I started writing a different piece this month. Halfway through an essay on how everyday racism bubbles up among good people, I stopped. “That’s fine,” I thought. “I’m ahead of my deadline on this. I’ll finish it up in a few days and be good to go.” The essay still isn’t finished. It will be, eventually, but not in time for this month’s essay deadline. I could do my professional duty on it, but with this topic, I want to include as much nuance as is possible in 1200 words. My

. Lest we despair…may we know, deep in the centers of our souls, that in these times – of war, dissension, poverty, injustice, hatred, schism, and pernicious denial – people came together to create beauty. People gathered to share the power of life itself. People made music. People wept. People laughed. People gathered. People danced. I feel happy to be living in such times. I feel honored to be creating this world at your side. What can we do today, to remind each other that

Today, I stand for beauty. I stand for apple blossom and finch. I stand for sun, and wind, and sky. I stand for the shaking of the fig tree, And the growing of the lettuce and the pea. Today, I stand for beauty. I stand for music to lighten the soul. I stand for healing balms to comfort wounds. I stand for kind words in the tempest, And a scrap of bright cloth in the mud of war. Today, I stand for beauty. Heart open to the world. Today, I conjure hope. And strength.

Stone City, the Henge during Winter “Beauty is a thing’s true nature, revealed.” – Jason Stern I might miss this beauty if I am not paying attention, if my thoughts are too caught up in this thing or that, or my emotions are attempting to cling to anger or pain, or the sense that I am right. Thing is, I can also miss my own true nature, and my own beauty. Every day, I attempt to let go into stillness, to learn to listen, not necessarily with ears, but also with my being. Thi

How long ago? The core of a star ceased combusting… And it changed in form, peeling layer by layer, ever outward in a dance of heat and light. If we gaze hard enough, and far enough, we can see it still, some 1,000 years and on. When the core of you ceases in it’s rumbling, when your heart stops in it’s booming, pressing, flow, what in you will move outward, and for how many years will the power of your life be ever felt, seen from some far distance, through the waves of spac