I'm Jon Mitchell. I make words and music.

Everything is ablaze! is my personal blog, and Afterthoughts. is my work blog.

The subject matter of ¡Eia! spans my various interests, which will be well-categorized. Afterthoughts is my candid but professional blog about working in web publishing.

I'm building a new publication called The Daily Portal. I also write for Burning Man and am the editor of Tales From The Playa. I used to be a staff writer at ReadWrite.

The title of Everything is ablaze! comes from the Adittapariyaya Sutta, the Fire Sermon. In this short tale, the Buddha is staying in Gaya with 1,000 fire-worshipping monks. He explains to them that it isn't just fire itself that's holy; EVERYTHING is ablaze with holiness. The Buddha understands the fire worshippers; he teaches them his wisdom in their own language, the language of fire, so that they can understand him, too. Naturally, when the speech is over, everybody is enlightened.

This sutta embodies what I'm all about: communication through common understanding, cutting through the illusory codes of language and ego to reveal that Common Something, that Point which we all miss most of the time.

I took the photograph along the top at Burning Man 2008.

I couldn't have said it better myself.

๛