once read about an elementary class where children were asked to draw a picture of themselves, and another elementary class where indigenous children were asked to draw a picture of themselves.The first group of children drew their body, larger-than-life, front and center with a scattered tree, sun or house in the background; the indigenous children drew their body to scale with Nature — complete with sky, trees, grass, birds, mountains, streams, animals.This simple story intrigued me then, … [Read more...]

One of the elements in human creativity is the ability to speculate about the accuracy of your own beliefs. History is filled with examples of creative people who questioned cultural - and their own - belief systems with wonderful and beneficial results. History is also replete with examples where belief systems have generated havoc.Today, it seems that religious and political beliefs have been turned into weaponry, justification for conflict, catalysts of separation, divisiveness and the … [Read more...]

Found Footage FestivalCOLUMBIA HEIGHTS, Minn. - The Found Footage Festival, the international touring showcase of odd and hilarious clips from found videotapes, will return to the Twin Cities on Friday, Sept. 15, for a special benefit show for IFP Minnesota, a non-profit media arts organization that supports and promotes the work of artists who create screenplays, film, video, and photography in the Midwest. Having played to sold out crowds in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas and New York, … [Read more...]

Take the time to be curious about the cause of discomfort, and explore what is. Usually when we feel any discomfort, we first try to ignore it, deny it or push it away. Instead, we can think of discomfort as a Stop Sign being put up by the body to pay attention to something. Rather than running the Stop Sign, we can stop and explore the cause of emotional, mental or physical discomfort with an undefended heart. We can come to know for our self what it means to be present with all that life … [Read more...]

Medicine Men talk to the wind and listen to the earth. They feel energy. They see imbalance. They intuit solutions. They reshape pattern of thinking and work in the flow of life itself. Such healers, often portrayed in movies as superhuman magicians, are actually real people who are connected to the life force of all creation. They are people like Blue Thunder, an elder of the Eastern Shoshone people on the Wind River Indian Reservation in west central Wyoming.Blue Thunder, 56, has been a … [Read more...]

New on Buddhism: The new book, All is Change, the Two-Thousand-Year Journey of Buddhism to the West (Little, Brown & Co.), by Hamline University professor Lawrence Sutin, does not argue that Buddhism can play a vital role in many spheres of knowledge here in the West. What he explores is how Buddhism came to be known in the West, in exchanges between the Classical Greeks and the Buddhists of India, between Buddhist and Christian traders and missionaries in China. All is Change, available now … [Read more...]

"Because something is happening here But you don't know what it isDo you, Mister Jones?" - Bob Dylan, "Ballad of a Thin Man"They come seemingly at random, those scintillas of clarity. Hour by hour, day by day, every one like the one before it, your life flips by like tear-off calendar pages, until - bam! - it happens. You could be walking down the aisle of a grocery store fingering bags of pasta, or leaving fingerprints on frozen pints of ice cream. And suddenly it all makes … [Read more...]

You've made a commitment to living a healthy life and building a strong community. You buy locally grown and organic produce and drink Peace Coffee. You recycle. You walk and ride your bike when possible. You advocate for clean neighborhoods, better schools and equal opportunities for all. But when it comes to banking, do you choose a corporate giant headquartered thousands of miles away and not at all familiar with your community? Shouldn't your bank's values echo your own? We at University … [Read more...]