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Stagaki, the Status Update Postcard Project
Though I limited my Facebook use a few days ago, I still find myself wanting to update my status when I am doing something vaguely noteworthy or see beauty in the world. I’ve been trained to share little moments of my day but I decided not to post personal status updates and I want to…
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Sayonara, Facebook
Facebook is troublesome. It is the Jekyll and Hyde of online life. Some days I find it a delightful inspiration. Other days, I want to poke myself in the eyes after scrolling through my timeline. I know I am not alone in experiencing FB as a source of jealousy, anger and frustration. When I see…
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Doing Without Report #2
I missed writing the June report on my ongoing experiment in non-consumption, so this one will do double duty. I feel I failed overall. I bought a few things and I haven’t gotten rid of nearly as much stuff as I wished to, but I have been mostly mindful. I will work harder at it this…
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Identity Crisis
Last night I had a strange and vivid dream. It touched on something that I have always wondered about secretly. In the dream, my mother revealed a document that showed the true bloodlines of recent generations in our family. She’d had a curly-haired brother named Gabe who was killed in a knife fight when he…
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Contests and mental blocks
A few months ago, Ayumi and Mami announced the Japan Hoopdance Champion contest. It’s a nationwide contest for all hoopers living here. I was excited to see it come together and I wanted to enter it not with any intention of winning, but in solidarity to the organisers and to connect with the broader Japanese hoop…
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Doing Without Report #1
Here I am, a month into my experiment and I can’t say I have had great success but I am not totally failing. I think I am doing OK on the giving away part, not so great on the purchasing part. Successes: Joined Freecycle and gave away some big stuff from the pantry closet Put a box of…
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What’s Beyond Science
I am torn about writing this. It puts me deep into a class of people I have shunned for so long. The New Age Hippie Freaks. And yet my time in the circus opened my eyes to some things that I have long denied and usually hide about myself. Let me start with a…
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Doing Without in 2013
I returned from Spark! Circus with a renewed distaste for consumerism. We don’t need everything that is offered to us, and there are some ridiculous things being sold. Walking through the shopping districts of Tokyo was painful. I started to avoid going into areas of town where every nook and cranny is dedicated to selling…
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The Ten Year Old Tea
I found this in the fridge today. Actually, I knew it was there. I’ve known it was in the fridge for quite a while because it is our last bottle of the tea Tod loved one summer. Its expiration date is 2003-11-02. It is a decade old! Tod’s been saving the tea, so I never…
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Spark Circus: the work, the shows.
The Sparkles at a fundraiser on Koh Samui Where do I even begin the story of my circus adventures? The beginning seems so long ago. So I will start at the end. Feb 22, 4 pm. I chucked my bags onto the songtauw heading to the airport. As I plopped myself on the bench and…
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