Category > Chuang-Tse Meets Jesus
Tao Te Ching, verse 21 Since before time and space were, the Tao is. The 65th Cannes International Film Festival opened this week. I can smell it: sand and suntan oil, the perfume of supermodels lingering in elevators, the oxygen rush in the flower-bedecked Palais, endless free espresso shots at the Brazilian film market, the creamed spinach at the townie restaurant down the side street, wild strawberries and thyme on the Provencal hillside, the ooze of Camembert, the sweaty crush …
| In my obdurate attempt to postpone or forgo entirely the root canal my dentist recommended, I began brushing with a three percent dilution of hydrogen peroxide, which some Internet self-professed expert had insisted would eliminate the need for oral surgery. Also, I purchased a battery-operated Water-Pic flosser, which works on the same principle as a SuperSoaker water gun, only for your mouth. It occurred to me that I might use this instrument to threaten the barking German Shepherd that snaps …
What is it to come back from a vision quest without anything to show? Tourism, I guess, the scourge of the earth and harbinger of its destruction. When one must pay $15 to enter the desert, when even in the most isolated of places the vapor trails and whispering grumble of airline traffic never ends, when young mothers in shorts and sunscreen allow their pre-school daughters to run through the hazardous cholla trails barefoot while they take iPhone shots of …
Still ailing, I picked up the yellowed copy of Beat Zen, Square Zen, and Zen on my night stand, one of a dozen or so books I have been tripping back through lately. Gone are the days of rapt attention and absorption by a single publication, the world being too much with us, coming at us from all dimensions, and too soon. (Alan Watts, City Lights Books, 1959, 75 cents) I don’t recall sleeping until 3 p.m. ever before in …
I am taking the day off. I am not buying milk or making yogurt. I am not going to visit my parents or buy gasoline. I am not going to test-drive my son’s car to see what is making that grinding sound. I may not leave my room. I am looking, finally, after years of both introspection and public expression, for my voice. THE THING IS, maybe it’s time to withdraw and write my autobiography in the form of a …
Right after the Cop says the second time, “Step up to my car,” you can barely hear the Kid’s response: “I’m not doin’ nothin’.” The Kid and his friends weren’t doing anything much out of the ordinary for a warm Saturday night in June on the campus of the University of Illinois. Along with dozens of other people, mostly young, they are sauntering down the sidewalk on Green Street, unconcerned. When the squad car pulls up behind them unexpectedly, almost …
Around 4 a.m. the other day, three cub coyotes, testing their adolescent oats in the middle of County Road 500N, stared into my approaching headlights. At the last minute, when it was clear that this big thing coming at them wasn’t a burning bush or a wayward tree, they ran off together into the cornfield. It is my impression that coyotes abandon their companions, their siblings, after a while. Deer, on the other hand, may continue to associate much longer. Even …
2:30 a.m. Start route. First tube. No cars. 2:36 One skunk. 2:38 Swerve around discarded paper bag, beer cans. No moon. Replacements. Police. 2:39 A kitten in the ditch. The Turtles. New white gravel reflects on brights. 2:40 Gliding hawk or owl.
Alice's old barn, faded red, was the only place I could rely on to observe a swooping owl at dawn. Once, a tiny owlet, perched in the orange tube, startled me when I attempted to deliver the Sunday paper. Wary or curious, it glared at me and the oversize bundle of newsprint before flying off. I was thankful it didn't fly through the open car window. I lost track of the number of years I have delivered papers to Alice. …
Befuddled, or maybe bored, by The Tree of Life? People can be reluctant to describe or explain Terrence Malick's cosmic non-action movie, understandably so. They may evade the question "did you like it?" or "what's it about" by advising the questioner to go see it, which is really the only sound advice one can give about a movie that doesn't lend itself to the earthbound rating systems. It is rare to find a movie that focuses on the workings of …
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hey, if hair ain’t gon’ be over your head, my jokes may as well be.
Okay, almost 24 hours later and I finally got Issac’s Summer joke. I’m an idiot.
Swap the dog for a fire pit and it sounds like you’re writing about my back yard. Very nice.
funny, as your summer begins, another Summer ends.
And that, my friend, is love. Bob, I think I still owe you for my wedding cake, served in 1998. But nevermind.
I believe the kiss between Rob and I was documented on low-quality videotape in the mid-ninties porn classic, Dirty Harry…and Sticky.
“Do I have to sign some forms, or am I just considered ‘in.’” You’re in!
Got damn, Coulter. You are the greatest.
I have no specific memory of it, but I wouldn’t be surprised if I’d kissed Mike, too—once we’d both drunk ourselves gay. And earlier this week I gave Clarence Shelley a back rub. Do I have to sign some forms, or am I just considered “in.”
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Most Recent Comments
As a liberal conservative, and a person who favors taxes & services ... and also a sense of proportion; I savor the comic potential that still exists in this comments section. I’m pretty sure we can goad more anti-government rhetoric from confirmed progressives and government employees. If…
Did the Crave Truck get a permit to park in city metered spots and city right of way? Or did they just get a permit? The city clerk’s office seems to be a suspect here, but it’s not clear they did anything wrong. Did the Crave Truck…
High-profile whining. AKA Lobbying.
it’s quite choice. looking forward to seeing how it and its patronage grow and develop over the course of the year. could be a neat little ecosystem.
“It was at this point, before he started his business, that working with city employees should’ve raised red flags…” But they didn’t because: 1) The City Clerk’s office originally mis-interpreted the rules, or are indeed re-interpreting them. 2) Champaign’s brick-n-mortar merchants hadn’t yet started whining about The Crave Truck.
Super cool! Excellent track, Excellent band.
Looking forward to trying this place!
I’m in the middle (or the beginning or end, depending on how you look at it) of re-reading Slaughterhouse Five. What a great companion column.
Get yours early. The Rave’s CD will be available at Exile and at The C-U Flea on Saturday. C-U Flea details here: http://www.smilepolitely.com/news/sp_radio_podcast_c-u_flea_arrives/
I don’t know about Gerard and a random police sargeant. My (mild) outrage is based on this: “...he worked closely with Champaign City Clerk Marilyn Banks to make sure he was licensed properly as a transient food peddler, filling out the necessary paperwork and paying a $225…
Local Yocal pretty much nails it here. I suspect there will be merchants who oppose food trucks because they arguably don’t pay their fair share to locate their trucks in high traffic (high rent) areas. The food trucks take away business from rent payers, park in city…
Oh nice! I’d totally vote for Matt Campbell!
“Smile Politely sports writer announces candidacy for city government.”
I also got to visit Big Grove Tavern during the soft open and definitely enjoyed the pork belly the most of all the dishes I sampled. The cheesy grits and the vinegary pickled vegetables were a perfect compliment to the rich pork belly.
The Alan Partridge lookalike on the right in the first small photo has nothing to condescend to anyone about. AH HA!
Snell and the little Hitlers of the neighborhood association need to chill out. Legitimate businesses should have the freedom to exist without having to endure the slings and arrows of ignorant and misguided opposition.
represent, Matt.
Yeah, I’d agree that Transporter Room 3 is the worst house venue I’ve ever seen.
Food trucks are the start-up, small businesses of the future for those unable to afford real estate. No surprise, that merchants who pay rent, utilities, and maintenance on a property would despise the traveling competition. Or developers who build more empty retail spaces would want to close…
Not so much far-right Tea Party as a balanced, moderate viewpoint between letting businesses succeed and protecting society with reasonable regulations. In spite of what the city reps are saying, the interpretation of policy on this issue certainly has changed. Letting a business start up under one…
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I’m in the middle (or the beginning or end, depending on how you look at it) of re-reading Slaughterhouse Five. What a great companion column.