And then…

…there came Oral Interpretation in college. It was there I learned how to translate my own personal experiences into a format that was both safe for me and engaging for others. I began by converting several actual incidents into monologues (the regularly occurring “Don’t be Boring for ten minutes” exercise) and realized that others would…

Lost and found soles

I recently described the process of going back to school as a teacher as one of going from around 30 mph to driving on the Autobahn when all you did was turn a corner. My students return tomorrow…there will be the thumping of backpacks, giggling, hugging, stamping up the stairs, whispers, welcomes, locker clanging, general…

Gertrude meets Shakespeare

A rose is a rose is a rose… and would smell as sweet by any other name. Such is the wonder and glory of a God who brings people together in friendship and shares with them the beauty, the bends, the refracted spectrum of shining mystery alive and pulsing in our world.

Take a Left, then Rise

I wrote this for a friend who earlier today sent me an email that included a wish for a special map. She lost the love of her life tragically a little over a year ago. All day long in moments fleeting I kept coming back to the idea of cartography and internal geography…I knew I…

Lineage

Three weeks ago, I received a letter from my father. Two weeks ago, I received another letter from him. Two days ago, a third note arrived. The content is not what is important…more so, my reaction. Sometimes at a certain age or time people stop, look in the mirror, and with shudders of recognition pronounce…

Agreeing with Gertrude

Please enjoy…I received them this afternoon. They are on the dining room table at the moment and are simply too lovely not to share. There is a blush on the petals that can not be seen here…it might be peach, it might be pink, and I rather like the fact that I can’t quite tell……

Que te disfrutes…That you may enjoy

I have just returned from spending two days in the apartment of a friend who is on retreat. Her apartment is on the 27th floor of the building and has one large window facing more or less west and one on large window facing more or less east. The bed where I slept was along…

Next Best Thing

I am a big fan of dip pens and ink. I love the process of cleaning the nib, finding the best color ink for the words to be penned, and baptizing the tip with chromatic potential. It is the next best thing to being able to head to a scriptorium myself and illumine the Word….

A friend

“I count myself in nothing else so happy As in a soul remembering my good friends.”Shakespeare, Richard II I was talking to a friend this afternoon, a former colleague whom I have known now for ten years. He has been through some significant change in the last little while and I wanted to check in…

A Great Meal

I just finished an exceedingly satisfying meal and am sitting here at the computer listening to Eva Cassidy, drinking a mug of decaf, and feeling mellow, full, and thoughtful. Baked chicken, so tender, coated in breadcrumbs laced with hints of pepper, salt, a kiss of Tony Cachere’s, a little parsely. Zucchini sauteed in olive oil…