à la carte spirit by ilona fried
Family
Confessions of a “Soccer Aunt”
When I learned that one of my nieces had three soccer games in the space of a few days, I thought I’d go to one since I’m temporarily in the area. Just one game. Just to see her play. A little. Maybe I wouldn’t stay for the whole thing. I’ve never been drawn to watching team … Continue reading
What’s Crazy? Who’s Crazy? On Feldenkrais, Israel, Self-Image
How would you protect yourself if a crazy person attacked you with a knife? It’s a question many of us have never needed to consider. But it was a question Moshe Feldenkrais had to answer when, as an early settler in what was then Palestine, Arabs frequently attacked Jews, who were forbidden by the British Mandate from carrying weapons. … Continue reading
Feldenkrais and Prufrock: On Reversing and Disturbing
“We do not say at the start what the final stage will be” – Moshe Feldenkrais “Do I dare disturb the universe? In a minute there is time for decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse.” – T.S. Eliot, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock An important component of the Feldenkrais Method and martial … Continue reading
My Spiritual Nemesis? Glatt Kosher Restaurants
Nothing can dismantle my sense – or illusion? – of spiritual progress faster than eating at glatt kosher restaurants. In recent weeks I’ve been to three. Two in Montreal, where I visited an elderly Hassidic relative, and one in San Francisco, where I had dinner with my oldest, modern Orthodox nephew. Because strictly observant Jews cannot eat in non-kosher restaurants, … Continue reading
Every Day is Commencement
“Go out in the world and fuck it up beautifully” – John Waters’ commencement speech at RISD “We are not interested in the performance or the achievement, only to find out how we do what we do…so we can do what we want” – Moshe Feldenkrais ‘Tis the season for graduations. Consider me a graduation grinch: … Continue reading
à la carte spirit by ilona fried 
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