All Posts

Horse and Groom, after Li Gonglin. Zhao Yong, 1347. Yesterday, over a billion people celebrated the Chinese New Year. 2026 is officially the year of the Fire Horse, the first since 1966. A lot has changed since the Vietnam War, the Soviet Union sending Luna 9 to space, and the Beach Boys releasing Pet Sounds . Just kidding! Geopolitical tensions, the space race, and groundbreaking new music were playing on the radio all 2025. Many cultures and religions rely on the lunar cale

In 1685 and 1689, Basho wrote The Narrow Road to the Deep North and Travels of a Weather-Exposed Skeleton , his two legendary travel chronicles through Japan's back country. They are written in a hybrid of prose and haiku, the first of its kind. I want to dive into the opening line and haiku of Travels of a Weather-Exposed Skeleton together, and uncover its relevance to the bone-chilling cold spell we are under. In the Travels of a Weather-Exposed Skeleton , Basho writes: F

Bruce Lee coined the term “be like water” in reference to being formless, adaptable, and resilient. For Bruce Lee, it is about taking the shape of the situation and remaining flexible through life’s constant battles and challenges. Lee overcame old Hollywood racism, injuries, and prejudice to build a prominent career, and in being ‘like water,’ Lee took the shape of the situations he found himself in. Even with success, Bruce Lee wasn’t done. He was a perfectionist. Faced wit

"It is the destiny of the wood to become whatever it becomes." - Dr. Alan Lubarr z”l. We are brought into this world to make it a better place, but living in this world is a different story. Life, circumstance, and fate shape us like a woodworker with his hands on a fallen Oak. Dr. Lubarr touched on something profound - we are not perfect, yet we are not to be cast away. Even though our imperfections, scars, and missing pieces are as real as day, they make us more beautiful a

is this rain only falling on me? a common bird Kobayashi Issa (1763-1828) Kobayashi Yataro’s life has been marked by suffering. He suffered as a child, growing up without a mother and fighting with his family. He was forced from his home at 14 years old to wander Japan to make a living. As an adult, he lost his wife, three children, and ultimately his house. His second and third attempts at marriage failed too. Alone and aged by many lifetimes of suffering, Kobayashi took the