A month ago, I wrote an essay on this blog, Personal Stories in Word and Image, about my concerns and questions in attempting to write a memoir. Now, a month later, I have completed six chapters and integrated an older manuscript into a book. The writing flowed; I felt in a white heat as the words spilled on to the page after thirty years of gestation. Never before has a […]
Creativity
Personal Stories in Word and Image
I look at a great deal of art. And have read my share of books over a lifetime of inquiry. When I was young, I was fascinated with reading about the civil war. That quickly led to reading biographies of the heroes and heroines who shaped our country and our world. When I was ten years old, my parents conceded to my well articulated whining for an adult library card. […]
Intersecting Currents: The Artist and the Community
We live in an increasingly interdependent world that compels each of us to take responsibility: for ourselves, each other, and planet earth. Beyond our individual creative efforts, there is a world out there—that we interact with, that provides the material for our work, and that we communicate with through the results of our creative efforts. We are in debt to the society and the people who have informed us, shaped […]
A Patch of Blue Sky
Excerpts from an interview with Matthieu RicardThe full text of this interview appeared in Parabola magazine Vol. 37, no. 2, Summer 2012, titled Alone and Together. DU: Matthieu, we are trying to understand how a larger intelligence is available to us, and how we can come together to contact this intelligence. Philosopher Jacob Needleman asks: “How to come together and think and hear each other in order to touch, or […]
Black Marble Earth
Beauty and TerrorWe stand among the many that have been touched by the sublime view of Black Marble Earth, created by NASA in late 2012. According to NASA, “The images were captured by the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership Satellite, which made 312 passes around the Earth in order to photograph every bit of the hemisphere.” Time Magazine comments: “Strangely, the nation’s most populous city of New York shows up darker […]
Broadening the Arc of Devotion
An Interview with Alan ArkinAlan Arkin has been a major star of stage, screen, and television for nearly fifty years. Best known for his roles in such films as Wait Until Dark, Catch-22, Edward Scissorhands, and Little Miss Sunshine (an Oscar-winning role), Arkin is also a master teacher. Along with his ongoing work as an actor/director/writer, he has taught retreats at The Omega Institute, Bennington College, and Columbia College. I […]
A Visit with Ram Dass
“I Am Loving Awareness”Last Saturday, we had the opportunity to visit and interview Ram Dass at his home amidst the exceptional natural beauty of Maui. To say that we were deeply moved and touched to our core would be an understatement. There are no words that can accurately reflect having darshan with a genuine spiritual teacher, a highly public explorer of consciousness since the early 1960’s. Without a doubt, Ram […]
What is Photographic Vision?
Finding your Artistic Voice In any MediumWho are we? In teaching art and photography, I am always struck by the fact that we have reached adulthood without fully understanding how to see, without having discovered our intrinsic vision or voice. Human vision contains enormous potential that we have not yet fully realized. And how can we open our vision, open the doors of perception to the inner and outer worlds? […]