Barry Graham's Blog, page 53

Reportback: Fighting the Trojan Horse of Hipster-Fascism in Portland | Earth First! Newswire

Reportback: Fighting the Trojan Horse of Hipster-Fascism in Portland | Earth First! Newswire:

This piece about the the protest at a Death in June show in Portland is worth a read. I found a link to it on the blog of Nick Mamatas, who commented:

The Pacific Northwest is full of this sort of stuff. A somewhat stifling middle-class moralism will always lead to some kind of antinomian response, and in a left-wing milieu the response zooms to the right. I like Cameron Pierce a lot, and lovemany of...

What is your best novel?

Depends on who you ask. The critical consensus seems to be that the best of my Scottish novels is The Book of Man, though Of Darkness and Light sells the best. It’s less clear-cut with my U.S. novels; critical consensus is a tie between When It All Comes Down to Dust and The Wrong Thing. If I had to pick my favorite, I think it might be a tie between One for My Baby and How Do You Like Your Blue-Eyed Boy?.

But the most popular of my books by far isn’t a novel—it’s my book on Zen practice, Kill...

"There’s a powerful solution for disclosing the secret money sloshing around in our political system...."

“There’s a powerful solution for disclosing the secret money sloshing around in our political system. It does not require an act of Congress or action from any of the effectively toothless campaign finance watchdogs, like the Federal Elections Commission. In fact, this solution could be passed in an instant and the only requirement for action is political will. President Barack Obama can issue an executive order today that requires government contractors to disclose their dark money campaign...

Great piece by Zen teacher Enkyo O'Hara on taking responsibility for all suffering

Great piece by Zen teacher Enkyo O'Hara on taking responsibility for all suffering:

So much of what passes for Zen practice in the West is more like self-help in robes, so I felt very happy when I read this by Enkyo Roshi:

As part of Village Zendo’s weeklong meditation retreat, after a morning of practice, the retreat group walks downtown and sits in the New York City arraignments court. This is where those who have been arrested and held in jail are formally read the charges against them and...

My advice to someone beginning a Buddhist practice

Someone beginning a Buddhist practice asked me for advice about the differences between Mahayana and Hinayana Buddhism, and about how I thought he should proceed. Here’s an excerpt from my reply, which I thought might be useful to others:

I’d advise against worrying too much about Mahayana v. Hinayana.There’s a false duality (all dualities are false) between Mahayana (“greater vehicle”) and Hinayana (“lesser vehicle”) Buddhism—the terms, of course, wer...

Tony Black interviews me for The Highland Times

Tony Black interviews me for The Highland Times:

The great Scottish novelist Tony Black has interviewed me before, in his book Hard Truths. He interviewed me again for The Highland Times, and we discussed the time I spent in Inverness, reporting on local depravity and writing Get Out As Early As You Can.

Born in 1966 in Maryhill, Glasgow, in what he describes as a “Third World hidden inside the First” Graham’s formative years provided the kind of setting that is immediately familiar to his rea...

An anniversary and a wedding

Today is the second anniversary of my moving to Portland, one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

This rainy afternoon, I officiated at a wedding at Horsetail Falls.

Five reads I recommend for Halloween

Of Darkness and Light by me, for obvious reasons

Blood and Kisses by J.T. Blackfriars, perhaps the best vampire tale since Salem’s Lot

Uzumaki by Junji Ito, a beautiful and horrifying graphic novel

Apparitions by Miyuki Miyabe, a collection of ghost stories set in Japan’s Edo period.

NOS4A2 by Joe Hill, a novel of the supernatural that’s fantastic in every sense of the word

THE BOGEY CLOSEWith Halloween approaching, here’s a cozy...

THE BOGEY CLOSE

With Halloween approaching, here’s a cozy tale for bedtime from Of Darkness and Light, a book that’s been making people sleep with the light on since 1989.

Showing its back and showing its front

Two sides of a leaf Daishin brought home for me today:

I remember this from Ryokan:

Showing its back

and showing its front,

a falling maple leaf.