well, i’m back at the mill, doing my best to do some amateur ethnography on the neocolonial, neoliberal sociocultural project we’re calling “ai” from the perspective of an opt-outer watching the juggernaut role by.

front porch republic was kind enough to get this brash take out into the world. more contentious than my usual writing (i think), but once the connection arose in the mind, i couldn’t resist. the opening paragraph:

“On a recent Saturday morning, between tending a feverish eight-year-old, unclogging a bathroom sink, and catching up on end-of-term grading, I was soaking in a hot bath trying to soothe a pulled back muscle earned from avoiding a faceplant on the December Milwaukee ice. My companion? Walter Benjamin’s On Hashish. My epiphany? The “very ai” crowd is a lot like that special modern philosophico-spiritual scene of psychoactive-drug devotees, both in their fervor and in their sliding outside the bounds of experience accessible to those lacking initiation into the same mind-bending phenomenon.”

Read on if you’re in the mood for some counter-cultural critical melange!

hey folks.

i don’t do much in the world of online video, but i got an invitation i couldn’t refuse to talk with graham scheper about my translation of st. æþelwold’s 10th-century translation of the rule of st. benedict.

it was great fun, and if you’re curious at all about such things, we have a wide-ranging discussion about this stuff for about an hour. you can check it out here if you like.

go old english! (and monasticism!)

i’ve been avoiding the online world some, so this is a bit of a late entry, but:

hey, my book contemplate: toward an expansive heart released in december! it is the culmination of 20+ years of reading, practice, and dialogue with folks all over the world. it feels tremendous to have it out.

after its release, i was invited for an interview on wgvu’s “common threads” show on interreligious dialogue. you can listen here if you like (two installments)!

also, my translation of the old high german wessobrunn prayer is in the latest issue of forgotten ground regained, a great journal promoting alliterative poetry. check out steven searcy’s poem while you’re there too! 🙂

some more things coming up, but if you happen to be in the milwaukee area, i’ve also got a book release event this friday the 30th at boswell books on downer. going to be fun!

[entry from october]

over in columbia and sauk cty for the day, and we stopped off at ferry bluff en route. a lovely bluff trail above the confluence of honey creek and the wisconsin river.

a gorgeous stand of what i’m thinking is agueweed in a sun-soaked ridge above the lookout. a fine detour!

a.

the sands up and down

the river

move historic minds

b.

clearing ridge props up

ague-weed

in october sun

in my ongoing attempt to resist mechanical time and our alienation from the earth, my latest in the benedictine magazine spirit & life invites us into the traditional discipline of ember and rogation days with a renewed view and intent.

was happy to get this out, and am mulling subconsciously on another similar essay on telling time by the moon, and maybe the sun. we’ll see. third quarter moon tonight!

pax inter spinas.