books published . . .
This Side of Nirvana: Memoirs of a Spiritually Challenged Buddhist
(Fair Winds 2001; reissued by Keep It Simple Books 2008, with a foreword by Cheri Huber)
I became a “seeker” not by nature but by necessity; my interest in meditation was strictly an antidote to near-terminal restlessness. Far from offering a magic cure, meditation proved excruciating. As a last resort, I went to work at Southern Dharma Retreat Center in western North Carolina in hopes of acquiring equanimity through osmosis… read more . . .
Hello at Last: Embracing the Koan of Friendship & Meditation
(Windhorse Publications Ltd, 2007)
Hello At Last is about spiritual friendship – specifically, ways of deepening our connections with others.
My interest in spiritual friendship began when I interviewed members of a Buddhist group in India and learned their practices for cultivating openness, trust, and warmth between people. I returned to explore similar practices in this country, from basic exercises in reflective listening to meditative dialog—on retreat, with a friend, and even online. read more . . .
other writing . . .
Chapter on White Privilege
“To See: The Blindness of Whiteness,” in Slavery’s Descendants: Shared Legacies of Race & Reconciliation (Rutgers University Press, 2019)
From New Southerner
The Elk on Runaway Ridge: Who Doesn’t Belong Here
Giving It a Rest
Texts included in art installations by Marya Roland
The Real Thing — in Catholicity, a virtual exhibit of art and writing on universal human experience reflected through individual perspectives
Useful/Useless — in The Sisyphus Project sculpture installation “Ephyrian Circle”
From RightView Quarterly
In the Forest, in the Rain (an early version of a chapter published in Hello At Last)
From The Commonspace, Expatriates Column
Book reviews, Smoky Mountain News
Ladies No. 1 Detective Agency, Alexander McCall Smith
The Shining Shining Path, by Carroll Dale Short
books in progress . . .
The Living Treasure Journals
A young musicologist’s encounter with a Pakistani musician changes her course in life.
A Job, with Asparagus: A Memoir of Work & Love
Through rigorous editorial training at an old-fashioned mom-&-pop publishing company, I stumbled into mindfulness practice — text editing as “care of the word” — and the transformative power of doing work I loved. This is a coming-of-middle-age story in which an unpromising job among unlikely people leads to professional fulfillment, deep friendships, and unexpected happiness.