When is an exploration of the personal exploitative? When is it clear? Joan Didion wields outsized influence even now, several years after her death. Her most recent book, Notes to John, her husband, was just published. The book details the conversations … Read More
Maybe you won’t know your happiness until old age Ocean Vuong’s interview was searing. His words were skinless. His answers to the interviewer’s questions were as if he had wrestled an angel or two to get them, and maybe he … Read More
Someone to watch over me The dogwoods are in bloom, the trees covered in pink and white blossoms, the discs of flower faces, simple petals turned towards the sun. By lunchtime, the sidewalk cafes are filling, patrons turning towards the … Read More
From despair to contemplation to small actions “You have a small United Nations here,” a patient said approvingly when I worked at the University of Minnesota Medical Center. The hospital is located close to a neighborhood of the African immigrant … Read More
If your narrator is ahead of you, warning you, is that anxiety? Temple Grandin’s book on Animals in Translation first exposed me to visual thinking. I am verbal and can use vocabulary as a weapon when I am angry. We can use … Read More
March 14 was Holi, the Hindi Festival of Colors Chihuly’s worldwide art glass installations stun the viewer. The size of the works is a part, as is the array of colors, transparency, and translucence. I thought Dale Chihuly blew glass, … Read More
The first silver threads were at ear level, like the distinguished silver linings of Mitt Romney’s sideburns. My hairdresser explained that gray hair has a different texture, so my blonde bob developed wings as the wisdom hair stuck out beneath … Read More
Three days of story-telling and singing Alaskan fishermen—and in greater numbers, women—may move to rainy, stormy Oregon to winter. Like Army veterans, their stories are of boredom interrupted by death-defying events, whether from the weather, the catch, or the madness … Read More
How volunteering for Jesuit Volunteer Encorps gives me meaning in retirement My cohorts at Jesuit Volunteer Encorps are part of why I didn’t go to bed and pull the covers over my head for the month of January. JVE is … Read More
The Masada Cafe at the House of Prayer for All People “The best oxtails I’ve ever had,” my friend said when he took me to The Masada Cafe at the United House of Prayer for All People in Savannah. The simple church-based cafeteria offered … Read More