vol. 6, num. 21 :: 2007.11.16 — 2007.11.30
It’s something most of us think about this time of year—if we haven’t been pondering already for weeks. Though tangible and intangible gifts surround us all year round, autumn seems like a good time to give some special consideration as we prepare to give thanks and express our gratitude through the exchange of presents.
A bike ride prompts gratitude for the gift of community.
A call to acknowledge suffering even as we celebrate good gifts.
A meditation on the idea that we who have freely received should freely give.
A practical guide for the dazed and confused…as well as the overly confident.
Holiday memories serve as reminders of the best gifts.
A moment of near tragedy becomes a moment of grace in the journey toward God.
A review of Noah Baumbach’s Margot and the Wedding.
From Pieces of April and an album of 69 love songs by its music director to the dark alienation of Nick Cave and Grinderman.
Musical performance art with Tim Fite and re-visiting a classic with Hitchcock’s Rear Window.
A brief tour through the last few centuries reveals many theories about music that are, in and of themselves, gifts to our experience and understanding of the art form.
Shopping for Christmas gifts can be an opportunity to practice our deepest values.
A simple recipe for autumn and winter.
A gift to the recipient, a gift to the earth—Janna Leyde writes about green fashion.
Blake Lambert writes about President Felix Houphouet-Boigny’s gift to the Ivory Coast.
Robert Michael Pyle explores the gift of color and, by association, sight.
Even in a country you know by heart
its hard to go the same way twice
the life of the going changes.
The chances change and make a new way.
Any tree or stone or bird
can be the bud of a new direction. The
natural correction is to make intent
of accident. To get back before dark
is the art of going.
Wendell Berry
“Traveling at Home” from Traveling at Home
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