This is a plug for a great exhibit currently at the National Geographic Musuem in Washington DC–“PhotoArk,” a collection of photographs by Joel Sartore.  He is trying to document all the world’s threatened species–5,000 so far & counting.  He visits zoos & rescue centers to take pictures of the animals against a stark black or…… Continue reading Lessons from the PhotoArk

When I got home for lunch after chapel today, a lovely Christmas card was waiting for me, with a quote from Rainer Maria Rilke:  “And now let us welcome the new year, full of things that have never been.”It seemed particularly appropriate, given what had just happened a few hours earlier.  At the end of…… Continue reading Doing a New Thing!

This is my harp–isn’t it lovely?  I play the harp–more or less.  I’ve been playing for a few years now, and I’m still pretty bad:  I don’t practice as much as I should, and I don’t have much natural ability.  Mark Oldenburg is responsible for my foray into the music world:  when I was turning…… Continue reading Lessons from a Mediocre Harp-player

Like many of you, I’m sure, I have been being thinking way more about Donald Trump than I would like these past few days.  I vacillate between thinking he is so bombastic that he is dangerous, and thinking he is so absurd he is ridiculous.  However, after reading this New York Times article [Words that Killed Medieval Jews],…… Continue reading Why Words Matter, and Trump is no Laughing Matter

So, my dear friend Richard Payne just posted this powerful reflection on his blog.  This is the link; you can read the whole thing here:  Piety is Not Enough  I’m copying enough so that you can get the gist of it:Last night, driving home from a meeting in Berkeley, like many other commuters, I was listening…… Continue reading "Piety is Not Enough"

I love cartoons–I always have; and even as an adult, I still do.  One of my favorite animators is Hayao Miyazaki:  he did “Spirited Away,” which is an amazing movie–along with a bunch of other great movies; and he also did “Sherlock Hound,” a very cute Sherlock Holmes parody with dogs as the main characters…… Continue reading Rudolph and Other Misfits

I wanted to write a quick post about one of the papers on the panel I responded  to this afternoon.  [I’m at the American Academy of Religion meeting this weekend.]  The paper was titled “Memorializing Pregnancy Loss in American Catholicism and Japanese Buddhism,” by Maureen Walsh.  It  was a really, really interesting paper!  This was…… Continue reading Reflections on Pregnancy Loss–in Japan and the US

I read this interesting post this morning by my dear friend Richard Payne:  Dharma talk during the Eitaikyo.  In it, he shares a summary of the dharma talk he gave during the annual eitaikyo service held every fall at the Institute for Buddhist Studies.  This service sounds to my Christian ears similar to our All Saints…… Continue reading All Saints Day and the Eitaikyo

Today is November 9th, and if you know anything about German history, you know this is a monumental day for Deutschland.  The evening of November 9th, 1938 has come to be known as Kristallnacht, the night of broken glass, and in many ways, it is considered to be the actual beginning of the Holocaust. On the…… Continue reading November 9th, for Good or for Ill–or for Both

What’s your “comfort food” memory of childhood?  Most of us have at least one:  for me, it’s fried egg sandwiches and chocolate chip cookies.  Many parents welcome home children with special meals, because for everyone involved, that food carries strong connotations of love and family.For Oliver Sacks, that food was gefilte fish, the special dish…… Continue reading Gefilte Fish and Memories of Childhood