The problem with memorial services is that the person being honored is not able to appreciate all the nice things that people are saying about her or him. At least, that' usually the way it goes. Today I visited the San Jose Friend's Meeting, a Quaker community that meets in the oldest Meetinghouse in California,…
Category: The Spirit
Some Peeps I’m Thankful For
A few of the many folks I’m thankful are part of my life, on this day of thanksgiving: My boss Barry: When you offered me a job at Global Kids more than three years ago, you must have seen something in me that I didn’t see. Under your astute, mindful, and sensitive leadership I’ve grown…
Quaking Aspen, Common Roots and Immortality
Rachel Sussman is a photographer who has spent years traveling the globe documenting the oldest living organisms on the planet. Ms. Sussman talk about her fascinating project in a recent TED Talk, that you watch in full on the official site. Watching this TED Talk on the train the other day, I have to say…
Awesome recipe for “Preserving Children” in the Powell House Cookbook
I love this recipe for "preserving children" that you can find in the Powell House cookbook (now out of print). Tom Rothchild brought this gem to my attention. The recipe is as follows: Take one large grassy field, half a dozen children, three small dogs, and walk along a narrow strip of brook, pebbly if…
Resting and Recharging with the Brooklyn Quakers
This weekend I got to enjoy the company of 40-some Quakers in upstate New York for the 2010 Brooklyn Quaker Meeting Retreat, which I helped organize. It was one of those times that reaffirm everything that I love about Quakers as a community. The locale was the historic and quaint retreat center called Powell House…
A Fantastic Weekend with the Brooklyn Quakers up at Powell House
I'm sure I will have more coherent comments about the past three days once I've had some more sleep and time to think about it. For the moment, let me just say that this weekend totally rocked. I was up in the beautiful retreat center run by the Quakers called Powell House along with about…
Krumping as Transcendent Expression
This morning at Quaker Meeting I couldn't stop thinking about krump. Krumping, of course, is the hyper-energetic, aggressive dance style that emerged out of some of the roughest neighborhoods in LA in the 90s, and has since become an international phenomenon. I've long had difficulty understanding krump as an artform. It appeared to me to…
Going Back to Cali: Moving back to the Bay in 2011!
So I've been alluding to some major life changes on the horizon. It's time to come clean: Sometime in early 2011 I'm moving back to the San Francisco Bay Area. It's something I have been pondering for the past year or so. Over there I've got a wonderful (an enormous) extended family that I feel…
Learning to Slow Down and Embrace the Silence
The following is the message I delivered at Quaker Meeting this morning: So I was talking with my friend Rafi, who is a practicing Buddhist, about the recent month-long silent retreat he just came back from. I asked Rafi how it went. He replied that it was great but that he wished that he had…
If I have learned one thing in my 41 years on this planet, it is this…
DON'T POSTPONE JOY. Seen at Luna Park in Coney Island.