Yes it is Monday, very far away from the coming weekend of things to do, but this is really the only day I can spend writing. I've been so neglectful lately, of myself, of my many projects, I feel I owe it at least to myself to try and write something thoughtful... thanks for indulging me.

I've just finished my last cup of coffee for the next few weeks, because as many of you know, I fast once a year on brown rice and green tea, for ten days. It's why I have those stupid Chinese characters tattooed on my arm, that incidentally, young Japanese kids mistake as "America for ten days" (the character for rice in Chinese is also slang in Japanese for America.) So patriotic of me, no?

But it's been over a year since I last fasted and it's an important, extraordinary ritual. The story goes that millennia ago a Chinese girl chewed on a piece of onion 1,000 times, until she tasted all one could taste. She became enlightened. macrobiotics use this fast of only brown rice and green tea for ten days, as a cleansing period, to neutralize the western diet (which is mostly a yang diet on the yin yang spectrum), and to kick off a macrobiotic diet. I will not become macrobiotic, and most likely I will not become enlightened, but it is a nice way to reflect and get grounded.

Fasting is strange. At first it's really hard, feels impossible even. It's also pretty emotional... the moods swing wildly with distractions kept at a minimal and no snacks or wine or cigarettes to aid in the denial of the many circumstances I'd rather deny. This can only be good for me, albeit it frightening for anyone I might happen to run into. After a few days a rhythm sets in and things get a little surreal. the body begins dipping into stored fat and muscles looking for nutrients, but this fat and muscle is loaded with toxins... at times it can feel like tripping. It's nice to keep a journal when doing this. I write in the morning and the evening, I consider the day, what went well, what could have been better, and set small reasonable goals for the next day.

It's good to eat really slowly (you are supposed to eat one grain at a time, but I've never been able to do that). And when I eat, slowly as I can, I think only of eating, only of the rice and try to understand how the body takes that rice and makes things with it. in addition to rice and green tea (and the fast allows one to eat as much rice as you want, though after a few days it's challenging to eat even a cup at a time) one can also use pure soy sauce, or shoyu, and gomashio which is toasted sesame seeds with sea salt. No need to use a lot, because flavors become powerful on an all rice diet.

The most fascinating part of this whole thing is what happens at the end. For a few weeks, up to a month, one is absurdly in tune with what the body wants... maybe I eat a whole plate of spinach for breakfast, oranges for lunch, a few strips of bacon at night... the point is for a time its possible to understand cravings and follow them, and they are rarely cravings for things like sugar, alcohol, coffee, cheese, etc. maybe this year I might try to hang onto that feeling a little longer than three weeks. We'll see. so though I will be out at least a few times this week - playing records, supporting friends, going to school, etc.- I might be a bit space-y-er than usual. Forgive me. Laugh at me. And accuse me of being the dirty hippie I am. (Of course when I regain my strength there will be trouble for anyone who calls me a hippie!)

Love and ritual,



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