Children's life stories A couple of months ago, the mothers of the girls in our daughter's class had a social gathering to discuss their children's relationships with one another. By all accounts, it was a very successful and sweet get-together. Each of the mothers talked about her respective daughter and the child's life experiences, personality,… Continue reading Empathy: Our daughter & her friend
Poetry Partners #96 'The Youth and Senior Citizens', a Villanelle by Myrna Migala of 'My Forever' The youth will never engage That our souls will never get old Upon arriving at old age Inside — Seniors feel caged The aged will uphold The youth will never engage We old citizens feel as if onstage Not… Continue reading Never get old, or: Our souls
An American sentence: This Passover, we'll toast freedom in safety while Russia bombs Ukraine. What's an 'American Sentence'? Allen Ginsberg, inventor of the American Sentence, felt that the haiku didn’t work as well in English. Ginsberg decided to remove the line structure of the haiku, maintaining the requirement of 17 syllables total. He felt that… Continue reading Safety, or: False comfort
Human morality is unthinkable without empathy.-Frans de Waal (b. 1948) The great gift of human beings is that we have the power of empathy, we can all sense a mysterious connection to each other.-Meryl Streep (b. 1949) Empathy is about finding echoes of another person in yourself.-Mohsin Hamid (b. 1971) Reading is an exercise in… Continue reading A mysterious connection to each other…
Poetry Partners #3 'Cognition', a cherita by Jennifer Patino of 'Thistle Thoughts' gaze into my reflecting pool keep prodding & fishing to latch onto my meaning try to catch confessions deep under my surface in your analytical net Jennifer Patino: https://thistlethoughts.com/ A reverse cherita by ben Alexander of ‘The Skeptic’s Kaddish’ In the form of… Continue reading Cognition, or: Deep diving
A 'Wheelchair Angel Style' poem My foot fractured, I stumbled around upon crutches, and never will I forget that experience. Still, truth be told & painful though that was, I was walking around again only several weeks later. Ultimately, those many days increased my appreciation of the daily struggles that my friend Jessica must contend… Continue reading Mind of, or: Matter
Epigraph: Listening is being able to be changed by the other person.–Alan Alda (b. 1936) An American sentence: Sincere curiosity led me to listen, which rather changed me. What's an 'American Sentence'? Allen Ginsberg, inventor of the American Sentence, felt that the haiku didn’t work as well in English. Ginsberg decided to remove the line structure… Continue reading Sympathy, or: Empathy
Israel means: "Struggle with God" A young rabbi friend of mine once praised me, suggesting that my ongoing contemplations about God, given that I'm an adult in my forties, are a testament to my relationship with God. My back-and-forth struggle with the concept (even though I lean more towards doubt than belief), as he framed… Continue reading Don’t judge, compare, or try to fix others
The Skeptic's Kaddish 🇮🇱 
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