The Entangled Activist
"An angry activist isn't easy to listen to, and for years I made dinner table conversation unbearable. Like many other progressive activists I would preach tolerance of all diversity...except for those with whom I disagreed. And people felt that judgment, reacting against the person who made them feel bad: me, 'the activist.' Students of sociology and political psychology know that we are prone to... posted on Dec 04 2022, 1,662 reads

You Don't Know What Your Future Self Wants
"'You are constantly becoming a new person,' says journalist Shankar Vendantam. In a talk full of beautiful storytelling, he explains the profound impact of something he calls the "illusion of continuity" -- the belief that our future selves will share the same views, perspectives and hopes as our current selves -- and shows how we can more proactively craft the people we are to become." Science w... posted on Dec 03 2022, 2,695 reads

The Queen of Basketball
This amazing film, winner of the 2022 Academy Award for Best Documentary (short subject), shares the story of Lusia "Lucy" Harris, a pioneer of women's basketball. Harris talks of her love of basketball from childhood with her characteristic good humor and humility. Criticized for her height, basketball helped her to view that as an asset. She led her college team to three national women's basketb... posted on Dec 02 2022, 1,315 reads

Don't Treat Your Life as a Project
"The idea that we narrate our lives to ourselves, and that doing so is part of living well, is sufficiently commonplace that its most vocal critic, the philosopher Galen Strawson, could describe it as "a fallacy of our age." He lists an impressive roster of advocates, including the neurologist and author Oliver Sacks ("Each of us constructs and lives a 'narrative'...this narrative is us"), the psy... posted on Dec 01 2022, 2,138 reads

The Rights of the Land
"Before first light we board a bus and at last light we return, just as the October hills of central New York shade to burgundy and the lights come on in dairy barns for evening chores. Teachers, students, clan mothers, chiefs, journalists, scientists, activists, and neighbors like me -- I see all our faces reflected in the bus windows. For the Onondaga, this trip to federal court in Albany to def... posted on Nov 30 2022, 1,358 reads

Danusha Lameris: Intimacy with the Marrow of Life
Danusha Lameris's poems have been called "wise, direct, and fearless" (American poet Dorianne Laux). She began writing poetry, as she believes many people do, from a place of heartbreak, and not knowing what to do with it. Her first book of poems, The Moons of August, came on the heels of a rapid succession of deep losses in her early 30s. "I've buried a lover, a brother, a son," she writes early ... posted on Nov 29 2022, 2,773 reads

Satish Kumar: In Service of Humanity and Mother Earth
In 2020, a dialog was held at Plum Village with environmental, and multi-faith peace activist Satish Kumar. What follows are two excerpts from that evening, the first titled, "Activism -- Caring without Burning Out," and the second, "Encouragement to Young Activists -- on Anger, Love and Grief." In these excerpts Kumar shares "how he has been able to find an inexhaustible source of energy to conti... posted on Nov 28 2022, 1,434 reads

Nipun Mehta: A Deeper Thanksgiving
On a recent episode of the podcast Gray Matter, renowned broadcaster, Michael Krasny, talks with ServiceSpace founder, Nipun Mehta. "As a small sampling of the conversation's many gems, we touched on the hierarchy of generosity, and the ability to 'throw a better party' when we replace transactions with relationships. Nipun advocated for our own personal experimentation with generosity, knowing th... posted on Nov 27 2022, 1,880 reads

This Land is Their Land
"Most of us who are not Wampanoag or American Indian will never fully grasp the raw emotions indigenous people associate with Thanksgiving.[...]If how we tell history is one of the ways we shape our present and future, we can do no better than to rethink the myth of the First Thanksgiving and its role in the Thanksgiving holiday." Dr. David J. Silverman, is a professor and writer who specializes i... posted on Nov 26 2022, 1,609 reads

Uncommon Gratitude
"When I receive a gift I am acutely conscious of both the gift and the giver, and gratitude spreads through me. This gratitude coalesces into a wish to give something back. I long to please my giver, endow that generous benefactor with something that will offer comfort, nourishment, and delight equal to what Ive received. When my benefactor is a place rather than a person, however, my role as reci... posted on Nov 25 2022, 1,512 reads