The Calculus of Presence

First thing, let me tell you what that picture does not mean. You probably think it’s a seductively poppy pic posted to entice you to read some clatter  about confronting your fears, about doing something…

Young Monk Becoming

Mingma Sherpa, age 8, waits in the courtyard of Thupten Choling monastery wearing Chinese-made jeans and a Chicago Bulls t-shirt. Tears river down cheeks turned to watch his dad disappear along the broken and muddy…

Butter Lamp Girl

  She arranges the cups so the count is 108, twelve rows of nine on a steel table marked by use, straightening wicks and filling each, according to implacable tradition.  “Nah – massshstay,” eyes up…

Cheese

A big cheese wheel, Gruyere, came bouncing, crashing down from a rack with several more in tow, emerging from the collapsing shelving with alarming speed. The cheesemaker, who doubled as the shopkeeper since laying off…

The Day the Yeti Left

This is the place where elevation invented stairs. Several prototypes can be found abandoned in the forest. Be careful not only where you walk but how.Elevation in these parts has a reputation for being a bit…

The Straight Lines of Fairly Dunn

            It was already hot at eleven, and even though he’d only been plowing a short while Fairly left the long field to rest under the lunch tree letting George and Ross wander and eat grass…