Forced by a virus to endure a long convalescence in bed, it was impossible for Elisabeth Tova Bailey to imagine a future; “All of life was out of reach.” Only it wasn’t. A forest snail that took up residence on her nightstand, living in a pot of violets, would change her life and become the impetus for a remarkable book.
Read MoreDuring the months we’ve been slowing down in an attempt to decipher and heal an illness, potent writings on the theme of slow have come to us randomly, lending insight into what we’d been discovering but didn’t quite yet know, and a kind of guidance.
Read MoreHazel Beeler’s extraordinary letter to the New Yorker about pockets is rich with ideas and revelations including extraordinary improvisations she makes to her clothing — including undershirts…
Read MoreWe’ve watched this beautiful clip many times, delighting in the late, legendary dancer Jacques d’Amboise’s insights into the rituals that define friendships and social interaction. We hadn’t known we were dancing…
Read MoreWe were listening to music we’d “liked” long ago on SoundCloud and forgotten, when suddenly we heard the great Ada Limón‘ reading her poem, Instructions for Not Giving Up. It arrived with perfect timing.
Read MoreAs we’ve read tributes in celebration of Yoko Ono’s 90th birthday, we’ve been thinking about her too and of the many amazing things she has put into the world. She has lived through so much and never stopped making her art, speaking up, working to antidote the violence of our age. The mindshifts her work catalyzes remain refreshing, heartening, helpful. Here are a few of our favorites:
Read MoreThe perfect accompaniment to the reflective week between Christmas and New Years is the Universe in Verse, an event masterminded by The Marginalian’s Maria Popova, to explore the question “What is Life?” through science and poetry. A gathering of extraordinary humans “celebrate the marvel and mystery of life, from the creaturely to the cosmic, with stories from the history of science and our search for truth, illustrated with poems spanning centuries of human thought and feeling”. It offers a mightily hopeful view.
Read MoreThere are good reasons I cannot NOT write about persimmons every winter. I love all the ways that they seem defiant, wild, beyond my control… I want others to find their way to the rare experience they offer.
Read MoreRecently, the always-surprising Elan Kiderman Ullendorff of Deep Sea Diving Newsletter featured stuff he found on Etsy by selecting “Highest Price” to hone his search results; he stumbled upon an extreme edge of the normally-placid site.
Nestled among “10 extremely expensive items on Etsy” is the Erotic Bouncy Castle and a brilliant life strategy.
Amid the daily deluge of bleak, enervating news about the effects of climate change, we’ve been noticing a strain of defiance: Messages that engender energy and activism rather than despair and paralysis. They offer a thought-provoking and heartening view.
Read MoreEvery birthday of late, wise man Kevin Kelly shares things he learned the hard way in, through living. The lists always offer big fat nuggets of wisdom and illumination, and many things to try. Our favorite addresses our frequent dilemma of not being able to decide between two distinct choices, usually when our linear brain is packed with logical arguments for each one that leave us boggled.
Read MoreI was dismayed to see MYSELF in the brilliant, funny New Yorker piece “Wait but have you tried?” about the advice-giving that is everywhere. It pulled me up short and got me wondering what an antidote for this rampant habit might be?
Read MoreWe love this clip of abstract expressionist artist Ed Clark describing how he came defy the limitations of the paint brush by painting canvasses laid out on the floor with a push broom, the old-fashioned super-wide broom janitor’s used to wash big swathes of floor. His improvisation reminds us of the way ideas can ignite or connect in an instant to yield solutions with mighty effect.
Read MoreEvery week, Suleika Jaouad, creator of The Isolation Journal newsletter “for people seeking to transform life’s interruptions into creative grist”, gives a prompt for readers to think or write about. This surprising prompt about love hit home.
Read MoreWriting in the Recommendo newsletter, Kevin Kelly, whose great, useful ideas we’ve been following for years, described his latest find: placebo pills that he buys on Amazon. He’s found them to be helpful to alleviate certain symptoms, echoing research by Ted Kaptchuk and others about the efficacy of open-label placebos.
Read MoreTime management educator Marydee Sklar helps entrepreneurs and other scattered creative types develop a kind of x-ray vision to antidote their often inefficient and energy-draining work habits. I’ve found the essential principles of her method mightily useful, in tandem with poet Naomi Shihab Nye’s approach.
Read MoreOne of the very best views of the New Year we’ve seen is from Lebanese-American poet and artist, Etel Adnan. Shortly after we read it, this poem* from the great 13th century Chinese poet, Stonehouse jumped into our hands. Amidst darkness that seems so pervasive, they gave just the reminder we needed.
Read MoreWhat started with the hopeful return to old ways of celebrating the holiday season suddenly turned into exhaustion and disappointment at yet another wave of a scary variant. Again. Right now, we want relief from it all: momentary escape, joy, illumination, uplift.
Read MoreEvery year when persimmons are in season, I employ a sort of ritual to deeply enjoy the experience of perfection that the miraculous fruit can yield. I amplify it by reading Li-Young Lee’s astonishing poem Persimmons out loud. Poem and ripe persimmon possess beauty in equal measure that never fails to knock me out.
Read MoreAt the ever-illuminating @upstate_diary, we suddenly found ourselves looking up through wintry trees into a vast moving star-scape. It transported us to a chilly night in the country. It led to reminders of cosmic views of the everyday.
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