misc-joy

Category: General

  • Depression, Healing, and my First Tattoo

    Depression, Healing, and my First Tattoo

    Content Warning: Suicide I have always been around people with tattoos. In fact, it’s been quite common given my background. But I’d sworn to never ink my body permanently. And now, at age 56, I find myself getting my first tattoo. I feel that I’ve reached something of a milestone and I want to honor,…

  • Thanksgiving

    Thanks for rain and snow, a lovely and supportive partner, beautiful and kind children, food to eat, good health, books, good friends, a solid job, meditation and an ethical mindfulness practice, compassion and empathy, freedom, quiet, sobriety, Thich Nhat Hanh, the Buddha, a safe home, awareness of suffering, shoes, music, good doctors, trees, shared transportation.…

  • Dead Bodies in Public

    It was 1994 as I traveled home on the 21 Hayes street bus in San Francisco. I was a block from home when we stopped at the corner of Hayes and Webster. As I peered out the window toward the ubiquitous liquor store on the corner, I observed a dead body in the doorway from…

  • Returning Home from Santa Barbara

    Feeling blessed, with a clear acknowledgement of my privilege. The mudslides of Montecito have clearly taken a toll on the community. And yet, the kindness and generosity of everyone has been significant. Each step of the way, people have been offering to help and assist. And yesterday, we had children from Montecito Elementary arrive at…

  • Getting to Santa Barbara during 2018 Mudslides

    We begin the second week with the 101 freeway closed in Montecito due to flood and mudslides. It’s an awful situation. Not for me particularly, but for the people living in the community. Last week I worked from home in Ojai, but this week I needed to be in Santa Barbara. The trip from Ojai…

  • Happy People Read Books: My 2017 Book List

    As a history major in college, I read a lot of material for each class. And with my college being on the quarter system, that meant a dozen or two books per quarter. Unfortunately, this material wasn’t all something I’d choose. I’ve always been an avid reader, but as life went on, my reading scaled…

  • Power and Wired Capital

    The print magazine industry is very much alive and well and has the impact of being quite an expensive hobby. As a avid reader, I enjoy all forms of writing from blogs, micro-blogs, newspapers, books, comics, and magazines. In addition to the five mainstream subscriptions I receive, I also subscribe to a handful of independent…