Ivan Illich was an influential theorist in the decade I was born. I had heard of his most famous work, Deschooling Society, and it had been recommended to me more than once I’m sure, no doubt because I homeschooled in the 6th and 12th grades. But I had only a passing awareness of the man […]
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Agripleasure
An article about my parents’ Three Roods Farm by Garrison Benson. First appeared in 360 Main Street, When I first rang the doorbell at Three Roods Farm, Dr. Greg Kruszewski (crew-shev-ski) stepped out onto his sunny porch, squinting at me through a pair of thick, almost exaggerated glasses. Like those “nerd glasses” from the dollar store, […]
Farmer Greg
An excerpt from Three Roods Charm, a short story by Michael Short set on my mom and dad’s farm: “Did David Bowie bother you at sunrise?” Greg asked. “Huh?” I said. “What I meant was how did you sleep?” “Oh. Wonderful,” I said. This was my first morning at Three Roods Farm, and I made […]
West Malaysia 2008: Cousins, Cousins, Cousins
Thanks to the largesse of the Malaysian government, I was able to bring my family for a one-month vacation at the end of last year. We brought the whole family, and our maid for good measure, and the nine of us went gallavanting from my brother-in-law’s in Tanjong Malim all the way to the Langkawi […]
Behold, the Biawak
Two more chicks have met their doom since last I wrote. Both were mauled by biawak attacks that I fended off too late. By the time I would race to the scene, shovel flailing, I could only succeed in denying the perp a meal, but could not save the lives of the victims. The first […]
Rough Neighborhood
My wife woke with a start just after 5, a few minutes before subuh prayer. The glow of her cell phone cum time piece was still on her face when she heard a loud sickening snap, crunch and pop coming from the backyard. Shortly, the chickens started squawking at DefCon 3 levels. That wasn’t enough […]
Journey to Ihsan: looking back
Alhamdulillah, I was able to fly to Singapore to attend the conference Journey to Ihsan last weekend. It was my first time in Singapore, and I came in the hard way, landing in Johor Bahru, then taking a three hour combination of trains and buses before arriving at my hotel, across the street from Dar […]
Open-Air Museum
By Adrienne Rich Ailanthus, goldenrod, scrapiron, what makes you flower? What burns in the dump today? Thick flames in a grey field, tended By two men: one derelict ghost, One clearly apter at nursing destruction, Two priests in a grey field, tending the flames Of stripped-off rockwool, split Mattresses, a caved-in chickenhouse, Mad Loy’s last […]