celebrating a life path, birthday, new orbit

Our beloved one and only Mahala turns 47 today - that's a Master Number, 11. Eleven is the bringer of spiritual awareness and a devout supporter of humankind. It is truly a messenger of the universe. 

Its energy is tied to intuition, enlightenment, and spiritual awakening. If you’ve been drawn to the meaning of number 11, you may be on the path to discovering your higher purpose.

Eileithyia, divine mother of the cosmos -
guiding the birth of the world & future generations

Focus on your studies and deepen your understanding. The more work you do on yourself, the better you will contribute to the world at large.

being strong & steady stewards

We celebrated agriculturalists month in July, highlighting the central role of agriculture in many aspects and sectors of our daily lives. 

The workers, producers and stewards are also the current custodians of not just agriculture but also the environment and our biodiversity. Along with the ecosystem and sustainability, all are closely linked and entwined. 

For centuries, humanity has benefitted from Earth’s rich bounty of natural resources. But these last few decades also make us aware of the ensuing global impact the human footprint makes. Climate change, biodiversity loss, disrupted ecosystems, land degradation, and public health emergencies, including novel pandemics. 

travel trap tourism

Too often we are presented with the same tourism photos showing off spectacular views of popular wonders of the world. 

Many do not even look for a different perspective - one that presents the true reality, which often is never as perfect or pretty. 

Taj Majal & its surroundings - Agra, India

Global tourism, as currently practiced, is underperforming, highly vulnerable and heading towards breakdown. Its operating model is no longer fit for purpose and needs to be replaced. ~ Managing Sustainable Tourism Growth, 2019

balanced & sustainable

It seems like I have been spending the majority of 2025 and 2026 ranting against the transactionality and commodification, decolonization and better care of human beings - whether we are on home ground or abroad. 

Touristification is a phenomenon that is happening worldwide - in both in the north and the south hemispheres or in both high traffic or far flung areas. 

a working balance between local & tourist needs

Born and raised in the Philippines, I moved to the US right after 9/11, and have returned for almost two years now - after being abroad for 20 years. 

This is a reflection on how touristification can transform a place you love and where once possessed a strong sense of belonging - when you are priced out of it. 

being human

“We are not people anymore. We have been products for a long time, and these are our labels” 

In a world of therapy-speak, Freya India argues we’ve lost the language of character - replacing quirks with conditions. But are we mentally ill, or just human? 

authentic & unapologetic

This is part of a deeper instinct in modern life to explain everything - psychologically, scientifically, evolutionarily. Everything about us is caused, categorized, and can be corrected. 

global fair food festival

The Terra Madre global Slow Food community cane together to celebrate the people, traditions, and food systems of the Asia and Pacific region - a five day, fully immersive, gastronomical convention to protect biodiversity and nourish our future food sources and systems.

#TMAP2025 at the Capitol Lagoon Park, Bacolod City, Negros Island

December 10 is designated Terra Madre Day around the world. From small gatherings to large community festivals - every Terra Madre Day event shines a light on the power of local food cultures and the importance of "Good, Clean and Fair food for all."

principles & politics

I am stealing the wise words of this impressive young warrior friend. 

On good days I take in our cityscape - its natural dips and rises, its mix of high rise buildings and tiny houses, its trees, streets and people, its cultures and politics - and my heart is filled to bursting with love and gratitude.

On bad days I take in our cityscape - its natural dips and rises, its mix of high rise buildings and tiny houses, its trees, streets and people, its cultures and politics - and my heart feels crushed by anger and frustration.

overflowing slum

Any city will do this to its residents on any day - but all city leaders owe it to their citizens to ensure there is more good than bad in our lives. Sadly, the world over, our leaders are failing to deliver - the outcome is our quality of life is now at risk. 

short & long tales

Short term tantrums of typical tyrants like Trump can seem insurmountable in their in-your-face tactics. Unless viewed through the long lens of human history here on earth. 

The past week the world celebrated - banned books week, world migratory bird day, and indigenous people's day. That's only the top three on our list of worthwhile pursuits to counter our frustrations. 

a strong stream of solar wind

When it feels like the weight of the world is tipping towards tragedy - remember what feeds the collective spirit. Direct attention, action, and aggression away from doomsday doldrums. 

Mahala! Mahala!

The first of September marks a new orbit for my one and only sweet baby girl, Mahala. Love of my life. Incandescent beacon of light. Beloved creator of all her art. 

Her entrance in my life has anchored us to our lifetime vagabond homes, wherever in the world life brings us. Her presence is a constant source of delight and pride, awe and wonder, grace and glory. 

on one of our many memorable travels

As I was journaling this morning I listened to a new interview of Arundhati Roy - international literary star and vocal political activist - a woman of substance whose work Mahala and I admire deeply and read voraciously. 

fire in the hole

August has been a fierce and fiery month focused on shoring up a democracy under bad government. No matter where in the world it exists we the people are out in the streets standing up and giving voice to all crimes against all creatures. 

Most notably it is women who are the bravest resistance against the terrible behavior of predictably and mainly aging white coots who lay claim to what never has and never will be rightly theirs. 

We are not property or possessions to be overused, misused or abused. No! NO! Not ever! 

democracy matters

We are waving our banner with pride - as we step up to protect our country, its principles, and its people against a Trumpian dystopia. 

Due to an increased demand and ever growing need Heather Cox Richardson has expanded her Letters from an American posts to American Conversations - informative videos all packed with sound advice. 

In her latest interview with technology reporter Gil Duran - they discuss recognizing the dystopian vision for human society from a select technology elite - and what we the people can do to disrupt this. 

The first thing people can do is recognize the pattern and expose it. This isn't chaos or random techno antics - this is an organized ideological project. 

loud & proud

Heather Cox Richardson's Letters from an American are the daily dose that keeps my hope afloat. 

Reading her thoroughly researched historical perspective on our current events anchors me to reality. 

Listening to her steely determination is my constant battle hymn in our Trumpian flailing republic. 

January 6, 2021 US Capitol attack by Trump followers

These are definitely transformative times we are all hoping we can transition and navigate through. 

Never has it ever been more important to circle together to build better stability for the vast majority.  

Call on and demand our institutions to step up and protect our country, its principles, and its people. 

To uphold a government that works for everybody - of the people, by the people, for the people. 

#resist #insist #persist

Our strategy should be not only to confront empire, but to lay siege to it. To deprive it of oxygen. To shame it. To mock it. 

With our art, our music, our literature, our stubbornness, our joy, our brilliance, our sheer relentlessness - and our ability to tell our own stories. Stories that are different from the ones we're being brainwashed to believe. 

The corporate revolution will collapse if we refuse to buy what they are selling - their ideas, their version of history, their wars, their weapons, their notion of inevitability. ~ Arundhati Roy 

addressing the colonized mindset - then & now

We must understand what we could lose if the actions of this Trump administration go unchecked. It's on all of us to save our country and world from the rampaging destruction of these nihilistic authoritarians and greedy kleptocrats. 

April fools

2025 has been a barrage of April Fool's Days with absolutely no let up. If you've ever spent a day rolling around in the roiling waves of pounding surf - it's that sensation held in your blood and body - long after, as you drift off in the safety of dreamtime. 

In a tropical ocean the water is body temperature warm - you can stay in it for hours quite enjoyably. Cocooned in the soothing saline broth and froth - as the sun bakes overhead and water washes away all soreness. Bobbing on the tide as bubbles prickle and pop all around. 

Dulling sounds, lulling senses, floating thoughts, sloshing time. Catastrophe and chaos pushed off and pended. 

worlds apart

mania | maniac | maniacal

An all too accurate downward spiral blatantly exhibited by this second term of Trump in office. For him, his chosen, and the GOP - who are intent on the destruction of anything clear, good, and working in our American government today. 

survival of the best

All self-centered, insecure, petty, and unloved - they are the smallest packages of humans, so wrapped up in only themselves. It does not take much to decipher their barren psyches and broken behavior. 

There they stand in the glaring public gaze - frantically waving their freak flags in proud puerile penis envy. 

holy nights

On December 24th the twelve holy nights begin - symbols for the twelve forces of the soul that live in us. This is vital and valid forever - beyond the twelve holy nights and this holiday season. 

How does Spirit manifest at the midnight hour of the soul’s year? At noon on January 1 the Sun is closest to the Earth. Five and half days before and five and a half days later mark the holy nights. 

the light of the holy spirit descends upon the twelve apostles - mosaic art

On these darkest nights of the year we are closest to the Sun’s Spirit. This means that the Spiritual Sun shining from inside the Earth illuminates everything from the inside - turning it translucent. 

After the twelve days pass the Sun illuminates the Earth from above - externally. 

rebel rules

My lifelong belief is that children express and develop themselves in play. Those who learn to read and write early are formed by self-reflection before too many adults get into their soup. Thise who remain curious become aware and can self realize - going on to be fulfilled and successful on their own terms. 

Who said this?

In 1986, Lucy Calkins published a book called The Art of Teaching Writing. Later, she expanded this to include reading instruction as well. At the time, the general intellectual, moral, and cultural climate of the era favored an approach known as “whole language.” 

“If we make our children believe that reading has more to do with matching letters and sounds than with developing relationships with characters like Babar, Madeline, Charlotte, and Ramona, we do more harm than good.” ~ Lucy Calkins

This advocated independent reading of full books and suggested that children should identify words from context clues rather than arduously sounding them out. Progressives loved it, because it emphasized playfulness and agency. Although in practice, whole language had some obvious flaws. While some children do appear to pick up reading easily, many benefit from focused, direct instruction.

My daughter was raised and educated in an autocratic world deeply rooted in our pretentious and backward sugar bowl island. A Benedictine education in the local academy was her haven and sanctuary. Curious, enterprising, and innovative - her seditious soul always longed for more. 

Largely self taught by hunting and pecking through books to feed her growing avaricious greed for knowledge not readily available to her. Her interior world and outer expression soon overflowed in overabundance - much of which may not have been age appropriate. Even today, she does love to read aloud to herself and whomever else she can ensnare. 

She does us all royally proud. 

interior castle

A rich interior life is a deep well to draw on when things get chaotic or challenging. That's why it is of utmost value that we be surrounded by what sustains and nourishes us. Being under constant threat or barraged by externals wears on us and eventually takes a toll. 

Two years without a home to call my own has been uncomfortable for a home body Cancerian crab of my nature. Moving clear across the globe and uprooting over fifteen years of my independent stake as a resident and citizen elsewhere is a total upheaval hard to prepare for - much less contend with. 

Tintagel Castle, Cornwall, England - Peter Unger/Getty Images

As this tsunami of change swirled within - the outer world squeezed and closed in - tighter, smaller, meaner. Spots of sunshine and delight grew farther apart, dimmed significantly, needed more effort to come by or sustain. 

How to feed that inner core, pour back into it some replenishment? Keep the big picture in focus, see it clearly, not let externals rub or rob it of its shine. Manage flow and progress so momentum is not impeded or halted, derailed or depleted. 

So much more is expended under unfavorable conditions than when there is full, fresh, firm love all around. Soft, tender, allowing grace - not noise, obstacles, judgement. That makes all the difference in the world.

Although we clearly want one and not the other its isn't always the case. Going where the river flows has the ease and expansiveness that struggling against the current does not foster. Seeing oneself through the filter of loving kindness is vastly removed from harsh heavy horridness. 

We love the most the one who loves us the most and we shrivel where love is withheld or absent. That's the truth. 

when going home is murder

Words of wisdom and sound advice for all citizens and residents - wherever in the world you find yourselves.

"Everyone in this town—this country—is so afraid of the other, whoever the ‘other’ is today. If there’s one thing fear can do, it’s make a beast out of a shadow. It turns us all into monsters. The enemy of the shadow isn’t light. It’s sight.”

In other words, if someone says, “Don’t look,” don’t listen.

Bruce DeSilva, winner of the Mystery Writers of America’s Edgar Award, reviews the debut novel “Jackal” by Erin E. Adams.

The places we know best are the ones that pose the greatest threat. When the main character in this novel returns to her hometown after a long absence, mysteries — past and present — collide.

In her breakthrough novel, Erin E. Adams transcends the typical hometown mystery with an effective blend of social and supernatural terrors that build in intensity and mystique throughout. 

Liz’s first-person narration accentuates the emotional stakes of what’s happening in Johnstown, drawing readers in as they sympathize with her plight.

“Jackal” is a terrifying tale of the fears and hatreds generated by racism and class inequality - and of the monsters these fears and hatreds have created. The novel shares the sensibilities of Jordan Peele’s film “Get Out,” but Adams brings to it a depth possible only in books. 

having our say

Women are taking center stage once again. In politics. At the Olympics. Uppermost in the news of today. It's about time! 

Female Last Supper #1 by Smetek

Long after the death of Leonardo da Vinci his art manages to still attract controversy. He left Italy, died and was buried in France - largely to escape prejudicial Italian politics, rumors of his homosexuality, and restrictions imposed by the Vatican on his art. 

Dav Vinci's The Last Supper

In particular his famous Last Supper has been infamously appropriated by the same Catholic Church that condemned the man, his art, and his life choices.