Lael Johnson

Soon this short verse sprang free from renga and began to articulate aesthetic qualities, such as a sense of beautiful aloneness (sabishisa) and restrained elegance (furyu).

Anam is the Gaelic word for soul; ċara means soul cara is the word for friend. So anam ċara friend. The anam ċara was a person to whom you could reveal the hidden intimacies of your life. This friendship was an act of recognition and belonging. When you had an anam ċara, your friendship cut across all convention and category. You were joined in an

Writer and photographer Craig Mod wrote, “There is a gaping opportunity to consolidate our myriad marginaliaIV into an even more robust commonplace book. One searchable, always accessible, easily shared and embedded amongst the digital text we consume.”

purpose is something people can share. It can knit groups together.

My parents—even from within their racial consciousness—were susceptible to the racist idea that it was laziness that kept Black people down, so they paid more attention to chastising Black people than to Reagan’s

Japan began the nineteenth century the same way it had begun and ended the two previous centuries, largely isolated from the outside world. In 1853, the United States (a Pacific country looking for new markets) led the charge to open Japan to trade with the outside world. When American warships showed up uninvited to demand access to Japanese marke