created & maintained by Chris Biles
"To practice any art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow. So do it." ― Kurt Vonnegut I came across this quote today in one of my emails and it made me nod emphatically. I've been giving more time and attention to the right hemisphere of my brain …
Week after week for months now I’ve had the intention of sitting down at my computer – in the evening with a calming mug of tea, or a weekend morning with a cup o’ coffee – and just writing, just at long last getting a bit of a blog post going. But it’s been difficult …
I’ve been doing my best to remember that simple Zen proverb, really since I finished Peace Corps service last May, but especially as control over my plan to start the next stage of my life in DC has been wrested from me. I am supposed to start work with the Foreign Agricultural Service as an …
Continue reading "No snowflake ever falls in the wrong place"
Some Fresh Poetry! – Let me take you on a bit of a roller coaster This is a compilation of poetry written during my final few months in the Peace Corps, and during travels following my close of service (recently edited and compiled). These poems were products of personal reflection as I started and continued …
Continue reading "Fresh poetry, inspired by travel and transitions"
“Many speak of opportunities- ‘When one door closes, another one opens.’ But rarely about the hallway. The transition. The in between where you are and where you are headed. The hallway doesn’t have to be a scary, dark, endless confusion- it can be a space of massive transformation, great memories, and peace.” -Unknown In May, …
Continue reading "“Rivers know this: there is no hurry. We shall get there some day.”"
Hiking, swimming, luxury tent, wildlife watching, rain and sun, storms and blue skies, camping food, a place of significant scientific history, and of course chimpanzees / sokwemtu – 48 hours felt like a full week! Leaving Kigoma, I had beautiful weather – sunny but still cool. The ride was gorgeous, breezy, and calm. When I …
Continue reading "Glorious Gombe, A Few Goodbyes – 8 April 2018"
“You can’t stop time. You can’t capture light. You can only turn your face up and let it rain down.” – Kim Edwards (The Memory Keeper’s Daughter) Things have been busy, and my mind as of late has been in a million places at once. That’s the joy of being at pre-service training, of being …
Continue reading "Words, Quotes, Sentences, and Mystery – 5 March 2018"
This world is a big place, and it is full of both beauty and darkness; love and hatred; peace and violence. I believe if there is a benevolent balance of light and dark we’re doing okay. I also believe the Ubuntu principle that people are only people through other people. We would not be who …
Continue reading "Contemplating the Yin and the Yang – 18 February 2018"
The holidays have come and gone, and somehow it’s nearing the end of January already – 2018. Kumbe. The office prior to the holidays was wonderfully calm and peaceful, and I was able to get a good amount of work done. People slowly filtered out for their own vacations, and then I too had my …
I wrote a letter to a few friends today and realized that it’s getting to be the holiday season, though it doesn’t feel like it here in hot and sweaty Dar es Salaam. But while the weather won’t bring the sentiments of the season, time with my close friends/Peace Corps family certainly will. I’ll spend …
Continue reading "Life talks, mountain hikes, and alligator pears: ‘tis the season – 21 Nov 2017"
marks in the sand 