"Light is not the bearer of revelation—it is the revelation."[1] James Turrell’s Aten Reign, currently at the Guggenheim[2], embodies light’s power, such that even the most insensitive observer can’t help but be moved. As a lighting designer, I’ve devoted over half my life to studying light’s ability to connect and separate, to enliven and to deaden, to reveal and to conceal. Like all our senses, sight operates in potent unconscious ways: certain colors provoke specific emotions; bright and changing sources command our attention[3]; without contrast, intense hues fade over time and alter the color of differing hues[4]; we all have two blind spots corresponding to our optic nerves—our brain automatically fills them in so we experience a continuous visual field[5]. My career involves taking these physiological and psychological facts and using them to manipulate audience members. As Jennifer Tipton[6] said, “1% of the audience notices the lighting; 100% are effected by it.” The genius of Turrell’s work is the enabling a lay person to perceive this force. Even if visitors do not know how Turrell accomplishes this, they feel consciously compelled to lie there and experience the event. They are moved and held. In the insanity of New York City,…
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At first there was naught, yet after an age, the sky copulated with the ocean. From the seas’ tumescence, heat, rock, life exploded forth, building, bubbling, boiling—excreting rich earth. Once found, we tended to it, each of us with our own garden, discovering and sharing our abundance. Inspired by the prompts: “my garden,” anyone who grows my food,“ and ”underwater volcanos". Via South Pacific mythology—thanks to the awesome J.Z. Smith, who not only looks like Gandalf and with his gnarled staff, but also taught me all about tuber myths. Oh, how sexual root vegetables can become!
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Passwords, Email, Security, Oh My! This post originated as a reply to Ben Brooks’ excellent Encrypting Stuff Against Starbucks Hacker Bob. The Short Version I will be getting into the weeds a bit, so here’s the executive summary: You absolutely should be using a password manager. I recommend 1Password as it has great native apps, gives you the most control over where your database is stored, and has a worst-case scenario backstop, 1Password Anywhere. A select few essential passwords—your master password, your main email account, Dropbox—should be generated with Diceware instead. These memorable passphrases can easily be as strong as a random gibberish one and will easily stick around in your head. LuxSci provides an expensive, but extremely flexible[0] email solution. Their Escrow Messages are a significantly more secure replacement for David’s encrypted PDFs. The Long Version The Problem In their Security Audit, Katie and David provide a comprehensive overview of securing your Mac today; however, their discussion of passwords falls short in a few significant ways. Perhaps the most important is under-weighing the dilemma of losing access to your password store needs a robust solution. As Ben Brooks argues, if you lose access to your physical devices and your…
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From a Letter to Jeff Hitchock My own leanings towards anti-racism started to crystallize last winter during my term at Pendle Hill: I took a Facilitating Group Learning course and was paired with an African American member of Cambridge Meeting, Michelle Brimage. It took much work and sitting together in the fire to come to trust one another: it was worth it. We both learned and grew. People of color have played a significant role in my life. My African American nanny took me on play dates in her neighborhood; I was given the loving nickname “Jamal” in high school for sitting at the Black kids lunch table; Artists of color have been important collaborators (I’m a lighting designer). I considered myself pretty racially enlightened. Through the work at Pendle Hill, I realized that it is impossible to be White in America and not be racist. The most personal aspect of my own racism is, from a young age (I remember it from 5), I have never been attracted to a Black woman. My dearest friend is a beautiful woman; we connect on a deeply spiritual level; I can truly say I love her. The buds of a romantic relationship,…
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The following is my response to last fall’s Ministry and Counsel survey. What is it you need to know to connect to the collected recordings of valued spiritual revelations from Quaker history and to enhance your openness to spiritual revelation today? I spent a rather intense two week sabbatical at Pendle Hill last fall, during which I was led to read a fair amount of Quaker history and early testimonies. I found myself especially drawn to the writings of Isaac Pennington. Perhaps the Meeting could offer a reading group that met monthly to explore more Quaker writings, from early works to Pendle Hill Pamphletes and other contemporary writings (Benjamin Pink Dandelion would seem especially useful). What committee or group activities within the meeting or service outside the meeting foster or strengthen your sense of the spirit? I often struggle to wake up on time, but the worship sharings on the first and second First Days foster explorations. I’d also like to make it to more of the worship sharings proceeding the Young Adult Friends potlucks. I struggle with volunteering for the Community Dinners: I feel I ought to want to, but I’m often tired and don’t feel led. I do…
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Ut oh… NASA finds “unprecedented” black hole cluster near Andromeda’s central bulge1. For you non-Schlock Mercenary out there, what are you waiting for!? ↩
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During In Beta #52: Schrödinger's FitBit, Kevin and Gina discuss personal APIs and, while they are intriguing, how it's hard to imagine a common use for them. One possibility down the road could be that personal apis1 would send data to health, especially mental health, professionals. There are already DBT (Dialectical Behavioral Therapy) apps for patients to track their actions and emotional states. Moreover, physical exercise and getting out of the house are important elements of getting better. Perhaps even music selection could turn out to informative (one use of aggregate data would be to find out). Especially for patients in intensive outpatient therapy, it could end up helping therapists and facilitators a lot. Of course, there's still the problem of users entering the data, but the more automatable it is (FitBit, etc), the easier it would be. A more user friendly and very secure version. ↩
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On June 27, 2013, Sullivan wrote: “There is no way to resolve the deep cultural conflict in this kind of area; but there is a way to manage it. With civility, generosity and toleration – on both sides.” But this is problematic, how does one treat bigotry “civilly”? Certainly the Christianists can continue to denounce LGBT folk in their churches. As is proper, there's no law against hateful speech. But as private citizens, we should treat that attitude the same way we treat Anti-Semitism, Racism, etc—replying forcefully with the truth of equality. Such hatred is morally wrong and there's no reason we should tolerate it in our lives. As long as their actions are confined to the religious sphere, they can be left alone. But when it comes to the public realm, even in the midst of transactions between two private citizens, the law must forbid discrimination. This is what the fight around “religious liberty” is going to be about: the “right” to not sell flowers for a marriage between same sex couples; to not recognize said marriages in hospitals run by religious institutions; to not rent a hall to host a celebration. We do not tolerate florists turning Jewish…
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A Work in Progress I’ve taken a rather roundabout way of getting to my point, but I do eventually get there. I’ve tried to structure this essay to chart the development of my thoughts. Also, I’m not claiming any of this as radically new. Many have trod this path before me. Rather this is an attempt to clarify my beliefs for myself. Humans have been shaped by milenia of both biological and social evolution. There is perhaps a valid sense to the definition of “Humanity” itself as the “expression of our genes and memes.” Both are so enmeshed in our being, our modes of thought, our upbringing, our environment, etc that, in some sense, there is no way for us to achieve an objective viewpoint outside of them. I don’t know if we could even imagine what such a viewpoint would entail. [1] Human beings are also story-telling creatures, and I mean this in a deep sense. Stories are one of our primary tools for understanding the world. Given any set of experiences, we naturally create a story to explain them. This impulse manifests itself in everything from conspiracy theories to the scientific method. After all, what is a scientific…
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