De rerum natura

"Everything is interconnected. Magic is just a result that uses connections you don't see. ... Maybe the ultimate magic is enlightenment."

--Zen priest's admonition, as recounted in "Thank You and OK!" by David Chadwick

Let there be music ...

Astor Place
Manhattan

10th Street, East Village
Manhattan

Tompkins Square Park, East Village
Manhattan

... and friendship

Tompkins Square Park

Glimpses of New Jersey

Bees are busily dying

The mainstream media as usual are paying scant attention to a story with the potential to affect our lives in a catastrophic way: Honeybees across the country are mysteriously dying off.

If this fundamental part of the food chain were to disappear, we would starve.
No more fruit.
No more vegetables.
No more animals that feed upon fruit and vegetables.
No more people.

David Byrne has written a compelling article on this disturbing development in his online journal. It's worth a read.

Untitled

Chuang Yen Monastery
Carmel, N.Y.

A medical koan, shared many times over

For more than a week, I have been waiting for a surgeon who I consulted at another hospital to give his opinion on the feasibility of surgery. At this point, the surgeon and endocrinologist at my hospital are in favor of an operation, and it is believed that this other surgeon will concur; it seems just a formality.

But I have yet to hear from him. On Tuesday I called his office to inquire about the delay.
I was told there's a major conference of radiologists going on today, at which he will share my case with his colleagues. So, I'll be getting his opinion all right, but it'll be an opinion formed through collaboration with some of the top minds in the field.

Sometimes, waiting isn't so bad.

Guantanamera

Tompkins Square Park
East Village, Manhattan

Power of memory

There's a saying that a person isn't truly dead until his name is forgotten by all who knew him or knew of him. At that point, his spirit is freed from earthly ties and can continue to the next stage on its journey.

But with the Internet, great people and common folk alike can have memories of themselves kept in circulation practically forever through Wikipedia articles, list servers, electronic bulletin boards, census records and other public and private documents, blogs, reminiscences of friends, family and acquaintances and so on.

Why, just the other day I overheard a spirit lamenting being chained to this earthly realm by the power of the microchip.

More hope

One of my surgeons called me today with an assessment of my CT scan. He's recommending surgery that, like the one I had in 2005, will cut through my breastbone. I'm now awaiting a recommendation from a second surgeon, but I'm nearly positive he'll concur. I just have a hunch.

This is a positive development. It certainly beats being told that surgery is impossible.
I'm guessing that the surgeon who is doing the operation will want to do it as soon as possible. (He performed my last surgery. We get along well, and I like him.)
I would like a couple of months to get physically ready for the procedure. In 2005, I was out of the hospital in four or five days, whereas patients who have their sternum sawed in half usually remain hospitalized an average of two weeks.

I was in excellent physical shape then, supplementing my karate with 20-mile walks and regular visits to the gym.
For most of the past year, I've been practicing karate exclusively. So, I'd like to become more fit in a relatively short time so that my recuperation will be speedy.

Mentally and spiritually, I'm no more anxious at the prospect of another surgery (which will be my fifth in five years and sixth overall) than I was before I received the news about a half-hour ago.
I'm actually sort of relieved.

My anxiety will increase as surgery day nears, which is perfectly natural. But things will work out the way they should.
This I know.

So long, Kurt

It was with great sadness that I learned of the death late Wednesday of author Kurt Vonnegut.
I was introduced to his work as an exchange student nearly 25 years ago at Alsager College (now Manchester Metropolitan University), near Stoke-on-Trent, England.

It was for a class on American literature that we were assigned Vonnegut's "Cat's Cradle." I was more interested in sightseeing and drinking than in this writer about whom I knew nothing and cared even less.
So, I went through the motions of reading the novel and bullshitted my way through an essay we had to write about it.
The results were predictable.
I nearly failed the class, and by all rights I should have.
Vonnegut was easily forgotten, with a little resentment thrown in.

Years later and living in Philadelphia, I went through my bookshelves looking for something to read. I picked up "Cat's Cradle."
This time, I read it.
And reread it.
And I was hooked.

Eventually, I riffed my way through nearly all of Vonnegut's 14 novels. "Cat's Cradle" is my favorite. "Slaughterhouse-Five" is easily No. 2. But really, I like them all.

Thank you and goodbye, Kurt.
And so it goes.