Thought for the Day

 

[. . .] to match the great things bestowed on you, you must

remind yourself that the blank page will always outnumber

the ones written. 

[. . .]

 

[. . .] Words weigh nothing, and yet they make

everything occur.

 

[. . .]

 

[. . .] To write is to fight against the erosion

and transformation of meaning always,

for better and for worse.

 

~ Ocean Vuong

________________________________________

 

Quoted from Ocean Vuong, Keynote Speech, 2025 Whiting Awards Ceremony Note: Ocean Vuong's speech can be found at LitHub, June 4, 2025. Some Keynotes are published on the Whiting Foundation site.

 

Ocean Vuong, Vietnamese-American Poet, Novelist, Essayist; Professor; Photographer

 

Ocean Vuong Whiting Award (2016)

 

Whiting Foundation Whiting Awards

 

Thought for the Day

[. . .] When we experience harmful or destructive actions,

we aren't engaging some dangerous outside force; we are

meeting the shadow of our own humanity. [. . .]

~ Sherri Mitchell

_________________________________

 

Quoted from Sherri Mitchell, "Facing Our Collective Shadow" (Week Twenty-Two Summary and Practice, Richard Rohr's Daily Meditations), Center for Action and Contemplation, May 31, 2025 (Online) Note: Mitchell's meditation is excerpted from her book Sacred Instructions: Indigenous Wisdom for Living Spirit-Based Change (North Atlantic Books, 2018), pp 38, 39.

 

Sherri Mitchell (Penobscot), Indigenous Rights Activist, Spiritual Teacher, Transformational Change-Maker, Author; Lawyer; Founding Director, Land Peace Foundation

Thought for the Day

Sharing our stories requires us to believe that we won't be

rejected for them–to believe that when we reveal our whole

selves, including the parts we aren't proud of, we won't be

seen as undeserving of acceptance or love.

~ Suleika Jaouad

______________________________________ 

Quoted from Suleika Jaouad, "Fill the House with Light" in The Isolation Journals with Suleika Jaouad, May 25, 2025

 

Suleika Jaouad, Journalist, Author, Artist, Advocate, and Public Speaker

 

Jaouad's books are The Book of Alchemy:A Creative Practice for an Inspired Life (2025) and the memoir Between Two Kingdoms (2022); she also is the creator of the Isolation Journals newsletter. You can find on her Website some of her other writing, including her column for The New York Times and essays and reporting, as well as the trailer for a documentary, American Symphony, about Jaouad and her husband Jon Batiste.

Thought for the Day

[. . .] Imagination creates shared spaces.

 

That makes the arts very, very dangerous to authoritarians.[. . .]

~ Debra Cash

 

________________________________ 

Quoted from Debra Cash, "Arts Commentary: The Battle for Imagination — Unravelling America's Cultural Infrastructure" in The Arts Fuse, May 21, 2025 (Online)

 

Debra Cash, Founding Contributing Writer and Board Member The Arts Fuse; Arts Professional

 

Debra Cash on FaceBook 

The Arts Fuse

 

The Arts Fuse on Substack

Thought for the Day

You journey with your ancestors. That's why knowing

your roots is important, because whether you know it

or not, they're journeying with you. Wouldn't you want

the help? Wouldn't you want the warnings? Wouldn't you

want the blessings of those who have gone before you?

~ Dr. Barbara Holmes

___________________________________

 

Quoted from Barbara Holmes, "Living in a Crowded Cosmos," CAC's Living School: Essentials of Engaged Contemplation, Center for Action and Contemplation, August 2024; Requoted in Barbara Otero-Lopez, "Healing the Wounds of Exile," Daily Meditations, May 7, 2025 (See The Living School.)

 

Barbara Holmes (1943-2024), Ph.D., Theologian, Spiritual Leader and Contemplative, Visionary, Activist, Scholar and Educator, Professor, Writer, Lawyer, Professional Actor

 

Dr. Barbara Holmes Obituary

 

Barbara C. Otero-Lopez, Director of Programs, Center for Action and Contemplation (See "Loving in a Time of Exile" in ONEING 13, No. 1, 2025. ONEING is the CAC's biannual journal.)

Center for Action and Contemplation

 

CAC Remembrance of Dr. Barbara Holmes

Thought for the Day

You use the past. You do not worship it – you consult

it. And one of the obligations to the poetry . . . you are obliged

 not just to keep it alive, but to change it and contribute to it

 and adapt it and keep it alive by making it new.

~ Robert Pinsky

___________________________________

 

Quoted from John O'Rourke, "Robert Pinsky, America's Ambassador for Poetry, Retiring from Teaching After 36 Years at BU, More Than 1,000 Students" in BU Today, April 29, 2025 (Online)

 

Robert Pinsky, Poet, Translator, Nonfiction Writer; U.S. Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to Library of Congress, 1997-2000; William Fairfield Warren Distinguished Professor and Director, Creative Writing Program, Boston University (Retired, 2025); Jazz Vocalist of Poetry

Favorite Poem Project, BU Center for the Humanities

Thought for the Day

A freedom which is occupied in denying freedom is itself so
outrageous that the outrageousness of the violence which one
practices against it is almost cancelled out: hatred, indignation,
and anger [. . .] wipe out all scruples. But the oppressor would not
be so strong if he did not have accomplices among

the oppressed themselves; [. . .]
~ Simone de Beauvoir

________________________________

 

Quoted from Simone de Beauvoir, Section 3, "The Antinomies of Action" in Chapter III, "The Positive Aspect of Ambiguity" in The Ethics of Ambiguity, 1947 (Online Text at  Marxists Internet Archive)

 

Simone de Beauvoir (1908-1986), French Writer, Feminist Activist, Philosopher (Existentialist), Social Theorist

 

On The Ethics of Ambiguity 

Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Thought for the Day

Seek and learn to recognize who and what,

in the midst of the inferno, are not inferno,

then make them endure, give them space. 

~ Italo Calvino's Marco Polo

 _________________________________

 

Quoted from Italo Calvino, Invisible Cities, Illustrated 50th Anniversary Edition (Mariner Books Classics, 2025) 

 

Calvino's Invisible Cities (Le citta invisibili) was published in 1972 by Giulio Einaudi Editore. Harcourt published an English translation in 1974. Mariner Books Classics published a paperback version in 1978.

 

Italo Calvino (1923-1985), Cuban-born Italian Journalist, Novelist, Essayist, and Short Story Writer 

Marco Polo (c. 1254-1324), Venetian Merchant, Explorer, Writer

 

Anthony Doerr, "The Timeless Magic of Italo Calvino's Invisible Cities at 50" in LitHub, March 20, 2025

 

Carrie McBride, "Where to Start With Italo Calvino," New York Public Library, October 11, 2023

Thought for the Day

[. . .] Everybody makes mistakes, but you can't

keep asking people to forgive you again and again.[. . .]

Instead of a quick  apology, take the time and make 

the commitment to practice seeing the roots of your behavior. 

    ~ ThichNhat Hanh 

_______________________________

 

Quoted from Thich Nhat Hanh, How to Love (Parallax Press, 2015), p. 107 

Thich Nhat Hanh a.k.a. Thay (1926-2022), Vietnamese Thien Buddhist Monk, Zen Master;  "Father of Mindfulness"; Peace Activist; Poet, Author, Teacher; Founder, Plum Village

 

Plum Village, First Monastic Community Founded by Thich Nhat Hanh; International Practice Center in Plum Village Tradition in Southwest France

 

A Cloud Never Dies, Biographical Documentary About Thich Nhat Hanh (Available on YouTube)

Thought for the Day

Once upon a time giants sculpted the sand, but now

it is us who are the giants. The question we must ask

now is how we use our power.

~ Boardwalk Notice, 

Parnidis Dune, Curonian Spit

______________________________

 

Quoted from Nick Hunt, "In the Wake of the Sandbound" (Essay) in Emergence Magazine, April 13, 2025; Online (Audio and Text Available). Hunt notes in his essay that the quote appears on a sign near the boardwalk where the sand dunes have been roped off. The Curonian Spit, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is part of two national parks shared by Lithuania and Russia.

 

Nick Hunt, Fiction and Nonfiction Writer, Novelist, Travel Book Author; Journalist; Editor; Mentor; Storyteller; Recipient, Royal Geographical Society Journey of a Lifetime Award; Contributor and Co-Director, Dark Mountain Project