When the Almond Tree Blooms

One of the nice perks about working at a school is that I get a spring break--two weeks, in fact, since I am at a year-round school. I had the good fortune to get invited along to a farm in the Hoopa Valley of Northern California for most of last week with a group of friends and fellow garden teachers. The experience was wonderful and rewarding: working the land and enjoying farm fresh meals in great company. The life felt very wholesome and rewarding, and I felt refreshed and re-energized after only a couple of days away. The previous three months of work and life had really worn me down for a variety of reasons, and being on the farm and traveling with friends really did the trick. Although I have spent nearly all of my life in cities, rural life has a strong pull on me: the idea of living close to the land, growing food, being attuned to the rhythms of nature and the seasons. It's hard, back-breaking work at time, and I wonder if I'm up for it. Only a few days lat...

These are some pictures from New Orleans, LA, where I spent a week two years ago doing relief work through Common Ground relief. Though the intent was there, due to the busyness of my life, my involvement with New Orleans gradually fell away. I have not returned to the Crescent City, and I remain shamefully unware on current conditions there. My memories from a week there remain strong--it was certainly the most intense experience I've had in the past few years, full of hope amidst an overwhelmingly tragic situation. Well, I got this forward through color of change. It's an action letter about the Angola 3, victims of an incredibly unjust 'correctional' system in Louisiana. Read and take action if you decide so... Dear Friend, For 35 years, Jim Crow justice in Louisiana has kept Herman Wallace and Albert Woodfox locked in solitary confinement for a crime everyone knows they didn't commit. Despite overwhelming evidence of their innocence, the "Angola...

Photo: A rare Bay Area thundercloud, sour orange tree in my backyard in the foreground. Sometimes, when I become engrossed in a particular work of fiction, I feel as though my reality is somehow merging with the fantasy world being presented on film, paper or television. This has become the case with the HBO television series, The Wire . Recommended to me by a friend and former co-worker, The Wire came highly regarded, a must-watch. And so it has become for me, as I near the end of Season 4. Recently, The Wire concluded its final episode of Season 5; since I don't have HBO, I wasn't able to watch Season 5 as it aired on television. This may have been for the best, since I haven't made it through Season 4, and The Wire is certainly not the show where you can skip seasons or even episodes. I've watched every episode, from Season 1, in order. When I seek entertainment, like many other people, I am often looking for an escape, to leave my reality and enter into...

I realize it's been a while since I've posted, so I thought I'd fill in those of you who read this on some snippets from my life of late... Books: I just finished a fantastic book called Lost City Radio, by Daniel Alarcón, a Peruvian-born author who now resides in Oakland (and from his description of the neighborhood, probably not far from me). I'm not really in the game of writing literary reviews, but I would say the book is an excellent, though at times, difficult read. The story is set in a fictional South American country that bears many similarities with Peru: a dry coastal capital city, a mountain region and a jungle area. The book delves into the violence and disappearances that tore the country apart during a civil war. Of note, the author does an incredible job weaving recollections into the storyline. I highly recommend reading in; in fact, I bought the book, so if you're in the area, you're welcome to borrow it. Hikes: I've spent some t...