said that stuck with me, maybe you’ll find it surprising, was when you said the first creative act is making music. And I think I found that surprising, because during the whole first half of our conversation, I had the experience that I was listening to music, listening to the three of you talk together. I kind of felt, inside my body, this is what it feels like when I listen to really good music. And the question that occurred to me is I’m curious how you each experience your sort of inner instrumentation, if you will, or vocalization or inner music, what that’s like for you as individuals who are now playing, creating music together, what that’s like for you? ... posted on Jul 3 2023 (2,089 reads)

up then.  The beauty of death, the beauty of perspective, the beauty of profile: why do we find beauty in these things? BWE:  This is also a very difficult question!  Who wrote these questions?  (MFS: Cynthia and I did.) BWE:   They really are very deep questions.  This one touches on the so‐called aesthetic response, which can be described, in simple terms, as the feeling one has, say, on seeing a rainbow—a feeling of being transported to a sort of exalted state.  Now, the aesthetic response is a very slippery concept, to the extent that even the spelling of the term is not agreed upon.  It is sometimes spelled “aesthetic... posted on Jul 9 2023 (2,596 reads)

raised with a concept of heaven as something that came after this life, a utopia that I had to be “good” on Earth to deserve. The oldest story I ever heard was of a vengeful, violent god who would punish and shame and erase his people, who then eventually sent his only son down to suffer for our sins, blanketing us in a conditional forgiveness that, if we followed the rules, would grant us access to eternal heaven. I know a lot of different belief systems likewise envision some sort of punitive divine force and embrace the sacrifice of an innocent in exchange for a blessing. Ursula K. Le Guin has a short story called “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” about thi... posted on Jul 12 2023 (4,819 reads)

poems, what was it like for you, Mark? Here you are, you mentioned at 72 you’re looking back at decades of writing and you’re selecting hundreds to go into this volume. My understanding is that this is the first of a multi-volume series of looking back at your … How did you know, especially with this notion about re-visioning, “Oh, this poem needs to be re-visioned. I’m not going to include it,” or, “I’m going to rewrite it”? How did you sort through all that? MN: Well, it was very interesting, and after all these years, it was very clear what was worth keeping and what wasn’t, very clear. So one way that I noticed w... posted on Jul 16 2023 (3,691 reads)

loss suspended her world. As it slowly regained the motive force of life, she set out to redirect her professional experience of studying emotional intelligence and resilience toward better understanding the confounding, all-consuming process of grief — the process by which, as Abraham Lincoln wrote in his immensely insightful letter of consolation to a bereaved friend, the agony of loss is slowly transmuted into “a sad sweet feeling in your heart, of a purer and holier sort than you have known before”; a transmutation in which skillful loving support can make a world of difference — support very different from what we instinctively imagine helps. ... posted on Aug 13 2023 (6,537 reads)

that’s almost an exact quote. He even used that word “crescendo”. There are philosophers lurking everywhere. Then I walked through the remnants of a hundred-year-old orchard to the historical house where the ballots were to be counted. We opened envelopes containing slips of paper, each one nameless and secret, reading the votes out loud to two other citizen volunteers who were carefully tallying. This was true democracy in action. Local community. It’s the sort of thing that makes me giddy and grateful.  Afterwards—speaking of philosophers—I decided to visit my friend Aristotle, who lives in a house on a hill at the west end of the r... posted on Sep 24 2023 (3,017 reads)

When we talked on the phone and you were talking about this, you were talking about how you went back to the fire, digging, and you somehow wanted to find your husband, your home, you kept looking. And then you said something, “But you can never really recreate it the way it was. But you still can create something really beautiful out of the ashes.” Jennifer from everything you’re saying, the dark of the darkest moments of your life, somehow you were able to connect with some sort of cosmic lifeline, the universe, or God. Something got through to you and sent you a message. So when you said, “You can still create something really beautiful out of the ashes,” wh... posted on Nov 20 2023 (2,537 reads)

sound like what the energy in the club sounded like. So I decided to start making records only as a fan and only as a — basically as a documentarian. I wanted to make music that sounded like what I felt at the nightclub, because the records that were being made were being made by professional people who didn’t really know what hip-hop was, but they were going about it the traditional way of making dance music, which was very different than hip-hop music. So that’s sort of how it started. Tippett: You know I’m just, I’m so curious, this is a huge question, but after all these years of being immersed in music and being with so many musicians and... posted on Nov 30 -0001 (30 reads)

our values. And so what you’re describing when you talk about a teachable moment is that these tough emotions are signposting. There's something that we care about here. There's a value that's being abrogated or something that is really important to us that is hindering us. Adam Grant:You know, when we talk about the idea that emotions are not necessarily inherently good or bad, this, this makes me think immediately of your profound work on forced positivity. Talk to me about that and sort of the problems that you've seen with the pressure to always be in a good mood and what, what that says about people, about our culture, and what we should be doing instead. Susan David:When I w... posted on Mar 28 2024 (255 reads)

because we’ve forgotten where our real nourishment should lie: inside. And it’s something we have to be responsible for. No one else can do this work for us.So look at the way you breathe, look at the way you talk to yourself about the breath, about other issues that might come in and interfere with the breath. Look at the perceptions you’re holding in mind — again, about the breath itself and also about the things that would pull your way — and learn how to sort them out.When you engage in these fabrications with knowledge, you can put an end to suffering. If you do it in ignorance, you’re going to create more suffering. It’s your choice. And... posted on Apr 8 2024 (3,003 reads)

and in its tone, with the sound coming from the unique formations, minerals, and shape of the Luray Caverns. Each note reverberates across the caverns creating an otherworldly, all encompassing sound. Listen to the World's Largest Instrument It’s difficult to describe just how incredible this instrument sounds, so here is a short video from one of our favorite video creators, Great Big Story, to give you a special listen. Via: Great Big Story ³ Now, if you’re a curious sort, or musically inclined, you may have some questions about how this whole thing works. How does the sound make its way to the organ? Who plays this thing? Do you need to tune it? These are all gr... posted on Apr 25 2024 (3,973 reads)

away, actually in a car accident a few months after she arrived and she was just a college student. I think about her often and just wanted to honor her for bringing me to the United States. In my youth and most of my childhood, I was really achievement-oriented. It wasn't for fame or money, but if I could name one thing, it was probably to honor my mama and baba -- they gave up so much of their life, to provide a future for me. I remember working on the Wall Street, fresh out of college and sort of being proud of myself for getting the hardest job to get, coming out of school. It was during my first year that I remember this very poignant and chilling moment, which had a huge impact. I w... posted on May 11 2024 (2,362 reads)

excerpt from Christian McEwen’s In Praise of Listening (October 2023, Bauhan Publishing).] Alice Cozzolino is an extraordinary cook; one might almost call her a “food whisperer.” For most of her life, she has thought of herself as “one who feeds.” It is a skill that reaches back to very early childhood.  When Alice was a girl, she and her mother would make pasta e fagiole every week. The night before, the two of them would sit together in the kitchen sorting beans. Her mother would pour them out across the table, the pea beans and the lentils and the navy beans, all mixed up together, making one pile for Alice and another for herself. Then, taking... posted on May 20 2024 (927 reads)