“The Park,” Feist
“Dear Someone,” Sarah Gazarek
“Honey Honey,” Feist
“Locked in a Room,” Oren Lavie
“Donna non vidi mai” (from Manon Lescaut), Vittorio Grigolo
“Sweet Blindness,” Judy Kuhn
“White Material,” Tindersticks
“Bless This Space,” Brian Eno
“Follow the Lights,” Ryan Adams
“Shine,” Joni Mitchell
“Roses Blanches,” Kate & Anna McGarrigle
“Friend of Mine,” Liz Phair
“Harbour,” Peter Allen
“Solomon,” Meshell Ndegeocello
“Calgary,” Bon Iver
“Rhumba Club,” Laurie Anderson
“Take Your Shoulder from the Wheel,” Mark Weigle
“Change of Heart,” Teddy Thompson
“Closer to You,” Cassandra Wilson
Archive for February, 2012
Playlist: iPod shuffle, 2/18/12
February 18, 2012Events: PARIS, TEXAS at the Rubin Museum next Friday, February 24
February 17, 2012The Rubin Museum of Art, one of New York City’s finest small museums, specializes in Himalayan arts and culture, and its multimedia programming, curated by Tim McHenry, is extraordinarily inventive and delicious. Every Friday night there’s a Cabaret Cinema, movie night with cocktails. Next Friday, February 24, the series will feature Wim Wenders’ 1984 Paris, Texas, whose screenplay came from Sam Shepard. As a Shepard scholar, I’ve been asked to introduce the film (i.e., talk about the film beforehand for nine minutes — and ONLY nine!). Feel free to join me for the occasion.
In this week’s New Yorker
February 17, 2012
The cover of the anniversary issue is pretty great (above, title: “Loading”), and so are several of the runners-up in the annual competition for readers to submit variations on the classic Eustace Tilley cover illustration. Here are a few of my favorites:
The New Yorker has published tons of fantastic medical writing in recent years, and this issue features a long, fascinating, almost miraculous Reporter at Large story about face transplants. It’s very moving to read but the details are rough-going. I often read magazines while I’m eating, and I had to put this article off til later. Raffi Khatchadourian got spectacular access to the doctors who performed the 18-hour surgery to give a burn victim a new face (below). Eighteen hours!
Quote of the day: RESPECT
February 16, 2012RESPECT
“6 Rules for Respect”
1. Respect is a Gift
Respect can only be given. You cannot take it. You cannot force it. You cannot extract it. If respect is earned, others give it freely. It can’t be faked or falsified. If others give respect, it’s because it was genuinely earned.
2. Give First, Then Get
In order to “get” this gift, you’ve got to first give it! Rarely is respect given to a person, if they don’t first give it to others. It’s transparent and can’t be faked. If you genuinely “give” respect to others, you’ll be on your way to getting some in return.
3. Listen with all your senses
One surefire way of respecting others is to genuinely listen. Keep your mind totally blank and simply “be there,” presently, open to what they are really saying. Pay attention to their words. To their eyes. To their body language. Don’t respond immediately. Just listen. Pause. And consider what this other person is really communicating.
4. Restate to be clear
Restate in your own words what the other person said. There’s so much room for misunderstanding in the world today because communication happens so quickly. We try to take a lesson from the slowness of tea and find that being slower with communication, and less snappy on the “submit button,” that we are clearer and more efficient in the long run. Rephrase what the other person said, in your own words, so they are confident you really listened and heard them.
5. Connect
Take in what the other person is saying and consider what they really want. They might be asking for a raise, but they might really be asking for more personal freedom. If you can connect to their deeper needs and wants, not just what they’re explicitly saying, you’ll have a chance for a more profound connection over implicit needs. These are less obvious and yet more powerful. If you can connect to the feelings, and really see where the other person is coming from, they will feel heard, and be more open to listening to you, connecting, and ultimately to respecting you.
6. Discuss What Matters
OK – so you’ve listened and connected and still there’s disagreement? That’s ok! You don’t have to always come to agreement or harmony in order to have respect. If you’re fair, open, clear and you truly listened and connected – the odds are that respect will flourish. You don’t need to be friends with others in order to respect them. Liking is for friends and lovers. Respect is for fostering effective teams that are aligned and that achieve huge goals. At work, it’s ideal if we all like each other, but, it’s just not always possible.
— Jesse Jacobs, founder, Samovar Tea Lounge
Sex and sexuality: SACRED INTIMACY
February 16, 2012Have you ever wondered what people mean when they use the term “sacred intimate” or “sacred intimacy”? Here’s a 12-minute interview with me talking about that subject. The interview was conducted by Thorsten Kregel, a filmmaker shooting a documentary about a two-year-long training by the European organization Gay Love Spirit, which culminated in a ten-day workshop on sacred intimacy, which I co-taught with three other teachers in June 2011.
DON SHEWEY talks about SACRED INTIMACY from HealingTheWorld on Vimeo.
another eye opens 