The story of the Beaver Bog is true. It is also an allegory. The meaning of the allegory can best…
Category: Wisdom
Beaver Bog
Our Sophia Street neighborhood includes a one-kilometer square area we call “the bog.” If you come looking for it by…
Naked Reflection
This semester, I am teaching a course called “Midrash and the Rabbinic Imagination” at the University of British Columbia. Yesterday,…
Philos-Sophia
Why worry about consciousness when the political world is falling apart around us? Isn’t it like “fiddling while Rome burns”?…
Praying for Presence
One day in the course of my recent work, I sat with four different people: one trying to rescue a…
Gateway to Kabbalah
The Hebrew word for Sophia is chochma. In the tradition of Kabbalah, the word chochma describes the very first glimmer…
Layers of Consciousness
My husband Charles is studying the history of Sophia Street. He has read books, viewed maps, scanned photographic archives, and…
Spirit of the Bear
As late as 1910, Sophia Street was home to black bears. Today, we share the street with fellow mammals coyote,…
A Shepherd's Care
In Parshat Vayetze, we learn about the young adult lives of our ancestors Jacob, Rachel, and Leah. They are immersed in a shepherding…