Enthusiasms
		Although I may create one someday, this isn't a links page. Rather, it's a page about people and things that I like and want to bring to the attention of others. Most entries will have Internet links, but that's not the point. Selections will come and go as I see fit. They are in no particular order.

	Suzuki Roshi
	When they list the greatest figures of the 20th Century, who ever names Suzuki Roshi? But I can't think of anyone greater. He was someone extremely rare in this day and age: a real Zen master. And like a real Zen master, he left behind some big riddles. It's interesting, I think, that quite a few of his riddles seem not to be recognized as riddles. Suzuki was both a teacher of Japanese Zen and a teacher of Enlightenment. His students got from him whichever one they really wanted. I love his sense of humor. When somebody asked him that old question "If a tree falls in the forest and nobody is there to hear it, does it make a sound?," he replied, "It doesn't matter," which I think is funny and to the point. The book Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind is a good place to begin. Put together by his students using transcripts of his talks, Suzuki said of it, "Good book. I didn't write it, but it looks like a good book."

		Fraser and Debolt
	I first heard Canadians Fraser and Debolt in 1971 or so on a PBS broadcast of the Philadelphia Folk Festival. They heard one song, "Gypsy Solitaire," and I was fascinated. I didn't catch their name, so a few months later when a friend who worked in a record store played me their album, I was delighted to catch up with them again. The songs are quirky, natural, and brilliant. The playing consists of just their two voices, their two acoustic guitars, and a violinist (Ian Guenther). Yet from those slim resources they manage to create an incredibly rich tangle of odd and gorgeous music. Their version of "Don't Let Me Down" is superior to that of the Beatles--and I love the Beatles. They made only two records. Both albums are currently out of print. The second one was not as good as the first, but has its moments. The first one is magnificent.

Natalie Cooper

Natalie Cooper was a friend of my wife, Judy Irving. A screenwriter who later taught screenwriting at Pixar and ILM (Industrial Light and Magic), she was one of the most lovable and frustrating people you'd ever want to meet. She was opinionated, and generous with her opinions. Her observations of people were stunningly accurate, sometimes ruthless, and almost always hysterically funny. The comebacks that most people think up only after the fact, she could deliver in the here and now. Natalie died in October of 2004. When she came into the hospital as an emergency patient her systems were failing rapidly, one after the other. When a nurse asked if she'd ever had liver problems, she replied, "No, but it's only four o'clock!" Natalie had an extreme fear of death, but as she headed swiftly toward the end, she was the one keeping everybody calm. A friend, Kim Bromley, edited a book drawn from transciptions of recordings that Judy and others made of Natalie's classes (The Heart of the Matter, self-published.) The book successfully presents her unique voice and ideas. Should you ever find a copy, grab it. Nat's advice to writers: "Do your best work, work from your heart, and look for a cheap place to live." I miss Natalie.

Noam Chomsky

Although I was already familiar with his name as the author of a book called Reflections on Language, a book I'd stared at many times but had never read, I didn't become familiar with the work of Noam Chomsky the dissident until the time of the run-up to the first Iraq war. Like many others, I became enamored of him then--and remain so. He taught me how to read the newspaper. My favorite example of media bias that he's brought to light comes from the supposedly liberal New York Times. Part of a headline about the defeat of the Sandanistas in the 1990 Nicaragua elections read: "Americans United in Joy." Chomsky pointed out that this has the ring of a North Korean newspaper headline. Some people accuse him of being a conspiracy theorist. But I've never heard him describe what he sees as conspiratorial. A lot of media bias is unconscious, the "natural" assumptions of those in positions of power, and he says this. One of those common assumptions is that empires are necessary and, therefore, good. Accordingly, it is essential for the benefit of humanity that they be supported and maintained, no matter what they do. But there is no such thing as a good empire. No empire ever comes to power except through the exploitation of others, and exploitation is never okay--regardless of what the beneficiaries might believe. I'm grateful to Chomsky for making me understand that as clearly as I do now.

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