My message this morning at Brooklyn Quaker Meeting: Over the past few days, I have spent way too many hours in airports. I was traveling to San Jose, California with a teenager so that we could give a presentation at a youth conference there. Our flight plans unfortunately had us flying through Denver, which was…
Category: The Spirit
“Next Fall”: a witty play about faith and relationships
My friend Josephine and I got to check out the wonderful new play “Next Fall” at the Helen Hayes Theater not long ago. Given how much the live theater scene in New York has suffered during the economic downturn, I’m impressed with any new production that doesn’t have puppets, showstopping musical numbers, or movie stars…
A Year of Traveling: Where to go and why
My friends Dave and Kim, after a couple of years of planning and saving, are doing what I'm sure you have fantasized about from your cubicle: a year of traveling around the world. Their itinerary is taking them to a ridiculous amount of cool places, from Macchu Picchu to Bali to Sweden to Uganda. For…
Rikomatic’s 2009 Year in Review
I'm not sure anything could encapsulate my entire year better than this one picture from the New York Times. For me it was a sublime, bittersweet moment — leading hundreds of people marching, dancing, clapping, making music, laughing and crying in celebration of the life of one humble man who touched us all. The year…
“Gold” : an animated winter poem (video)
For my holiday greeting this year, I decided to go all social media-y and create an animated reading of my winter poem "Gold." I've embedded the video above, but I recommend looking at it full screen in HD from the original YouTube version. I hope you like it! Created using the awesome Prezi presentation web…
“Q is for Quaker”: Awesome Arty Keyboard Stickers!
I don't think this aligns well with the Quaker value of simplicity, but I kind of have to have these keyboard stickers created by designer Christopher Monro Delorenzo! Not only are they mad cute (B is for Bowie, P is for Pirate, G is for Geisha) but they have an adorable little Quaker icon for…
The Bounty of Silence
Someone at Brooklyn Quaker Meeting this morning told me that I should really be collecting my spoken messages and putting them in a book. I suppose this is my way of honoring that sweet sentiment. This is the message I shared this morning at Brooklyn Meeting (more or less): I spent this Thanksgiving with a…
Fall cleanup at the Brooklyn Quaker Cemetery
I spent a couple of hours today in the lovely Quaker Cemetery in the middle of Prospect Park, helping rake leaves and fix the gravestones. Lots of kids from the Brooklyn Friends School were there, which was really sweet. What kid doesn't like jumping onto a pile of fall leaves? It was a drizzly, chilly…
Thoughts on balance and the Spirit
I had a lot of really interesting conversations with Quakers this weekend on the subject of "Balance," which was the theme of the retreat I was attending. I wanted to capture some of the best bits of insight here so I can come back to it later. Imbalance and Fear We talked about what makes…
Finding balance with the Brooklyn Quakers at the Powell House Retreat Center
I just got back from the Powell House retreat center in upstate New York, joining 40-some Quakers from the Brooklyn Friends Meeting. It was a relaxing and spiritually recharging weekend among some very deep souls. I'm fairly new to Brooklyn Meeting, having only started attending a couple of years ago. So going on a weekend…