An Evening at Town Hall in Seattle with Sebastian Junger

How long should the mood of Memorial Day last? It seems to have extended here past the weekend and the Monday holiday to Tuesday night, when I went to hear one of my heroes, war journalist Sebastian Junger, talk about near-death at Town Hall. His book, In My Time of Dying, is just out. I searched for reviews and was disappointed to find nearly identical 5-star summaries of content, 2-star disappointment from those seeking spiritual epiphany, and little else. A book like this is a contribution to our culture, crossing boundaries between the private and the public, between personal and professional, between atheism and belief,  in ways that should, I hope, provoke far more meaningful reviews. That said, my thoughts here are not a “book review” as such, but a personal response from an artist and seeker who has been preoccupied with the borderlands of life and death for as long as I can recall. [Read more…]