“One of America’s very best singer-songwriters.” – The New Yorker* Dar Williams is thoughtful and charming as she tells stories about her local community, but don’t let her laid back delivery fool you, she is passionate about community life and the revitalization of small towns everywhere. Known for her songwriting chops, Dar takes us down another avenue to talk about “positive proximity”, the focus of her forthcoming book. In this episode, Dar dives into the themes of social capital, the joys and trials of truly knowing your community, and learning the art of eavesdropping. Dar Williams is a singer-songwriter, author, teacher and the list goes …
Author: Swanson
006: Creating Empty Spaces, Toinette Lippe on the Mindful Art of Being
“Each day is valuable…Do not compare it with a dragon’s bright pearl. A dragon’s pearl may be found. But this one day out of a hundred years cannot be retrieved once it is lost.” – Zen Master Dogen* This quote easily tripped off the lips of author, editor, illustrator and brush painter Toinette Lippe. An artist of many pursuits, Lippe had a distinguished publishing career at Simon and Schuster (under Robert Gottlieb, who later became editor of The New Yorker), Knopf and then as the editorial director of Bell Tower. She edited 141 books from such luminaries as Ram Dass (How …
005: The Life and Art of Thomas Merton, Morgan Atkinson on Crafting the Contemplative Documentary
Morgan Atkinson has documented the life of Thomas Merton over two films. The poetic contemplative Thomas Merton lived an ever expanding and continual openness to God’s love and Atkinson beautifully captures this on film. In this episode discover Thomas Merton as the rescuer of the contemplative tradition in Christianity, the middle-aged monk who fell ass over heels in love with a student nurse, and opens dialogues with other religious traditions through the depth of each one’s contemplative stream. Atkinson has produced multiple documentaries on Thomas Merton, John Howard Griffin, Anna and Harlan Hubbard among many others. In our conversation we focus on …
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