à la carte spirit by ilona fried
Pilgrimage
Returning to El Camino at an Aikido Camp
As an à la carte spirit, I have an aversion to package deals. I’d rather do my own selecting, thank you. Yet I recently had to put my à la carte attitude aside to attend an Aikido “summer camp” in Montreal, taught by master Christian Tissier. The venue, a private college, didn’t excite me, although the photograph of … Continue reading
Convoluted Kaddish for a Complicated Relation
[note: this post is 2-3 times longer than usual] “Oy, es iz shver tsu zayn a Yid!” — Oy, it’s hard to be a Jew The world changed in large and subtle ways in early November. The day before the U.S. election I received a short e-mail from a distant cousin in Munich. She told me that her … Continue reading
Bill Cunningham, Spiritual Hero
“Money’s the cheapest thing. Liberty and freedom is the most expensive” – Bill Cunningham It’s hard to imagine not liking, or at least not appreciating, Bill Cunningham, the New York Times photographer and youthful soul who recently passed away at 87. His sheer joy in photographing people in Manhattan infected even me, whose interest in fashion and … Continue reading
We Are Still in Exodus
Passover begins this evening. Although I won’t be celebrating the holiday in its traditional forms, the essence of the holiday is profound, one worth serious inquiry much of the time. Frequently, not just once a year, I ask myself: What does it mean to be free? What if true freedom means embarking on, or remaining in, an … 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
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