Dreaming the porous boundaries

When the anthropologist Eduardo Kohn arrived in a small village deep in the Amazon, people slept largely outdoors in an open thatch house, surrounded by other people. They would wake at night to drink tea, because it was cold, or because of the calls of animals. "Thanks to these continuous disruptions," he writes, "dreams spill into wakefulness and wakefulness into dreams in a way that entangles them both."

To my mind, the intriguing question is whether different sleep cultures encourage different patterns of spiritual and supernatural experience. That half-aware, drowsy state is a time when dreams commingle with awareness. People are more likely to have experiences of the impossible then.

--from "To Dream in Different Cultures" by T. M. Luhrmann, The New York Times

Read more from Luhrmann's essay here.

James Rebhorn, 65 [UPDATE]

James Rebhorn, Veteran Character Actor, Dies at 65
by Eliana Dockterman, TIME, March 23, 2014

James Rebhorn, an Actor Often Playing a Man in a Suit, Dies at 65
by Emma Fitzsimmons, The New York Times, March 23, 2014

Elmore Leonard, 87

Best-Selling Author Elmore Leonard Dies at 87
by Associated Press / Mike Householder, August 20, 2013

Act as if...you remember

What Actors Can Teach Us About Memory and Learning

The most effective memorization techniques draw on physical and emotional engagement as much as they do pure brain power

by Annie Murphy Paul, Time.com, February 22, 2012

When it comes to memorization, professional actors can claim bragging rights. They must reproduce their scripts exactly — no improvising allowed — night after night, under blinding lights, in front of a demanding audience. How do they do it?

Read more here.

J.D. Salinger, 91

J.D. Salinger, 91, Is Dead
by Dave Itzkoff, The New York Times, January 28, 2010

J.D. Salinger Dies at 91: The Hermit Crab of American Letters
by Richard Lacayo, Time, January 28, 2010

J.D. Salinger, Literary Recluse, Dies at 91
by Charles McGrath, The New York Times, January 28, 2010