I finished reading “The Urban Monk” a week or so ago. I appreciated the book’s take on how to deal with centering one’s self when living in the chaotic “real” world, as opposed to living in a secluded cave somewhere and meditating all day. (Much easier to reach enlightenment if all you have are your own thoughts. Or maybe that’s the way to self-delusion, which might feel like enlightenment.) The book is an easy read,…
It’s been a long time coming … a couple of years at least. It started with Ron Kresha giving us the shell of a Little Free Library two years ago. Last year in May, I set to work on painting and sealing it. This year … this week, actually … I finished putting the Plexiglas window in and Erik helped me dig the post hole, install the post, and make a platform for the library…
I follow Austin Kleon‘s email newsletter, through which he shares various internet pieces related to creativity. In the latest edition of the newsletter, there was a link to an article I found to be especially thoughtful. It contains excellent advice I wish I’d had when I was in high school or college. The article is called “Putting Work in Its Place” by Kate Kiefer Lee. In it she discusses how we don’t necessarily have…
I am an unabashed fan of Christopher Moore’s work. While I have not read every book he’s written, I have read most of them and whenever I need a good belly laugh, I seek out another. There are few authors who can convincingly make a talking, cross-dressing fruit bat a main character in a novel. Yes, you read that right … a fruit bat. The bat appears in “Island of the Sequined Love Nun,” in…
Olio: a miscellaneous collection of things Here are some items of interest I’ve found online recently. —– For data geeks, Minnesota Compass has created geographic profiles for Minnesota cities over 1,000 in population. —– From Unstuck: How to be a better complainer – As a bit of a contrarian, I am weary of the constant societal push for everyone to be positive all the time, like we’re never supposed to complain about life. This article…