à la carte spirit by ilona fried
Pilgrimage
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
Road Trip as American Camino: Yellowstone as Santiago?
Before I left for El Camino de Santiago nearly two years ago, my dance teacher told me she had seen the film, “The Way”. Wide eyed, she recapped a scene at Santiago de Compostela Cathedral, where robed priests swung a censer across the church, releasing white smoke into the air. My innards tightened, as if that … Continue reading
Road Trip as American Camino: A chance to “shunpike’
The word “shunpike” just crossed my radar. From “shun” and “turnpike”, it originally referred to avoiding toll roads, but can now mean preferring lightly traveled country roads instead of highways, whether fee-based or not. El Camino de Santiago and a road trip offer a choice of “way”, both in terms of the different types of surfaces, and also … Continue reading
Road Trip: My American Camino (Part I)
Before setting off on my last minute road trip, the voices of fear gave me a lot of flak for not having planned it in advance, or “enough” in advance. Still, days into my trip, demons continued to berate me (“What the hell are you doing?!” they asked), anxiety held me in its death grip, and I was … Continue reading
Do You Dance with Fear or Trust?
“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt Before I moved to Colorado from Massachusetts, I called a UPS Store in Denver to arrange a mailbox rental until I had an address. The guy on the phone asked me for my name and phone number to reserve it. His … Continue reading
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