Excerpt: Mink River (Bryan Doyle, 2010)

Books / Community / Spirituality

The Nun’s Funeral The old nun’s funeral was held at dawn, in accordance with her specific wish that her life be celebrated as holy…

Can We End Well and Enjoy Coffee, Too?

Community / Creation / Ordinary Life / Safe Place

Dear Friends, Although I’m dedicating this letter to Katy B. who has begun a dangerous journey, please come along, all of you, for none…

Say, “Thank you.”

Community / Hospitality / Ordinary Life / Visual Art

“Choose whatever you like!” We were sitting in the Bustard’s living room looking through a stack of original prints and the artist was making…

Make Me Find Joy

Community / Creation / Ordinary Life / Safe Place

Drought – now there’s a word. Drought. Like California. Like now as I try to write. It’s been like trying to cough up fish…

Gift Couch

Community / Hospitality / Ordinary Life / Safe Place

Camelback couch needs a new look From the moment it was hauled through the front door, I hated that pine-green naugahyde couch. It stank…

Just Mercy (Bryan Stevenson, 2014)

Books / Community

A story of justice and redemption The title I’ve chosen for this review is the subtitle of the book, Just Mercy I am eagerly…

A Very Comfortable Alienation

Community / Hospitality / Maturity and Flourishing

There is a phenomenon slowly spreading over the social landscape that is worth noting. I suspect it’s been around since the moment our first…

Facing Guns and Horror

Community / Pluralistic World / Spirituality

In a thoughtful and pained reflection, “The Inexplicable: Inside the mind of a mass killer,” Norwegian writer Karl Ove Knausgaard tries to comprehend the…

Emergency in the Garage

Community / Ordinary Life

You do not want to begin your day finding a note on the counter that reads “Emergency in garage. Freezer door left open. Everything…

Is Everything Political?

Community / Ordinary Life / Pluralistic World / Spirituality

In Our Only World (2015), Wendell Berry argues that people must be careful to resist the temptation of politicization: the habit of mind that…