Left Brain / Right Brain Knife Fight

The messed up thing is that I think this is actually true: “Healing is always found by going...

Wed, 22 May 2013 20:19:33 -0700

The messed up thing is that I think this is actually true:

“Healing is always found by going toward the suffering.”

~Fred Ostaseski

Buffalo Cauliflower Wing Pizza With Tofu Blue Cheese Spread,...

Tue, 21 May 2013 19:19:21 -0700

Buffalo Cauliflower Wing Pizza With Tofu Blue Cheese Spread, meet the People of Tumblr. People of Tumblr, meet Buffalo Cauliflower Wing Pizza With Tofu Blue Cheese Spread.

This turned out really good, and was not super difficult to make. I’d say moderate. Check out the recipe.

Oklahoma is in a bad way, and the residents need our help! One...

Tue, 21 May 2013 15:36:40 -0700

Oklahoma is in a bad way, and the residents need our help!

One good option is to funnel money into the big guns, like Red Cross (text REDCROSS to 90999 to make an easy $10 donation).

Another option, superior in some ways, is to go local. Jennifer is an Oklahoma resident who is providing direct relief to people and places that Red Cross might not get to - people in her community. I am a super fan of local heroes — they are the ones that really provide the glue in bad situations like this. DONATE!

Reflections upon Returning from the Homeland

Mon, 20 May 2013 14:20:32 -0700

In the words of a local musician in Eugene, OR, home is “a good place to be from but not to be.” I say that lightly, because it was actually really nice being back there. But it is interesting how it’s almost like I have an alarm clock inside that starts to buzz after enough time has passed. That alarm says, “Your work here is done — get thee back to your current life!”

If you’ve moved away from home, and have neglected your family and friends, book a trip back. Reconnect. I am 95% certain you will not regret that choice.

I have an inner voice that tells me too much time has past, and I am no longer relevant there. It turns out that voice is wrong.

All of my daily rituals and circadian rhythms get thrown out of whack when I travel. This used to cause me stress, but I now understand that the old patterns are waiting for me upon my return. I also believe that this upheaval has value.

It is a gift to others to visit them. I think this point is lost sometimes. By visiting an old friend or family member you are saying, “I care enough about you to make the effort to reconnect.” You can pay no higher compliment.

Make every travel experience a hero’s journey. Think about the fears you overcame, the experiences you’ve collected, and what new perspectives you will bring into your life henceforth.

"To the gods the moon is the entire moon but to us it changes second by second because we are always..."

Mon, 20 May 2013 10:19:01 -0700

“To the gods the moon is the entire moon but to us it changes second by second because we are always fish in the belly of the whale of Earth.”

- Jim Harrison ~ Spring

portlandiabite: The Portlandia biking guide for...

Sat, 18 May 2013 07:13:41 -0700

portlandiabite:

The Portlandia biking guide for cyclists.

(via)

This is awesome - the last line is priceless. I’ve never personally done this but I have witnessed it.

"A complete sharing between two people is an impossibility and whenever it seems, nevertheless, to..."

Fri, 17 May 2013 14:57:32 -0700

“A complete sharing between two people is an impossibility and whenever it seems, nevertheless, to exist, it is a narrowing, a mutual agreement which robs either one member or both of his fullest freedom and development. But, once the realization is accepted that, even between the closest human beings, infinite distances continue to exist, a wonderful living side by side can grow up, if they succeed in loving the distance between them which makes it possible for each to see the other whole and against a wide sky!”

- Rainer Maria Rilke

"Be soft. Do not let the world make you hard. Do not let pain make you hate. Do not let the..."

Thu, 16 May 2013 12:18:11 -0700

“Be soft. Do not let the world make you hard. Do not let pain make you hate. Do not let the bitterness steal your sweetness.”

- Kurt Vonnegut (via lofticriess)
Words to live by.

Life at Grandma's

Tue, 14 May 2013 12:51:15 -0700

Life at my Grandma’s is pretty simple. She lives in a super small town in central Minnesota. An old couple bikes by a few times a day, their pace leisurely. Grandma wakes up a little after 9. My mom gets her a cup of coffee before she sits down. We have breakfast.

She often enumerates her blessings. Something like, “Isn’t it beautiful how the trees are getting leaves, the birds are singing, the flowers are blooming, and we are healthy.”

In the afternoon we work as Grandma naps. My mom and I have been trimming trees, weeding, planting, and really whatever stuff has to get done around the house and yard. It’s simple work, but damn it really does feel good. There is a stillness in the backyard that I haven’t experienced for quite some time.

My uncles stop in for coffee later in the afternoon. We sit and talk about weather, gossip, politics, really anything to pass the time in each other’s company. We re-establish our relationships daily — something that I don’t see in the “urban tribe.”

Then dinner, then reading into the evening. Grandma goes to bed at around 9. My mom and I stay up a bit later.

I have come to appreciate this rhythm. I could see how someone might get lulled into the simplicity of a small town, family life. Yet in the back of my mind I hear a patient voice calling me back to my own version of normal, to my own story.

When I go back home, to rural Minnesota, I’m always kind...

Sun, 12 May 2013 06:19:22 -0700

When I go back home, to rural Minnesota, I’m always kind of overwhelmed by the expanse of flat land. There is something humble in it, next to the stunning mountains and hills of Oregon. I stand on the edge of one of these huge cornfields, and feel like I am on the coast of the Pacific ocean. Both seem to go on forever, yet both are forbidden. Everywhere has boundaries.

My goal when I go back home is to reconnect with my past: both in people and in places. Yet, whenever I am back here I struggle to retain myself among all of that. Part of me wants to just assimilate into my surroundings. Yet one of my main offerings has to be me — the me that has grown as an individual, and changed.

I suppose it is the same dynamic anyone has that goes back to their homeland. I only recently came to realize that this returning and reconnection is important to me. I don’t know if it was my grandma Spoden passing away over last Christmas, or just an internal biological maturation, but this feels like the right thing to do. And when I say “right” I just mean right for me — like I am fulfilling the story that I want to tell for myself.

"I did, however, come close enough to say, “Hello.” This was her curious reply:..."

Fri, 10 May 2013 13:02:03 -0700

“

I did, however, come close enough to say, “Hello.”

This was her curious reply: “Tell me how your parents died.”

”

- Kurt Vonnegut, Bluebeard

"And where we had thought to find an abomination, we shall find a god; where we had thought to slay..."

Fri, 10 May 2013 06:36:03 -0700

“And where we had thought to find an abomination, we shall find a god; where we had thought to slay another, we shall slay ourselves; where we had thought to travel outward, we shall come to the center of our own existence; where we had thought to be alone, we shall be with all the world.”

- Joseph Campbell, The Hero With A Thousand Faces

Open letter to doods

Wed, 08 May 2013 19:33:33 -0700

I had an interview on Monday with a volunteer coordinator for a hospice program in Portland. At the end of the interview, she started telling me this story about “Kyle” and how great of a volunteer he was. She went on to say that they treated their male volunteers special, because they are so rare.

I was a bit taken aback, because I just didn’t think there would be such an uneven split as far as genders in hospice/volunteering. After ruminating on this for a while, it made me feel disappointed. Why is volunteering seen as such an optional activity, especially with men?

Dudes. Let’s start representin’, okay? Service isn’t “women’s work” — it’s a shared responsibility. All of your inner bro-ness will still be intact, I swear.

The power went out at our building at work for a little over an...

Tue, 07 May 2013 15:22:06 -0700

The power went out at our building at work for a little over an hour. After that we were plagued with a network issue that vendor after vendor couldn’t fix. 27 hours later, here I am. My friends Widmer and Vonnegut are keeping me company before knocking off to sleep. For now I kind of savor the strange feeling of not having slept last night.

The stupid part is that the IT gods are still playing their prank, making it difficult for us to really resolve the problem. It’s like troubleshooting whack-a-mole, and the more tired you get the worse at the game you are.

Great scores from the library!

Sun, 05 May 2013 16:14:33 -0700

Great scores from the library!

The surest sign you are ready to change is when you don’t wake up from your dream.

Sun, 05 May 2013 12:46:45 -0700

The surest sign you are ready to change is when you don’t wake up from your dream.

Philosophy, poetry, pondering of the soul: Cruelty in the food industry.

Sun, 05 May 2013 11:46:57 -0700

Philosophy, poetry, pondering of the soul: Cruelty in the food industry.:

jerryharris3:

We’re all the same force, diffracted and reflecting visions of ourselves, not necessarily good or bad, yet we assume our role to be the highest form of “good” through the illusion of ego, attaching distorted value through the perception of difference. When we torture and enslave defenseless animals, it is digressive to say they are less valuable than humans, when ultimately they are from the same source and are of the same force, and we must accept the moral and spiritual repercussions of our actions. Violence is sometimes necessary in self defense and self preservation, but the disgraceful routine that is animal cruelty is not enacted out of necessity but out of greed and convenience. Animals are sometimes castrated and skinned alive with no sedatives or painkillers whatsoever before they reach our plate. This begs the question, what if you were in the position of the cow or what if it was someone you loved. This is a plea for awareness, a plea for reconstruction as we must evolve past our folly. It is the natural law of change, of evolution. This is not a plea to stop you from eating meat, but instead a plea for thought behind the process of how it is accrued, and foremost this is a plea that we may come together so that we may change the system and in doing so better it and ourselves as we have done so many times before: the civil rights movement, sufferage, etc.

-Jerryharris3

Well said!

Photo

Sun, 05 May 2013 11:22:49 -0700

Here are a few more punky vegan animal exploitation cliche remixes. Some real factory farmed,...

Sat, 04 May 2013 12:22:00 -0700

Here are a few more punky vegan animal exploitation cliche remixes. Some real factory farmed, inhumanely slaughtered, chicken soup for the soul…

“That was the straw you so dickishly placed on the already obviously overburdened camel, thus breaking the poor animal’s back.”

“Don’t move my cheese! Because you already exploited the cow to get the milk for the cheese, so it’s kind of adding insult to injury to be quite honest!”

“Shooting innocent fish while they’re swimming around, minding their own business, is fine—but it just seems too simple to do when they’re in a barrel.”

Can’t promise I’m done, but I’m done for now!

And it don’t stop… “Don’t beat a dead horse because beating it to death is...

Fri, 03 May 2013 13:57:40 -0700

And it don’t stop…

“Don’t beat a dead horse because beating it to death is fine, but after that point it is a bit egregious.”

[Thanks indieheroine for the cliche suggestion :)]