Hello there! ๐
Mettฤ to you ๐๐ง
After the flurry of kids Back-to-School and me wrapping up a work contract, I drove 3 hours into the BC wilderness to spend 7 whole days at a silent retreat, completely disconnected from the Internet. What a way to reset and prepare for the autumn.
In my normal day-to-day I am consuming so much information from across many different fields and feeds that I often do not get time to digest. This retreat really gave me the space to think about what is important and which direction to head next. It reminded me that in the flood of contradictory misinformation and disinformation, to look for the points of light that signal virtue and wisdom. Looking for those points, and ignoring the rest, not only prevents mindless and depressing doomscrolling, it leads to positive action. Now I just need to remember this lesson every time I pick up my phone.
โกโกโก
Today is the fifth annual National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, when people across so-called Canada reflect on the cultural genocide committed in this country. I took the afternoon to head down to where the Semiahmoo peoples harvested clams on the mudflats until they were nearly wiped out by smallpox in 1850. It is now a cozy little beach community, and there were many people walking their dogs or enjoying their day off. I was glad to see a large majority of people wearing their orange shirts. Today is a day to consider the values we say we ascribe to, and move forwards with wisdom and virtue.
So with that acknowledged, today and everyday, I wish you health, happiness, and peace.
โ Chad
๐ From the Blog
Revisiting Malazan
Taking a second-run at the infamously challenging fantasy series
Back to Birken
A travel report from my 7 day silent retreat
๐งญ Elsewhere
I finally processed all my photos from traveling this summer. I need to post some more in depth travelogues, but you can get a gist from my end of summer travelogue by bullet point โ
- ๐ฅฏ Montreal
- โ๏ธ Quebec City
- ๐๏ธ Kingston
- ๐๏ธ Ottawa
- ๐ฝ New York
99piโs series on The Powerbroker is just fantastic Link โ
Got a new (beautiful!) book Video โ
โThis Japanese department store has an unbelievably cool thing to discover!โ Video โ
If you want to learn about how the Greeks influenced early Buddhism (writing, analytical thinking) this lecture by Ajahn Sona is pretty mind-bending Video โ
Cutest thing ever ๐๐ข Video โ
Looking forward to Maria Farrellโs new book Link โ
๐ What Iโm Reading
The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin
(41% Complete)
I am finally finally reading the anarchist opus of Ursula K. Le Guin for the Metagov Book Club. So far the setup is pretty interesting with the different planets and countries and ideological factions. There is a lot of poetry as she alludes to political ideology in just very everyday character interactions (getting a meal, looking out the window, etc etc). She rappinโ rappinโโฆ
Connect with me onย GoodReads โย or onย Bookwyrm โ