This particular summer, after winning a Japan-U.S. Senate Scholarship to live a summer abroad (with the lovely Naito family in Nishinomiya, Japan) I am additionally blessed with my first “spiritual experience” while meditating at Ryoan-ji Temple in Kyoto … “Tension is who you think you should be. Relaxation is who you Are.” ~ Japanese Proverb
I vividly remember visiting nearby Osaka Castle, and yet the memory that still proves most indelible is not the majestic castle itself, but rather the sea of equally-risen, black-haired heads that seemed to stretch to the horizon when I exited the subway there – like a dark, silky, chest-high carpet of mostly-smiling humanity … “There […]
I remember visiting the Hiroshima memorial this summer – on the 40th anniversary of the bomb falling there in 1945, no less. And I remember being one of only a handful of Caucasian people there – possibly the only American. And I remember the waves of horror and shame and embarrassment and anger that washed […]
My high school “career” came to a close in 1986 and my college days (at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor) commenced; a time when I learned far more outside the classroom as inside th3e same – a time when many mistakes were made (indeed I learned more during these four years about who […]
In this year Mahatma Gandhi became a fresh & steadfastly potent source of Inspiration … “There is no way to Peace … Peace is The Way.” ~ Mahatma Gandhi
In this year I journeyed with my mother and brother to the Hawaiian island of Kauai and soaked up the raw power of the Na Pali Coast Trail, along which all three of us smoothly hiked in together, and then (after camping the night at trail’s end and showering in a nearby waterfall the following […]
I remember regularly soaking up both the Joys of camaraderie & the Wonders of nature in the University of Michigan’s Nichols Arboretum (which was a conveniently short walk from my first & second year room in the Mosher Jordan dormitory) … “And much like trees, the arboretum speaks volumes to the human condition as well […]
This was also the year that I became inspired by Nelson Mandela, and began to become actively involved in civil rights causes; joining the NAACP, openly opposing the Supreme Court nomination of Robert Bork, to crying for the complete dismantling of South African apartheid … “For to be free is not merely to cast off […]
This was also the year when “Bloom County” became all the rage in my life, and its lead character, Opus, became my newest Hero; a worthy champion who perfectly blended resolute Ethics and courageous Kindness with an endearing effusion of Naiveté … “If even two hundred million people do a foolish thing, it is still […]
It was this summer that I drove across the country with Dave Hawes to pick up my roommate Gabe in Seattle and bring him back to Ann Arbor for our final year of college life together. And while we were heading out along that way, we stopped off to soak up the vast magnificence that […]
After graduating from the University of Michigan with a degree in General Studies, I moved to Tacoma (Washington) to “attend” the University of Puget Sound School of Law (now Seattle University School of Law). And I write “attend” here in quotes because I very quickly figured out that law school was itself essentially a sham, […]
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