Photo by Cornelia Kopp/Flickr, cc by-nc-nd 2.0
Wow - "sketchnotes while listening" to my convo with Seth Godin.
Doug Neill (@thegraphicrcrdr), a self-professed "sketchnoter" from Portland, Oregon, showed us a new way forward for visualizing our own work at On Being by taking visual notes of last week's show with Seth Godin. This image sparked a lot of interest among our Facebook and Twitter followers. But why?
Katherine Ellington (@katellington), 
a med student living in New York City, put it best:
When what you see lures you to listen and read. It's the big picture to help you read on, listen closely.
So we've embraced this moment of serendipity and are commissioning Doug to create sketchnotes for the next five months (including "sketchnotes" for this week's show with Rami Nashashibi). Please give me your feedback. What would you like to see us do with these pieces of artwork. Drop me a line or a tweet (@TrentGilliss).
I like hot yoga in any weather. But in this cold it is luscious.
Even some of the deepest listeners' ears need a respite. I couldn't resist taking this impromptu shot of our host in multi-tasking action:
I do believe Krista Tippett's yoga is paying off in our editorial sessions!
As I write this, I'm informed Krista is holding a pigeon pose. I had no idea. But, I can tell you 
she does like to listen to sea shanties:
You may have to love Tom Waits to love this - and I do: TW singing "Shenandoah" with Keith Richards.
Last weekend Jews around the world celebrated the holiday of 
Tu B'Shevat, also known as the New Year of the Trees:
"The holiday acknowledges that humans are children of the whose roots are in the Garden of Eden and is celebrated by planting trees, eating fruit, holding a special seder meal."
The observance of Tu B'Shevat has waxed and waned over the centuries and is now experiencing a renaissance of sorts. For more than just eating your Wheaties, read Rabbi David Wolpe's lyrical reflection in Tablet.
Our associate producer Susan Leem also blogged a series of beautiful photos about the feast of Timkat, the 
most important religious holiday among the Ethiopian Orthodox Christian faithful:
This celebration of the Epiphany remembers Jesus' baptism in the Jordan River with a ritual reenactment and parades with replicas of a holy relic a relic many of us may know from the Steven Spielberg film "Raiders of the Lost Ark."
Along those lines, how about these words from Rabbi Sandy Sasso:
"What happened once upon a time happens all the time."
Which has got us thinking about the take-off of fantasy and myth in television:
Anyone else watching Once Upon a Time, Grimm, Game of Thrones on tv? We are so modern and so newly hungry for ancient imagery and story.
We here at On Being receive a fair amount of correspondence from convicts serving time. I shared this letter from a Texas prisoner on Instagram and Tumblr. They're often moved by the work we do. To the left is a thank you note from a Texas prisoner to whom we sent some complimentary CDs. He even offered us some business advice!
The men and women who minister in prisons are the unsung heroes of our society. In late February, we'll be sharing Krista's conversation with Father Greg Boyle, a priest who works with gang members in Los Angeles. Meanwhile, here's a video of their entire conversation at Chautauqua.
Edifying words Krista is reading this week:
A charming & wise essay by Dan Stevens on how technology changes us and not: "Tweet as you would be twoten to."
And this short piece by Frederich Buechner:
Beautiful, on the raw humanity of the Bible - "a Dostoyevskian world of darkness and light commingled."
This BBC report comes via astrophysicist Mario Livio:
Quantum mechanics/"weird physics" meets biology - photosynthesis, bird migration, cancer? Fascinating.
This article from Ebony magazine caught my attention:
The 4 things couples should discuss before getting married: religion, children, # of kids, money
And, yes, I grew up in North Dakota. Anytime The New York Times sends out a Magnum photographer (who happens to be based out of St. Paul), much less Alec Soth, I notice and share. It's quite a dynamic set of black and whites:
Vintage Soth. Worth watching and listening to him talk about the oil boom in my home state.
I'll send you off into the weekend with these words, inspired by French Buddhist monk Matthieu Ricard:
Imagine happiness as "flourishing" - not a feeling but a way of being that rises to meet sadness, loss, life.
Drop us a line on our website, via Facebook or Twitter (@beingtweets, @KristaTippett, @TrentGilliss).
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