"Truth is never violent; and the newspaper or magazine or book, the party or the public speech, which makes strong and bitter charges against the other side, we may be sure is, for the moment, calumnious; and, if we steep ourselves in such speaking or reading, the punishment that will come upon us is that we shall become incapable of discerning Truth and shall rejoice in evil speaking.Fanaticism.––This is what happens to people when they become fanatics. It is not that they&nbs ..read more

It could have been me put the thorns in your crownRooted as I am in a violent groundHow many times have I turned your promise downStill you pour out your lovePour out your loveI was a dweller by a dark streamA crying heart hooked on a dark dreamIn my convict soul I saw your love gleamAnd you showed me what you've doneJesus, thank-you joyous SonYou entered a life like ours to give us back our ownYou wanted us like you, as choosers not clonesYou offered up your flesh and death was overthrow ..read more

“God grant me the serenityTo accept the things I cannot change;Courage to change the things I can;And wisdom to know the difference.Living one day at a time;Enjoying one moment at a time;Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;Taking, as He did, this sinful worldAs it is, not as I would have it;Trusting that He will make things rightIf I surrender to His Will;So that I may be reasonably happy in this lifeAnd supremely happy with HimForever and ever in the next.Amen”    ..read more

Please Describe How You Became a Writerby Naomi Shihab NyePossibly I began writing as a refuge from our insulting first grade textbook. Come, Jane, come. Look, Dick, look. Were there ever duller people in the world? You had to tell them to look at things? Why weren’t they looking to begin with ..read more

[...] ..read more

Gathering Chestnuts - 2024 ..read more

"Judas Tree" Image: Dave Anderson ..read more

Photo: Dennis Sullivan, Canadian troops on their way to Juno Beach, June 6, 1944 ..read more

Shake the Dust   Anis Mojgani This is for the fat girls This is for the little brothers This is for the schoolyard wimps and the childhood bullies that tormented them For the former prom queen and for the milk crate ball players For the nighttime cereal eaters And for the retired elderly Walmart store front door greeters Shake the dust This is for the benches and the people sitting upon them For the bus drivers who drive a million broken hymns For the men who have to hold down three jobs simply to hold up their children For the nighttime schoolers And for ..read more

The beginning of the solar eclipse NASA/Aubrey Gemignan Miracles Walt Whitman Why, who makes much of a miracle? As to me I know of nothing else but miracles, Whether I walk the streets of Manhattan, Or dart my sight over the roofs of houses toward the sky, Or wade with naked feet along the beach just in the edge of         the water,      Or stand under trees in the woods,      Or talk by day with any one I love, or sleep in the bed at                 night with any one I love ..read more