I have told the story before of my flirting with Buddhism in my 20’s (I loved Jesus, but needed to see other people), and how a Buddhist monk told me I was a shitty Buddhist, but that everything I was looking for in Buddhism could be found in Christianity. He introduced me to Thomas Merton, […]
Five things that made me a better cook
NB: A new feature here is that on Saturday I will share five things around a theme. Maybe it will be five books I like, or five funny cat videos, or five Saturday morning cartoons I miss. Anyone who knows me knows that I love to cook. It’s part of who I am, how I […]
Poverty changes your brain
The ways poverty affects your brain, even when you are no longer in poverty, is unreal. Like the feeling of fear when you see a truck from the water department rolling slowly down your street when you KNOW you paid your bill and they are not coming to your house. The pit of your stomach […]
The Lemonade stand
There is a neighborhood not far from me that is the “old, nice” neighborhood. For example, Eudora Welty lived there. Think large houses, large lots, lots of trees. I look for their curb alerts on the local listserve because they throw away better stuff than I can afford to buy. For instance, a few weeks […]
Being controversial
Them: You don’t want to be controversial. You want people to support your work. Me: If I say something controversial, it only means that not everyone agrees with what I said. And nobody always agrees with everybody. But I don’t need everybody to agree with me – I only need some. And the way you […]