Month: November 2008

understanding war

the idea of the warrior has been very interesting to me in the last few months. the idea. this sentence does not mean: for the last few months, i’ve been exciting about becoming a soldier. on one extreme, there is this image, or platonic ideal, of the noble, principled, disciplined, courageous and hopefully often victorious… Continue reading understanding war

“for to carry you to freedom”: a remembrance day song

in a few days, november 11, it’s remembrance day here in canada, or veterans day in the U.S. many wars were and are still being fought, and many struggles. writing a novel about a slave on a louisiana plantation, one of the struggles that is foremost in my mind is the one against slavery in… Continue reading “for to carry you to freedom”: a remembrance day song

a solution for “but”

this morning i posted this on twitter: question to my buddhist friends: fear of connecting deeply with dharma/the divine = fear of ego death? william replied in a blog post, ego and the self. he has some interesting thoughts there that i encourage you to explore, and finishes thusly: the more we meditate and practice… Continue reading a solution for “but”

obama: yes we can!

“yes we can!” i’m imagining the hero of my NaNoWriMo novel, joe – or kosi, his african name – watching obama’s acceptance speech tonight. “yes we can!” my novel spans close to 250 years, starting with a west african amazon who ends up a slave in louisiana. joe is her grandson. he dies and –… Continue reading obama: yes we can!

dia de los muertos and NaNoWriMo

it’s dia de los muertos today, day of the dead. thought i’d give you a little excerpt from my novel, right when the hero dies, slumped against a tree after running through the swamp. the hero is joe, who lived as a slave on a sugar plantation in louisiana. anyways, here i was sitting against… Continue reading dia de los muertos and NaNoWriMo