by Bela Johnson | Jun 25, 2026 | Uncategorized
Too many contradictory signals: beauty and brutality;food and excess;nature and branding;human tenderness and human insanity; all arriving at once. Maybe this is the central human ache: the realization that embodiment gives us ecstasy and heartbreak through the very...
by Bela Johnson | Jun 23, 2026 | Uncategorized
Somewhere my younger selfwanted to understandwhat lay beneath every stone. My current selfseems more willingto step onto the next oneand see what happens. Open-eyed surrenderfeels like the wisest coursein most instances. I trust my bodymore than I ever have,and that...
by Bela Johnson | Jun 20, 2026 | Uncategorized
Constantly I witness people taking others for granted. The slippery silver fish we capturefor a capsule in time, marveling at the sheen,as it lies flounderingat the bottom of the boat. Love can ensnare as powerfully as a hook. There is power in that knowing,and...
by Bela Johnson | Jun 17, 2026 | Uncategorized
“Don’t tell me.” This was the line my little daughter used to saywith some regularity. Headstrong then,as she so brilliantly remainsfour decades later. Don’t tell me. Some of us are meant to carry.Some to dispense.Others cannot help but bear witness. I can no more...
by Bela Johnson | Jun 16, 2026 | Uncategorized
I was a small girl when we departed,my father, brothers, and me,from San Pedro Harbor for deep ocean fishing that day. This was out where we regularly caughtbig albacore tuna and bonito.Enough to fill a freezer. Dad baited my hook—heaven knows why—though he likely...
