“It’s all been said before,” a charming English professor from my college days commented so often that the words surface each time I remember him. “But you can add your grain of sand," he'd add with a twinkle in his eye. Oh, those grains of sand! Where would our lives be without writers who take … Continue reading Highlights from 2024’s Reading List
"Joy" is a bright, simple word. It tugs on the heart. The mere mention of joy reminds us of a deep lack in our lives. We live without joy more often than we'd like to admit. So I don't have anything against the political planner who came up with the notion of employing "joy" as … Continue reading Joy: God’s Utterly Uncontrollable Glimmer
A weekly current events Jeopardy! competition hooked me on the news when I was a teenager. As all good teachers do in varied ways, my high school American history teacher opened a way of life to his students by helping them develop a positive habit. In his case it was the habit of keeping up … Continue reading Loving Your Neighbor while Reading the Times: A Literary and Theological Contemplation on the News
As summer came to a close this year I found myself reviewing its moments with gratitude for small wonders. There was the little backyard garden my husband coaxed to abundance and the lichens and shimmering insects that caught my eye on mountain hikes. I recalled with affection the pride I felt watching my colleagues who … Continue reading Small People and Places Shine in the Film Look & See: A Portrait of Wendell Berry
...I have had too much Of apple-picking: I am overtired Of the great harvest I myself desired. Poetry wounds and and poetry heals. It lifts the spirit and breaks our hearts. Profound poets offer the gift of contemplation. Transcendent truth slips into the soul through the simple, solid things poets hold before our eyes. Take … Continue reading Poetry’s Penetrating Power in Five Minutes with the Daily Poem
The other day I emailed a letter to each of my senators. The occasion: the recent vacancy on our nation's highest court. I wished to weigh in as a woman who does not identify with pressure groups claiming to speak for all women, and I wanted to do it before the Senate began pondering the person … Continue reading The Extremists We Need Right Now
The only bookstore in the mountain valley where I live closed its doors this spring. We still have some stores that sell books around here, but you know what I mean. As jobs fade, families leave. Businesses fail. And now the bookstore has closed. The Narrow Gauge Newsstand stood on the corner of the main … Continue reading Becoming Rememberers: How Wendell Berry Helps Us Grieve Our Time’s Tragic Tradeoffs
Wendell Berry--poet, novelist, lover of the land--distills life to its essence, teaching us to value the concrete beauty in the natural world and to question our innumerable ways of wasting days that could be filled with wonder. Wrestling with my own abundant speech and strong need for quiet contemplation, I am drawn to Berry's values … Continue reading The Silence: A Poem By Wendell Berry
