Taoism
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What Would Zhuangzi Tweet?
I know I'm late to the game, but I just signed up for Twitter (find me there under "uselesstree"). It is, right now, quite a distraction: a new source of numerous items and commentary on China in both English and… Continue reading
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Confucius and Zhuangzi on the Georgetown-Bayi Basketball Fight
It was pretty ugly. One of the things that struck me was that this was a professional Chinese team. And they were being schooled by a US college team. You would think their professional pride would have led them to… Continue reading
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A Taoist Fourth of July, 2011
My annual reflection (first posted five years ago!): It may seem improbable but I think we can find a Taoist angle on the US Independence Day, July 4th, holiday. Patriotism and nationalism, which are basically what July 4th… Continue reading
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It’s not nice to fool mother nature
Props to Peter Bosshard for the best blog post title of the week: Mao, Tao and the Three Gorges Dam. He provides a lot of good links on the recent Chinese government acknowledgement of serious problems with the mega hydro… Continue reading
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OK, Shooting someone in the head is not a Taoist foreign policy…
My last post below was singularly ill-timed: the day after I pointed out a Taoist facet of Obama's foreign policy he goes and orders the attack on Osama. Oops. Clearly, the careful planning and calculation that went into the raid,… Continue reading
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Obama’s Taoist Foreign Policy
In a blog post over at the New Yorker site, Ryan Lizza follows up on a point he made in a longer article: the idea of "leading from behind" that has recently arisen in connection with Obama's foreign policy. He… Continue reading
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Condolences for Japan
It is sad and depressing to watch the death toll mount from the terrible earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Perhaps we can take some solace from the fact that many lives were likely spared due to foresight and preparation. But… Continue reading
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Why we act
Our production of A Streetcar Named Desire opens tonight. It has garnered some favorable previews. It will be interesting to see how a full audience (apparently it is selling out) will respond to a fairly radical re-telling of a classic… Continue reading
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A Daoist Moment in Chekhov
Last week we were down in New York City and, among other activities, we took in a performance of Chekhov's Three Sisters at the Classic Stage Company. It was a marvelous night. Our friend, Jessica Hecht, was riveting as Olga,… Continue reading
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The Dao of Blanche DuBois
I'm in another play. This time it's a campus production at Williams. The cast is all students, except for me, the lone older guy. We are doing A Streetcar Named Desire and Omar Sangare is our estimable director. This is,… Continue reading
The Useless Tree 