David Burnett's Blog – August 2010 Archive (4)

Yesterday I went to New York to hang out with a friend of mine, but as soon as I got into town, I received a text saying she had to work overtime and would not be able to make it. So I did something I often do. I went to a bookstore. I left the bookstore with a massive book filled with the works of Kahlil Gibran. I walked across Lower Manhattan then over the Brooklyn Bridge with the book in my hand. When I got to the Brooklyn end of the bridge, I thought I should go to my favorite restaurant…

Continue

There is a tiny park in Lower Manhattan, on Mulberry Street, in Chinatown, where a small sign hangs on a fence dedicated to the memory of a man named Jacob Riis. Who was Jacob Riis? For a time in the late 1800's, he was a homeless man who lived in New York, who had been chased away, by the cops, out of every place he could find to sleep, accept a certain grave in a forgotten corner of a local cemetery. And his only friend was a stray dog who used to sleep on the same grave at night. His only…

Continue

A couple years ago, I ran into a terrible time in my life. I had been out of work for a while. My entire savings had run out. I had recently sold what little I had left of value at the pawn shop to buy food. My girlfriend had just broken up with me a few days before. And I had no idea where I was going to get my next rent payment. On the news I had seen that a hurricane had struck the Southeast, and was coming up the coast and was about to hit my part of the world. Well it turns out that by the… Continue

The Hindus bathe in the Ganges. The Jews go to the mikveh. The Catholics dip their hand in holy water and make the sign of the cross. The Christians, both Protestant and Catholic baptise. The Native Americans go to the sweat lodge. The Turks go to the hamam. The Russians go to their bath house. We all understand, on some level, the sacred power of water. We all find some connection to the devine in it. Even the surfer paddling out to the waves can understand. It is in all of us.

No…

Continue