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kindness to strangers - “All this they did with simple kindness, talking to their guests and making them welcome, without the slightest idea that they were anything but human travelers as poor as themselves,” (Green, p44). In the Greek mythology that underpins so much of modern western ethics, the wandering man, castaways, strangers and beggars, are sacred to the … Continue reading kindness to strangers →
the whisperies - Those are the fields of inquiry that I think of immediately when I read that quote from DeLillo. They are of a family for me in that they also, when you get deep enough into their practices of searching out inner consistencies, begin to understand that there is a wonder in the exceptions and imperfections. … Continue reading the whisperies →
repetition tracking - TRIGGER: “Merging past and present, it charts a repetitive circular journey, one wherein I move around and around from place to place, then end at the location I started from….I find repetition scary. It seems to suggest a static stuck quality. It reminds [me] of the slow languid hot summer days of childhood where the … Continue reading repetition tracking →
mother ginger - I know it has its problems, but I confess, I have loved the Nutcracker since I was a toddler. And I have loved Mark Morris’ The Hard Nut since it first aired on PBS in 1991. Sometimes, I wonder if my own experience as a Polichinelle at such a young age taught me something important … Continue reading mother ginger →
democracy as dance - In Massachusetts most towns operate in a direct democracy system rather than a representative system of legislative councils and community boards. What this means is that anyone registered to vote in the town can participate in Town Meeting and make legislative decisions impacting the town. This week I attended my first Town Meeting. 1200+ people … Continue reading democracy as dance →
the lonesomeness of the ocean - “Then we set down on the sandy bottom where the water was about knee-deep, and watched the daylight come. Not a sound anywheres — perfectly still — just like the whole world was asleep…we would watch the lonesomeness of the river.” – Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. There are so many pans clanging … Continue reading the lonesomeness of the ocean →coastal elevators - Imagine an elevator A creaky one Perhaps a broken-down one, whose door still works, but not the up and down of it So the creak comes from the door as it opens out into the vestibule It is an old-timey elevator not a new fangled one with a sliding door that opens sideways an old … Continue reading coastal elevators →
a small dance of reclamation - In November of 2016, like many women who have been victims of various gradations of sexual violence, assault and oppression, I found myself in shock, fear, rage and dismay. Since then I have been struggling to find a way out of a space of disempowering trauma and back to a space of action and, to … Continue reading a small dance of reclamation →
man and his pain - Perhaps it is because I grew up in a family where “contemplating the infinite” was code for taking a shit, but somehow it seems to me that the most stunning aesthetic beauty is often found in things our social norms deem most abject, most painful, most grotesque. I don’t mean some kind of noble beauty … Continue reading man and his pain →
puzzle factory - This is a space where I can be confused by the world, think hard about its mysteries, and work out how a myriad of reclaimed and seemingly random pieces could all fit together in some fashion that can make some kind of a sense. Because I know others are as flummoxed by existence as I … Continue reading puzzle factory →
the unfathomable - I sit somewhere at a confluence of many, but perhaps most acutely my understanding of our struggle in the world and in art is colored by my (mis)readings and interpretations of on the one hand, the “Godfather of the American avant-garde” Richard Foreman, and, on the other, one of butoh’s founders Tatsumi Hijikata. I see … Continue reading the unfathomable →
potholes collecting lost love - The cracks. There are so many cracks and uneven alignments in New York City’s streets the continuous decay combined with continuous construction, digging up holes, patching them back up, only to dig them up again the next week, and then the trees whose roots cannot be held captive under the cement and the ice and … Continue reading potholes collecting lost love →
unfamiliar wonder - About a month ago, the universe decided to remind me of the precariousness and uncertainty of the human condition. Since then, I have been burrowed down deep, nursing physical and emotional wounds, glad for the protective cover of trees and distance from civilization. Eventually though, the promise of unfamiliar wonder just over that far away … Continue reading unfamiliar wonder →
scattered honey wits - Do you remember the image, I think it was of Winnie the Pooh, or at least I want that to be its origin, of fluff inside one’s head? That, being “a bear of very little brain”, white fluffy stuffing might fill the remaining void between the ears. This is how my brain feels today: fragments … Continue reading scattered honey wits →
remembrance - a series of 11 cards, an accumulation of elements, a collection of thoughts, remembering a mentor
lobster bishop - The lobster, his inner parts are his embarrassment, his weak spots, the vitals he protects, his abject soul. Ball is supposed to be dressed up in a bishop’s costume, but he has always looked to me like a lobster – hard protective shell, sharp dangerous claws, soft slightly nervous green innards of incomprehensible poetry stepping … Continue reading lobster bishop →
potatoes and pirates - Just thinking about how one’s perspective on the world changes when one’s farmland has been contaminated by geopolitics, economic adversity, governance failures, toxic waste and millions of unexploded ordinances or when one’s fishing waters have been contaminated by geopolitics, economic adversity, governance failures, toxic dumping and illegal foreign trawlers. The small harmless things begin to … Continue reading potatoes and pirates →