Hello, reader. How are you doing? I’m excited–I interviewed Jacks McNamara about harm and how we can do better. Please listen and share with anyone who cares about these ideas. Caring, inspired people form activist groups, wanting to make a better world. But despite our best intentions, we end up recreating the violence that… Read More »
Hello, reader. How are you? I was pondering why physical contact without love doesn’t work for me. I thought of a new way to explain it: If the body is expressing love without the spirit expressing love, that feels creepy and empty, like touching a zombie. Why would I want to touch a zombie? When… Read More »
Hello, reader. How are you? I’ve been thinking about what conflict is. This is related to what communication is. It came up recently when the house began to consider potential new housemates. Our potential new housemate asked how conflict is handled in the house–great question. Housemates Ming and I live with said conflict is low… Read More »
“Thank you for what you’ve done, to escape from prison,” I said to my housemate. We were at the dining room table, both eating dinner late. He had served himself up a big, beautiful plate of food: roasted veg, dumplings, and spinach salad. We had just been talking about food justice, how crappy food is… Read More »
Hello, reader. How are you? I’m well–enjoying my retirement. But sometimes Ming gets dehydrated–it’s a problem for him and becomes my problem also. Maybe his brain shrinks–maybe something else goes wonky inside of him. But he needs to pay attention and wet himself. No, not like peeing his pants. Like getting his body to accept… Read More »
Hello, reader. How are you? Do you like talking about race? I like talking about race for real. Ming and I talk about race often–it’s a normal topic for our day. Many people get angry, defensive, scared, uncomfortable, annoyed, irritable, mean, and otherwise hard to be around, talking about race. I know it can have… Read More »
Hello, how are you, reader? So much, I’m thinking about community lately. Ming and I are learning a lot in our home. We had a zoom dinner with a prospective new housemate, and he asked about how conflict is handled in the house. It brought up a lot of feelings for me, and I’ve been… Read More »
“Any stove that’s electric is not really a stove–it’s a glorified hot plate,” I said, pondering natural gas. “There–I said it. Fire is totally different for cooking, than a ridiculously hot coil of metal. Sorry. Cooking feels so different with a flame.” Ming and I were lying in bed. It was early in the morning,… Read More »
Power in relationships is troubling me. I think about power all day–systems, families, governments, how decisions are made in groups I’m a part of. I’m a design geek now. So I think about power in how buildings and spaces are made, and how objects are made. Power in relationships can be seen in tradition and… Read More »
Hello, reader. How are you doing? I wanted to tell you about my new tattoo. It’s my first tattoo: a snake on my chest. Only problem is it keeps getting delayed. My dear housemate’s travel plans–the delivery of a thinner needle to get the tongue right. Then my own illness. I hope it happens in… Read More »