“I guess we have to stop talking now.” These are the only words on an album I made called Lines, along with my friend Scott Colman. A few days before we made this recording, we were going to a concert on the metro. After some conversation, we stopped talking and sat in silence for a few moments. During those moments, I unexpectedly got absorbed in the sounds that I was hearing: the hum of the doors opening and closing, the soft clank of the machinery on the train, the gentle voice on the speaker telling us what the next stop would be.

When I moved into my house last year, I scratched one of my nice guitars. It wasn’t a small, inconspicuous scratch either. It was right in the most visible part of the guitar. It wasn’t cool looking either; it looked like a mistake rather than some wear after years of playing. I struggled with this event for quite a while. I knew that the mark itself didn’t make the guitar any less worthy of being played, and I certainly wasn’t about to buy a new guitar over this scratch, and yet… it was troubling for a reason that I couldn’t place.

+++ title = “09” date = 2019 +++ When I worked at a desk and did tasks that didn’t require much cognitive effort, I used to listen to the latest tunes on KCRW. But when I became a teacher, and the types of things I’d have to write were more cognitively demanding, I moved to instrumental music. Something about lyrics seems to draw me in, and even in a subconscious way distracts me from the work I’m supposed to be doing.

+++ title = “09” date = 2019 +++ I think kids should be able to watch TV. And a lot of it. Not Netflix or an iPad device that allows them to pick any channel and binge the same TV show for hours like a monster. No, I mean TV. Passing, fleeting, TV. The type where you can’t choose what will be shown, the kind where you have to make it a priority, the kind that teaches you lessons about life.

The philosopher/entertainer Alan Watts describes experiencing the present moment as a process of “coming to your senses.” I’ve heard that phrase used before to “snap” people out of whatever delusion they’re in. What are you doing?? Don’t walk near the cliff! Come to your senses! If we dive in deep to this saying, we realize that it’s a reminder, either from ourselves or from another person, to use our five senses to reconnect with reality.