Chiaroscuro I

We are monsters, all of us, for someone
[at worst, ourselves].

The horror when we track the beast 
back to our own feet.

Whom have you breathed smoke upon
to pilfer their honey?

In whose imagination have you stalked,
drooling, down inroads of fear? 

A Speech Worth Listening To

Van Jones just spoke beautifully as part of the 2017 African American Speaking Series.

Just Sayin'

Give the woman the mic.

The First Stage Of Grief

Yale just released some interesting data on public opinion as it relates to climate change in the United States...



So that's good news (although: Wyoming, really?). But then there's this...

 
And the coup de grâce...

Denial ain't just a river in Egypt. 



Meanwhile, in India...



Villagers are knitting jumpers for elephants to protect them from the unusually cold conditions forecasted for the region.

Droolworthy

Oh my...

This self-taught baker/photographer in Sweden serves up delectable beauty.

Beginnings

The smell of wet leaves and loam,

decomposition and promise.

Keep still, breath carefully, be watchful

lest you startle the souls

determining where and whether to alight.

Listen as the past percolates through the future,

giving birth to this moment. 

Your skin is alive with premonition.
Your blood tastes of iron. 

Darkened Cities

Imagine our urban landscapes without human light pollution. 

A beautiful novel called Exit West led me to this photography series by Thierry Cohen that does just that.

Both eerie and captivating.

International Women's Day

A new addition to Wall Street. Go, girl.

How To Love

While riding a ferry, sliding past glaciers on a magnificent December morning in Alaska, my mind was blown by the following podcast about mental illness:

The key to supporting these patients' health and wellbeing, it turns out, is not to see them as needing healing or treatment. In other words, they need to be seen as human beings rather than problems requiring solutions. Ironically, strangers are generally more adept at that than family members. 

All of which speaks to a This American Life segment called Rainy Days and Mondys about two improv comedians who stopped trying to fight Alzheimers and embraced their parent's dementia instead.

The question of how to support loved ones experiencing medical conditions has always fascinated me. Brain on Fire made me wonder if I could be an effective advocate in a similar situation, navigating unchartered territory with a sense of what was inside and outside of healthy ranges for those I know best. 

Listening to the podcast episode, What if you lived your life as a ghost?, gave me chills because it echoed so much of Evan's experience with traumatic brain injury. Making peace with the car accident that reshaped his body and thus his life has been a process that has spanned decades. 

The journey is ultimately his. And yet, because I am his companion, it is also ours. A paradox that asks us how to love and be loved.

Missed Connections

From the Right:

From the Left:

From the Right:

From the Left:

All of which begs the question: 

How are we going to get across the Great Divide? 

By following Denmark's lead?

The Adventure Begins

For now, this one's named Maybe.