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The Good Braider


Spring Watching Pavilion
by Ho Xuan Huong

A gentle spring evening arrives
airily, unclouded by worldly dust.

Three times the bell tolls echoes like a wave.
We are heaven upside-down in sad puddles.

Love's vast sea cannot be emptied.
And springs of grace flow easily everywhere.

Where is nirvana?
Nirvana is here, nine times out of ten.

This weekend I finished This Changes Everything:  Capitalism and the Climate.  It was "eye opening."  It's amazing the amount of power the oil (fossil fuel) industry exerts although it should be.  I also read The Good Braider.  I'm not sure if it would be considered young adult, but I can see it being used in a high school classroom.  It talks about a girls life from Sudan to Portland.  It's filled with violence and compassion.  I would recommend it to all.  In fact, today's poem came from The Good Braider, from one of the textbooks they are reading to learn English while in Cairo.

Today I give thanks for...
1) lovely people at church
2) another day of reading, napping, and cycling
3) the weather is strange but feels peaceful


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