Dear Writers and Friends, I’ve had the great honor and privilege of teaching at Tassajara Zen Center retreat for the past few summers. This past July, my in-person retreat with my friend and colleague, the wonderful meditation teacher Tova Green, was canceled because of Covid. But now, under the auspices of Tassajara, Tova and I will be offering a one-day online retreat on Saturday, January 9th, entitled Writing Our Way to Hope and Commitment. It will be the first retreat I have taught since the spring and the only one on my calendar. Please join me for this very rare and special opportunity. Here are the details: Writing Our Way ... [Continue Reading]
Helpful Resources in a Time of Uncertainty #90
Coronavirus & the Pandemic Response A Room, a Bar and a Classroom: How the Coronavirus is Spread Through the Air Excellent set of graphics that explain coronavirus transmission from El Pais, a Spanish magazine. The article looks at three different scenarios: a home/family gathering, a restaurant/bar and a school and examines both droplet and aerosol transmission of the virus—how it works and the best ways to mitigate it. There is a big long gap in the middle of the article, but keep scrolling and you’ll get to the rest. Thanks to Deo Robbins for the heads up. Click here to access this ... [Continue Reading]
Helpful Resources in a Time of Uncertainty #89
Coronavirus & the Pandemic Response Larry Brilliant Says We’ll Beat Covid—After We Go Through Hell This is the best article I’ve read about Covid in a long time. It’s an interview with epidemiologist Larry Brilliant in Wired Magazine, who say the next few months will be “the best of times and the worst of times.” Clear information from an excellent source. Click here to access this resource. Private School Tents & Public Longing A powerful essay about the inequities that have become more glaring than ever in the education of poor versus wealthy ... [Continue Reading]
Helpful Resources in a Time of Uncertainty #88
I’d like to greet you today with a terrific poem sent to me by Nancy Grace. I just loved it. Read it out loud to get the full impact. It feels great on the tongue! A Charm Against the Language of Politics --Veronica Patterson Say over and over the names of things, the clean nouns: weeping birch, bloodstone, tanager, Banshee damask rose. Read field guides, atlases, gravestones. At the store, bless each apple by kind: McIntosh, Winesap, Delicious, Jonathan. Enunciate the vegetables and herbs: okra, calendula. Go deeper into the terms of some small landscape: spiders, for example. Then, after a speech on compromising the environment for technology, recite the tough, silky structure of webs: tropical stick, ladder web, mesh web, filmy dome, funnel, trap door. When you ... [Continue Reading]
Helpful Resources in a Time of Uncertainty #87
Coronavirus & the Pandemic Response Super-spreader wedding party shows COVID holiday dangers - Los Angeles Times This cautionary tale of the amount of devastation and death caused by one wedding should remind us all to be very, very careful this holiday season. Click here to access this resource. Racial Justice & Educational Resources Holding Biden’s Feet to the Fire on His Promises to the African-American Community In his victory speech last Saturday, Joe Biden stated, “The African-American community stood up for me. You’ve always had my back and I’ll always have yours. America called ... [Continue Reading]
Helpful Resources in a Time of Uncertainty #86
Coronavirus & the Pandemic Response COVID-19 Risk Tracker Meanwhile, you might find the COVID-19 risk tracker from Brown University’s Alpert Medical School useful. You can put in an activity–such as grocery shopping or going to a restaurant or a trip—log in your location, and determine your risk. Great for planning and also lowering your risk. Thanks to Roz Spafford and www.newsyoumayhavemissed.com for this handy tool. Click here to access this resource. Coping with Fear and Anxiety | Amen Clinics Midway through this article is some good advice about dealing with stress and anxiety during this ... [Continue Reading]
The Courage to Heal
Written Sunday morning, the day after: We won. My side won. I don’t think it would be hyperbole to say democracy won. Decency won. I was out on my daily walk behind Simpkin’s Swim Center when I heard the news, drinking in the chlorophyll of all those trees, my eyes sweeping over Schwan Lake and beyond it, the Pacific. My feet padding in the dried dust beneath them. My double-sided cotton mask around my neck, ready to be lifted up if other hikers appeared. I had my phone with me, of course, my constant companion during this endless week of waiting. And despite the fact that I’d forced myself out the door for my daily self-care—out in nature, exercising—I kept lifting that smooth blue rectangle up to my face and checking. It was on Facebook that I first heard the news, the single ... [Continue Reading]
Who Are These People?
“We must criticize without wounding and debate without dehumanizing our opponents. Fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you.” --Ruth Bader Ginsburg.Written Friday afternoon, the day before Biden’s victory was announced: Sometime during my slog through this endless election night, after bottoming out on PTSD from Decision 2016, positive that the 2020 map was bleeding red like it did four years ago, I broke away from the TV at midnight, stoned on edibles, gingersnaps and three glasses of wine, drifting and sloshing through my wired, sleepless body. But the substances I’d shoved into my horrified mouth weren’t enough to mute the panic I felt for myself, my friends, my grandchildren, and my country. Trump ... [Continue Reading]
Helpful Resources in a Time of Uncertainty #85
I’m afraid I have to go all in on politics today and the precarious, teetering edge the US finds itself in at this moment. This represents some of the things I’ve been posting lately on Facebook, but I think it’s time to share them here, on this larger platform. Included in this collect is poetry and a beautiful nod to writing in a time of stress. A prayer for our country and a great article with eight strategies for dealing with stress right now. And some difficult reality checks about the challenges we may be facing as a country in the next few weeks. And if you want to read more like this in the coming days and weeks, feel free to follow me on Facebook. There’s Nothing Like ... [Continue Reading]
Helpful Resources in a Time of Uncertainty #84
Coronavirus & the Pandemic Response We’re all making choices in the pandemic. Many of us are lying about them. How people lie about their Covid safety behaviors. From the Washington Post: Click here to access this resource. Miscellaneous 2020: The Year of Blur An interesting look at the way our perception of time has changed during thIs pandemic year. From the New York Times. “ A remarkable thing about this year is that it’s marked not by one big crisis alone, but a giant stack of them: a killer virus blended with political chaos, environmental catastrophe, racial strife. The list goes on. “It is a “cascading series of events ... [Continue Reading]
