It was a wonderful pleasure to speak and perform at the Valluvan Tamil Academy Annual Day celebration in Virginia in June.
Here are a few pictures from the trip, including a visit to Valluvar Way. Click on the images to see them at full size.
WHO BEARS THE WEIGHT: The Kural and Reading the News
I was delighted to write about verse 1027 from the Kural in the wonderful online magazine The Porch: A Slow Conversation about Beautiful and Difficult Things.
You can read the essay here:
https://www.theporchcommunity.net/recent/2024/4/17/who-bears-the-weight-thomas-hitoshi-pruiksma
You can also listen to verse 108 here:
From chapter 103, “Serving Family.”
Translated from the Tamil by Thomas Hitoshi Pruiksma
THE KURAL: Tiruvalluvar’s Tirukkural
Beacon Press, Boston
Taller Than a Mountain 2024
I’m very excited to announce my upcoming online course on the Kural, Taller Than A Mountain.
It starts April 27, with a free intro class on April 13.
Among my guest teachers I’m honored to include Andrew Harvey, Bob Thurman, and Perumal Murugan.
The course is being offered at a price that you set yourself as a way to practice one of the Kural’s key teachings: honoring what fits each person, place, and situation.
Who is it for?
Over the next couple of weeks, I’ll answer this question from a few different angles.
One of the groups it’s most definitely for are people who want to enjoy and learn from the poetry of a great teacher such as Tiruvalluvar but who sometimes find poetry intimidating, complicated, or just plain confusing.
For instance, I was having coffee the other day with a friend, and he said to me:
“I’ve been reading the Kural, and enjoying it, too. But while there are some verses that make so much sense to me immediately, there are others that I’m not sure what to make of. I never felt comfortable with poetry in school, but I know it’s something that people sometimes find deeply meaningful. I’d love to be able to see that for myself.”
As I said to my friend, not only is the course for people who are uncertain about poetry, I myself was like that for a very long time.
That’s why I’m all the more excited to share some of things that have helped me personally to experience poetry with greater ease, understanding, and delight.
If this sounds at all intriguing, please do take a peek!
Homecoming – A Play for the 14/48 Theater Festival
In January I wrote two 10-minute plays for the 14/48 Theater Festival at Open Space for Arts and Community.
Here is a glimpse of the second evening’s play, “Homecoming,” the story of a teacher facing his mortality, a bright but shy student, the teacher’s hero Simone Weil, and her heroes Plato and Socrates. Click on the images to see them at full size.
Director: Charlotte Tiencken
Cast: David Mielke, Elise Morrill, Julia Prud-homme, and Marie Glanz
About Face – A Play for the 14/48 Theater Festival
In January I wrote two 10-minute plays for the 14/48 Theater Festival at Open Space for Arts and Community.
Here is a glimpse of the first evening’s play, “About Face,” the story of a sculptor, an unexpected visitor, and his recalcitrant sculpture of Janus, the two-faced Roman god that the sculptor is only now learning to listen to. Click on the images to see them at full size.
Director: Anthony Winkler
Cast: Maria Glanz, Julie Jacobson, Harris Levinson, and Juniper Rogneby
