

November 6, 2009

“Politics is the art of the practical. Poetry is about enlarging the context.”

Next, read this from La Vida Locavore.

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Inner Emptiness and the Decline of Democracy

September 10, 2009

A really good summation from Parker Palmer of how and why our political system is the way it is, from a soul-based perspective:

I’m currently reading Palmer’s A Hidden Wholeness right now, which could be described as a manual for dealing with this type of soul emptiness. Very interesting so far, especially for the essential Quaker-ness [...]

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Best explanation so far for Fox News

May 9, 2009

Glenn Beck is a ChatBot? Great tongue-in-cheek piece about how the level of discourse and dog-whistling in right-wing media has descended to a level where it might be duplicable by a computer.

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I <heart> chickens

May 8, 2009

So adorable…it’s impossible to get anything productive done at home these days thanks to our new arrivals:

We’re in the process of building a coop (they will be inside for a few months until they’re big enough), and in the meantime it’s Chicken TV all the time. Weekly updates at the YouTube channel as time warrants.

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A Little Taste of the Future

May 1, 2009

I often get asked, when people find out I’m in grad school, what I plan to do with my degree. The truth is, I don’t exactly know; the degree itself is the artifact of a discovery process that I hope will point me in a new direction that’s still somewhat hazy. However, certain things are [...]

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Giant Gay Umbrella

April 21, 2009

Funny or Die does it again, this time courtesy of Jane Lynch and friends. Brings a whole new level to “It’s raining men” for me.

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Joseph Campbell Lectures now on iTunes

April 6, 2009

The Joseph Campbell Foundation has begun releasing audio lectures on iTunes—the first series replicates the content from the out-of-print CDs and tapes released by Highbridge, and there’ll be more series to follow.
More info from the JCF website
Signing up for a free Associate membership at the website also gives you access to transcripts and forum discussions [...]

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Sites to Inspire the Imagination

April 2, 2009

I’ve been considering the state of my imagination lately. It’s done pretty well over time, in spite of the various beatdowns of Western culture, but I’m always looking for places I can get fresh fuel. The websites below have been highly inspirational of late, so in case you find yourself in my boat. here are [...]

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Dancing Machine

February 20, 2009

Sometimes, you just need a hit of it. Today’s expression of pure joy:

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