à la carte spirit by ilona fried
Seeking
Budapest: Beauty or Beast?
It’s Halloween, a chance to contemplate what is more creepy: a truly beautiful person masquerading as a hideous beast, or an attractive costume that camouflages beastly hate? Two very different news items on Hungary, one on beauty, the other on beastliness, grabbed my attention in the last week. The first, the results of a Conde … Continue reading
What Does it Mean to “Arrive”?
A week ago Sunday a friend and I got together to practice being present. We sat at a shaded table outside a tea house and spent a moment taking a breath together. Then, we began to notice what was around us. That morning the wind was whimsical, its temperature and direction varying moment by moment, … 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
Meditating on My Footprint
I have disproportionately large feet. Contrary to the predictions of my heavily perfumed and amply cleavaged seventh grade French teacher, my stature never became commensurate with my outsized feet (and hands). She swore I would be at least 5’6″. Although I found her personality eccentric and her scent overpowering, I had faith in her prophecy … Continue reading
Taking Stock at the Stock Show
For a few weeks every January, the Denver Coliseum hosts the National Western Stock Show, a celebration of livestock and the men, women and children who tend them. When I first moved here, the event sparked both curiosity and aversion. Having never been to a stock show, I wondered what it was all about. At … Continue reading
à la carte spirit by ilona fried 
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