à la carte spirit by ilona fried
Language
Yes, I am a S.N.O.B.
The first time I was called a snob, it wasn’t to my face. Rather, it was written in a bathroom stall in the girls’ locker room at my high school. To see my name and my boyfriend’s inked and linked with “snob” stung, even more so since my pants were down. I was 15 and … Continue reading
Of Mountains and Mark Doty
Somehow, I managed to not know of poet and memoirist Mark Doty until Lighthouse Writers Workshop brought him to the Denver area over the weekend. Friends raved about him, so I attended a “Writers Studio”, a combination of poetry reading and interview on Saturday, and his craft talk on Sunday. That the first event took … Continue reading
Jerusalem from the Inside of a Pool
My Zen teacher likes to say, “How we do anything is how we do everything.” If the same can be said of a society, would the workings of a single pool reflect the culture at large? Last week I loosely considered this question while swimming almost every day at the Jerusalem Pool (it was closed … Continue reading
What Are You Really Searching For?
On the Internet, everyone is a seeker. We go online, type a word or phrase in Google and click “search”. Perhaps we are looking for something specific: the best price on a certain item, a train schedule, the precise meaning of a word. But many times, I suspect, we consult search engines as if they … Continue reading
What does it mean to commit? Part II
My first post on commitment generated several comments and the topic is one I frequently ponder. In recent readings and listenings (of podcast interviews), I’ve gleaned a few snippets worthy of contemplation. Commitment occurs in a context, and for people who end up in an environment or relationship that is not conducive to their thriving, … Continue reading
à la carte spirit by ilona fried 
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