A Conversation with Zoo Cain: My Real Name Photos by Elizabeth Hunt When first approaching Zoo Cain’s workspace, I knew immediately that I would be spending time with someone unique—a person with a rare perspective on life. What began at an early age as an escape from a dysfunctional family environment has evolved into a lifelong passion for form and color. I entered the one hundred fifty year-old New England post-and-beam barn he calls his studio in Maine. The workspace, sunlit and cluttered with a hoard of collected objects and art supplies, features both in-process and finished works. He was busy, ... Sep 3, 2022, 5687 reads

Vaidyagrama and the Punarnava Ayurveda Trust: In Search of Authentic Ayurveda photos - r. whittaker My first trip to India happened for an Ayurvedic panchakarma, a cleanse. How it came about is a long story and now, afterwards—grateful for the good that came to me—I want to share one of the unexpected high points of my three weeks at Vaidyagrama. My relationship with Ayurveda had barely begun and had not taken hold in any serious way, when circumstances lined up in such a way that suddenly India lay ahead of me. This alone was a great surprise. And not only that, but this trip was connected with a word I’d never heard ... Feb 13, 2016, 15398 reads

A Common Humanity: A Conversation with Bob Sadler Like a lot of people, I used to be afraid of approaching strangers, even in settings that made it easier—like art openings. But now I've learned that striking up a conversation this way isn't so difficult. And it's so much more interesting than being stuck in the circle of my own thoughts. It's where this story begins.      People were crowded into a small gallery at an opening and chatting. Nearby, I heard a voice exclaim, "It's amazing!" Curious, I moved closer. Turns out it was something about "photos of homeless ... Mar 14, 2014, 10549 reads

Gabriel Meyer: Stretching Identity "There’s a concert this evening,” the message read. I had an hour to get to Canticle Farm - six houses on adjoining lots with a large backyard garden in the Fruitvale District of Oakland.       Canticle Farm is grounded in the vision of Joanna Macy and the spirit of St. Francis of Assisi. It's an intentional community in service to what Macy calls "The Great Turning."       Having no idea what to expect, I got in my car. At least I’d get to visit my friends at Casa de Paz, part of ... Mar 21, 2015, 18183 reads

Earning Humilty - My Story of Meeting Rollie Grandbois: Jemez Springs, New Mexico August 2007 “I have no idea,” the shopkeeper said, which surprised me. He’d just explained that his entire family worked in the studio together, right through that door at the back [he pointed]. His son, he explained, made all the ceramic pieces displayed around the shop.      “There’s a kiln back there?”      “Oh yes! My daughter does the cards and all the photos hanging on the walls.” And the cosmetics? His wife made those. “I do all the ... Jul 8, 2021, 3902 reads

A Conversation with Zoshi: Spirit Carver My introduction to Zoshi came via Ron Nakasone, a professor at Stanford and the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley. It happened one evening at Kallan Nishimoto’s Flytrap Studios in Oakland, California. As Nishimoto says, “Zoshi is one of the few artists who lives and breathes his spirituality into his work seamlessly and completely.” Ron had confided to me that besides being an artist, Zoshi is also a Buddhist priest. I felt I was entering into another world.      That evening at Flytrap Studios I ... Mar 2, 2013, 39661 reads

Interview: Charles Bigger--On Philosophy: Baton Rouge, LA Photo - Richard Whittaker In the summer of 2002, I went to Baton Rouge to be with my brother, John, while he underwent the "Whipple," a brutal surgery to remove part of his pancreas. John had come to LSU accepting their proposal to found a Religious Studies Department there. It would have close ties with the Philosophy Department and, in fact, John had served as head of the combined departments for some years.      He brought credentials from Yale along with a deep love of Kierkegaard and Ludwig Wittgenstein. Two years younger than me, ... Aug 18, 2004, 25828 reads

A Conversation with Reverend Heng Sure: Cultivation and Practice Beginning in the summer of 1977, two American monks in the Chinese Mahayana Buddhist tradition committed to taking three steps and one bow for 800 miles along California’s Highway 1. A pilgrimage to bring peace within and without, their journey took them through some of the most beautiful and also some of the most dangerous parts of California. Two and a half years later, they completed their pilgrimage at the steps of the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas, in Ukiah, Californi One of these monks was bestowed the name Rev. Heng Sure, or “Constantly Real.” Born ... Sep 16, 2014, 42652 reads

The Power of Giving: Conversation with Ehren Tool, Fariba Safai, and Ashley Smith Fariba Safai and Ashley Smith were still students at CCA when they decided to do something radical. They decided to prepare a large batch of home made soup (from a favorite recipe of Fariba’s mother), to construct a cart able to wheel a very large stainless steel pot along a sidewalk, and to make their way to Union Square in San Francisco on Black Friday[the day after Thanksgiving and largest shopping day of the year] where they would offer free bowls of soup to any and all.       Ehren Tool, a marine who served in Iraq, upon finishing his tour of ... Oct 21, 2004, 127993 reads

Interview with Ronald Hobbs: I met Ronald Hobbs long ago. In those days, in the late sixties, should the conversation have taken a certain turn, I might have laid a claim to poetry myself. I'd read at the “I and Thou” on Haight Street, had run an open-mike poetry program in the basement of a Presbyterian church on Oak St. and had even taken a first prize in San Francisco’s Ina Coolbrith Circle’s poetry competition.  But Ron was in another league. In the mid-1960s he'd established himself in the New York poetry scene. He'd done college campus tours to recite his own ... Jul 23, 2004, 12511 reads