Ice Cream and Honeybees
During the last year of my sabbatical, out of habit and a vague sense of duty, I check in with the SF Chronicle on-line every couple days. Scanning the headlines, browsing through some opinion pieces, getting caught up on the Giants, A’s, and Warriors, I pull and fuss and check the tension of the umbilical cord still wrapped around my sense of ‘home’.
April 04, 2008
Forty Years On
Forty years ago today, Martin Luther King Jr. was killed in Memphis, TN. The night before, on April 3, 1968, he gave his final speech at a public gathering - a prescient, almost prophetic presponse to his killing and, seemingly, to the murderers that would carry out that killing.
February 15, 2008
The Most Dangerous Political Malaise
"Well, at least they're better than George Dubya Bush." This statement is often given with a final exhale, a sort of culminating punctuation mark on the wearying tedium that is Ms. Clinton, Mr. Obama, and the entire 2008 Presidential campaign.
November 28, 2007
A Simple Path to 9/11 Truth
The evidence that 9/11 was an 'inside job' - an event organized and executed by certain rogue elements within the U.S. government - is overwhelming. There are smart, qualified, professional scientists and researchers that have worked, and continue to work, very hard to debunk virtually every aspect of the government's 9/11 fairytale.
November 12, 2007
'Integral Politics' - A Response to W.I.E. Magazine
Dear Editor -
It was with great interest that I sat down to read Carter Phipps' interview with Steve McIntosh regarding 'Integral Politics'. But this interest quickly turned to a deeper sense of alarm at the blatant cultural and intellectual elitism expressed in Mr. McIntosh's words (and, to a lesser extent, in Mr. Phipps' questioning). In his attempt to stuff complex and nuanced human behavior and development into some pre-existing, artificially fabricated 'model', Mr. McIntosh forces himself to ignore mountains of evidence and whole swaths of information that show again and again how ultimately futile is the attempt to lump and separate certain aspects of humanity into deconstructed groups and categories - of which some of us belong, and others do not.
November 12, 2007
9/11 - Hard Facts, Hard Truth
9/11 is the seminal event of our generation. That is what we've been sold. That is what we've been told seemingly every day on virtually every news telecast, every speech, every statement, every policy announcement, every public appearance by every government official since September 11, 2001. And as such, we're told, it should rightfully change the course of domestic and foreign policy. Civil liberties should be altered and amended in response. The perpetrators, and all peoples loosely linked and allied to their cause, should be pursued and hunted down no matter what the financial or human cost. It should dominate the airwaves of private and public discourse. It should reconfigure and refocus the diligence of the American populace. And all available measures should be taken to ensure something like it never happens again.January 25, 2007
A Quick Response to Bush's State of the Union Speech
In his recent 'State of the Union' speech, President Bush asked for the chance to let his Iraq plan work. What plan? The one where the ports and oil fields are secured, and the streets are thrown into orchestrated chaos so that the occupying power is free to rob and steal without the messy reality of having to deal with the nuisance of a united populace? My response to Mr. Bush, lest he forget that he works for me, is this: Thanks for asking, but the answer is no. Your plan is horrible.
December 20, 2006
Cynical Rantings on the Modern World
People often accuse my writing, and me for that matter, of being cynical. Bordering on the ranting at times. And perhaps this is sort of true. I am, at times, an overly-opinionated ass. But the world is burning. Everywhere, our collective behavior is causing mayhem and suffering – suffering for other human beings, suffering for our fellow animals, suffering for the planet...
December 6, 2006
On the Notion of Spirituality and Meditation
Never before has the practice of the world’s various contemplative and healing arts – yoga, meditation, ayurveda, Sufism, tai-chi, etc. – been so widespread. And while this proliferation has undoubtedly helped thousands live a more profound, robust life, this unparalleled distribution also means that never before has there been so much widespread confusion regarding these arts as well...
May 24, 2006
Illegal Immigration
With a vitriolic flair of the nostrils, and a sudden panic and passion in the voice that seems only possible in this country when race is involved, my fellow middle and upper-middle class white citizens have worked themselves into quite a froth over this so-called immigration problem...
May 16, 2006
'Support Our Troops'
'Support Our Troops'. The bumper stickers are everywhere. The sentiment is seemingly ubiquitous. It's a nice, warm and cozy expression. But what has the word 'support' actually come to mean? It seems the word has been hijacked by a group of men...
January 17, 2006
'It's all good, bro.'
'It's all good, bro.' Such were the relentless musings of my week-long host. But no, in fact, it was not all good. You lied to me about the price. The food tastes like dog shit. My wife and I have been asked to sleep under a guava tree. Your dime store spiritual pretensions are wearing exceedingly thin, and on the last night, you will try to steal even more money from our happy little group...
November 15, 2005
Personal responsibility
Personal responsibility. This is one of those cultural mantras we are subjected to from birth throughout our lives. Republicans tout it as means to pull ourselves up from our bootstraps. Teachers in school pile hours of homework on unsuspecting children as a strategy to impart it. Parents guide and direct their offspring to take it on as a lifelong value. And yet how odd that even the simplest and most base of personal responsibilities - one's own personal health and state of physical being...
August 14, 2005
Yoga and Running
Running is a repetitive craft. Routes change, shoes change, seasons change, running partners change, but the basic physical and kinesthetic mechanics of the craft remain the same...
July 10, 2005
Expression vs. Impression
One of the great challenges of teaching a yoga class in the U.S. lies in convincing students to check and/or suspend their almost instinctual need to express themselves...
