My muslim friends and family, I am sorry your religion has been hijacked by fascist groups of frightened and ignorant fools who have traded reason for fear and hate, and who kill those who dare question or mock Mohammed, the great and powerful, and who refuse to see how their… Read More
Ferguson, Missouri – November 24, 2014 after the Grand Jury declined to indict Officer Darren Wilson for shooting and killing 18-year-old Michael Brown “They’ve done it before and they did it tonight and they’ll do it again, and when they do it seems that only children weep.” —Atticus Finch from… Read More
Me at the top of Abiqua Falls in 1994, in the midst of a battle to save the surrounding trees from being clear cut It is my fifty-fifth birthday today. And for my fifty-fifth birthday, I plan to hike to the base of Abiqua Falls. I plan to stand naked… Read More
Oregon’s first winter storm was predicted to hit yesterday, and I swear you’d think the sky was falling. Portland metro newscasters pulled out all their doomsday-ware: “Up to the minute Doppler Radar,” webcams of soon-to-be-snow covered streets, lists of school closures and delays, and a scroll of Tweets about the… Read More
It was election night. Early results were coming in from Rhode Island, South Carolina, New York. I woke up my dog and we went to the pond and sat, watching a storm roll in and listening to redwing blackbirds shout out warning. It was warm out. Too warm for early… Read More
Woke to a pacific wind bringing a pacific scent of golden leaves and rain and sea, and a wide pacific sense that the season has turned to its autumnal frame, and dark will fold us into it bare arms and tell us to hush, hush, hush…
I am posting the 911 call from “Last Stop Bullets and Burgers,” a shooting range/restaurant/tourist attraction in the far corner of NW Arizona, 60 miles from Las Vegas. There, on August 25th, a nine-year-old girl accidentally shot her “instructor” in the head after her parents payed for her to play… Read More
Yesterday, on Facebook, after posting a picture of my garlic crusher – a castaway cobble from the streets of Antigua. I received several private messages asking me what I was cooking. So here you go, a step by step pictorial recipe of the traditional Indian dish called Keema. It is… Read More
Looking out from The Abyss. Grand Canyon South Rim. Rakha-7/2014 I was blessed this last week with a special, one week bonus residency at the Grand Canyon. That meant that once again I had the opportunity to live at the VerKamps studio, a 100+ year old home and shop perched… Read More
I was honored to be asked to contribute to a new book that just came out this week entitled LIVE, LOVE AND FORGIVE, Insights from Artists, edited by Justin St. Vincent in cooperation with The Fetzer Institute. The new book is filled with short essays from musicians, film makers, photographers, writers,… Read More