Rabbi Keller's Prayer for Reading the News

 I'm often overwhelmed by the news these days. I take action, but I feel increasingly distressed. I came across this piece by Rabbi Irwin Keller. It's framed in terms of Jewish prayer but could easily be adapted to other traditions or none. I hope it's helpful to you.

Ultimately, the goal of this protective ritual frame is to come away from reading the news not incapacitated by dread and despair, but instead feeling moved, strong, loving, and resolute.

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Before reading the news

Elohai neshamah shenatata bi tehorah hi.

My God, the soul you have placed in me is pure and vulnerable. I am afraid that looking at today’s news will be painful. Encircle me in a robe of light so that I can witness the wounds of the world without being wounded myself. Let me learn what I need to know in order to be of my greatest use, without being overwhelmed by despair. I feel your protective light now as I open myself to the world’s suffering and the world’s joys.

After reading the news

Ribono shel Olam, I am Yours, and all that is in this world is Yours. Today I have read stories and seen images, but my knowledge is incomplete. I don’t know how it all connects. But I know I am connected to everyone; I take joy in their joy; I suffer with their suffering. If there is no role for me to play today then let my learning leave me wiser and better prepared. If there is a role for me to play, let clarity rise up in me to see it, even if that role is a humble one. Uma’aseh yadeynu konenehu. Lift up the work of my hands, in anything they might do for peace, for justice, for the wholeness of our planet, or for the betterment of my community. Just as you turned the curse of Balaam into a blessing, so may all my actions accrue to the good. 

[Add here a prayer for the healing of a specific suffering you read about.]

Barukh Atah Adonai, shomea tefilah. Blessed are You who receives my prayer.

Closing Action

The words above may be followed by a simple act: putting money in a tzedakah box, posting an encouragement to peacemakers on line, sitting with breath, walking, moving, cooking, journaling, collaging. This doesn’t need to be a major project, but a clearly defined moment of integration.

2025 Baycon Report

In the past, my convention reports have included highlights of panels and other events, both those I participated in and those I attended as an audience member. This report will be different, for reasons that will soon become obvious.

Baycon is my local speculative fiction convention (“speculative” encompasses science fiction, fantasy, and horror), with programming that also includes fannish pursuits, science, history, diversity, and other areas of interest, author readings, and Regency dancing, crafts like knitting chain mail, and so forth. I’ve been attending on a more-or-less regular basis since the mid-1990s. It’s not only a fun convention but a chance to meet up with friends whom I don’t often see.

This convention, however, was different. For the past few years, Baycon programming has invited potential panelists to write up topics and list folks they’d like to include, then the entire proposal is either accepted or passed on (aka, rejected). This means more work for anyone wanting to be on a panel since you need to not only write a bang-up description but figure out who you know that would be at Baycon and have juicy things to say. Hence, much less work for the programming committee. Also, more predictable panels by restricting the pool of panelists. I’m not a fan of the system, as you can tell. I’ve loved being assigned panels with folks I don’t know who then turn out to have fascinating and often unexpected things to say. I’ve also made some great writing friends that way.

It is an understatement to say that this year, the process did not go smoothly. I was invited, I submitted two panels with panelists, and I waited. I queried and was told to be patient. Somehow, perhaps because I checked last year’s email verifying that my proposals had been accepted, I arrived under the impression that all was well and expecting to receive my schedule. Nope, no such schedule existed. The poor volunteers at ProgOps (Programming Operations)! I asked if I could be added to an existing panel. At this point, the head of programming arrived and, after many apologies for the shortcomings of their software and assurances that I was by far not the only author in my situation (hotel room booked, reporting for schedule, etc.), offered to add one of my panels for the following evening: Science Fiction as the Literature of Resistance, at 9:30 pm Saturday. Okay. They’ll try to contact the other panelists to make sure they know it’s been added. Since I was planning on seeing most of them, I could do this myself. In addition, they’d added genre luminary Larry Niven to the panel. Oh, my. Talk about name recognition.

Audiobook Review: Judi Dench's Brilliant Shakespearean Career

Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent, by Judi Dench and Brendan O'Hea; narrated by Barbara Flynn and Brendan O'Hea, with additional commentary by Judi Dench (Macmillan Audio)

This is a series of conversations between Judi Dench and her colleague, Brendan O'Hea, narrated by O'Hea and Barbara Flynn. Flynn does a marvelous job capturing the vocal qualities, cadence, and humor of Dench. I highly recommend listening to the audiobook.

Dench's long acting career began in 1957 with the Old Vic Company and later joined the Royal Shakespeare Company. Although most Americans know her work through film roles, she returned to the stage again and again. Over the decades, she acted almost every major female role in Shakespeare's plays. The book is structured around each of these plays, some well-known, others more obscure. Listening to her observations about each character, I was struck again and again by the depth of her emotional intelligence and keen insight. For example, the way she describes Lady Macbeth illuminated the personality and decisions of Macbeth himself in ways I'd never considered. Her observations about the structure of the plays and acting craft, such as the critical importance of what character's don't say, apply to prose narrative as well. It's wonderful to me how different forms of storytelling share the same principles.

Highly recommended.