-
Ice Cream Fruit Pie
Summer is full of fresh fruits at the peak of their juiciness. Peaches, plums, melons, and berries of all kinds fill the produce section. Irresistible and so delicious. But after a few weeks, fruit salads and smoothies wear thin. It’s too hot to bake. What to do? Make an ice cream pie with fresh fruit! You’ll create…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
Archives