fa*ble*og [fey buh l awg]: fable + blog = fableog
My current passion project.
I often feel a sense of helplessness confronted with the world in all its complexity. Making sense of what is driving current events, never mind my own motivations and impulses, seems impossible. The challenge of making change appears too monumental, our problems insoluble.
These fableogs are my simple offering in the face of such enormity.
Fables have always provided a way to comment on the age the writer lives in—the corrupted power of the church, the despotic caprices of the kings, not to mention our other vanities and, of course, love and death. Today our politicians and celebrities have mostly replaced the church and royals.
In 17th century France, Jean de La Fontaine was the master of fables. He drew on the works of Aesop, Horace, Seneca and the list goes on and stretches from the Greeks and Romans across Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Think Scheherazade. Think Bocaccio.
I have undertaken new translations of La Fontaine’s fables, deploying their universality to comment on current events and the challenges of our very human nature.
I believe that the power of the fables shines from their light hearts, which enable us to look at the world or ourselves through new eyes, to remember what we already understood, without having our spirits crushed by the darkness of that knowledge.
Recent Fableogs
Psilocybin has just gotten “breakthrough” status with the FDA. Meaning that magic mushrooms are one step closer
The trade war with China escalates. We try to sort out who did what to whom. If we are not knee-jerk patriots,
Five months ago, I started a meditation streak. I set out to meditate for 10 days in a row. Then I upped my goal
Earth Day was this past week, a time for stepping up our environmental game. I was at my favourite falafel joint
I’ve been talking and thinking a lot lately about feminism and feminist actions. Most vividly, the topic came up
I watched the television show Fleabag recently (an excellent mix of funny, poignant and wrenching) and was struck
