On Being with Krista Tippett

I've always felt that one of the things that we do badly in our educational process, especially working with so-called marginalized young people, is that we educate them to figure out how quickly they can get out of the darkness. And get into some much more pleasant situation when what is needed again and again are more and more people like Gene who will stand in that darkness, who will not run away from those deeply hurt communities.

The other book is a book that I don't think is as strong, but still important, is a book by Eugene Robinson called Disintegration, talking about the changes that have gone on in what we've called the black community from the 1960s up to now and which there are definite transformations going on.

I love making compost. The bright green of freshly mown rye, vetch and clover. Steam arising from the pile on a cold morning. The smell of the forest floor in your hands. There's a secret joy, a kind of charity to be found in this act. Transforming a pile of grass and dirt and old leaves into an offering of humic mystery.

For the sake of this season and the stories, I will cease my wars with God tonight. I will choose with open eye the talking beasts, the white in the snow drift Christmas rose, the legends of wandering a bitter way, high hill and desert, for what? God knows.

And one of our speakers was Billy Upsky, who's, he's an activist and a graffiti artist. And we took an image from his book. His book is called Bomb the Suburbs.

Yeah. Einstein's God. It's, it's a, it's a, it's, it's drawn from my interviews with scientists and it's a lot of fun to be out there talking about, but I'm, I'm happy to be back. And my kids are happy to have me back.