Leonard Cohen

Last night I went to see Leonard Cohen, the man who helped transform the 1960s and 1970s, at the Wang Theater. The old stager was every bit as good as ever, and, once again, he turned our hearts inside out.
Perhaps part of his appeal is that he doesn’t just sing about events, or things, [...]

Take my car….

Yesterday I had my car towed. It was my own silly fault. A sign that was obscured by the branches of a tree told me that every fourth Thursday the street would be swept, and I thought it was Wednesday (the Memorial Day holiday threw me off stride).
A very cheery gent on the end [...]

Birds of a feather…?

I was painting the deck the other day when I noticed a certain amount of activity in the wisteria that rampages around one end of it. Robins were dashing to and fro. I continued to paint, aware that this was not a good place for a nest as this door is heavily used. [...]

Memorial Day

Today, at twelve noon, a parade will go past the end of my street, complete with the Hibernian Marching band of pipes and drums, and various convertibles with the veterans of many wars. The Pearl Harbor survivor, the oldest World War Two survivor - they’ll all be there.
I’ve been a pacifist for many [...]

Why are we here?

I was talking with a client the other day about that scary question: what is it we are on earth to do? “If only I could discover my reason to be here,” she said, ‘then I’d know how to live.”
It’s a useful question to ask, of course, and we probably all should ask [...]

Another way of life… or of living?

The other day the United Nations in New York City decided to celebrate indigenous peoples, and we were treated to pictures on our TV of people dressed in native American Indian garb of all sorts, from Peru to Seattle, chanting songs in the grand meeting chamber. It was an event designed to bring to the [...]

Government in a flap; should we care?

I’ve been interested by the week’s news that the British House of Commons has been in a state of uproar. The Speaker has been forced to resign (the first occasion for over 300 years) as a result of a furore about Members of Parliament padding their expenses.
What possible significance could that have for us? [...]

Sleep, that knits up the ravel’d sleeve of care

Shakespeare got it right. Sleep, which Macbeth famously says he has murdered, is ‘the death of each day’s life, sore labor’s balm’. It repairs, and knits up again that frayed sleeve of our minds that has been worn through during the labors of the day. But it’s also much more than this.
I’ve worked [...]

A Whole New World

Today was graduation day at Curry College, where I work, and a bittersweet moment it is - always. Years ago I felt this even more strongly. The very first time I was due to see an entire class graduate, a class I’d been with through all four years of growth and development, I couldn’t bring [...]

Ever Wondered about Madame Blavatsky?

That’s probably not a question that comes your way every day, but it is a serious question. Madame Blavatsky was the founder of the Theosophy movement which flourished in the last years of the nineteenth century and then on into the twentieth. The movement’s core beliefs have remained somewhat obscure - despite its [...]