This isn’t the same thing as mindful eating, though they’re related. I’m talking about something more specific and at the same time broader–a way of eating that engages me with the bigger picture of how and why I eat. I think if you were brought up in relatively mainstream America, as I was, grateful eatingContinue reading “Grateful Eating”
Category Archives: redtailhawk
German Pflasterstein (Cobblestone) Rating System
This cracks my friend Birgit up, so I thought I’d share it. As I’ve mentioned before, cobblestones are tough on Lucky, my Bike Friday, with his 20-inch wheels. And cobblestones (pflastersteine or kopfsteinpflaster) are actually getting increasingly common in Berlin as the city tries to find ways to limit rain run-off and recharge its failingContinue reading “German Pflasterstein (Cobblestone) Rating System”
Aikido and Rhetoric: Refining
Iron is full of impurities that weaken it; through forging, it becomes steel and is transformed into a razor-sharp sword. Human beings develop in the same fashion. Morihei Ueshiba, The Art of Peace But can the man who does not know what abstinence is, claim to be truly abstinent? or brave, if he has never purgedContinue reading “Aikido and Rhetoric: Refining”
Rear Window Berlin Edition: Update!
The denizens of 2G have started dining al fresco given the great weather: it’s two dudes with luxurious pandemic beards down to their chests and, tonight at least, a nice bottle of wine and bouquet of foxgloves on the table. Bon appetit, Beard Bros!
German Word of the Week: Glühbirne
It’s a lightbulb, obvs, but the literal translation is “glow pear”: cutest thing ever.
Rear Window: Berlin Edition
So, its been a couple of months now, and while I haven’t met many of my neighbors–I find Berliners keep mostly to themselves other than the forced ritual of having the DHL guy leave packages with you for other people who then show up sheepishly at your door at 9 pm to collect them–that hasn’tContinue reading “Rear Window: Berlin Edition”
Aikido and Rhetoric: The Sword, The Scalpel
The penetrating brilliance of swordsWielded by followers of the WayStrikes at the evil enemyLurking deep withinTheir own souls and bodies. O-sensei, The Art of Peace SocratesThat is just what surprises me, Gorgias, and has made me ask you all this time what in the world the power of rhetoric can be. For, viewed in thisContinue reading “Aikido and Rhetoric: The Sword, The Scalpel”
Untangling the Skein
I owe this phrase to the inimitable Chump Lady, who uses it to describe the obsessive phase that chumps (cheated-on partners) often go through as they try to wrap their heads around how and why their cheaters could have done what they did: e.g., watching dozens of videos on narcissism and Cluster B personality disorders;Continue reading “Untangling the Skein”
Aikido and Rhetoric: Women
Economy is the basis of society. When the economy is stable, society develops. The ideal economy combines the spiritual and material, and the best commodities to trade are sincerity and love. Morihei Ueshiba, The Art of Peace “‘So you see,’ [Diotima] said, ‘you are a person who does not consider Love to be a god.’“‘WhatContinue reading “Aikido and Rhetoric: Women”
Ceramics Saturdays: The Ostrakon and Cancel Culture in Ancient Athens
The Agora Museum in Athens is full of these funny little terracotta disks with a hole in the middle, partially glazed in black, with someone’s name scratched through the black glaze. They’re ostraka, and they were used in special elections called to banish certain citizens from Athens for 10 years. Ostracism was used in casesContinue reading “Ceramics Saturdays: The Ostrakon and Cancel Culture in Ancient Athens”
The Rookery 