A Mindful Life

It is typical, in America, that a person’s hometown is not the place where he is living now but is the place he left behind.
–Margaret Mead and Rhoda Metraux, A Way of Seeing (1970)

Fred at Fragments ~ from Floyd offers a delightful word meditation on the nature of place and its importance to human legacy. Here is an excerpt from his essay, which I’ve linked to. (Actually, there are many delightful entries on his blog, this being just one.)

I don’t know how the experts draw the [...]

From lactose incompetent:

Homo Sapiens Sapiens, the scientific name for the human species, translates roughly as “we’re aware that we’re aware”. We understand the concept of time, of past and future, but I wonder if that’s really an advantage and not some sort of evolutionary fluke, a defect in our intelligence. It deprives us of so [...]

Being a child is largely a flux of bold and furtive guesswork, fixed ideas continually dislodged by scrambling and tentative revision…. All our energy and cunning go into getting our bearings without letting on that we are ignorant and lost.
–Fernanda Eberstadt, Isaac and His Demons (1991)

Rights For Children

I have the right to be here.
I have the right to be a child.
I have the right to belong to a loving family.
I have the right to play.
I have the right to make a mistake.
I have the right to be treated with respect.
I have the right to proper food, clothing, and cleanliness.
I have [...]

People can say what they like about the eternal verities, love and truth and so on, but nothing’s as eternal as the dishes.
–Margaret Mahy, The Catalogue of the Universe (1985)

It’s That Time of Year again. You know, when you’re trying to buy and wrap gifts, manage your work schedule, keep up with your children’s events, find clean socks and something in the pantry for dinner, and prepare for company. But the house is a mess, and you’re overwhelmed. What to do?
This [...]

The final word is love.
–Dorothy Day, The Long Loneliness (1952)

A couple of days ago I posted a link to a New York Times article on how single people are turning away from the dating industry to pursue other things in life, leaving romantic love to the fates. One reader commented by asking several compelling and complex questions about why people seek mates. [...]

This above all, to refuse to be a victim.
–Margaret Atwood, Surfacing (1972)