Candletime is over but it is not yet Advent. We are neither here nor there. Thanksgiving came early this year. Transition is a dirty word around our house lately, as Atticus has been having a hard time getting ready in the mornings before school. I sympathize. I would much rather lounge around in my pajamas […]
Categories: General
I grew up evangelical, but the truth is that I never shared the “good news” with anyone because I live in the south where everybody already knows about Jesus and I was not having very much fun. Growing up in church ushered me into a certain subculture: I went to those concerts and I wore […]
Categories: Books
“Bless Their Hearts” by Richard Newman At Steak ‘n Shake I learned that if you add “Bless their hearts” after their names, you can say whatever you want about them and it’s OK. My son, bless his heart, is an idiot, she said. He rents storage space for his kids’ toys—they’re only one and three […]
“The Bible is full of evidence that God’s attention is indeed fixed on the little things. But this is not because God is a great cosmic cop, eager to catch us in minor transgressions, but simply because God loves us–loves us so much that the divine presence is revealed even in the meaningless workings of […]
Categories: How to save a life
Other than telling Atticus that we were voting for his future, we did not talk to him much about the election. He saw political ads sometimes, and he and I counted signs in the neighborhood. He knows who the president is (Obama!) and the president’s best friend (Joe Biden!), but he was too little to […]
“Release” by Adelaide Crapsey With swift Great sweep of her Magnificent arm my pain Clanged back the doors that shut my soul From life. (You are all fired as my friends for not introducing me to Adelaide Crapsey before. This poem took my breath away.) When I took the Glen Workshop last summer, one of […]
My dad, he was a good man, but this is one thing he told me when I was a little girl: You can run for president, but I won’t vote for you. His reasoning was two-fold: he wasn’t much for voting and he didn’t think a woman should be president. I think he would have […]
Categories: How to save a life
“Everybody” by Marie Sheppard Williams I stood at a bus corner one afternoon, waiting for the #2. An old guy stood waiting too. I stared at him. He caught my stare, grinned, gap-toothed. Will you sign my coat? he said. Held out a pen. He wore a dirty canvas coat that had signatures all over […]
Categories: General
I am celebrating Candletime this year, a made-up period between Halloween and Thanksgiving in which you light candles, dim your lights, and be cozy. I hope you will all be joining me. As we head towards the darkest night of the year, we could all do with a little bit more light. For the first […]
Categories: How to save a life