I'll tell you how the sun rose - A ribbon at a time

Hmmm...My backyard at dawn over spring break. I set down my mug of hot chai long enough to use my camera. There's no place like home.

Why we "died" today

The Promenade - On Tuesday, students laid down in half-hour shifts across the promenade near Hackman Hall and the Student Center symbolizing the thousands of Sudanese dying in the Darfur genocide in Africa. The "die-in," as it has been called, was organized by a group of university students to promote awareness of the mass killings taking place in Sudan over the past four years. These students hope to win support for relief and lobbying efforts in the future and heightening awareness in such a simple yet provocative way seemed like a good first step. One wonders if Darfur champion Eric Reeves would be proud. Other students walking to and from classes expressed mixed emotions concerning the display. What do you think? www.savedarfur.com

Why I like having talented friends

Rockclimbing - It's a totally new experience for me other than all the tree-climbing I did about a decade ago. (Yikes!) While I have to admit that it's addicting (I dream about it all, even tying the figure eight knot), it's also really humbling (repeat for emphasis). And that's without mentioning the talented company. So, while I work on the basics you can enjoy Cliff's crazy skills. He'll tell you it's not a rockclimbing move, but it's still on a rock that he climbed. And when it looks this cool, I doubt many people care what kind of move it is.

Crystal balls make me dizzy

I don't know much about crystal balls or magic mirrors. Ideologically, I'm anti-crystal ball, but my inner poet likes the image. It's more romantic than, say, a blender. The glowing orb of swirling mists, the questions, the xyz factor, the whatever we may become, the could, the will, the would of our future. Definitely beats the liquidating kitchen appliance. Either way, it may not make sense...
What makes a person? A living soul? Clueless, inspired, or otherwise?
Every so often I get asked the question. The big one. Or at least one of the big quandries.
What do you want to do (with your life)?
Does anyone really consider the portent of that question? I mean, really.
Acquaintance, soccer-buddy, great-aunt...whenever someone decides to slam this one courtside, I have to size them up and figure out what they can handle versus what they think they can handle versus what they might really want to handle. The point is - the question's loaded. And I've got a plethora of answers that twist like a tornado through my mind until so-and-so decides to take my temperature and I have to pray for a little internal rescue and relief.
If I had a thousand lives to live...I'd never run out of things to learn and discover, skills to master, places to live, people to know...
I'm never bored, just a little restless sometimes.
But then the more I study and wonder and listen, the more I realize that true comfort isn't about being comfortable, true joy isn't about amusement, and human doings never make human beings.
Sometimes I wonder why I have more than one dream. If there were just one, maybe life would be simple and the questions wouldn't be so uncomfortable. Then again, maybe the plurality is a single dream, a defining one that encompasses them all.
To play a chord that echoes through eternity. To strike it with sure force of faith and be at peace. To love the truth and live faithfully. To not just die for the ideal, but to live for it. Abstract. Concrete. Transitive and intransitive.
Hurricane of thoughts in the crystal ball of my mind. It makes me dizzy. Maybe that's why I like dancing. At least I keep moving.