Hole In The Donut Travels

I am on my annual pilgrimage to the Chicago area to visit family over the holidays. The day after I arrived, freezing rain coated everything with ice, creating dangerously slick driving conditions. The following day, more freezing rain was followed by eight inches of snow. Since then, it has snowed almost every day and the [...]

The sound of Bok Tower’s carillon bells was so mesmerizing that I did not notice the snake. I stood at the far end of the tower’s reflecting pond, enjoying the ethereal music, until suffocating midday heat drove me to the shaded concrete benches surrounding the semi-circular clearing. Suddenly, a movement. A black snake lying beneath [...]

In a Washington, D.C. Metro station on a cold January morning in 2007, a man with a violin played six Bach pieces. During his performance approximately two thousand people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.
Three minutes after the young man began playing a middle aged man slowed his pace [...]

Illinois winters are brutal, but summer brings a special kind of beauty to the banks of the Kankakee River:

We had a big blow today. As I pulled into the parking lot at my apartment, tropical storm strength winds were kicking up dust and sending debris flying through the air. I don’t know what made me look up into the tree limbs hanging just beyond my windshield, or how I even spotted him. Sitting [...]

Ancient Chinese philosophy teaches that forces seemingly in opposition to one another are inextricably bound together. The Chinese refer to this concept as the Yin and Yang of life, which is represented by the black and white circular graphic shown below.

In simplified terms, Yin and Yang teaches that there is value in opposites. Without having [...]

Outside it is chilly, the midday temperatures dropping into the 50’s. Inside I am toasty warm, my bare feet stretched toward the yellow flames that dance in the Franklin stove. Every window of the cabin windows looks out on trees that have dressed in their fall finery; rich leaves of red, ocher, and gold mingle [...]