tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30962302009-12-20T15:18:05.210-08:00resistance is fertilelatrippinoreply@blogger.comBlogger46125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3096230.post-91759813702976885932009-12-19T10:03:00.000-08:002009-12-20T15:18:05.652-08:00

Night flight to Tel Aviv. I had the choice of flying either Continental or El Al, and I’d opted for El Al, for the full Israeli experience. El Al flies out of Terminal 4, which services many of the Middle Eastern airlines, including Egyptair, Emirates, Kuwait, and Royal Jordanian. It’s my first trip to the Middle East, and I’ve never flown from Terminal 4 before. When the car service drops me

ozekihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14625035908786141916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3096230.post-23194008369238432642009-06-08T11:46:00.000-07:002009-06-09T00:16:54.587-07:00

Another cool morning in Victoria, BC, after a week of unseasonable heat. I came down to do a talk for the 9th biennial conference of ASLE, the Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment, which is an international academic association of scholars, educators and environmentalists working in the burgeoning field of literary eco-criticism. The theme of the conference was “Island Time

ozekihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14625035908786141916noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3096230.post-80626641703420605912009-02-01T00:00:00.000-08:002009-02-01T12:01:09.618-08:00

The last day of January. I’m leaving for the monastery in 4 days, and everything feels vivid and transient and a little sad. In the morning when I open my eyes and see my husband sleeping next to me, I find myself holding very still so I can watch him breathe. Then, when I get up, I notice that it is 8:00 and I’m well rested, and I’m aware that soon I will be achingly sleep-deprived and getting

ozekihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14625035908786141916noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3096230.post-41103271391503419862009-01-01T22:31:00.000-08:002009-01-14T22:47:08.233-08:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!with love from ruth and oliver and friends

ozekihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14625035908786141916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3096230.post-25879449805647326792008-12-14T22:11:00.000-08:002009-01-14T22:30:44.756-08:00

Took the Cathay Pacific red-eye from Vancouver to New York last night. It’s always strange, and also not strange, to make this trip.Strange because at home in Manhattan, I sit in Taralucci e Vino, a small crowded cafe in the East Village, drinking latté and trying to decide which movie to go to and where to eat, and less than 24 hours ago, I was at home on an island in the middle of Desolation

ozekihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14625035908786141916noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3096230.post-78847797282434139852008-10-02T11:47:00.000-07:002008-10-02T13:11:04.255-07:00

Last month's writing workshop was wonderful! We decided at the last minute to do it as a non-residential workshop and to hold it at the Whaletown Institute. We had a full house, and it was intensive, like a writers' boot camp. We focused on the foundations of story: what triggers a story, and how do we bring it to life on the page. We worked extensively with character, location, voice, point of

ozekihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14625035908786141916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3096230.post-20277782629202704112008-07-25T11:52:00.000-07:002008-07-25T11:58:11.598-07:00

I'm going to be teaching a fiction writing workshop in September, at Channel Rock, on Cortes Island. I know it's last minute, but I just decided to do it, and if it goes well, I'll repeat it next year. So check out the description at the Channel Rock website, or in the What's New section of this site, and drop me a line if you'd be interested in attending something like this, either now or in the

ozekihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14625035908786141916noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3096230.post-84596023441964488022008-07-25T10:42:00.000-07:002008-07-25T11:51:40.938-07:00

Just a follow up note on new EVERYDAYZEN website: we launched the site in April, and since then we've added about 100 of Norman's talks and lectures, so please feel free to stop by and check it out. Here are two of my favorites, about language and poetry:Language (audio)Language and Dharma (text)Norman is a poet, as well as a Zen teacher, and so language is something he returns to again and

ozekihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14625035908786141916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3096230.post-74642212882857608212008-04-29T14:38:00.000-07:002008-04-29T16:39:29.520-07:00

I just figured out that I can upload files to this weblog, so here's a link to the PDF of an article called "The Art of Losing: On Writing, Dying, and Mom," that I wrote for Shambhala Sun magazine last month. It's based on a talk I gave at a benefit for the Zen Hospice Project, and some of the bits of it are from this weblog. I really like the way Shambhala Sun did the layout, with such nice

ozekihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14625035908786141916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3096230.post-6024135193155108912008-04-29T14:06:00.000-07:002008-04-29T14:36:00.443-07:00

I wanted to make sure to link to the article, "Why Bother?" by Michael Pollan in last week's New York Times. The title says it all, and it's required reading if you're feeling a little overwhelmed by the state of the planet. I'm a big fan of Pollan's work. His 1998 article, "Playing God in the Garden" was one of the things that inspired me to write about genetically engineered potatoes in "All

ozekihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14625035908786141916noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3096230.post-85546519389030665032008-02-26T20:27:00.000-08:002008-02-27T06:20:34.413-08:00

How to re-enter this world of my weblog? So much has happened, so much to talk about, and how do I account for my absence?Well, maybe it doesn't matter. Maybe we just go in and out—of our projects, our journals, our intentions and our resolves. What matters is just that we return, eventually, to today, when I'm excited about a story I read, and I want to share it.It's about the Sval­bard Glob­al

ozekihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14625035908786141916noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3096230.post-91339067012155229452007-11-05T12:14:00.000-08:002007-11-05T13:49:17.529-08:00

Here's something for friends in Vancouver. I'm going to be doing a reading with Shaena Lambert, at the Joy Kogawa House this Saturday, November 10, at 3:00 - 5:00. Hmm, I see that the graphics of this poster aren't reproducing very well, so here's the info you'll need:War and RemembranceA reading in support of TLC’s writers-in-residence program at Historic Joy Kogawa HouseLocation: 1450 West 64th

ozekihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14625035908786141916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3096230.post-18078372186015026942007-09-17T14:46:00.000-07:002007-09-17T16:22:13.180-07:00

It's been a pleasant, though somewhat unconvincing summer—not quite hot or long enough to persuade me that it's time for fall, but then I don't seem to get much say in this matter. Time just passes, whether I like it or not...or perhaps it's me who's doing the passing, and time just is. Being. Hmm. These are wintery thoughts, indeed.Here's a link to a nice article in Publishers Weekly about a new

ozekihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14625035908786141916noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3096230.post-86788365279083864262007-05-30T19:11:00.000-07:002007-05-30T19:40:39.625-07:00

Earlier this month I was delighted to learn that the Vancouver Public Library had selected “My Year of Meats” as the 2007 choice for One Book One Vancouver, a municipal reading program described as “a book club for the entire city.” It’s the oldest program of its kind in Canada, and it’s been great. I’ve been going down to Vancouver every couple of weeks to do events of various kinds, but the

ozekihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14625035908786141916noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3096230.post-1171493078491136622007-02-14T12:54:00.000-08:002007-03-29T16:39:22.756-07:00

It's Valentine's Day, and I'm in love, and there you have it. I am in the throes of a romance, which has obsessed and inspired me now for almost a week. It was pretty much love at first sight, and while I'm skeptical of quick infatuations (and there have been a lot of them), I'm starting to feel confident that this attraction will turn into a real and lasting relationship. Of course, I'm in a

ozekihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14625035908786141916noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3096230.post-1157861291668084662006-09-26T20:51:00.000-07:002006-10-12T20:59:32.293-07:00

This, out from Norton—I just received my contributor's copy of Mixed: An Anthology of Short Fiction on the Multiracial Experience, edited by Chandra Prasad. Rebecca Walker wrote a great introduction, and other contributors include Danzy Senna, Cristina Garcia, and Diana Abu-Jaber, Peter Ho Davies and Wayde Compton. It's an excellent collection, and I'm happy to be part of it. Chandra contacted me

ozekihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14625035908786141916noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3096230.post-1158369787668253372006-09-15T17:28:00.000-07:002007-03-19T07:01:41.496-07:00

That's the Hebrew title of "All Over Creation," and this is the cover of the Israeli edition! My wonderful editor at the publishing house, Am Oved, just emailed it to me. I'm assuming "Al Pnei Habriaa Kula" is a direct translation of "All Over Creation," but I may be mistaken, and if so, somebody please correct me. I have to say, I love this cover. I think it's hilarious. It's always fascinating

ozekihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14625035908786141916noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3096230.post-1157912792400938152006-09-10T10:43:00.000-07:002006-09-10T12:00:01.106-07:00

This is a beautiful book, published by Kodansha, entitled Inside and other short fiction: Japanese women by Japanese women. It's edited by Cathy Layne, whose focus was on selecting work by prize-winning popular Japanese women novelists who have never been published in English before. The book design and the cover art, by Tomoko Sawada, is subtle and stunning. So it's a ground-breaking collection

ozekihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14625035908786141916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3096230.post-1157858896284611072006-09-09T18:44:00.000-07:002006-09-15T18:24:38.683-07:00

Fall is here. Yesterday we had our first real rain in months, the crickets are chirping, the days are growing shorter, and already the power has been out twice this week. In the winter, once the storms start, it's not unusual for the power to go out for days, and when it does, everything slows way down. We eat by the light of a kerosene lamp and go to bed early. It sounds a lot nicer than it is.

ozekihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14625035908786141916noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3096230.post-1135975851919685402005-12-30T11:38:00.000-08:002005-12-30T13:13:42.350-08:00

Simon Schama wrote an excellent essay, "The Story So Far," for the Guardian, in which he reports on the decade, the noughties, from the point of view of an oracular, fully digitized historian named Sybil, a century from now. It is funny and bleak and, well, oracular. Schama is brilliant. New Year's Day is the most important holiday in Japan. The Japanese New Year greeting is "Akemashite, omedetou

ozekihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14625035908786141916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3096230.post-1131312210977645882005-11-06T12:57:00.000-08:002006-11-14T10:32:37.546-08:00

Recently I’ve been reading poetry again, something I’d gotten out of the habit of doing. I just got a copy of a wonderful new collection by my friend, Jen Benka, entitled, "a box of longing with fifty drawers.” It’s a poetic deconstruction of the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution, consisting of 52 poems, one for each of the 52 words of the document:We, the people of the United States, in Order to

ozekihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14625035908786141916noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3096230.post-1122051669405770992005-07-22T09:56:00.000-07:002005-07-25T10:24:46.693-07:00

Another summer, another sesshin.The Japanese word "sesshin" means "touching the mind" or "joining the heart." It's a week-long Zen meditation retreat, and I've been doing this one at Samish Island for several summers now. There were about fifty people this year, which was a big group, so the energy was pretty strong. We sat zazen from Sunday to Friday, then on Friday evening we did a Jukai

ozekihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14625035908786141916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3096230.post-1109358525446948722005-02-25T10:31:00.000-08:002005-02-25T11:56:40.083-08:00

I know it's a belated greeting, but it makes sense somehow. Our roosters are always late. They are famous for it. They go to bed late at night, and they get up late in the morning, and so do all our hens.It is tempting to blame the roosters, but it’s not their fault. It’s our fault, or rather it’s my husband’s fault, because even though we’ve lived in the country for almost eight years now, he

ozekihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14625035908786141916noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3096230.post-1106887528689421922005-01-27T20:24:00.000-08:002005-09-06T11:27:22.423-07:00

December 8, 2005Dear Norman, Thank you for asking me to write this.As you know, my mom died one month ago, today. She had three terminal conditions: Alzheimer’s, cancer of the jaw, and ninety years of living. Her death should have come as no surprise, but of course when she died in my arms, I was astonished.How can this life, which has persisted here on this earth for over ninety years, be over

ozekihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14625035908786141916noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3096230.post-1101330497072575872004-11-24T13:02:00.000-08:002005-09-06T11:30:26.686-07:00

My mom is luminescent. Her skin is paper thin now, so transparent that you can see the light of her shining through. Oliver says she looks like a glowing pupa, preparing to emerge from a cocoon. From time to time she twitches. Her limbs are bone thin, bent, and brittle as an insect’s. Her fingers curl like claws. Occasionally, a myoclonic spasm wracks her, and when it subsides, her hands lift as

ozekihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14625035908786141916noreply@blogger.com0