- Ordinary Zen
A portrait series of Zen practitioners.
- "Collapse" by Jared Diamond
If you worry at night about the end of human civilization, 550 pages of small type by Jared Diamond should be enough soporific to knock you out for a month of bedtimes. If, on the other hand, you enjoyed "Guns, Germs, & Steel" and you're [ ... ]
- Chicago Christmas
I spent Christmas Eve with my girlfriend's family in Chicago this winter.
- Amaryllis II
A few weeks ago I photographed the amaryllis my mom gave me. It's been wilting ever since, and last night it abruptly ceded the battle to stay upright. The shape it's in now is even more dynamic than when it was in blossom.
- A Village Zendo Scrapbook
Since, as I have mentioned recently, Zen is very much an accredited situation, my temple sends annual reports to The Soto School of North America, which itself answers to Soto Zen HQ in Kyoto. It's been pointed out to us that no one wants to [ ... ]
- Headshots
I did a couple headshots for friends last week—this is not my usual mode of photography but it's great practice, and I love how they turned out.
- The Dude, The Zen Master, And Jon Stewart
On Wednesday Jeff Bridges talked with Jon Stewart on The Daily Show about his book, The Dude and the Zen Master, which he wrote with Bernie Glassman. I had several reasons to be excited about this event: Bernie Glassman is a prominent Zen [ ... ]
- "The Middlesteins" by Jami Attenberg
I can't objectively review Jami Attenberg's latest novel, The Middlesteins, because I've known Jami for a couple years and I'm rooting for this book. It is, it turns out, gratifying to root for, because it's a best-seller and was the cover [ ... ]
- Python's += Is Weird, Part II
I wrote the other day about two things I think are weird about Python's += operator. In the comments, famed Twisted hacker Jean-Paul Calderone showed me something far, far weirder. This post is a record of me playing around and trying to [ ... ]
- Mushrooms