Li Po poem

 The birds have vanished down the sky.

Now the last cloud drains away.

We sit together, the mountain and me,

until only the mountain remains.

Li Po, “Zazen on Ching-t’ing Mountain,” translated by Sam Hamill

Bruce Lee advice

 “Don’t pray for an easy life… Pray for the strength to endure a difficult one”

Kurt Vile and the Violators

 

Laurie Anderson performing in SF

 Wednesday night I will be at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco to see Laurie Anderson perform for the Zorn at 70 series!

From the program:

The Great American Music Hall is extremely proud to present ... "ZORN at 70", 15 extraordinary performances across 5 days at GAMH (and one at Grace Cathedral), curated by John Zorn, in celebration of the legendary composer, musician and iconoclast's 70th birthday.
    Featuring John Zorn, Laurie Anderson, Bill Frisell, Julian Lage, Fred Frith, Mike Patton, John Medeski, Dave Lombardo, Trevor Dunn, Petra Haden, Trey Spruance, Kenny Wollesen, Brian Marsella, Gyan Riley, Cyro Baptista, Chris Otto, Sae Hashimoto, Steve Gosling, Jorge Roeder, WIlliam Winant, Ikue Mori, Ches Smith among many, many others ... 
    This series will feature two world premiere performances, several of Zorn's best loved and most celebrated ensembles as well as some of his latest projects, a unique solo organ recital at Grace Cathedral and a very special COBRA performance, curated especially for San Francisco.
    One of the most ambitious and wide reaching concert series Zorn has ever curated, this incredible series will take place from August 30th - Sept 3rd and cannot be missed. 
    Show times, line-ups, ticket prices and details can be found at GAMH.COM along with options for day passes and full series passes.

This Must Be The Place

 

Dark Retreat center in Southern Oregon

 https://www.skycaveretreats.com/

Andrew Holecek on Death and Dying

 Almost done with this class. It is deepening even further my lifelong involvement with Buddhism.

A reminder: Death is certain, the date is not.

https://www.andrewholecek.com/event/death-and-the-art-of-dying-deep-dive-into-the-luminous-bardo/

New Laurie Anderson interview

 Laurie Anderson is important to me. She has been since her music first appeared. I have seen her perform many times over the decades. She also shares my particular Buddhist practices and studies. Here’s a little bit of recent conversation to read.

https://tuenight.substack.com/p/laurie-anderson-talks-tai-chi-aging

RuPaul's Secret Celebrity Drag Race

 As I said in my last post, we watched different TV shows last night for a change of pace. To top it off we stretched out and watched RuPaul's Secret Celebrity Drag Race. It was a fun distraction. I also realized that my drag name would be Davida Loca... <snap> 😀

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/RuPaul%27s_Secret_Celebrity_Drag_Race_(season_2)

The HistoryMakers project

 For an entertaining break we watched some different TV shows last night. One was 60 Minutes.

The HistoryMakers segment was moving and inspiring and highly recommended! This project creates oral histories of Black Americans and curricula for schools based on them. It is a strong  antidote to DeSantis's fascist anti-history and is now part of the Library of Congress. The segment is available on the project site :

https://thehistorymakers.org/

Dinosaur species revival project

 Jeff Goldblum announced today that he is working with Stewart Brand to revive this species using the embryo as a starting point. Donald Trump immediately announced his full support for the project, saying “Since we too are dinosaurs and like to tear things apart with our teeth, we look forward to the company of a kindred soul.”

https://www.iflscience.com/perfectly-preserved-dinosaur-embryo-found-inside-fossilized-egg-70182

Heather Cox Richardson book release/talk Oct 14, 2023 Oakland, CA

$36 admission includes a signed copy of the hardcover version of her new book! 

https://app.gopassage.com/events/heather-cox-richardson

Death and Dying class

 I enrolled in this class after watching a one-hour talk by Lama Justin Bujdoss. He is a Caucasian American deeply trained in Tibetan Buddhism and a long time senior member of the NYC Department of Corrections chaplaincy program. He is very active in reaching out to POC and other minorities who are under represented in the US Buddhist community.

His profile appears at the bottom of the following page for this class:

https://www.sowarigpaonline.org/courses/Death-and-Dying-self-paced

EternalTerminal built on ssh

 Works with tmux control center/iTerm combo on the client.

https://eternalterminal.dev/usermanual/

Karma is a bitch!

 

Carolina Shag dancing profile

 https://gardenandgun.com/feature/step-into-the-world-of-the-carolina-shag/