Live today at the wonderful Empty Mirror, a short essay and some photos centering on a concept that’s been especially present for me lately: the threshold. This one’s a little bit photo essay, a little bit meditation, a little bit book review. Oh, and a poem. Genres are tricky. Come listen with me to some … More Conversations at Thresholds
Many of you know that I struggle with anxiety. Sometimes it feels like I’m winning that struggle, and sometimes I’m manifestly not. Recently, I’ve started choosing different words to approach it. Instead of a struggle, or a battle, how can I understand and engage with this unwanted companion? One new frame I’m exploring came through … More Anxiety & Radical Hospitality
This is a new feeling for me: my work in print, offering me resonances I couldn’t have seen when it was only alive in my own head. Asking me what, exactly, I was thinking. Once they’re out in the world, texts don’t belong to their author. They have a life of their own; they interact … More What I Am Learning, Alone in the Desert Hills
On most visits to a coastal margin, I make something I call a “beach offering.” Beaches are places to find all manner of mysteries in object form. Like children, dogs, and many adults I know, I like to pick those things up. If the picking up is mostly curiosity, the giving back – that’s the … More A Field Offering
I was walking up a field this morning, a few miles from home. I’m not sure whose field it is, actually; it must be private, but the City of Lake Oswego has installed trailposts that imply I may walk there. In a country without a right-of-way system, this is catnip to walkers. I’ve wandered in … More “The Scale of the Human Enterprise”
On my walk these past three mornings, I’m passing clumps of kids: walking, standing, waiting for the bus. As a non-parent, I’d forgotten late August is back-to-school o’clock. I’m not thinking about the years I stood for the bus in late elementary school. It truly doesn’t cross my mind. I’m so good at not-remembering this … More Unsafety & Real Talk
Since about halfway through its 500 pages, I’ve been unable to stop thinking about Richard Powers’ recent novel, The Overstory. It’s about…well, that’s complicated, but here’s how the publisher condenses it. And here’s the author: “The whole book is a simple question: What would it take to make you give the unquestioning sacredness that you … More Florilegium: The Overstory
