My dear friend O gave me a collection of short stories. This one in particular by Jonathan Safran Foer keeps returning to me. Somewhere between a poem and prose, it explores the span of a relationship and the details we choose to remember, the actions we wish to revise. Hope you enjoy it. * * [...]
This TED talk by Sri Swami Dayananda Saraswati is one of the best I’ve seen. I’ve watched it several times, and each time something new still strikes me. “One cannot contribute unless one feels secure, one feels big, one feels: I have enough.” “To be compassionate is not a joke. It’s not that simple. One [...]
“A human being is a part of a whole, called by us ‘universe’, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest… a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal [...]
I love this quote from a letter David Foster Wallace wrote to Mary Karr. More about the relationships of their generation of writers in this New York Magazine article. I think that quote sums up the gift of having great people in your life.
I’ll close this year out with a lovely poem my good friend sent to me today. If you like it, pay it forward. Don’t forget to be kind to yourself and others. See you in 2011! – Lily P.S. This poem reminds of another I love. Kindness by Naomi Shihab Nye Before you know what [...]
I find myself thinking, “that would be a good problem to have” a lot these days when thinking about work and product releases. They usually revolve around having massive scale and usage, and things generally playing out quite nicely. And then I move forward to the more immediate problems at hand. It’s a fun exercise [...]
I know the title should be a no-brainer, but as someone who lives and works in San Francisco, I have to admit that I sometimes forget what SF is really like relative to the rest of the world. Here’s my attempt to visualize the disconnect: You know that feeling when you’ve been on vacation a [...]
I haven’t been able to stop listening to the song, Ion Square, by Bloc Party. I love the lyrics, and I think they make a lovely poem. The fun fact is that Ion Square is inspired by another poem, e.e. cumming’s i carry your heart with me. Both poems below. Ion Square Ion square, perspex [...]
Writing was a big part of my life in high school and college. Since then, I’ve seen my writing drop off to near nothing and my reading selections become less diverse. I want to change that. I stopped by the Green Apple bookstore in the Richmond this weekend, and it reminded me how much I [...]