Posts

Image
  Insect Philosophy: My Life-Changing Encounters with Jonathan Richman   As you (hopefully) just read, I have a thing about not killing flies or any other insects (with the exception of killer wasps when they’re on the attack). That philosophy was decidedly strengthened from a memorable encounter with musical legend Jonathan Richman. He of Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers fame. The guy who sang in a tree at the start of the movie ‘Crazy About Mary’. An influencer of the punk rock movement. OK, if you’re still scratching your head, just look him up on Wikipedia.   Anyway, picture this: I was about 16 years old, sitting around with some friends in a real dive of a bar that doubled as a music venue (fake IDs were cheap then). The live bands hadn’t yet started but songs were playing over the music system. No one was on the dance floor except for one strange-looking skinny guy with a nearly bald head who was not dancing, but swaying and swirling out of time to the music,...
Read more
Image
  Why I Don’t Kill Flies „Stop, don’t kill it!,” I yelled as our office intern suddenly leaped up, waving a rolled up magazine to swat at a fly, which was frantically buzzing around the room. “I thought you were a Christian?,” I mumbled, trying to keep calm as I rose from my seat at the conference table.    He froze, his hand hovering midair. He stared at me: short black hair, five feet of quivering anger, encased in a thin Asian frame. “Oh, I forgot you were a Buddhist,” he replied, sarcasm clouding his voice.    OK, diplomacy wasn’t always my strong point. So touché to him, I thought. In fact, many people believe my religion is why I often plead with them to spare the lives of insects. But that’s not the real reason.    It all started when I was about four years old. I know I had to be that age, because my mother had not yet learned to drive. She started taking driving lessons later, after the accident. That’s why we had to walk down the steep, weed-...
Read more