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I held the small boney hand of my aging mother and we both watched the grass beneath our feet as we crossed the lawn. Each step’s rhythm was matched by a slight tightening of her grip on me, her footing more uncertain than her mind; than her whole being. She had become oddly bent, this

“The Good Ship Jesus” brought the first African slaves to the West Indies. The year was 1562. Sir John Hawkins, a deeply religious Christian, captained the vessel. The ship, built in Germany, laid down the first pathway to the new world. The path was a “desire line,” an improvised course from point A to point

  Lyndsay Once, I asked her to become a cat, and before my eyes, furry paws came up, poking. A soft purring floated out of her whiskered face. I scratched her ear and she rolled over and stretched. I asked her to be a banana and, magically her body curved into an arc and a

    A long time ago I copied a quote from an Annie Dillard novel that got stuffed away in an old folder. I found it today and tried to recall what exactly I was thinking and doing when I set it down. Dillard wrote: “No child on earth was ever meant to be ordinary,

What is to be learned from writing a letter? How does this now ancient ritual enrich the heart and mind? I just posted a letter to a friend and came away from the experience with a sense of discovery. The connection through paper, pen and envelope, seems to be elevated by the very materials required

Mathematicians spend a lot of time thinking about time and space. Their thoughts are often abstract and dreamlike. I encounter their ideas and find myself fascinated by concepts like infinity. Why would anyone care about infinity? I’m not sure I do, but imagining it interests me. I find that thinking about ideas impossible to wrap

 Reader Reviews of Everyday Epiphanies By Dick Piazza “Thoughtful, insightful and entertaining, these are words I would use to describe Dick Piazza’s Everyday Epiphanies. Dick has an extraordinary ability to capture the essence of his friends and family and put into words the specific qualities that make them unique. Being able to see beyond the

  When the sun gets behind Little 13th Mountain, the water quiets. Shadows cast by the western slopes cross the lake towards the beach and the boat docks. A line appears drawn carefully in behind the canoes that are still out silently moving in different directions. I watch this from the beach and notice that

Nothing’s perfect. And the Christmas season helps us see the cracks and dusty corners more vividly. The contrast, I suppose, between the heavenly ideal and the normal jumps out at me. This is not such a terrible thing in some ways. After all, the shimmering dream of holiday giving and songsters on busy street corners

Coloring Together Grownups should color pictures after days that press down hard and make them feel like grapes must feel when their shapes are changed to make others happy… Coloring inside the lines takes practice and a smooth,  even hand, and it takes an eye for color; when to use bright, luminous shades and when