It was on this day in 1804 that Alexander Hamilton, former chief of staff to General George Washington, founder of America’s financial system, a principal author of the Federalist Papers, founder of the US Coast Guard, founder of the New York Post, and first Secretary of the Treasury died, lingering for a day after being shot during a duel with former Vice-President Aaron Burr. Small wonder his story could become the subject of a Broadway musical. What is more surprising... Read more

Yesterday Jan & I went out for a movie and dinner. The movie we picked was the New Zealand film Hunt for the Wilderpeople. Rotten Tomatoes describes the plot for Hunt for the Wilderpeople. “Raised on hip-hop and foster care, defiant city kid Ricky gets a fresh start in the New Zealand countryside. He quickly finds himself at home with his new foster family: the loving Aunt Bella, the cantankerous Uncle Hec, and dog Tupac. When a tragedy strikes that... Read more

It was on this day in 1405 that admiral Zheng He began the first of his seven voyages. Over the years he would lead his fleet to explore, encounter, open trade, and impress the world beyond China of its vast wealth and power. He succeeded. Read more

These are rough times. Hard times. It is difficult to see a way through it all. Greed, and hatred, and endless false certainties seem poison enough to destroy our species. And, sadly, likely will. Tears seem the appropriate response. Or, rage. Despair. And yet. And yet, there’s something that takes my broken heart and transforms it into a deep affirmation. Why? I don’t know. I don’t know. But it is there. Rising out of my body in the face of... Read more

Nikola Tesla, engineer both electrical and mechanical, physicist, futurist, and inventor was born on this day in 1856 in the village of Smijian, in what is today Croatia, although at the time a province of the Austrian Emprie. His father was a Serbian Orthodox priest as was his mother’s father. After a number of adventures, most of which probably happened, he entered the Austrian Polytechnic in Graz. There his brilliance became apparent. However he quickly found himself in several conflicts... Read more

A part of the problem with trying to be engaged in today’s world is the flow of information. We have access to more sources than ever before in history. And, sadly, much, I would hazard most of it comes packaged with so much bias, hidden agendas, or, flat out lies that what we are awash in is a sea of misinformation. Of course the problem with bias is that it is how we see the world, and so it becomes... Read more

As the Rochester Zen Center celebrates its 50th anniversary Lion’s Roar asked me to update the chapter on Roshi Philip Kapleau from my book Zen Master Who? Which I did. For the story, please go here. Read more

Raffi Cavoukian was born in Cairo to Armenian parents on this day in 1948. At ten the family immigrated to Canada and he came of age in Toronto. Possibly the world’s most famous and beloved children’s musician. Here’s a little of why… Read more

I’m pretty sure most people think they’re the exception to Dr Fanon’s observation. I am not in the business of reading other people’s hearts. But, I fear I am not an exception. And so with that the ever renewed vow to not turn away. What I have found is how this vow and its observation creates something. It opens something. And I’ve found how it is at this fertile moment of letting go of my certainties, of not knowing, that... Read more

Actually this is quite the day in the great calendar. Among many other things it is World (or, International) Chocolate Day, as well as, as pretty much any flying saucer enthusiast can tell you the day in 1947 when a flying saucer crashed near Roswell, New Mexico. ‘Tis also in 1954 the day Elvis Presley was first heard on radio, when his freshly minted “That’s All Right” debuted on WHBQ in Memphis. Some ugly things happened on this day, as... Read more