It is terribly true, even if the truth does not comfort, that if you look at the moon for long enough night after night, as I have, you will see that the old cartoons are correct, that the moon is, in fact, laughing. But it is not laughing at us, we lonely humans, who are…
Having come so close to losing everything, I am freed now of all fear, hesitation, and timidity, and, once revived, intend to devoutly wander the earth, imbibing, smelling, sampling, loving whomever I please; touching, tasting, standing very still among the beautiful things of this world, such, for example: a sleeping dog dream-kicking in a tree-shade…
Time is slipping away from me, running through my fingers like sand while I...do what? Clean floors, wash clothes, make dinner, wash up, go shopping, play with the children in the play areas, bring them home, undress them, bathe them, look after them until it is bedtime, tuck them in, hang some clothes to dry,…
Deep in her soul, however, she was waiting for something to happen. Like a sailor in distress, she would gaze out over the solitude of her life with desperate eyes, seeking some white sail in the mists of the far-off horizon. She did not know what this chance event would be, what wind would drive…
Happy Easter, Passover and soon-to-be Easter (Balkans and Slavs, I'm talking to you)! There are so many things to love right now about spring: sunshine and flowers, all the strawberries and asparagus (that is, if you're currently in California) that you could ever want and, most wonderful of all, that hopeful and energetic feeling that…
It may be that when we no longer know what to do, we have come to our real work, and when we no longer know which way to go, we have begun our real journey. The mind that is not baffled is not employed. The impeded stream is the one that sings. -Wendell Berry When…
While the world at large seems as unstable as ever, in my little microcosm, life has been relatively calm these past few weeks. In part, this is because I found out shortly after spring break that I received the grant that I had applied for, which will allow me to finish my dissertation in the…
If it is your nature to be happyyou will swim away along the soft trailsfor hours, your imagination alighting everywhere. And if you spiritcarries within itthe thorn that is heavier than lead-if it's all you can do to keep on trudging...-Mary Oliver ("Morning Poem")Spring break came and went like the blink of an eye. I had all of these…
After a semester of grading, more grading and endless office hours, only one more 8 a.m. class stands between me and freedom (or, as I refer to it in my mind, time to write my dissertation). An even more comforting thought is that this is probably the last time I'll ever teach this course--especially at…
"What made Madeleine sit up in bed was something closer to the reason she read books in the first place and had always loved them. Here was a sign that she wasn't alone. Here was an articulation of what she had been so far mutely feeling. In bed on a Friday night, wearing sweatpants, her…
Dining with Dostoevsky 