When Waiting for Gladioli to Bloom

Even with the buffering of the return with a week in the mountains of Colorado and the stunning saguaro desert of Arizona, my return to the Bay after six months of travel has been jarring. A meeting back of two souls searching to see where and how the other has changed. The unspoken question of…

For 35: When the Arc of the Moral Universe Feels Too Long

it is a serious thing just to be alive on this fresh morningin the broken world. --Mary Oliver, from Invitation B said that she used to think that Washington Square Park was the center of the world. When I walk through the center of the park and feel the mist from the fountain settle on…

From Liminal Space to Beginnings

I went to my first yoga class in over a year recently. Yoga has never been a first line of offense when I am in need of fitness in my life. I am deeply self-conscious in a yoga studio. Hyper aware when I am slow to catch on to a pose and to the limitations…

In the Midst of Motorbike Storms: Saigon and Reflections on Finding Calm and Movement

The War Remnants Museum in Saigon is a museum that does not shy away from the purpose of its existence. Its core thesis is evident in every exhibition, every photograph, even the song that plays on repeat with the haunting vocals of a child echoing across the halls. On the second floor of the museum…

How to Sweeten Lemonade

"The secret of life is not only making lemonade out of lemons -- but it's understanding the benefits of the lemons. It's looking into the countless ways that lemons make us better." I've come to know my neighborhood well. As the days have gotten shorter and the skies more grey, I've taken to long, midday…

Toward 34: “If You Come Softly”

If you come as softlyAs the wind within the treesYou may hear what I hearSee what sorrow sees. -from "If You Come Softly" by Audre Lorde Six months ago I wrote a piece about my corn plant that I had been slowly nursing back to health and how broken down things can be revived. Six…

Some Leaves are Still Green

The dracaena fragrans, or corn plant, is a popular house plant because of how tall it can grow and its relatively easy care routine. I got my first around 2020, a year that house plants would give many of us a much needed distraction in the face of shelter in place orders. At the time…

The Art of Plane Crying

If there was a frequent flyer program for crying on airplanes, I would always fly first class. I can't remember when I first decided that these steel birds were the perfect environment for heart-wrenching tears, but they have been the primary setting for some of my deepest (and loudest) sobs in life. Perhaps it's because…

Terror.

I do the kind of work where I am often called to hold space for others while I am still processing the terrors of the moment. It's never easy, but it's necessary. And even though I believe I've often done some of my strongest and deepest community work like this, I am often left depleted,…

For 32: The Practice of Letting Go

Thirty-three. A year many refer to as your "Jesus Year." Scholars believe that 33 is the year that Jesus started a spiritual and political revolution that led to his crucifixion. It's a year meant to put you on a different path than the ones you were on before. The year you put the things together…