by Mark O'Brien | Jun 6, 2016
Sometimes, we measure our gains by taking the measure of our losses. In the span of two-and-a-half years, three hugely influential men have passed from my life — my father, B.B. King, and now Muhammad Ali. There was a point at which I couldn’t imagine my life...
by Mark O'Brien | Dec 24, 2015
Bearing in mind that The Hero With a Thousand Faces, From Ritual to Romance, and The Golden Bough are among the most influential books in my life, I offer this reflection, with apologies to real poets everywhere: The venerable holidays are fast upon us now. The...
by Mark O'Brien | Aug 25, 2015
I was talking to my Zen master, Buzz Siddhartha, the other day. We actually don’t talk much. We usually just sort of stare at each other in ostensible attempts to achieve various states of being and nothingness. (Buzz is French on his mother’s side.) But...
by Mark O'Brien | Aug 24, 2015
Bearing in mind that I write from the relatively affluent western part of the world — from the United States of America, in particular — I recognize the generalizations I express herein are limited to the socio-economic realities of geography. And I...
by Mark O'Brien | Jul 29, 2015
Dear Deep, I read your recent LinkedIn post, “How to Get a Clear Mind”, with keen interest. Given the morbid fear of marionettes I developed after an unfortunate childhood incident with Howdy Doody (thank God Buffalo Bob was there), this passage,...
by Mark O'Brien | May 18, 2015
In the summer of 1971, I was 17 years old. My friend, Bruce, and I went to see B.B. King at the Oakdale Theater in Wallingford, Connecticut. We may have been the only two white dudes in the place. We most certainly were the youngest. And we were in no way prepared to...
