One 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 More
The most helpful 50 minutes I’ve spent recently was listening to What’s Happening in Our Nervous Systems, a podcast from On Being with Krista Tippet. Clinical psychologist Christine Runyan discusses the physiological effects of the past years of pandemic and the profound changes its wrought in daily life. Knowing “what’s been happening on a creaturely level”, I’ve felt better, more grounded, despite the escalation of a new variant.
Read More
Lately Mary Oliver has been coming again into our field of vision. This perfect evocation of being among trees is a balm in this ferocious time.
Read More
What 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 More
What if the future of well-being is about “tipping the scales in the world away from fear and toward love”? asks On Being’s Krista Tippett in The Future of Well-Being. This simple premise feels like a guidepost for navigating the extraordinary elevation of fear the past years have brought, wrought by the pandemic, politics fueled by animosity, climate change. We were particularly struck by the idea of “microdosing of well-being”.
Read More
We were instantly riveted by @tumanualidades.de’s tiny videos of mending because they were so restful to watch, offering seemingly simple solutions to fixes we have in the past spent too much time worrying or procrastinating about. They called to mind a cosmic view of mending and sewing from some favorite artists.
Read More
Over the years, we’ve found many ways to express “Thank you” on Thanksgiving. Close to our heart is this W.S. Merwin poem that finds a way to say thanks in the midst of our beautiful, frightening, wounded, wounding world. We offer it with a big hunk of beauty from a Mexican forest.
Read More
Reflecting on this sign yields SO much…. For us it catalyzed a meditation on time and change and where we are now, and a randomly-found poem by fourteenth century Chinese Buddhist poet Stonehouse*
Read More
Unbeknownst to many inhabitants of New Orleans, a small enclave of eccentric, often ingenious outsiders thrive in twelve homemade stilt-houses along the Mississippi, hidden from sight by the levees. Macon Fry’s book living in the “batture” is a compelling view of resourceful alt-living choices that may be the way of the future.
Read More
This remarkable letter was found among Becca Eldemire’s letters after she was murdered. Copied and framed, it found its way to me as a gift, and onto a wall where I post things I need reminding of. Its spare, gentle wisdom reverberates in my life daily.
Read More
At 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.
Read More
We recently stumbled upon an image of two staircases side-by-side, the steps staggered, with no banister or partition between. There was no commentary. It reminded us of artist Beatrice Wood’s perfect description of Marcel Duchamp’s revolutionary Fountain that upended the art world and changed the way viewed art, and artists.
Read More
At the great Kevin Kelly’s newsletter Recommendo, he mentions “the best, most succinct roundup of productivity techniques I’ve seen”. We learned a few seriously useful tricks that compliment our current theme of deconstructing our old driven routines into a more spacious life. We are heartened by the all-time best practice…
Read More
A compelling Kurt Vonnegot quote came over our transom recently, the prolific and best-selling author’s answer when asked his thoughts on replacing human contact with electronic contact. It cuts to the heart of who we are as human beings.
Read More
When we saw this photograph of American abolitionist, former slave and women’s rights activist, Soujourner Truth we thought, ‘No description is necessary. There is a person who is completely herself, embodying strength, forthrightness, clarity’. Then we read the extemporaneous speech she gave in 1851.
Read More
For a long time, I was hard-pressed to find a good definition of “blessing” that encompassed its quality of kindness, possibiity and transformative power without referencing formal religion. I found it in ‘To Bless the Space Between Us’ by poet John O’Donohue, and in one of his exquisite blessings.
Read More
Our friend Ruth Kissane sent this message: “Have you heard this? The songs Brian Eno couldn’t live without?” The 8 songs come from a BBC Radio 4 show, Dessert Island Discs, which interviews people-of-note about what eight tracks they would take to a desert island, and WHY. We love how Ruth reframed the question.
Read More
Sixty years after the artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s first visioned wrapping the Arc de Triumphe I’m fabric, the project has come to fruition for all to e see, touch, interact with, for free. In this short video, Christo gives insight into the meaning of their unusual — and ephemeral — life’s work spent transforming huge outdoor spaces at great cost in money and time.
Read More
Do you ever wonder why we humans tend to feel good in nature? Annie Murphy Paul’s scholarly The Extended Mind: the Power of Thinking Outside the Brain gives the simple, obvious gist. It’s message is surprisingly echoed in art…
Read More
Michaela Coel won an Emmy for her fiercely powerful drama I May Destroy You which she created, directed and starred in. Her stunning 30-second acceptance speech offers remarkable counsel to writers and artists longing to make truly meaningful work.
Read More