During an interview for a blog yesterday, I was musing about what made lindy hop so special to me. And that’s when it hit me: Lindy hop didn’t come from a place where everything was rosy and people were always jumping for joy. It came from the African American community during the Depression, amidst systemic…
Category: The Spirit
How to Get Out of the Bottle Trap
On Sunday night, I was driving back to my apartment in San Francisco at around midnight, using my friend Hanah’s car. I was dead tired after a long dance weekend in Oakland. My goal was to get to bed as early as possible… but the parking gods had other plans. Pulling up to my neighborhood,…
Alternatives to the Social Media Nightcap?
How do you wind down to get to sleep instead of social media surfing? Last night I came home from a lindy hop dance and started winding down to go to bed. It was a pretty good dance – I enjoyed a lot of the music, danced a bit, chatted with some friends. A fairly…
What It’s Like Meditating as a Cat Owner
Hey, Dad! Hey, Dad! Pay attention to me!
If you are too busy to meditate…
You should sit in meditation for 20 minutes a day. Unless you’re too busy, then you should sit for an hour. Ancient Zen Saying
How I Motivate Myself to Meditate: Take 20 Breaths
True Confession: I’m terrible at making time to meditate. As a college student, I was probably my most diligent at meditation, or prayer as I called it then as a born again Christian. I had a regular morning practice I followed, a list of people and concerns I prayed for, sacred texts that I read,…
My 50th: Best Birthday Ever!
Last December, it hit me out of the blue what I wanted to do for my 50th birthday. I was having dinner with my mother in a Filipino restaurant. In an adjoining dining room, we could hear some kind of party taking place. There was music, cake, food, dancing — the works. I thought to…
Learning to Play Nicely with Others
I was hanging out by a public pool the other day and was watching the little kids playing and interacting with each other. There was one young boy, maybe 5 or 6 years old, who seemed to be by himself. The other kids had siblings or friends that they were with. The boy REALLY wanted…
A Vacation Can’t Make You Happy: Wisdom from SNL
“Wherever you go, there you are.” I’m crying laughing because it’s true.
World of Peacecraft: That Time My Fake News Story Went Viral
About ten years ago, I was actively blogging about virtual worlds, focusing on developments in this technology, what people were creating in online worlds, and how this interacted with the real world. I was fairly well known, particularly in the Second Life subcommunities. I was also active in the Quaker faith, blogging frequently about my…