30 March 2008
10:00 on the platform in Schiedam waiting for the train, heading to Amsterdam. I'm seeing people, and feeling the oneness. I experience us as the same. Eyes meet, or not, we are in proximity more or less. I notice how much energy we spend pretending we don't know each other, pretending we are not the same, pretending that we do not recognize our cousins.

22:00 on the train from Amsterdam back to Schiedam, listening to Yoko Ono Kiss, Kiss, Kiss. People get on and off. We are soft flexible life forms in these metal serpents speeding over this marshy place, each with our own stories heading to our own place. In this expansive micro-moment of universal time waves of light and particles of universe coalesce into our experiences, us wearing bodies moving through space time, many times believing the stories to be definitive, when they are really just flashes of motion, some of which we can sway with our intentions, and flow with, or not.

I don't know why this is happening to me, but I am changing. The word that best describes what I am becoming is "transparent." Not so much in the visual way of being seen through, but more like..I feel like life is flowing through me, and is less obstructed than in the past. Not so much gets stuck and stays with me.

Skies are grey, it's spitting rain. It's wonderful to see friends here in Holland. I am still working out the travel logistics to get to Italy next week.

Back in 2006 I attended a round table discussion about mental health issues in post Katrina New Orleans at an American Psychological Association conference held in New Orleans. The discussion was very interesting, and out of that has come a series of articles, including one by yours truly. Check them out.

Chloe and I arrived at Schiphol yesterday morning to be met by our lovely friend who is putting us up this week. It was snowing! Trains were affected, people were coming back from a 4 day weekend and the platforms were packed. It was an adventure!

Flying with a cat is an unusual experience. Chloe did very well. She did escape her box when we got on the plane in Dulles, but a flight attendant caught her right away. She slept mostly. I tranquilized her at first but then even after that wore off she slept. I took her to the bathroom on the plane every hour or so to takje her out of the box, hang out with her, giver her water. The travel to Italy by ground will be interesting!

And after all the shots and the microchip etc, Dutch Customs was, as usual, very nice and easy.

Proceeding with plans for continued travel and work, and happy to be here.

Music! I have always loved music, since I was a kid listening to my big brothers playing Bob Dylan and Jefferson Airplane and Traffic. Music has always mattered to me. I also love to share music that is special to me with others, so I have created Music for you! which you can see on the right hand side of this page. This is a collection of music files for download. I hope you enjoy my selections.

By the time I was a teenager I had been listening to Laura Nyro, and in 1974 I first heard Joni Mitchell. Laura died some years ago. I always thought we'd have liked each other. Now Joni is receiving accolades and honors for her genius, and it's all well deserved.

In 2007 Joni Mitchell released her first album in many years, Shine. It's beautiful, strong, and well worth listening to. Here is a teaser, one song, called This Place. The whole album is worth buying.

Herbie Hancock, another brilliant musician of our age, has recently released a set of recordings; interpretations of some of Joni Mitchell's work. It's called River - The Joni Mitchell Letters. Here is Tina Turner singing Edith and the Kingpin.

Music can move one in one's soul, open the heart, blow fresh air through the mind.

My friend Eric Koval with some partners has started an internet radio station, WBKM.org. He's playing great music for the people. Check it out. I hope to be sending in some recorded stories or interesting somethings to WBKM.org in the near future, tune in!