I grew up in an affluent suburb of Chicago, a place of large houses with expansive lawns, and two or more cars in every driveway. I was educated privately, among peers who were the children of doctors and lawyers and financial executives. Leisure took place in tennis clubs and shopping malls. I think of it … More the soul of money
My lovely friend Steve of 21st Century Soul has been a broker of healing in my life. I met Steve through our mutual dabblings in the Dark Mountain Project – we exchanged emails in the runup to the second Uncivilisation festival in August 2011, an event that I helped to put together from behind the … More healing crisis, one person at a time
Whenever we have made our plans and laid down the path of our future the trickster will come along and play a trick on us. F. David Peat, Blackfoot Physics A few months ago I was in my front room when I heard something outside on the street. It took me a moment to make … More in case of emergency
So I’ve finally organised a project that has been simmering in the background for some time. This spring I am launching a pilot series of workshops which explore ideas which deserve some space to grow. All my life I have loved playing with ideas, whether browsing the library and bookshop shelves searching for hidden treasures, … More hearth cricket wisdom
Two different mental health events fell across my radar this week. They both arrived by email, in their different ways. The first landed in my inbox at work: a slick mass mailing with graphics and corporate logos and link buttons, leading to an even slicker website dedicated solely to promoting a full-panel plenary of high-ranking, … More who owns wellbeing?
“A word after a word after a word is power.” Margaret Atwood My favourite bookshop in the world – WordPower – is moving into the next stage of its life. Its lovely founders have given 22+ years of intense loving slog into raising this baby, which has grown into not just a shop but also … More on wordpower
When I was a child, one of my very favourite picture books was The Wump World by Bill Peet. We didn’t own a copy at home but the public library did, and I borrowed it repeatedly. The Wump World tells the story of a small planet covered in rolling meadows, twinkling streams and large leafy … More on a hopeful note
Time to take Joe Bageant down from the shelf and consider his more-relevant-than-ever reflections on the American hologram. He wasn’t kidding when he wrote that “the four cornerstones of the American political psyche are (1) emotion substituted for thought, (2) fear, (3) ignorance, and (4) propaganda.” Those ingredients have now put a beligerent, misogynist ass … More no class
There is a passage in the book Things That Can & Cannot Be Said in which Arundhati Roy describes to John Cusack an experience she had in the forests of central India where the poorest people in the world have stopped some of the richest mining corporations in their tracks. The great irony is that … More on tv
Here in Edinburgh we have a museum dedicated to centuries-old body parts suspended in jars of liquid. It’s called the Surgeons Hall Museum, and is run by the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, an esteemed professional organisation that has been around since the sixteenth century – back when they were all ‘barber surgeons.’ You … More on the body politic
