Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker Aaron Pico is officially headed to the UFC The 28-year-old featherweight has signed an exclusive deal with the UFC The promotion has not announced when he will make his debut but Pico told ESPN he is in camp and hopes to fight as soon as possible Pico (13-4) has fought his entire MMA career with Bellator MMA. He signed with Bellator in 2014, three years before making his professional fighting debut. He was considered one of the best prospects in MMA history with an extensive background in amateur wrestling and boxing He struggled to a 4-3 record in his first seven appearances facing competition with far more MMA experience He has since won nine of his past 10 and was in line to fight for Bellator's 145-pound championship until the promotion ceased operations this year UFC CEO Dana White publicly expressed interest in signing Pico earlier this year Nine of his 13 wins have come via knockout he was considered one of the best fighters in the world outside of the UFC roster Last October, I traveled to Madrid, Spain to participate in Esri Spain’s 2024 User Conference It was a great week full of map-talk and an amazing opportunity to learn about the work of our users across the Atlantic Once the conference ended, I extended my trip by a couple of days and headed out to Picos de Europa National Park In researching for my trip, I learned about a cute town called Bulnes. No roads reach Bulnes but you can access it via a funicular or on foot via Canal del Texu Hiking up was definitely the right decision for me The decision to keep hiking after reaching Bulnes but I’ll share a few fun facts that hopefully speak for themselves: There are adorable fluffy cows all over the area surrounding Bulnes; they wear cow bells that ring as they walk giving the hike a lovely soundtrack Fluffy cows will follow shepherds around the mountains because they give them salt; salt contains minerals – like calcium – which cows need to survive If you’re a solo hiker with a tree branch for a hiking stick fluffy cows might mistake you for a shepherd and chase you around the mountains thinking you have salt to give them To commemorate my adventure in Picos de Europa National Park – and surviving the cows – I decided to make a map I wanted to make a map that highlighted the pronounced elevation gain of Picos de Europa National Park – and what better way to do that than with contours I often hear from users who get tripped up by the raster size limitation of most Geoprocessing tools “If the Clip Raster tool doesn’t allow me to process a dataset larger than 5000 x 5000 pixels Well… you can use the Export Raster pane The Export Raster pane allows you to “clip” your raster layer to a specified extent and change the spatial reference with just a few clicks I added the Terrain imagery layer from ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World to my map I set the National Park boundary as the Clipping Geometry and checked the “Maintain Clipping Extent” checkbox To make sure I could use the raster with any Geoprocessing tool I modified the values of the Raster Size Columns and Rows to conform to this Before generating my contours, I smoothed my raster layer. I like to do this because, without smoothing, contours tend to look “spikier”, and I prefer a cleaner “rounder” look. In this case, I used the Feature Preserving Smoothing Geoprocessing tool and it allows you to smooth an input surface raster to minimize noise without significantly altering other landscape features I was ready to start trying out different configurations for the Create Contours tool If anyone out there has the secret formula for creating aesthetic contours on the first try I tend to approach this task with an open mind – open to spending lots of time figuring out the right interval size this is what my final contour layer looks like While I could’ve solely relied on the contours to communicate elevation gain along the hike I decided to add a profile graph to better convey how much I actually hiked that day the hike is represented from beginning to end I used the new Track cursor toggle to interactively see the level of elevation at each point on the trail as it goes up and down the mountain Although not directly related to the map itself this option was great for showing everyone how much I had already hiked when the cows started following me – I’m really fun at parties While I was working on this map, I created an ArcGIS Pro Short here’s a 1-minute video of how I made this Profile Chart This is what the map ended up looking like the more I realized I was trying to fill up the space with things the map didn’t actually need I started playing around with different ratios until I settled on a square layout The shape of the park makes it look like it’s reaching out for something It felt appropriate for that something to be the top elevation on the profile graph so I played around with the Y-axis label spacing until it did Driving in the area is beautiful but requires true skill – a skill I don’t possess I would like to close out this blog by apologizing to all the cars that had to drive around me as I struggled to stay on the road going 20km/h under the speed limit Join us for our 60th Los Angeles Open Streets Event: CicLAmini—Pico Union Expect a pedestrian-oriented experience at CicLAmini—Pico Union and art and cultural activities for all-ages For general event information please email us or call 213.355.8500 For concerns regarding the Los Angeles street closure permit Council District 1 • Council District 10 The CicLAmini route is accessible via many different forms of transportation Join us anywhere along the route or at a Hub and see where the day takes you CicLAmini welcomes everyone to our events and works to make each route accessible to all individuals CicLAmini utilizes the infrastructure of the city and county of Los Angeles so participants can enter or exit anywhere along the route When facilities are added to the route at Hubs (restrooms There are gradual inclines along each route and any portion deemed steep will have volunteers stationed to guide participants While steep and congested areas are usually mandatory dismount zones participants unable to dismount are not required to do so Read more about event Hubs, elevation, getting around during a CicLAmini event, and parking along the route Hubs are resting and meeting points along the route Some hubs include additional programming and activities The route is relatively flat with over the course of 1.4 miles with a slight incline from Normandie Hub to Union Hub. Download a PDF of the CicLAmini elevation map. Participants with mobility limitations are welcome to use manual wheelchairs Catch a free pedicab ride during CicLAmini Pedicab stops are located at each Hub's info booth and will travel between Hubs Look for the pedicab stop sign at each Hub’s info booth Riders must be able to step into or transfer into the pedicab please make sure to read all posted parking restrictions bikes are not required to participate in CicLAvia Anything that is people-powered is allowed be sure to call ahead and pay for your reservation in advance as rentals have been known to sell out on CicLAvia Sundays If you live/work along the route and want to know more about how CicLAmini will affect you, please download the CicLAmini route notification flyer which includes information on streets closures and parking options for residents and employees of local businesses The route will be closed to vehicles from 8am to approximately 5pm on Sunday Some streets near event Hubs may close as early as 7am and streets will be fully open to cars by approximately 5pm No parking will be allowed on the route after 1:00am on Sunday Parking restrictions will be posted and towing will be enforced Additional street parking near the route may be restricted Please check posted parking restrictions in your neighborhood No vehicles are allowed on the route between 8am and approximately 5pm. There are crossing points at Pico Blvd/Vermont Ave and Pico Blvd/Hoover St where vehicles can cross along the route. Crossings are indicated on the CicLAmini—Pico Union route map Please be aware that all driveways on the route will be blocked and inaccessible beginning at 8am on Sunday If your vehicle is parked in your driveway and you need to use it after 8am on May 18 please park elsewhere as the vehicle will be inaccessible until approximately 5pm Vehicles will not be allowed to enter or exit the route during this time All buses along the CicLAmini route will be detoured: Metro Bus Detours for posted signs outlining specific detours for your stop CicLAmini provides an opportunity to connect with Angelenos and communities throughout Los Angeles County in an entirely new way and enjoy the open streets on select Sundays CicLAmini works hard to provide a safe and secure environment for all participants By familiarizing yourself with the following information you can help make CicLAmini a great event for everyone As consideration for being allowed to participate in a CicLAmini all participants are deemed to have released from liability and waived any right to sue its organizers volunteers and agents from any and all claims illness (including death) or economic loss suffered as a result of participating in this CicLAmini each participant understands that there are risks such as physical and/or psychological injury These injuries or outcomes may arise from a participant’s or other’s actions or the condition of the location (s) or facility (ies) participants assume all known and unknown risks of participation in CicLAmini CicLAmini lasts from 10am–3pm* (*February and December routes end at 3pm due to Daylight Savings Time) Make sure you return to your point of origin or final destination by 3pm to avoid car traffic when the route reopens but any other form of non-motorized transportation is Be aware of how people around you are traveling—biking and volunteers will be at crossing intersections to monitor the flow of participant and car traffic Riders and pedestrians must stop at car and pedestrian intersections when told to do so stay within the speed of the flow of traffic when it is too congested to pass There are often mandatory dismount locations There will be signs at the dismount locations and volunteers instructing riders to dismount Our friends at REI have a comprehensive information and video page about biking with children Please take the time to review this information if you plan to enjoy CicLAmini with children CicLAmini is not an ideal place to teach a child While we encourage participants of all ages and skill levels we strongly suggest that children and all participants learn the basics of bike riding before participating in the event route We work closely with local authorities to provide as safe and secure an environment as possible We also partner with other local agencies that provide additional security elements along the route and at public transit locations The Los Angeles Police Department provides a strong security presence at CicLAmini there are emergency medical technicians stationed at each Hub and other response personnel is available along the route go to the nearest Hub to report it to a staff member If you notice any suspicious activity or a suspicious package immediately report it to the nearest staff member or uniformed officer Staff can be identified by the t-shirt that says STAFF on the back Volunteers can be identified by the t-shirt that says VOLUNTEER on the back Staff members and volunteers can assist you in finding the answers to questions and help find the right person to respond to emergencies This is often the fastest way to ensure police officers or emergency personnel respond to the situation rapidly and effectively Please note these are not official CicLAvia events please contact organizers for details and participate at your own risk Planning a feeder ride, walk, or run and want to add it to our site? Email us or share it on our Facebook event page CicLAvia is one of the largest open streets events in the country—a free event streets are car-free for individuals and families to explore by foot and other forms of non-motorized transport Here are some tips for engaging thousands of potential new customers Business Opportunities at CicLAmini Oportunidades comerciales en CicLAmini CicLAmini 비즈니스 기회 Questions about what’s best for your business? Contact us at [email protected] or 213.355.8500 Is Your Business on or near the CicLAvia Route Encourage participants to stop by on the day of the event by offering a special discount to CicLAvia participants We’ll highlight your family-friendly business (such as restaurants etc.) for free on the CicLAvia website (pending internal approval) Cars can cross the route at selected major streets. Crossings are indicated on the CicLAmini—Pico Union route map All other cross streets will be closed at the route Streets adjacent to the route will remain open to local access for residents and businesses On May 18 from 8 AM to 5 PM (approximately) Some parts of these streets may close as early as 7 AM Street Closures at CicLAmini Cierres de calles en CicLAmini CicLAmini로 인한 도로 폐쇄 Click HERE to download the route map Haga clic AQUI para descargar el mapa de ruta 경로 지도를 다운로드하려면 여기를 클릭하세요 CicLAvia will temporarily remove cars from certain streets in Pico Union and will open the street up to pedestrians Click here to watch a recording of our CicLAmini—Pico Union Community Meeting and learn about street closures 18 de mayo de 10am-3pm CicLAvia removerá los automóviles temporalmente de ciertas calles en Pico Union y las abrirá a peatones bicicletas y más para disfrutar un día sin automóviles Haga clic aqui para ver una grabación de nuestra reunión comunitaria CicLAmini—Pico Union y obtener información sobre cierres de calles Thank you for your interest in volunteering there are many ways for CicLAmini fans to donate a few hours to the event With CicLAmini, you have the opportunity to invest in your community as well as diverse communities throughout Los Angeles. Because of the help of people like you, we see streets and neighborhoods transform with each event and CicLAmini season. Be sure to also sign up for our mailing list to stay up to date on future volunteer opportunities Pico Union - Hub Volunteer Sign Up 2025 Events Volunteer Interest Form Adopt-An-Intersection Program Avoid sharp turns and high speed turns so your bike won’t slide out from under you Skidding is more likely when the road is wet Give yourself extra time and distance to stop remember your rims are wet so it takes a little longer for your brake pads to catch Be more cautious on (or avoid) surfaces that are extra slippery when wet Avoid riding through standing water or piles of wet leaves reflective clothing and use front and rear lights to help you see and be seen (even during the day) Read more about the Hubs, Metro, bike rentals, parking for the event, Group Meet Ups: Walk/Run Clubs, Feeder Rides, bus detours, and help getting to an event CicLAmini—Pico Union is accessible by the following LA Metro and LADOT DASH lines: Be sure to download the FREE Transit App to instantly see accurate next departure times track buses and trains near you on the map Use the trip planner to quickly compare trips - including options like bus and bike Get alerted about service disruptions and delays for your favorite lines and save frequently used locations for trip directions in a tap Plan ahead and visit ciclavia.org/rentals for more information about other bike rentals in Los Angeles County If planning to park in neighborhoods along the route Planning a feeder ride or walk and want to add it to our site? Email us or share it on our Facebook event page CicLAvia provides an opportunity to connect with Angelenos and communities throughout Los Angeles County in an entirely new way CicLAvia works hard to provide a safe and secure environment for all participants you can help make CicLAvia a great event for everyone As consideration for being allowed to participate in a CicLAvia illness (including death) or economic loss suffered as a result of participating in this CicLAvia participants assume all known and unknown risks of participation in CicLAvia CicLAvia lasts from 9am–4pm* (*February and December routes end at 3pm due to Daylight Savings Time) Make sure you return to your point of origin or final destination by 4pm to avoid car traffic when the route reopens Please take the time to review this information if you plan to enjoy CicLAvia with children CicLAvia is not an ideal place to teach a child The Los Angeles Police Department provides a strong security presence at CicLAvia The Korea Daily • LAist • Laemmle Theatres • Street Food Cinema • 88.5, The SoCal Sound The silence of a monastery is not like that of a deep forest or mountaintop; it’s active and thrumming And part of its beauty—what deepens and extends it—is that it belongs to all of us I often feel closer to the people I care for than when they’re in the same room reminded in the sharpest way of why I love them; in silence all the unmet strangers across the property come to feel like friends Coming out one afternoon into the singing stillness looking like she might be from the twenty‑fifth‑floor office in Midtown where my bosses await my essays I wrote you a letter last year to see if you could come speak to my class.” grant from the National Endowment for the Arts—and she teaches down the road now she’s been brought back into silence and a sense of warm community “Do you write while you’re here?” she asks This is the one place in life where I’m happy not to write in any public way.” The point of being here is not to get anything done; only to see what might be worth doing On the cars outside the retreat‑house I read i brake for mushrooms or mortal being or holy book; only by a silence that speaks for some universal intimation “What do you think of this?” an older man asks as we pass one another near a bench and he looks puzzled until he sees what I’m about “There’s nothing to think about other than oak tree and ocean Nothing to smudge the wonder of…” and then I say no more We look out together at the tremble of light across the water “Do you go to the services while you’re there?” asks my Hindu nun friend back at home; she ended up in her convent while looking for the largest empty parking lot in which to protest the Vietnam War “I go to the chapel when no one’s there.” The beauty of the space is that there’s almost nothing there as well Six small windows on either side of the cream‑colored walls their panes painted yellow so light floods gold under the low roof dark rotunda with nothing but a single tiny cross suspended from a majestic skylight through whose cone‑shaped octagonal panels the sun streams down in shafts intimate space is an Orthodox painting of Virgin and Child a picture of three angels gathered around a table at which the last setting awaits a fourth the icons and gold and fussiness of the churches I grew up among; the Japanese man who designed this chapel knew that little was needed but light propelled by a sense of gratitude and duty Out into the foggy morning—no sun above the ridge yet—and joining a handful of others on the three long blond‑wood benches gathered behind eleven chairs in a straight row on either side I watch the men in white robes file in from their enclosure each bowing in turn to the cross hanging in midair then taking his seat on one of the chairs lined up in front of us I hear of the “ungodly” and the “filthy,” of “licking the dust” and “hating those who hate thee.” A metaphor for the struggle within but soon I’m registering which robes look dirty I’m counting the hairs in an elderly monk’s ears I walk swiftly to the heavy door and out to the large hexagonal window that greets all who step out of the church A barely paved road bumping down towards the wide expanse of ocean red earth and squirrels scurrying across the path I’m quickly freed of most of my preconceptions is not someone who wishes to live peacefully and alone; in truth he exists in a communal web of obligations as unyielding as in any workplace He’s unlikely to want to proselytize; those with their eyes closed in prayer seldom have designs on others does not in any case mean closing your eyes so much as opening them all I saw was the large cross on the highway the crucifix above my bed; as soon as I stepped into silence all I registered was ocean and sunlight and gold From Aflame: Learning from Silence by Pico Iyer Created by Grove Atlantic and Electric Literature Masthead About Sign Up For Our Newsletters How to Pitch Lit Hub Privacy Policy Support Lit Hub - Become A Member Lit Hub has always brought you the best of the book world for free—no paywall you'll keep independent book coverage alive and thriving Solar Power World By Kelsey Misbrener | April 23 The national SolSmart program a free technical assistance and solar readiness initiative This award recognizes the City’s leadership in improving access to affordable solar energy at the local level Pico Rivera is the first local government in California’s Gateway Cities region to achieve SolSmart designation “This designation truly reflects our City’s strong commitment to environmental leadership and equity for our community,” said Pico Rivera City Manager Steve Carmona “We’re honored to be a model for cities across California and the nation that are striving to make clean energy more accessible for everyone.” led by the Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC) and the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) recognizes local governments that improve access and streamline permitting for residential and commercial solar installations “I want to extend a heartfelt thank you and congratulations to the city staff who updated the website worked to adopt automated solar permitting and the many other things that went into this Gold designation…These changes — some small all impactful — make a real difference in lowering costs and making it easier to deploy solar in Pico Rivera,” said Leslie Graham Graham awarded city staff their SolSmart Gold plaque in person to celebrate their achievement The City’s Power Choice program offered through Pico Rivera Innovative Municipal Energy (PRIME) played a significant role in the achievement of its Gold status Power Choice offers Pico Rivera residents and businesses access to solar energy and battery storage systems with no upfront cost and no credit check required Participants enjoy long-term bill savings and benefit from emergency backup power during outages via battery storage systems installed at their homes This program is opening up access for people who would otherwise be unable to install solar energy “Power Choice is a game-changer for our community,” Carmona said “It is helping residents take control of their energy use and gain peace of mind without the barriers that have kept so many from going solar in the past.” are taking advantage of SolSmart’s free technical assistance Virgin Islands have earned SolSmart designation Kelsey Misbrener is currently managing editor of Solar Power World and has been reporting on policy Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value" Copyright © 2025 WTWH Media LLC. All Rights Reserved. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of WTWH Media Privacy Policy | RSS Learn how to describe the purpose of the image (opens in a new tab) Leave empty if the image is purely decorative We're working on a visual shortcode editor until then please follow these instructions Email us to support@plugin.builders for any problems Newly Signed Featherweight Aaron Pico Speaks To UFC.com About Joining The Promotion And What He Anticipates From Stepping Into The Octagon For The First Time but over the years the population has become increasingly Orthodox and Orthodox Jews typically vote more Republican Your article cites “a strong Republican canvassing effort” as a reason for Pico-Robertson backing President-elect Donald Trump While I was not the target of these Republican efforts it appears that tying in Trump with a tough-on-crime district attorney candidate really helped in an area concerned with safety Orthodox Jews are heavily interested in Israel and Republicans pointed out that when he was president Not mentioned is that Trump did this not because his heart ached for Israel but because it was a gimme for the late Jewish billionaire Sheldon Adelson’s support If it’s extremely rare for a woman to be a rabbi how can a woman be president of the United States I am certain that the pro-Trump “information” did not mention that the MAGA base stands for a white Subscribe for unlimited access Site Map Experts explain how manufacturers should interpret these and what their limitations are a Norstella company Pharma Intelligence UK Limited is a company registered in England and Wales with company number 13787459 whose registered Share on FacebookShare on X (formerly Twitter)Share on PinterestShare on LinkedInMENDON, Vt. (WCAX) - Pico Mountain in Mendon is bidding farewell to its oldest chairlift The bunny hill chair will be replaced by a magic carpet-style ski lift, in partnership with Vermont Adaptive Mountain officials say they also plan to put chairs taken off Killington’s Superstar Quad onto Pico’s Golden Express As the mountain replaces its chairlifts, you can buy a piece of Pico history. Click here for details on how you can sign up. Jim and Matt welcome a pair of first-time callers from California as featherweight newcomer Aaron Pico and welterweight veteran Daniel Rodriguez join the show Aaron Pico says he will never fight for the PFL again even if it means sitting out an entire year Pico (13-4) is currently a free agent and has made it clear he wishes to sign with the UFC The 28-year-old is considered one of the top featherweights in the world with nine of his 13 wins coming by knockout One potential hiccup in Pico's move to the UFC is the PFL holds a contractual right to match any offer he receives Pico told ESPN that if the PFL were to exercise that right he would rather sit out an entire year to let it expire before signing a new deal with the promotion then I'm with the PFL and I'll sit out one year," Pico told ESPN [I will never appear under their banner again]." Pico's career is unique in that he signed a developmental contract with Bellator MMA in 2014, three years before he even made his MMA debut. A former standout in amateur wrestling and boxing, Pico's entire MMA career has taken place in Bellator. He came under contract with the PFL when the league purchased Bellator in late 2023 who is from California and fights out of Albuquerque has fought only once since the PFL took over Bellator ownership He claims he has had three canceled fights during that time and has lost trust in the PFL which is why he refuses to accept any deal that keeps him there PFL co-founder Donn Davis said he "loves" Pico and the PFL is simply holding its matching rights but it's standard to make sure that your fighters are fighting three fights [per year]," Pico said The PFL has announced a major change to its format for 2025 moving away from a "regular season" point system to a single elimination tournament we’re not just talking about any debutant from the regional scene— this is Aaron Pico The 28-year-old Bellator star is the UFC’s newest signing and boasts quite the combat sports resume outside the Octagon Pico’s a former Golden Gloves amateur boxing champion and medalist in freestyle wrestling with a 13-4 pro MMA record Pico started wrestling at the age of 4 and laced up his first boxing glove at 10 In 2017, Pico was considered ‘the greatest prospect in MMA history’ before he lost his pro debut in 24 seconds to Zach Freeman Pico bounced back with four first-round knockouts in a row Eight years later, Pico is part of the UFC featherweight division after a split with the PFL. The UFC matchmakers already tried to give Pico the #4-ranked contender Movsar Evloev but to no avail With the UFC looking to throw Pico into the deep end of the pool the blue-chip prospect was asked how soon we could see him fighting for the world title The vacant featherweight belt is up for grabs in the UFC 314 main event between Alexander Volkanovski and Diego Lopes this weekend “I think I could be champion within a year,” Pico said at a UFC Q&A on Friday All of Pico’s fights have come under the Bellator and PFL banners The knockout artist has slept opponents with 7X or 8X more MMA experience than him All but two of Pico’s wins have come inside the distance His Bellator highlight reel one to watch, Pico believes he possesses better boxing skills than UFC Featherweight Champion Ilia Topuria having wrestled from a young age before transitioning into boxing “Ask Freddie Roach,” Pico referenced the legendary boxing coach but I don’t think it’s at my level if I’m just being completely honest…” "I think I can become a champ in a year… Topuria has good hands, but I don't think it's at my level."Aaron Pico is feeling very confident ahead of his UFC Debut! pic.twitter.com/TlwDLZLMgy Ilia Topuria quickly became recognized as one of the UFC’s best boxers, if not the best, for his brutal knockouts of former champions Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway Holloway long-claimed he was the promotion’s best boxer, that is, before the Hawaiian tasted his first KO defeat to Topuria at UFC 308 Topuria and Pico are in separate weight classes now that Topuria has moved up to the lightweight division but who knows Maybe a fight between the two isn’t so far from reality especially if Aaron Pico is who he says he is Unlike Diego Lopes on the Mexican scene, Pico did not defeat any UFC veterans during his time in Bellator. Pico’s last loss is to former UFC fighter Jeremy Kennedy, by shoulder injury, who Patricio Pitbull beat in his final Bellator fight Pico suffered a couple of nasty KO losses early on to his pro career but he bounced back from them like they were nothing Search for People Search by Department UC Santa Barbara earned its highest-ever finish in the William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition placing fifth among 477 universities across North America College of Creative Studies (CCS) student Pico Gilman ’27 led the team with an individual ranking of sixth out of nearly 4,000 competitors surpassing its previous best finish from 1978 one of the most challenging undergraduate mathematics contests tests students’ problem-solving skills through a rigorous six-hour exam organized by CCS and mathematics faculty member Karel Casteels Om Mahesh ’28 and Victor Bernal Ramirez ’27 Their combined results placed UCSB ahead of institutions such as Caltech and Princeton “We are very proud of our top-ranked team and our high-scoring individuals 6 out of nearly 4,000 students,” said Chancellor Henry T “This is a wonderful accomplishment for all of our Putnam Competition participants and an inspiring testament to the vigorous creative and supportive academic environment fostered by our dedicated professors and mentors.” UCSB’s official ranking was determined by the combined scores of its three highest-scoring participants: Gilman (CCS computer science) and Bernal Ramirez (Letters & Science Other strong performances came from Yifan Dai ’27 Yuluo Cheng ’28 and Runze Li ’25 – all CCS mathematics majors “UCSB’s success this year is a testament to their strong mathematical foundation administered by the Mathematical Association of America is one of the most prestigious and challenging mathematics contests at the university level it brings together thousands of students from colleges and universities across the U.S featured two three-hour sessions with six problems each Due to the competition’s extreme difficulty UCSB’s rise from 20th place last year to fifth marks a significant milestone The university’s previous best result was a top-10 finish in 1978 “Math problems and research questions have always fascinated me — I love the process of understanding the inner workings of a problem,” said Gilman and I’m looking forward to taking it again this winter “I’d like to congratulate Victor and Om for placing excellently this year and helping our UCSB team place fifth,” he said “I’d also like to thank Professor Karel Casteels for being my CCS advisor and running the Putnam year in and year out I’d like to thank mathematics Professor Francesc Castella for all the mathematical help he has given me since I came to UCSB through class CCS Dean Timothy Sherwood praised the team’s accomplishment “Congratulations to our students for their outstanding performance in the Putnam Competition — phenomenal work Much appreciation to Karel Casteels for organizing our entry into the competition faculty and staff who help each other find new and creative ways to solve problems.” Chair of the Mathematics Department Björn Birnir thanked the excellent mathematics training the CCS students were receiving in their program taught jointly by top mathematics and CCS faculty: “Congratulations to the students whose mathematical talents shine through their accomplishment in the Putnam Competition.” Santa Barbara is a leading research institution that also provides a comprehensive liberal arts learning experience and staff is characterized by a culture of interdisciplinary collaboration that is responsive to the needs of our multicultural and global society All of this takes place within a living and learning environment like no other as we draw inspiration from the beauty and resources of our extraordinary location at the edge of the Pacific Ocean New frontiers for well-being in Antarctica and isolated spaces Ecologist Joan Dudney studies forest change in a warming world World’s biggest Raspberry Pi cluster is now at UCSB Lithium shows its metal, paving the way for better batteries Privacy | Terms of Use Accessibility | Webmaster Aaron Pico credits Diego Lopes for his toughness Lopes (27-6 MMA, 6-1 UFC) lost a unanimous decision to Alexander Volkanovski (27-5 MMA 14-4 UFC) in their vacant featherweight title fight which headlined Saturday's event at Kaseya Center in Miami "Now that the fight is over with, he just showed that he's very, very tough," Pico told Submission Radio on Lopes but I'll just be very blunt: I think he looked very sloppy but what I took away from it – he's got a granite of a chin Pico admits he initially picked Lopes to win and was surprised with Volkanovski's performance "I was saying before the fight I thought Diego Lopes was going to win But he just proved that age is just a number I got to see him live and study him as best as I can As Pico looks to contend for the UFC title someday the former Bellator standout is still eyeing Brian Ortega for his debut fight – a fight he sees making perfect sense RelatedDiego Lopes releases statement after UFC 314 loss: 'I failed in a few ways' 'What a legend': Fighters react to Alexander Volkanovski's title win over Diego Lopes at UFC 314 Alexander Volkanovski def. Diego Lopes at UFC 314: Best photos For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 314 Picos’s owner Arnaldo Richards transformed a tequila company’s failed promotion into a Houston relic Houston chef Arnaldo Richards had been making margaritas for years using the simple, iconic combination of tequila, lime, and Cointreau. But it wasn’t until after opening his restaurant, Picos in 1984 (then known as Picos Mex-Mex) that the Mexican restaurant became known not only for its iconic margaritas but also for its shakers he says: “It was a tequila company’s failed attempt of combining a bottle of tequila and a shaker.” Richards says there were few tequilas on the market but he noticed tequila company Sauza Conmemorativo was advertising a special offer selling combination packages of tequilas with small plastic shakers at liquor stores — possibly a ploy to encourage people to make margaritas The company’s promotion wasn’t working as planned Nobody knew what the shaker was for,” Richards says He’d incorporate the shakers into a fanciful show for diners pouring the margarita ingredients into the shakers and then bringing them to the table where he’d shake the boozy liquid concoction and pour it into a glass he’d let the diner keep the shaker at the table so they could refill their glasses with the remaining margarita Richards called the company’s representative inquiring how much the packages would cost with and without the shaker Once he learned the price was the same (the tequila company was eager to get rid of the shakers) Richards bought multiple boxes to fuel his shaker margarita plans and later scored hundreds of free shakers stored in Sauza’s Houston warehouse he began sourcing them from liquor stores in Dallas and San Antonio before having custom shakers made for Picos “The ‘shaker margaritas’ became an instant hit,” with diners “We were able to leave the shaker at the table,” which “It was great for people that thought they’d get more margaritas the shaker margarita is still synonymous with Picos Other than the frozen and house margaritas all of the restaurant’s most popular drinks are made in recognizable orange grace nearly every bar seat and table in the dining room I make at least 300 shaker margaritas,” says Victor Gutierrez “A lot of people like how we make it simple and fresh and shake it up.” To heighten the experience the drink is served straight-up in a martini glass making it feel a little fancier (some people call the Picos margarita a “Mexican martini,” he says); diners can take home the cult-favorite shaker for $5 While the shakers are sometimes given a seasonal update with special colors selected for themed events and holidays like Halloween Richards says the margarita recipe has largely stayed the same “I joke that they will go into the Smithsonian,” he says Photo by: Mississippi State AthleticsPico De Guy-o February 24 Pico Kohn standing out early at the top of the Diamond Dawg rotation STARKVILLE – On a cold Friday afternoon at Dudy Noble Field, Pico Kohn brought the heat It was the seventh inning of Mississippi State's series opener against Missouri State this past weekend Kohn was looking to finish off his second start of the year with a flourish The lefty reared back and fired 90-plus miles-per-hour high cheese right past the swinging bat of the Bears' Zack Stewart "I try not get too high or too low," Kohn said of his intense reaction It was a rare public display of passion for Kohn He isn't much for chatting about his work afterwards either as he fulfills his postgame media obligations willingly while at the same time preferring to just go on about his own business if possible Kohn is simply a man who wants to let his actions do his talking his performances are being heard loud and clear "I think it's just confidence and trusting the work that I've put in," Kohn said Kohn is an early standout amongst his fellow Southeastern Conference pitchers As he gets set to toe the rubber again this weekend in Houston Kohn is among the SEC leaders in pretty much every single category of importance He's second in strikeouts with 22 and averaging nearly two punchouts per inning More than 1/3 of those Ks have come with the batter frozen at the dish as eight of Kohn's strikeouts have come with hitters looking Kohn's miniscule 0.79 earned run average is good for eighth in the conference The southpaw is tied for third in innings pitched and is 15th in batting average against as opponents have hit just .135 against him He's tied for first with the fewest walks allowed Kohn hasn't issued a single free pass all year "He's just pounding the zone," MSU head coach Chris Lemonis said of Kohn Kohn credits much of his early success to his pitching coach, saying he's had the best brought out of himself by Justin Parker "I feel like Parker has kind of changed my career," Kohn said and I honestly can't put it into words." but numbers might show that Parker's positive impact should come as no surprise He decreased the amount of team walks by 104 and increased the number of strikeouts by 101 Eight of Parker's pitchers were taken in the 2024 MLB Draft, including first-rounder Jurrangelo Cijntje Five of the State hurlers picked last summer went in the ninth round or higher Long story short: In Parker's short time in Maroon and White he's seemingly proven himself to be a mound magician bringing out the best in every single Bulldog it appears Kohn has elevated his game as well Further removed from an arm injury that cost him all of 2023 and the early portion of 2024 Kohn is blossoming with health restored and talent sharpened through his own work and the tutelage of Parker And the most exciting thing is the best is almost assuredly to come "[Kohn] came back [to MSU this year] for a reason," Lemonis said I think he's the heaviest he's been in his career I think he's mechanically the strongest he's been in his career I think he has an exciting season ahead of him." It’s just about the middle of January and what a start to the year it has already been by its chaotic tumult of weather and world affairs alike must not go too gentle or too soon into the night of the self And it really does help to have books by your side when the world feels like too much or too little or too who-even-knows I’ve selected no less than twenty-seven new ones out today (and one out last Friday) to consider in fiction spanning a truly incredible range of topics and themes so much to be surprised by from well-loved and new names alike I hope these keep you company as the month rolls on let one of these shift the world for you a bit However, that matchup will not take place at this time with Evloev waiting on the result of Alexander Volkanovski vs. Diego Lopes, per Red Fury MMA Pico’s move to the premier promotion was expected following his dramatic PFL departure earlier this year Pico is an exciting knockout artist with a 13-4 record Pico began his MMA career with Bellator back in 2017 having debuted under the bright lights of Madison Square Garden at the age of 20 Pico had all the hype in the world heading into his pro debut Expectation after expectation was put on the credentialed Pico a former Golden Gloves amateur boxing champion and former medalist in freestyle wrestling Bellator promoted Pico to the fullest extent, giving the blue-chip prospect a tough matchup against 8-2 veteran Zach Freeman on a star-studded pay-per-view main card featuring Michael Chandler, Chael Sonnen and Fedor Emelianenko “From everything I’ve seen and heard, Aaron Pico may be the greatest prospect in the history of MMA,” Former Bellator boss Scott Coker told ESPN in 2017 Things didn’t go according to plan at Bellator NYC… Pico was caught coming in and dropped by a massive uppercut counter Freeman would quickly grab ahold of Pico’s neck Pico tried his best to survive from the ground but it was no use He was forced to tap out in his first-ever MMA fight from the Mecca it didn’t take long for Pico to pick himself back up Pico returned later that year to claim his first victory… or should we say Pico went on an absolute tear of first-round knockouts making opponent Justin Linn go limp with a mean left hook for KO #1 Pico’s knockouts are as brutal as they come Aaron Pico’s first five opponents had a combined 63-20 record at the time he fought them Pico has never fought an opponent with a losing record Pico’s constantly tested himself against the best competition Bellator had to offer and was reportedly on the verge of a title fight before leaving the PFL We’ll see how he handles Aaron Pico handles the best in the world in the UFC’s featherweight division The National Weather Service confirmed winds of up to 85 mph as the twister briefly touched down toppling trees and power lines in the neighborhood southeast of downtown L.A NWS dispatched a survey team to the area to assess the damage pattern and officially classify the event."We'd been talking about the potential for tornados in this area for days in advance," said Ariel Cohen of the National Weather Service "We had a line of intense showers that reformed over central and southern Los Angeles County This activity exhibited some weak rotation with it." including a massive tree that crashed near the intersection of Church and Underwood streets Juan Valencia was jolted from sleep when the tree came down outside his family's home."I woke up to a big boom," Valencia said describing how the tree fell directly onto their car crushing the hood and shattering the windshield.The damage assessment showed another tree ripped from the ground and leaning precariously against a house roof no injuries were reported in the aftermath.The tornado coincided with an overnight storm that brought steady rainfall and strong winds across L.A The increased precipitation rates prompted evacuation warnings in several burn zones including neighborhoods near the Palisades and Eaton fires due to potential slides and debris flows NWS confirmed a weak tornado damaged a mobile home park in Oxnard while a more significant tornado struck Montebello in March 2023 a powerful 1983 tornado with winds between 113 and 157 mph caused extensive damage in areas south of downtown L.A. including partially removing the roof of the L.A Convention Center.Cohen noted that certain areas of L.A County are particularly susceptible to these weather events "There is a local maximum of tornado frequencies across the L.A "That entire area has a very localized meteorologically prime set of ingredients that can support the development of weak small tornados We actually have seen them occur with actual frequencies that rival some portions of the Midwest."While Thursday's storm is expected to move eastward forecasters predict continued showers and possible thunderstorms throughout the day across L.A Get the latest news delivered to your inbox daily! Sign up for Los Angeles Magazine’s The Daily Brief below or click here Magazine’s takeaways on five notable topics from President Donald Trump’s first 100 days of his second term consumers are stocking up on household items and bites from THEBlvd and Hinoki & the Bird with luxe amenities and a reasonable price the Hancock Park native revisits his go-to local spots After a 1990 wildfire destroyed his home and possessions The loss led him to a Benedictine monastery where he found comfort and compassion in solitude Your support helps make our show possible and unlocks access to our sponsor-free feed Terry Gross Tonya Mosley Become an NPR sponsor Marina del Rey-based child care tech startup Upwards lands a partnership with Pico Rivera announced a new partnership with the city of Pico Rivera earlier this month that allows child care providers like daycares and preschools to access a suite of technical tools that would automate processing tuition payments attendance tracking and sending updates to parents Upwards was founded in 2017 by Jessica Chang who started her own preschool when she had trouble finding affordable and accessible care for her kid amid long waitlists and high tuition prices The company has raised $43.3 million to date $21 million of which came from a series B funding round last year “We need to be on a mission to solve care for good,” Chang said But building out the administrative and technical capabilities of running a child care center is only half the battle for startups like Upwards which sit in the middle of a complex web of labor shortages and funding pitfalls that have a ripple effect on everyday workers The economics of child care are complex – it is both difficult for parents to afford and yet low wages and stressful working conditions (exacerbated by the labor shortage) are leading preschool workers to quit in droves The result is a shortage of early childhood educational institutions of which experts say are critical to childhood development and a boon to working parents who would otherwise have to miss work due to child care scheduling problems “We realized pretty quickly that we needed to do more and have more stakeholders involved in trying to solve care,” Chang said “This is actually when we pivoted from a B2C (business-to-consumer) marketplace to actually a B2B2C (business-to-business-to-consumer) marketplace we got both employers and the government involved in really spreading the cost of child care among not just families Upwards began partnering with cities and municipalities to bolster local child care providers through its Boost program allowing them to automate administrative tasks access long-term career mentorship to improve retention and ease the burnout that has been plaguing the sector The company has partnered with around 20 municipalities nationwide in an effort to boost the overarching pool of workers in that city we’re also supporting a larger workforce and their ability to go to work because they have child care,” Chang said Upwards doesn’t make money from child care providers that utilize Boost it constructs child care benefit programs for employers who often use it as a strategy to retain employees and makes deals with cities to pay for its services Other venture-backed companies have joined the fray to solve the issue of disappearing and inaccessible early child care a Playa Vista-based scheduling platform for the daycare sector has raised around $16 million to date to help parents who work odd hours find affordable child care when they need it After losing his California home to a wildfire in 1990 writer Pico Iyer went on his first retreat to a Benedictine Hermitage in Big Sur He’s since made more than 100 retreats to the monastery over three decades In his new memoir, “Aflame: Learning From Silence,” Iyer reflects on how spending time in quiet retreat saves him from the noise and distractions of the everyday world and brings him joy Iyer tells Shannon Henry Kleiber of “To T he Be st Of Our Knowledge” how retreats brought him out of his mind and “into his senses.” This transcript has been edited for clarity and length Shannon Henry Kleiber: What keeps bringing you back to this — now you call it — a second home I still find that every time I’m driving along the narrow road to the hermitage I’m fretting about leaving my aging mother behind My bosses can’t get hold of me for 72 hours because there’s no cell phone reception or internet there And I’m just released to the beauty around me It’s as if little Pico and all his plans and fretful thoughts are left down on the highway much has changed in my understanding of the monastery and what I get out of the silence Sometimes I’ve been there when suddenly torrential winter storms have erupted and the rain patters on the roof all night and I can’t see a single light across the hillside It’s really like 40 days and 40 nights in the wilderness And I also remember what I should be doing with my life I think my regular day is so cut up and caught up with a thousand distractions And I’m going from the pharmacy to the bank to the supermarket I never really can have perspective and see what’s important what should I be doing and what is the most important thing to me when all of us had an enforced retreat in lockdown And so much of the news and other things that distract us really fall away. SHK: It seems like a practice that comes back to you I think a practice is a beautiful way to put it I don’t do anything religious when I’m on retreats I write a lot of letters to friends at night which is exactly what I don’t allow myself to do the rest of the time But I think it is my equivalent to the kind of practices that people maintain whether it’s a running practice or a swimming practice or a meditation practice And the other thing that has always hit me from the first day I arrived is that I should stress I’m not a Christian And yet the Benedictine monks who take me and 15 other retreats at a time are so open-hearted they know that belief is much less important than something unnamable within And I think they have confidence that whoever goes will find whatever she needs or whatever is most sustaining to her So there’s no insistence on reading certain texts or attending to services They just have this beautiful faith that divinity will come to us or what we need will come to us in any form. “The surprise was to realize that being alone was only a gateway to learning how to be better with other people.” SHK: I was so interested to hear that it was a Catholic hermitage I grew up Catholic and I used to go on retreats when I was younger They were an opportunity to be with people and then be alone And I did love this opportunity to be alone So I was wondering how you see being alone and loneliness as different when you’re on this retreat. I’m an only child and I’ve chosen to be a writer which means I spend eight hours a day alone at my desk And I think being alone is the opposite of loneliness I’m one of those people who only feels lonely in a crowd I could feel lonely at a cocktail party and I would never feel lonely if I’m just by myself walking down the street or left to amuse myself So as soon as I came to this beautifully solitary place with the most radiant view of the most sparkling coastline I’ve ever seen the surprise was to realize that being alone was only a gateway to learning how to be better with other people the monks in their enclosure are the opposite of alone They’re spending all that time tending to guests like myself and looking after one another I felt companions like birdsong in my garden and the animals going across that fence And then the other beautiful surprise was that when I would take a walk along the monastery road I would sometimes pass one of the other people staying there And if we stopped to talk for two or three minutes I think we would instantly feel like deepest friends Anyone I met there I would trust because at some level they were coming there really for the same reason as I was — in search of silence in search of something they’d lost or misplaced inside themselves in search of whatever beauty they have within them. SHK: It sounds like even though it’s not about religion How does being on retreat at the hermitage deepen your spiritual life? “Where is the life we have lost in living?” And I think most of us — especially as our life and our world gets ever more fast and furious — have this sense that there’s some deeper part of our lives and deeper self that is getting forgotten in the rush And I feel that’s what I recover there it’s almost like being freed from myself and opened up to some much larger self I feel much more a part of some bigger whole which makes me much less scared of things like death And it also makes me reorient myself and think very differently about what is success and what is joy I was an essayist for Time magazine and I had quite an exciting job And I was leading something like the life I might have dreamed of as a little boy “Is that really where your fulfillment comes Or might your fulfillment not come from looking after a family and living much more quietly and enjoying some kind of radiance every day instead of running from activity to activity?” And one of the things that I learned soon after I arrived from the writing of the monks is just that notion that joy is the happiness that doesn’t depend on circumstance which all of us are going to have to endure and face there’s some strength and confidence there that it’s not the end of the world and that there’s some reality larger than this that will sustain you But the more the world speeds up and the more information is flooding in on us I think the more some of us feel this longing to escape from that. I do think of these distractions as not allowing you to think about other things I’m thinking about Pico Iyer as these two different people — one in the real world and one in this wonderful hermitage world How do you come back to your day to day world and merge those two selves? Going there tells me what is real and reminds me that what I see as the real world when I’m caught up in the middle of it may not be the whole story and maybe just the performance Every time I return from a three-day retreat for about one day I’m walking on clouds and I’m radiating joy at everyone I meet I’m back fretting about my income tax return There’s something much deeper that is part of every life and that you can’t afford to forget And it almost puts a frame around my daily life so that I can see everything that’s around it “Isn’t it selfish to leave your loved ones behind and leave all your responsibilities behind for three days or sometimes two weeks?” And I said to her “I think it’s actually the only way I can be a little less selfish.” So as I worry about leaving my aging mother behind whenever I go there I realize it’s only by going there I’ll have anything really joyful and fresh and exciting to share with my mother And she is so delighted that the person who comes back through her front door is is so much more the son she wishes she would always see not racing off downstairs to take care of the next thing on his to do list I sometimes think it’s almost like knowing there’s medicine nearby and as the world gets very difficult and we all go through innumerable challenges just knowing there’s a sanctuary and an almost kind of answer to many of my problems not far away puts everything in perspective. and sometimes we don’t allow ourselves to have time for it or think we deserve it we can’t really do justice to anything else We’re not a great blessing to our friends and family and colleagues I’m well aware that I’m a very fortunate person to be able to afford the time and the money to take three days off it seems to me the best and most important investment I can make My question for myself always is: What can I bring to the ICU All of us at many times in our lives are suddenly going to have to walk into a very difficult life-and-death situation involving ourselves or other people and what is going to help us in that situation So over the time that I’ve been on retreat my 13-year-old daughter was diagnosed with cancer And I remember once I was sitting here in this apartment and I got a call in the middle of the night telling me that my mother had just been rushed into the hospital in California after a major stroke So I flew back and I had to spend 35 days with her in the ICU as she was wavering between life and death my bank account isn’t a huge help in this situation And all the books I’ve written and all the things I’ve accumulated on my resumé are totally beside the point The only thing I could bring to my mother and the only thing that I could think to myself in that difficult situation was probably such clarity and calm as I had gathered mostly by being quiet or especially by being silent And all the time I’d spent rushing around again would be no help in that situation It was just the moments when I’ve touched something deeper than my regular life and I’ve had the sense of the larger picture that would be able to help me and would be able to help my mother And since every one of us is pretty much guaranteed to go through such moments more than once I think that invisible savings account is really one that needs to be attended to And it’s that life and it’s that secret deposit that’s all that we have to draw upon when reality makes a house call. SHK: Do you think that retreat and silence and working on your inner life is preparing you for your own death? And I think once you see something that doesn’t seem constantly to change it makes you much less scared of change and of death every time I go on retreat to that same hermitage And the people who are living there are coming and going And the sea isn’t quite the same sea that I looked at three months ago it represents relative permanence in a world of constant flux I remember actually when my father died and it was a very busy time because I was looking after my mother and taking care of all the practical arrangements I realized the only way I could meet that situation was by driving one morning for hours up to the same hermitage just sitting on a bench overlooking the sea for two hours hearing the birds looking at the ocean that never seemed to move and then drive four hours back And somehow seeing that vision of permanence really helped me to deal with the impermanence of everyday life I suppose I haven’t thought of this before but this is a long-winded way of saying that going on retreat teaches me what’s essential and then trains me to prepare myself for what is the essential stuff of life — such as death which otherwise I would always tell myself I don’t have time to think about in my regular life until suddenly it comes upon me and ambushes me with some sudden drama. Your book is called “Aflame,” and fire plays such an important part in your life especially the burning of your family’s home What does fire have to do with silence and how you create your inner life? PI: I think silence is where we really kindle and keep burning the most important part of ourselves within whether it’s devotion or concern or conscience Not long ago I read that Carl Jung said at one point “The difference between a good life and a bad life is measured by how we walk through the fire.” And insofar as we’re living in a world on fire and the house on fire I think there’s an ever more literal truth to that How do we keep hope alive when there’s so much natural disaster that strips us of all hope We’ve never known as many extreme climate events as are now happening in every corner of the world in every form in the face of wildfires and tsunamis and hurricanes and flash floods we can’t afford to let some flame die within us The best thing we can share with our friends is an understood Any pair of lovers notices they share something when no words are exchanged that is far deeper than anything they could share in conversation Pico Iyer’s Aflame: Learning from Silence opens with a scene that is becoming all too familiar: the loss of his home and all his worldly possessions to wildfire He goes on to describe the death of his father With this abundant calamity you might expect the book to be about suffering but instead it dwells on the sometimes simple sometimes profound joys that can be found in silence and how it can help us navigate life’s trials For 40 years, Iyer has trotted the globe as a travel writer, and over the past 30 he has repeatedly returned to a Benedictine hermitage hidden in the forests of Big Sur where one can ponder the questions of existence in quiet. Aflame was constructed from his notebooks spanning this period and in it he explores the virtues of silence relates the wisdom gleaned over his long friendships with luminaries such as Leonard Cohen and the Dali Lama and delves into the deep insights that can be encountered via periodic solitude Iyer says that his newest offering is a companion piece to his last book which focuses on how we can find paradise in a world of conflict He has previously written about the value of embracing a more tranquil pace in his bestselling The Art of Stillness he continues his interrogation into the search for peace amidst a life of chaos Optimism is only as useful as the realism it’s based on Aflame was collated from your notes spanning many years In part because I’ve never seen the world so divided as it is now and a part of me feels that it’s words and beliefs that cut us in two even as silence—which lies on the far side of them—can sometimes I’ve made more than 100 retreats in this single hermitage because the people I meet there are the most open-minded I’ve met and are most committed to finding the places and feelings we have in common But also because I’ve never seen my friends so despairing as they are now. And every time I travel into this wide-awake silence, I receive a powerful infusion of hope and confidence. Places of quiet will always be valuable in a world of distraction and acceleration but I decided to distill my 33 years of retreats into a small book now because I feel our world is crying out for medicine escaping all the noise to find silence is often something of an investment in terms of both time and money So what value does silence offer in exchange because going on retreat really does feel like the best investment I can make Traveling into silence is a way of replenishing my inner savings account Which in many ways are all I have to draw on when I step into an ICU my mother had a stroke and was rushed into the intensive care unit for 35 days As I was sitting by her bedside and she was teetering between life and death I realized that my resume was no help at all All the books I’d written were of little use The only thing I could draw on to help her—and myself—was whatever I had gathered by sitting quietly noted 600 years ago that if your inner work is strong your interactions with yourself can take care of themselves But if you don’t—and I have sometimes been negligent in this regard—then you’re bankrupt and bereft but it will only be as rich and strong as the life we’ve built beneath and around it What are some of the biggest challenges inherent to a life or even temporary period of silence There are certainly no guarantees when you go on retreat or step into silence if you enter into contemplation with hopes of getting something when I sit in my lonely trailer on the hill the wind shakes the flimsy foundations of the old wooden building I can’t see a single light or sign of human habitation And what can be so merciless and unsettling for me on a three-day stay is a lifelong vocation for a monk or nun surrounded by fears and doubts and frustrations Catholic priest Thomas Keating points out that contemplation can’t get rid of suffering; it simply allows you to see it on a larger canvas To remember that nothing lasts forever and that reality For me the big challenge of going on retreat is that it can be hard to come back to the loud and disorderly world and it asks me how I am going to change my life how can I try to keep some of the graces and blessings of that life alive in the midst of my crowded life and an often divisive world and the question becomes how to live with it You discuss in the book how with so many humans now living where we’re not supposed to The monks choose to keep the Hermitage where they know it is at risk of fire How are we to navigate the tension between existing in the places we love and the growing wildfire and climate danger to those places Monks in my experience are realists; they’re not living in the never-never and they don’t expect life to be easy. As you say, their lives call for them to live in the wilderness often in beautiful remote locations akin to the desert where the first Christian priests lived But they know that puts them out of the reach of medical help and convenience and much else I begin my book by describing how a wildfire wiped out my house and every last thing in it since I was caught inside that fire for three hours out of the reach of firetrucks and helicopters and saved only by a good Samaritan who found himself stuck in exactly the same place including the handwritten notes for my next three books and eight years of writing Because of the nature of insurance policies we had to rebuild our home in the same location and we’ve had to flee approaching fires 10 or 12 times in the rebuilt house Yet I can’t complain about any of this because I know the danger of living in these hills and because fire is an important part of the natural cycle Much of the beautiful landscape around me can’t survive without regular fires And how to keep the fires of conviction and hope alive within ourselves since those whose lives aren’t being upended by fire are at the mercy of hurricanes and tsunamis and floods and typhoons The climate crisis all of humanity is facing is reminding us that humans do not sit at the center of the world and it is stripping us of all our certainties Maybe that’s one reason why I gravitate more and more to a place where I can see and feel how tiny we and our hopes and plans are and where I am taught to learn how to live with uncertainty and with flames literal and metaphorical all around me though my sense is that optimism is only as useful as the realism it’s based on I like the fact that two of the great hope-givers I know—the Dalai Lama and his great late friend Archbishop Desmond Tutu—both stress that they’re not idealists or romantics or even optimists; they’ve lived close enough to suffering and difficulty not to expect life always to be sunny or amenable to their plans But they do believe that our end is not despair and that the arc of the moral universe We’ve all suffered traumas and horrors that to some extent never go away But that doesn’t mean that hope is impossible; it might even mean that it’s necessary There are so many causes for despair right now from warfare to the climate crisis to our mounting divisions to our recent plague But the world has improved in so many ways in my lifetime and often in ways that we quickly take for granted in which I have been involved for 40 years which often involves violence and suffering But today’s technology allows us to live longer and more healthily than ever before there are much greater rights than when I was in high school for many who have long been oppressed and the kids that I meet are much more instinctively global than when I was in college It’s up to us whether we concentrate on what cuts us up or what opens us up unraveled by the very brightest living thinkers You’ve read your 2 free articles this month Access unlimited ad-free stories like this one sign up for the free Nautilus newsletter: science and culture for people who love beautiful writing Introducing a new era in network monitoring for PicoNet™, IntelliVUE seamlessly integrates multiple data sources to provide a unified, multi-layered visualization with advanced performance analytics. Powered by Pico’s industry-leading Corvil Analytics capabilities it equips users with actionable insights to monitor connectivity and performance and quickly address latency-sensitive challenges across their trading infrastructure Designed for both real-time oversight and rapid response IntelliVUE can be easily displayed in Network Operations Centers or accessed for ad-hoc reference This enhanced visibility reduces reliance on external support and streamlines operational efficiency IntelliVUE is now available and accessible through the Pico Client Portal “IntelliVUE delivers unparalleled transparency and proactive alerting for PicoNet empowering our clients with real-time performance metrics and the ability to remediate connectivity issues more quickly,” said Stacie Swanstrom “This solution combines the power of visual simplicity with the depth of Corvil Analytics ensuring clients have the insights they need to stay ahead in today’s competitive trading environment.” IntelliVUE is designed to transform how financial institutions monitor and manage their trading infrastructure empowering users with comprehensive visibility into PicoNet’s network health and providing reliability and readiness for the demands of the modern financial markets Pico is committed to ongoing advancements of IntelliVUE’s features to enhance functionality and address client feedback to meet evolving needs About PicoPico is a leading global provider of technology services for the financial markets community Pico’s technology and services power mission-critical systems for global banks and financial technology service providers Pico provides a best-in-class portfolio of innovative low-latency markets solutions coupled with an agile and expert service delivery model Instant access to financial markets is provided via PicoNet™ a globally comprehensive network platform instrumented natively with Corvil to generate analytics and telemetry Clients choose Pico when they want the freedom to move fast and create an operational edge in the fast-paced world of financial markets To learn more about Pico, please visit https://www.pico.net Media ContactPico Press Office:pr@pico.net A few months after October 7, a giant mural took up residence on the wall that abuts the parking lot of my local grocery store. I never thought I would see Israeli flags in my neighborhood of Birmingham, England, but there they were. On the left of the mural, the artist painted a white strip adorned with two Israeli flags. Of course, this was no depiction of Zionist pride. Between the two flags, in all caps, you can read the words painted in blood red: “ISRAEL GENOCIDE.” To the right of this message is another flag, the same one you see hanging from almost every streetlamp, café, and household window where I live—a Palestinian flag. Several stories high, it takes up most of the wall. But, taking the Jewish Linguistic and Culinary Walking Tour of Pico-Robertson Sunday morning, I quickly discovered that Zionist pride is only one marker of the neighborhood’s loud and proud Jewish community. We began at Factor’s Famous Deli, a landmark restaurant that has graced its current location since 1948. Though traditionally Eastern European Jewish in cuisine, choc-a-bloc with sable and whitefish, matzo ball soup, and hot pastrami, its non-kosher status turned out to be pretty unusual for the neighborhood, where kosher restaurant after kosher restaurant (Persian, Chinese, sushi, milchig, trendy) line Pico Boulevard. We also discovered evidence of the neighborhood’s incredibly diverse Jewish communities. Take the sign still taped to a pole for “Esrog Express,” promising Sukkot sets for “Mehudar Ashkenaz, Sefardi, Israeli, and Moroccan” traditions. Who knew there were so many options?? Electrical boxes have been covered in graffiti, mostly in Hebrew: a thank you to God (“Hashem” unusually spelled out in Hebrew); a map of Israel with the Hebrew words “am Yisrael chai”; a bilingual sign offering the slightly different “love more” in English and “ahavat chinam” [free love] in Hebrew; the Hebrew transliterated “Bitachon” [security] followed by “Trust in G-d”; the line from the Torah, “ve’ahavta le’ra’echa kamocha,” that commands us to love our neighbors as ourselves. Karen Skinazi, Ph.D. is Associate Professor of Literature and Culture and the director of Liberal Arts at the University of Bristol (UK) and the author of “Women of Valor: Orthodox Jewish Troll Fighters, Crime Writers, and Rock Stars in Contemporary Literature and Culture.” We are here today because Jewish fathers and mothers wanted more than happiness from their children. The bipartisan group includes Los Angeles representatives, Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks) and Ted Lieu (D-West LA). Speaking ill of someone once most likely leads to a second time. And hearing gossip, just like the flu, is contagious. But instead they got a tornado Thursday morning that downed trees and damaged several homes. The tornado uprooted multiple trees along its path, sending some crashing into vehicles and homes. A brick wall collapsed in Edgar Reynoso’s backyard, but the rest of his home was relatively untouched by the strong winds. When he looked outside his window around 3:15 a.m., he saw lightning strike across the sky. Then he heard the winds gusting through his street. “It’s my first tornado,” he said looking at his collapsed wall. “It’s my first time living through it and it was ... it was pretty scary.” California A major storm continued to wallop much of Southern California on Thursday morning, bringing evacuation warnings, fears of mudslides and heavy mountain snow. The National Weather Service confirmed a tornado touched down in Pico Rivera early Thursday with wind gusts up to 85 mph. The tornado formed around 3:15 a.m. and traveled roughly a mile. Meteorologist Ariel Cohen with the National Weather Service walked the path of the tornado. The tornado uprooted multiple trees along its path in Pico Rivera, sending some crashing into vehicles and homes. (Ringo Chiu / For The Times) The tornado measured as an EF0, the lowest rating on a scale of 0 to 5 and measured about 80 yards wide. The tornado is on the upper end of the lowest rating of the EF scale, according to Cohen. The damage pattern of the tornado is consistent with “a small, weak, brief tornado,” Cohen said. “While brief, it was still damaging,” Cohen said. Cuba Garcia woke up because he thought somebody was hitting the side of his home. But when he looked at his home’s security camera, he realized that a strong wind had yanked out a metal canopy in his front yard and flipped it onto his roof. “He was stuttering, trying to explain to me what happened,” his mother, Dalia Garcia, said. “It was unlike anything I had ever seen before,” Cuba Garcia said. The home was relatively unscathed, but several tarps and canopies were blown into the family’s backyard. Several hours later, Dalia Garcia walked down the street to ask a crew of city workers if they could help her remove the canopy from her roof. A worker explained that they couldn’t help, because it was a piece of her own property that flew onto the roof. Cuba Garcia said he would probably have to recruit some friends to climb up on the roof with him and break apart the structure, which now resembled an upside down turtle. A meteorologist with the National Weather Service said the Pico Rivera tornado, while brief, “was still damaging.” (Ringo Chiu / For The Times) “Earthquakes we can go through in our daily lives and be fine, but a tornado ... tornadoes are just something totally different,” he said. A large branch fell on top of Jesus Velazquez’s bright orange 1972 El Camino. City workers helped push his car out of the way as they trimmed the pine tree that damaged it. “I’m just glad that we’re safe, but I have to go complain to City Hall about this,” he said. Carlos Aguilar’s dog woke him up when the wind was howling outside. He heard a loud thump and looked out his window to find a 75-foot pine tree had crashed into his yard, narrowly missing his front door. His 2018 Hyundai Elantra was not so lucky and was stuck under the tree for hours Thursday morning. “I’ve never seen anything like this,” Aguilar said. Steve Carmona, Pico Rivera city manager, said there were no injuries reported in the city and the majority of the property damage was focused on Glencannon Drive. “There’s a lot of water saturation and we’re definitely going throughout the area and identifying any trees that may be at risk and removing them,” Carmona said. Andre Garcia watched as city crews cleared downed trees from outside his home on Glencannon Drive. “I pretty much heard loud noises, like it was a train passing by and then there was lightning,” he said. “Honestly, the damage was pretty crazy considering it was a low-grade tornado.” Nathan Solis reports on breaking news with the Fast Break team at the Los Angeles Times California World & Nation (Editor's note: This story was updated with Pico's statement at 7:20 p.m The former Bellator standout Pico (13-4 MMA, 0-0 UFC) has spent recent months campaigning for a full release from the PFL so he could make his way to the octagon. He's now struck a deal, his manager Ali Abdelaziz, of Dominance MMA, confirmed Tuesday with MMA Junkie after an initial report by ESPN I’ve officially signed with the @UFC!" Pico wrote on Instagram "This is more than just a dream come true; it’s the beginning of a new chapter and everyone who has supported me on this journey I’m ready to work harder than ever before to make that a reality." Pico had a decorated resume of accomplishments Accompanying a host of national and international wrestling competition Pico was a golden gloves boxing and PAL champion After the Borics loss, however, Pico turned a corner. He won nine fights out of 10, with the lone loss a shoulder injury suffered against Jeremy Kennedy Pico enters the UFC on a three-fight winning streak consisting of victories over James Gonzalez, Pedro Carvalho, and Corrales. He will look to shake up the 145-pound title picture in his first octagon appearance. It's unknown when his debut will be. The American hasn't competed since the first-round TKO of Corrales in February 2024 and has just two professional bouts in the past two years For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie's event hub for UFC Fight Night 256 The news of Aaron Pico joining the UFC was not lost on prominent featherweights Saturday's UFC 314 features Alexander Volkanovski and Diego Lopes fighting for the vacant divisional title as well as another key matchup at 145 pounds Just days prior to the event, former Bellator standout Pico was confirmed to have signed a contract to join the UFC roster, and told MMA Junkie in his first interview afterward that he is eager to face all the elite in the weight class and hear what they have to say about his signing Rodriguez and Freire all sharing positive reviews about him coming in and Silva event describing him as "a problem" for everyone Check out the video above to hear all the UFC 314 featherweights react to Pico's signing Now signed to UFC, Aaron Pico reveals just how close he came to fighting Movsar Evloev Aaron Pico plays name association game with top UFC featherweights For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie's event hub for UFC 314 A driver crashed into the front of a home in Pico Rivera early Friday NewsChopper4 was over the scene where a silver car had gone through the home's gate The Los Angeles County Fire Department responded to the call just before 6 a.m It appeared the driver may have been traveling northbound on Rosemead Boulevard prior to the crash The home is located near Aero Drive and Rosemead Boulevard Get top local stories in Southern California delivered to you every morning with NBC LA's News Headlines newsletter Tricycle is a nonprofit that depends on reader support Writer Pico Iyer explores how sitting in stillness can train us to care for one another Tricycle is pleased to offer the Tricycle Talks podcast for free. If you would like to support this offering, please consider donating he explores the profound insights that come from silence—and how sitting in stillness can train us to care for one another in a world on fire In this episode of Tricycle Talks, Tricycle’s editor-in-chief, James Shaheen, sits down with Iyer to discuss how silence facilitates letting go of the self why he sees monastic life as the true counterculture and what his time at the hermitage has taught him about learning to love in the midst of loss We’d love to hear your thoughts about our podcast. Write us at feedback@tricycle.org Pico Iyer: If you feel that you’re caught up in a world whose values don’t accord with your own or don’t speak to your deepest longings and intimations I think it’s a very fruitful thing not necessarily to go to this monastery but to go on retreat in some form just to be reoriented and to be reminded of what’s real what is on the far side of the clamor of the moment Pico is a writer and longtime Tricycle contributing editor based in suburban Japan Over the course of the past thirty-three years he has made more than one hundred retreats to a small Benedictine hermitage outside of Big Sur we talk about how silence facilitates letting go of the self why he believes that a monk is at heart the ultimate man of the world so I’m here with prolific writer and longtime Tricycle contributing editor Pico Iyer Pico Iyer: So really nice to see and hear you again James Shaheen: So we’re here to talk about your new book can you tell us a bit about the book and what inspired you to write it one day I was at my family home in the hills of California and I went upstairs and I saw our house was encircled by seventy-foot flames and I was caught in the middle of a forest fire for three hours our home and everything in it had been reduced to ash and so I was left for many months sleeping on a friend’s floor while my mother and I slowly reconstructed our lives another friend came in and he saw me there and he said you can do better than this.” He was a school teacher and he told me that every spring he took his high school students up to a retreat house three and a half hours to the north He said that even the most fidgety 15-year-old Californian boy only had to spend three days in silence and something in him cooled down and opened out to the point where many of his students never wanted to come back into the world what works for a 15-year-old boy is probably ideal for me The one drawback from my point of view was that it turned out that this place was a Benedictine hermitage and I thought I had had all the hymnals and crosses I needed for a lifetime but nonetheless it was a better practical prospect which wasn’t an absence of noise but a presence of something all the agitation and chatter and distraction that had been filling me on the drive up dissolved and I was just in the middle of a radiant world some part of me had been left on the highway below and I was just taking in the sun on the water and the rabbit on my fence and the bells tolling behind me over thirty-three years I’ve stayed with those monks more than a hundred times and quite often these days actually staying with the monks in their enclosure Fire is so prevalent throughout the book it may as well be a character in the book I was wondering if you could read a piece from the book that really captures those fires and the metaphorical fires that emerge in Christian literature Pico Iyer: This is near the beginning of the book I’m sitting in my trailer in a storm but none of us knows when the flames will next flare over the ridge Fire is the true Superior in many a monastery; I think of Merton walking for hours through the darkened corridors of his monastic home to ensure no embers threaten the aging wooden building in which he and his brothers live especially in the furnace room; he looks in on the fuse box never guessing that his own death will come through the kind of fire known as electrocution Yet he also knows that the monk’s first duty is to keep the fires within alight ‘If you so wish,’ observes one of the Desert Fathers whose sayings Merton collects So can you say more about what it means to become aflame I was thinking how it sounds exactly like the Buddha’s Fire Sermon to the word I think that the Buddha says everything is aflame and we all know right now that the whole world is a house on fire but literally because forest fires are taking down more and more of the world When I was caught in that fire in the family home it was the worst fire in Californian history there’s been a worse fire to set a new record I think to be aflame in this sense means to be burning with a sense of purpose and that’s the section I was alluding to from the “Fire Watch” sermon which is at the end of Thomas Merton’s book a monk every night has to make sure that there’s nothing to imperil the building but even more he has to make sure that there’s nothing to imperil his conviction that has to outlast every building one theme is again and again over the thirty-three years during which I’ve been spending time there suddenly a flame will leap over the ridge behind the monastery and most of the monks will have to evacuate at high speed not knowing if they’ll have a home to go back to and not to let the physical fire make them despair which I think for Christian monks and for many of us is the very worst sin especially as there’s more and more despair in the world: How do you keep hope alive and ablaze when there are so many reasons to have no hope although I write a lot about the Catholic monks in this book I had in mind as a cover for this work one of those classic statues of the Buddha encircled by flames How do you remain calm in the midst of tumult And I think so many of my friends in the US are confronting that question right now are addressing it with more urgency than ever you mentioned that you visited the monastery more than a hundred times over the course of the past three decades So could you tell us about this particular monastery and its history so it belongs to the Camaldolese congregation which is the most contemplative order within the Benedictines a mandate or a mission by the Vatican to engage with other faiths Vatican II said that the Church doesn’t reject anything that is true or holy partly because they’re contemplatives and partly because this is what makes them distinct they spend much of their time interacting with others the recent prior would regularly lead workshops at the Tassajara Zen Center across the hills I would see a poster of Jesus in the lotus position which is essentially a Catholic-Hindu ashram So although there’s a priest at the center I’m told that at the entrance to the ashram is that beautiful sentence “We are here to awaken from the illusion of separateness,” which I think is a beautiful sentence for all of us that most of our problems come from assuming we’re separate from everything around us I found out it’s actually from Thich Nhat Hanh The Catholic Hindu ashram is being led by Buddhist wisdom involved working my way through a lot of preconceptions or stereotypes and I think the first and most important was I had always imagined that monks having committed their life to a certain belief would be possessed of the conviction that theirs was the right way and the only way And I quickly saw that the monks I met were the least dogmatic souls I know much less dogmatic than I and most of my friends are It reminded me of all the time I spent with His Holiness just that sense that somebody who’s really deep in a conviction of where he or she stands is most open to every other tradition when I go and stay with my Camaldolese friends in Big Sur and I open the brochure that they put in every retreat room desk “The father of monasticism is the Buddha,” and then quotes from the Rig Veda That’s the spirit I think that they exemplify because I think most of the people on retreat there are probably women and I think a large number are Buddhist or Sufi or nothing at all The monks open their hearts and open their doors to everybody You are free to do anything you want in those three days but you’re not asked to attend those prayers or to read the Bible or anything And I think they’re confident in the knowledge that anybody in silence will find what he or she most needs which is to say maybe the deepest part of herself the part of life and the part of the self that gets lost in the hurry of the everyday and maybe that part in us which has never been wounded there’s some pure space within us that we lose when we’re racing from the bank to the pharmacy and I think we have to put ourselves in a very silent place to recover it after thirty-three years spending time with them I don’t expect ever to become a Christian but I’m still so moved and instructed by their actions One reason that I put so much emphasis in this book on silence is that I feel silence is nondenominational It’s in the space beyond texts and theories I think many of us are cutting up the world with our convictions and our belief we know better or more than everybody else it goes back to when you were asking about fire I was just thinking how Jung said the difference between a good life and a bad life is how we walk through the fire and although that can be assisted by belief and probably is in the case of my monk friends that doesn’t have so much to do with belief as With regard to the silence at the hermitage “It’s as if a lens cap has come off and once the self is gone the world can come flooding in in all its wild immediacy.” So can you say more about this wild immediacy How does silence facilitate this letting go of self as well as the Benedictines at the monastery that’s probably the central description of the retreat experience for me the silence I find in any monastery or convent anywhere in the world is not just the quiet of being on a mountaintop or being in a forest; it’s an active silence that I think has been almost created by years and decades of prayer or meditation You feel it when you get out of your car in a Hindu convent It’s almost like a series of transparent walls that makes the world transparent and dissolves all borders the fact of the matter was that I was out of my head and in the world quickening silence brought me to my senses and I wasn’t fretting about it or fighting against it I was just suddenly noticing the flowers in the garden and the way the light came up over the hills and the sound of the birds behind me One of the things that struck me was that the house where my family had been living was at exactly the same elevation as the monastery If I was tempted to just sit outside in the evening and look at the stars I would remember there are a thousand emails I could be attending to We’re all so subject to distraction now so I think the first blessing of this place is And after I read the sentence that you just invoked the world becomes magnificently real,” which is a better description than I could give I think that’s what all my Buddhist friends know suddenly you’re hearing the wind through the trees You’re seeing the light falling on the ground You’re alive to everything around you And I find I spend much too much time in my head captive to my chatter which is only going to go around in circles and I think that a lot of Buddhist teachings say that as soon as your mind you can be filled with everything around you is likely to be wiser and deeper and more enduring than I am to be free of Pico and to be free of my little plans and agendas and ambitions and really to feel myself filled up with the silence and light and occasionally tolling bells I thought myself at the center of the world Now the world seems to sit at the center of me.” That pretty much captures that “Isn’t it selfish to leave behind your aging mother and abandon your wife and neglect your responsibilities in the world for three days or sometimes longer?” It looks like that but I think it’s the only way I can learn to be a little less selfish there are a thousand reasons not to go: My bosses can’t get in touch with me and I’m missing my friend’s birthday party I realize it’s only by going there that I have anything joyful and fresh to share with all of them So I feel it’s an important investment in that sense The other thing that I was going to say is one of my friends said to me you like being away from other people—you’re a writer you like being by yourself,” and that’s true I want to be away from the kind of a self I am when other people are around Because I always feel that I wear a social self And I want to activate that silent self where I think the best of me resides I’m much too captive to the expectations of society—when I’m sitting in my apartment now there’s a certain face that seems right for that context But I want to find something much deeper than that face and I can only do it not just by being in silence but by being away from the world as a whole And I’m very glad you mentioned the important points that none of this is specific to this place or to this practice I have quite a lot about Leonard Cohen when he was a Zen monk and the Dalai Lama and a very wise Zen abbess I know because none of this is unfamiliar to Buddhists I don’t want to bombard you with quotes but I just ran into a beautiful sentence from Rilke which I think is ever more drowned out in our external world—there’s so much coming in on us now that it’s harder and harder to hear silence or to hear our inner voice—and he said “The inner world is intensified sky deep with the winds of homecoming.” And I love that sense of homecoming because I think all of us know that’s what’s involved when we go on retreat in any form It’s a return to the home that we’ve lost as we’re scurrying from one place to another in our everyday lives meditators are also often accused of navel gazing or of a selfishness of the sort you mentioned But as an example of how silence can actually improve your ability to be in relationship with others you note that when you visited your father in the ICU you realized that the only thing that could sustain him and you would be whatever you’d gathered in stillness So how do silence and stillness help you in these moments of crisis It gives you a certain degree of calm that I might not have otherwise And it gives you a sense of the larger picture that as you said in the quotation about not being at the center of the world we are tiny things in time and space within this much larger picture I’m reminded that whenever somebody comes to the Dalai Lama with a terrible problem but please just see things in a much larger canvas.” It doesn’t necessarily remove the suffering but it allows you perhaps better to understand it and maybe a little to be less fixated on it I think that’s one thing that I can bring to the table when I’m visiting people in need or when I’m in need myself and then I think the other thing that’s very important and every Buddhist who’s meditated knows this too I feel much closer to my loved ones than sometimes when they’re in the same room and as I’m in another corner of the room writing but we’re not necessarily sharing our full beings The beauty of actually stepping away from the world for me is remembering what I care about and then trying to come back into the world to do more justice to the people I love and the things that are most important and this is probably akin to anybody who meditates I just rejoiced in the heaven and the radiance of the solitude the more I see that the solitude is just a gateway to a richer and deeper and more directed sense of compassion I find the opposite of solitude and the opposite of silence because they’re working around the clock to ensure that I and the other guests are comfortable that their lives are all about tending to one another and tending to every guest I had quite understood before how solitude is only a means to the far more important end of serving everybody else I often think back on the fact that I never expected I would get married and it was only by spending two weeks one spring alone in my cell in the monastery that I decided I had to get married it was that time alone that taught me I’m never alone and it was that time alone that told me go back into the world and really try to give yourself to somebody else instead of cocooning yourself within your solitude Put the whole world behind you and forget it Empty yourself out and sit waiting.” So what does it look like to sit as if in paradise That’s the heart of this particular order sitting in your cell as if in paradise is really just a way of saying sitting in yourself as if in paradise.” In other words I think it’s the essential Buddhist truth that you don’t have to go racing around the world to find some paradise It’s here if only you can open your mind to it wake up to the fact that everything you need is here the end of the need to be anywhere other than where you are Merton talks about becoming who you really are which is something that’s actually often a challenge for us because there are so many false or diminished visions of who we could be and I know this won’t be strange to any Buddhist student is just sitting absolutely present to the moment and realizing nothing is needed and this is all the paradise you could ever hope to find monasteries were classically built around a cloister and a garden that was an image of paradise but the Camaldolese dispense even with that because they know that the only paradise that counts and I smile as I say all that because I remember the last time I was a guest on this podcast here and I talked about external paradises and cutting through the illusion and the projection involved in saying paradises in Tahiti or Tibet or wherever it might be and acknowledging that the only place can be right here something really nice that you write is that every day in silence is an incarnation the first thing I do whenever I go to the monastery is take off my watch because I’m no longer living in clock time as the Greeks called it; I’m living in a sacred time that very different calendar based on the moments that really affect you rather than just the passage of the hours And every day there seems to last a thousand hours every day you go through so much if you’re in undistracted quiet by yourself I come to know some of the monks very well and they come to my little trailer and share with me their fears and their frustrations and the reminder that faith isn’t a journey beyond doubt but often it’s a journey into the wilderness and into the midst of doubt I can’t deny that sometimes when I go there it’s raining and there’s a tremendous storm and it’s shaking the fragile foundations of the little wooden building in which I’m sitting and the rain is beating down on the roof all day long and I can’t see any lights It’s a very fearful and a lonely place some of the time you’re in the middle of that storm and there’s nowhere to run and nowhere to hide so that’s a part of the equation too the sky often clears and it’s more radiant than ever before with the shadows and demons within myself that come out I would much rather confront them in the quiet and safety of that silence than when I’m driving along the freeway or when I’m in a crowded room They’re going to be there whatever happens and I’m going to have to live with them and face up to my traumas and my deficiencies wherever I am But there seems the most benign and clement atmosphere in which to confront them it can feel as if you’re glimpsing the hidden architecture of the world So how do you navigate the transition back to everyday life after your retreats at the Hermitage particularly when you stay there for a longer period Pico Iyer: That’s such a good question I would find the spell would work for about a day after and then I’m back in the traffic jam fretting about my tax returns: Why hasn’t that invoice come in address this issue of how to sustain even a fraction of that as well as the memory and the prospect of it in the midst of our daily lives I initially came here to Japan with a hope of living in a temple here but I did come upon this important piece of Zen wisdom that the point is not to sit still in the zendo; it’s to sit still in the middle of the tumultuous world So after I began spending time in the monastery one thing I did was to move to this two-room apartment in the middle of nowhere in Japan I think previously I might’ve thought that’s the opposite of comfortable.” But I had been reminded that luxury is defined not by what you have but by what you don’t need and that a two-room apartment might be much more comfortable than a five bedroom house I started ensuring that I would spend one hour every day just reading a book in quiet and when I come back every day from that hour of reading I can tell I’m a better version of myself I try to give fifteen minutes of every day to Lectio Divina it just means fifteen minutes to something that addresses my soul just something that is looking at essential issues which are so easy to forget with the news blasting in on us And then I do try to go on retreat for at least three days every season I worked out that that’s only 3 percent of my life But if I invested 3 percent of my life in going on retreat it would subtly transform the other 97 percent I found I was more impatient than ever before because I was so missing the paradise I’d found and I was more short-tempered and I would do all kinds of things later I regretted But I think that’s worn away a little over the years how can I try to live in the light of what I’ve learned from the monks and what I’ve seen in silence I remember when the pandemic first broke out and none of us really knew how to respond to this great unknowable the prior from my Catholic monastery sent around a message to all his friends the best cure for anxiety is taking care of others.” That’s such a very simple thing but something I’d forgotten or hadn’t thought about you’re in the middle of a cacophonous world but try to take back into it what you sensed when you were in our community which is that the point of all this is taking care of others and that’s actually how you let go of your needless anxieties and fretting.” So you write about the friendships you develop at the hermitage and the kindness and compassion you witness among the monks Could you tell us more about the community you found in silence How is it that you feel close to people when you’re at the hermitage And how does this help you to care for others I got to know a lot of the monks quite well because they’re there for life They invite guests to come and join them for Sunday lunch and then they invited me as a regular guest to stay with them in their enclosure there’s a very special quality when two people are living in silence What comes out of them comes from the depths Maybe we’d just exchange one sentence but I would live with the sentence that I heard from a monk for many days to come and one sentence can speak more powerfully than fifteen or twenty-one sentences I certainly formed strong bonds with the monks and found that they were much more down to earth than I am they’re watching Monty Python films in their rec room on Sundays and they’re going down to Los Angeles to lead retreats But one of the happy surprises was to see that there are actually women who live on the property helping to look after the retreatants They can’t live in the enclosure where the monks are I met this 96-year-old woman who was living in the cabin right next to the monks who’d got special dispensation to live there with her husband wheeled her up so she could attend their Masses and I quickly saw that because the monks are so busy she was one of the really wise presences in that community because she was giving her whole life to contemplation She lived next to the monastery for thirty-five years in this absolutely silent place was that whenever I met a fellow retreatant along the monastery road sometimes we’d stop and talk for about three minutes and I would feel closer to this stranger than to some of my best friends We were only speaking about essential things I didn’t know what her background was We were freed of all that extraneous clatter and we were just two souls who had sought out silence and we were reflecting on the light above the water but we’re just talking instantly in the most intimate way And I’m sorry to say that in my regular life So part of the beauty was that this became and whomever it was that I interacted with whether the monks or the old woman living next to the monks or just somebody there for two days they were interactions that felt as if they would live in me for life and I quickly felt these are people that I trust and these are kindred spirits because they’ve come all this way to this very remote place in the Californian wilderness to seek out silence So they are joined to me by something that’s right at the heart of us which is drawn to the silence and which is also awakened in the silence and that maybe this was part of the liberation there I could trust everything when I went there because it wasn’t my lowest daily self; it was some intuition that was guiding me something inside me that’s wiser than I am And so even though there are mountain lions prowling around and fires often on the way to encircle the place because I think we’re all trying to come in contact with the purest part of ourselves and there’s a sincerity and sweetness of intention there that clarifies much of what otherwise gets lost I really understand what you say about feeling close to people in silence A sort of closeness develops with fellow retreatants And the interesting thing is that when you leave the retreat and you start talking a lot of that energy that you’ve pulled dissipates with the talking I trust silence much more than any words I could offer and I think one reason I brought out this book now is that I’ve never seen the world so divided as it is now And I think it’s divided because of our talk and our ideas I think on the far side of all that is a silence that we share there can be hostile silences and unpleasant silences a collective silence is when we feel closest to everybody around us and a collective conversation is probably when we feel most cut up and divided That’s why at a funeral or at a sacred moment It’s an invitation to get to the deepest part of you it’s an invitation to form a community that if there are a hundred people observing a moment of silence you feel tremendously close to everyone else you’re dissolved within this larger body of a hundred people and that’s why I think silence is the place we need to get to if we’re ever going to stop quarreling with one another One of the first things I find is every time I drive up there I’m probably conducting an argument with myself on the way maybe an argument with somebody I met two weeks ago the silence of the hermitage purges me of all of that and it introduces me to reality beyond all argument another irony is that often we think of a hermitage as a place where people go to remove themselves from the world yet you say that at heart a monk is an ultimate man of the world that sentence comes from the passage in which I describe His Holiness and anybody listening to this podcast knows part of the great beauty and blessing of this Dalai Lama’s life is he’s not on a mountaintop He’s not sequestered behind the walls of a monastery He’s everywhere where he’s in need He’s like an emergency room physician: He’s in the White House and he’s on the streets of New Delhi Everything he gains through the four or eight hours of meditation he does every day is with a view to extending himself to others that people think of a hermitage as a way to get away from the real world I see it as a way to understand what the real really is I think it’s a penetration of real life rather than an escape from real life because after I started spending time there I began to think that what I do in the day-to-day has an element of masquerade And it’s when I’m there that I touch a truth and a self that feel to me real in the sense of something backstage and enduring and outside our control and our small plans and hopes Eliot a long time ago talked of the life we lose in living and you could say it’s the reality that we lose by being caught up in what we think of as real life “How has it changed you?” I would say it changes my perspective and my sense of priority by making me feel that what I experience there is what’s real and what I need to be in touch with and what I experience in my day-to-day life is something I need to do and that’s how I’ve reaped the fruits of that experience of reality but it’s not something I should take too seriously and it’s not necessarily the whole picture you also say that you’ve come to see monastic life as the true counterculture they’re living on the edge in every way I start the book with the monks more or less in the midst of fire they are two and a half hours by car from the nearest hospital they’re an hour from the nearest post office they’re in the middle of a wilderness That’s what the monastic trade-off is all about they’re living by values very different from those in the world and I find that the values that surround me in my day-to-day life now have more to do with acceleration And they’re living in eternity in some sense in a celebrity culture; they’re trying to be anonymous We live in a culture where we’re constantly hearing about billionaires; they’re giving up everything in the sense of material possessions We live in a culture where people are defining themselves by how many likes they have and whether they’re more popular than other people; they have dissolved their individuality and that’s the last thing they’re thinking about how much they’re liked and how much they can achieve individually Their only thought is how much they can serve the people around them I can’t think of anything further from the culture at large especially as it’s become in recent times and therefore I can’t think of a better antidote to the culture at large If you feel that you’re caught up in a world whose values don’t accord with your own or don’t speak to your deepest longings and intimations and there are retreat houses on every corner of the globe just to be reoriented and to be reminded of what’s real you write that you spend time with monks and nuns because “they’re giving themselves full-time to the essential practices: learning how to love in the midst of loss and how to hope in the face of death.” So how have you learned from their example Pico Iyer: So when I first went to the monastery I went for the practical reasons I described at the beginning but I felt that just the way I take my car into the garage if something’s wrong with it and I take my laptop to the Apple store if I need an expert to fix it I feel monastics are kind of experts in the business of living So I went there to learn a little bit better how to live I was learning a lot about how to love because the practice of solitude is really a means to taking deeper and better care of everyone around you And then I saw that since I was in a community run by elderly men often not in the best of health how can thinking about learning how to die help me to live better And I also began to see that if you can sense something that feels out of time it makes you a little less afraid of death I know Buddhists live with a keen sense of impermanence and even the understanding of impermanence perhaps makes you a little less scared of death as I started actually living with the monks I saw that even harder than learning how to die was learning how to tend to the dying because here are fifteen elderly men in an enclosure they’ve lived together for forty years and they’re getting sick all the time And then they literally have to lead their brothers whom they’ve known every breath for thirty years into the other world or into the last breath and into what looks like oblivion this monastery has been cut off entirely from the world: three times by winter storms he has to be helicoptered out to this faraway hospital and then the prior of the community was driving five hours through the night every single day to tend to his brother who was in bed in the hospital two and a half hours through the dark to get to the hospital and then two and a half hours back “I’m the only family they have.” And again had to make life-and-death decisions about his brothers At one point I quote one of the ailing monks saying that the prior was a very good mother these monks are actually mothers to one another But this is a long and roundabout answer to your question that witnessing all this helped me take some of this wisdom back to my own mother who was entering the last few seasons of her life It made me think more about what I want to do right now And it also did help me with the first two questions I was addressing about how to live because I changed my life in the light of this because that was the door that was opened to me by what I saw how has your proximity to the world of the Hermitage and its defining silence nonetheless changed you Pico Iyer: I think it’s changed me in every fundamental way and more than anything else in my life other than marriage by reminding me of a truth beyond my thoughts and ideas I will say the truth to be found in silence and trying to tell me whatever I’m going through in my life not to lose sight of that deeper reality and also to remind me that the more I’m in touch with that I know where there are certain places that are very quiet and where the sun is coming in or I can just sit quietly reading a book or doing nothing at all I’m going to be much more productive and useful to the people I meet when I get off the plane at the other end I will listen to the kind of music and seek out the kind of art that speaks to me without words and speaks to that part of me that’s beyond words and will nourish me at the core So I think it’s just adjusted all my choices and though I will never convert to a particular doctrine I am convinced that there’s a value in the reality in each one that’s really precious So I think lots of small daily practices that I would never have considered otherwise but has it ever occurred to you or have you ever been tempted to fully enter such a world as the Hermitage because it’s a real longing ,and it’s probably the big question in my life: How come I didn’t I only had to step into one of those places and I felt a profound longing the way some people do when they see a beautiful person or others when they see a very tasty piece of cake and I felt that that was the life that was summoning me very strongly And that’s why when I was 29 and I was leading quite an exciting life in New York city I left it with the hope of living in a temple in Japan I quickly saw that it was a complete romance I had a notion of what a temple in Japan would be which is sitting under the full moon composing haiku the good thing for me was that there was no romance involved It was a necessity and a reality brought about by a forest fire and I backed into it rather than running toward it I think I could have come quite close at times I’m a member of the world of short attention spans and a member of the world where people are shy about making commitments I’ve never made the full commitment to obedience Poverty and chastity I could probably manage So it’s my deficiency because that has always felt like the home that was waiting for me I will say that when I first came to Japan I was too immature to live the monastic life I had in mind that but now we’ve spent thirty-two years in this two-room apartment it’s somewhat close to the monastic life I probably first envisaged but I’m leading it with my wife and with two kids who are out in the world I mentioned in the book how when I first began staying at the Hermitage I would go down to the highway where there’s a payphone and once a week I would call my wife-to-be I could compete with any woman you’re interested in How can I compete with a temple?” She sensed that it was her big rival I actually decided to make a very serious commitment and come and live full-time and support her and her two little kids at that time But now the beauty of it is when I go to the hermitage so we’re sort of hand in hand walking into the monastic life together And the monks are much happier to see her than they are me She’s a breath of fresh air in their community but it’s something that we can share So this is all a long answer again to your question but my imperfect way to try to stay true to certain of the principles I’ve learned from the monks but while leading a married life in the world But I’m still surprised I never became a monk James Shaheen: I was also amused that your wife got the nicer cabin but we take walks together and we have lunch in her nice cabin and I’m so honored that you would invite me to be in this conversation be sure to pick up a copy of Aflame available now James Shaheen: You’ve been listening to Tricycle Talks with Pico Iyer. 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