Author: Scott
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Dispatch from Hawai’i (Oahu actually)
Some brief reflections on my time so far in Hawai’i as the 48th annual Buddhist Studies Center Summer Session speaker: I am learning so much. Being in another part of the world, talking to real live three-dimensional people, engaging in conversation — this is all good stuff. The most important thing I am learning —…
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Summer plans
I’m honored to be the invited speaker for this year’s Summer Session at the Buddhist Study Center in Honolulu. The Center was founded in 1972 when Rev. Kanmo Imamura was bishop of the Honpa Hongwanji Mission of Hawai’i. This is the 48th year in a row they’ve hosted a Summer Session, and the first one…
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Grief is a thing
So grief is a thing. I am not sure why I am particularly surprised that the loss of my brother has hit me quite so strongly. But, in addition to that, the last couple of months have been changeling in other ways. It turns out, when you take a couple months off from work, even…
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El Cortez
To be clear, I am still in a period of removal. I find myself in a strange in-between place where I attend Zoom meetings and have a firm grasp on the reality that I have very specific job and role and expectations that come with that job and role. And, all at once, I am…
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Relaunch: part two
I’ve been reading Jenny Odell’s How to Do Nothing lately. I will no doubt have more to say about this book as I continue reading it, sitting with it, thinking about her perspectives on the attention economy, the capitalist impulse toward progress and growth at all costs, how to translate that into my own life and…
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Relaunch: part one
Five years ago, I had every intention of writing more often, of keeping this blog-space active. Life got in the way. The pandemic got in the way. I got in my own way to the extent that I wasn’t sure what, exactly, I wanted to do with this space in the first place. I am…
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Angry Asian Buddhist
As many long-time readers probably know, a little over two years ago we lost an important voice for critical reflection on race and representation in American Buddhism — Aaron Lee, the man behind the blog the Angry Asian Buddhist. Aaron blogged anonymously as “arunlikhati” for nearly a decade on his own blog as well as…
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#humanehumanities
Pierce Salguero organized a meet-up at the AAR last month, bringing together folks interested in specific strategies and resources for how to make academic life more humane, compassionate, and just. One specific outcome of that meeting was the desire to formalize in some way this “movement” (if it is a movement), and so Pierce and…
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AAR-eve
So. I promised “more soon,” and it’s been a month. Does a month count as soon? I suppose, in the grand scheme of things. It is the eve of the AAR — “nerd Christmas” if you will. My AAR schedule has been dutifully added to the official AAR app. I have a dozen meetings scheduled…