Have you ever yearned for a pure immersion experience in another culture? My mate Lety and I recently returned from a week in the south-central area of Mexico, where she was born and raised, and where most of her relatives still reside. Having direct ties with an indigenous family gave me the opportunity to live…
Category: Miscellaneous Drivel
Moses Amik Beaver: 1960 – 2017
“Windigo, Windigo, please don’t steal my soul!” This is a line from a story that haunted Moses Amik Beaver, who some of you know as the illustrator of Whispers of the Ancients, the collection of traditional legends that he and I co-authored. Some of you may also know him from the time he spent instructing…
Has Kombucha Gotcha?
A recent stroll past the beverages section of my local natural foods store revealed five brands of kombucha in twenty-five plus flavors. In addition, there was kombucha soda pop—six or seven kinds. At the deli counter, I noticed kombucha on tap—eight flavors. Yet all I had to do to discover this latest health food craze…
The Probiotics Gold Mine
Yogurt, a great source of probiotics, is a boon to health because it helps establish healthy intestinal flora, right? The same is true of kombucha and other cultured foods, isn’t it? And how about probiotic capsules with billions of live cultures and dozens of strains? This is what the food industry would have us believe,…
Inspiration #3: How Idealism Keeps Us Sick
It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience with my therapist colleague, and this awareness is another one of the reasons why. Ideals can play an important role in guiding our lives. At the same time, ideals can keep us crippled and dysfunctional. I see people-me included–hiding behind relationship ideals when we don’t want to admit our pain or inability to resolve…
The Time Has Come
Several of us just came in from a great wilderness training run – we bore enough irritation (a slightly twisted ankle, some scratches) to know that we were pushing our edge, but not too much that it derailed us. The experience is a metaphor for the way I’ve lived my life, and it has brought me to a tipping…
Finding Clan in a Rack o’ Ribs
Lety and I just returned from an interplanetary voyage. Okay, that’s a slight exaggeration, but it did seem way out there to us. We were beamed down to Syracuse, New York, where we visited Lety’s eldest son. He took us to what could just as well have been Jabba the Hutt’s hangout: a place called…
The Biology of Sexism
It is commonly believed that gender inequality is culturally rooted. We see it in institutionalized sexism and centuries-old practices of gender repression and exploitation. Gender-related violence, imposed limitations, and condescension (credibility differences, mansplaining, over-emotionalism, rescuing) are all entrenched in our beliefs, institutions, and everyday practices. At the same time, empowered voices are calling for change….
On Our Unholy Fear of Root Canals
People prefer cockroaches, colonoscopies—and even Congress—to root canals. Yet as dreaded as they are, 26% of us have had one or more, and 25 million of us get root canals every year. I recently had one, when my #20 premolar recently died. In layperson parlance, it’s the tooth between the lower canine and the first…
What Really Guides Us?
Beliefs are a luxury of the idle and disconnected. I can say this because I am idle and disconnected enough to observe it in myself. Yet when I share this observation with others, some ask, “What about values and morals; aren’t they based on beliefs?” “What do beliefs mean,” I reply, “when we are out…