Snow is just the other face of fire.
After a fairly long silence, I’ve posted a new Huffington Post blog! Become a fan of my blog to encourage me to keep at it and pass the link along to anyone you think might appreciate the bliss of skate skiing.
Here are the big-hearted owners of Tahoe Cross Country, where I find that bliss, featured on the cover of the Tahoe Weekly.
And here I am in the Great Ski Race 2011, skiing out of the frame past my friend Tove Jensen.
Tassajara Teaching
Just returned from a dip into the stillness and quiet of the Tassajara valley. At one point I found myself sitting in the same zendo seat where I sat last fall during the practice period. There’s a fairly large gap in the wooden tan (or platform) there. I was sure I could feel it through my cushion, and this used to annoy me. Like sleeping on a lumpy mattress. This time, though, I regarded the crack with a kind of tenderness. I came back to my room and wrote:
Everything you’ve broken,
Everything broken in you,
For this too,
Gratitude.
Meditating on Fire
The Association for Fire Ecology’s conference in Portland was a wonderful meeting of science and matters of the heart. In this photo, fire monk David Zimmerman leads a morning meditation.
Tomorrow, I am blessed to be heading down to Tassajara to sit Rohatsu, a traditional 7-day meditation intensive in honor of the Buddha’s enlightenment.
Squawking at Litcrawl
Twist my arm. OK, I’ll read with four other Squaw Valley Community of Writers alum at the Carte Blanche Gallery during SF’s Litcrawl. Pictured: Renee Moffett Thompson, Sam Barry, Seré Prince Halverson, Brett Hall Jones, Andrew Altschul, and Thad Nodine.
A Reading on the Ridge
On October 6th, I’m honored to be reading with poet Gary Snyder and fellow Bay Area writer Carolyn Paul at a fundraiser for the North San Juan fire department, the oldest fire department in Nevada County. Check out the great poster–and come if you can!
Fire Stories