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Personal Reflection

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July 2016

July 05, 2016

Adam Zagajewski’s Trench Warfare

“Writing poems is a duel / that no one wins…” As I’m reading the poem...

June 2016

June 22, 2016

Psychotherapy, A Love Story

For Jessica Mesman Griffith A creature that hides and “withdraws into its shell,” is preparing...

June 20, 2016

My HIV Test

By Paul Luikart Here’s something I never told my parents: some years ago I got...

June 16, 2016

Pieces of Resistance

We've beat records for rain this year in central Minnesota. The sidewalks are pillowed with...

June 14, 2016

Fifty Shores of Grief

I write this the evening of June 12, 2016, the day forty-nine people died in the...

June 13, 2016

Eden at the Indy 500

I managed to live in Indiana for forty years before visiting the Indianapolis 500. A...

June 09, 2016

The Best Conditions for Work

For William Carlos Williams I work best alone. In an empty house. When I’m ready...

June 08, 2016

The Strength of God’s Gaze

By Laura Bramon The first time I saw her, I made up a story about...

June 07, 2016

A Letter To My Sister

Eve, my sister The one who took the fall Eve, my sister Mother of us...

June 06, 2016

Who’s Your Daddy?

Adoptive parents develop radar for insensitive language and story lines pretty quickly. Wes Anderson’s simplistic...

May 2016

May 26, 2016

Odd Northern Indiana

Route 41 takes you along the coast of Lake Michigan out of Chicago. If you...

May 25, 2016

Impounded by Poetry

By Cathy Warner After one glass of wine, one poetry reading, and two hours, my...

May 24, 2016

Purple Light in Sarajevo

My fellowship liaison, Sevko, drove, and his gaze flicked across teenagers spilling over the sidewalks....

May 19, 2016

The Long Regretful Wait

By Tony Woodlief My mother’s quavering voicemail was right: I hadn’t called in a long...

May 18, 2016

Passing the Possibility of Parenthood

Early one recent morning, I’m still half-asleep. The cat lies curled up between Craig and...

May 17, 2016

Grief and the Weight of Glory

The wind whips through the quilts and sheets on our clothesline, cracking now and then...

May 16, 2016

Fun with Circumcision

Every year, when a specific national obstetrics and gynecology conference (or is it pediatrics?) comes...

May 12, 2016

A Poet Walks Into a Business Networking Event

The poet gives a young woman $15 for admission, squeezes her drink ticket like a...

May 11, 2016

My Prayer Is Not Prayer

My prayer is not prayer, not exactly. It includes words. It may even begin with...

May 10, 2016

Thin Places, Part 2

Continued from yesterday. Read Part 1 here. In the rocky cave-like interior at Newgrange, the...

May 09, 2016

Thin Places, Part 1

A few summers ago, my husband Tom and I were in Dublin for a week,...

May 02, 2016

Love in the Time of Bacteria

Last week, I walked up Dale Street from the train station. It's a perilous walk...

April 2016

April 28, 2016

Praise Bands, Lipstick, and other Futilities of the Faith

By E.D. The drummer in the rock band at my church, bangs on his drum,...

April 25, 2016

The Cave of My Imagination

By Jason K. Friedman Ma’arat Ha-machpelah, the alliterative name sounded as magical to me as...

April 21, 2016

Flying into Fear, Part 2

Read Part 1 here. My fear of flying made every flight I took an exhausting...

April 20, 2016

Flying into Fear, Part 1

Years ago, I worked with a woman who sold her car after a spider's nest...

April 19, 2016

The Wounds of Resurrection

As my husband prepared for an Easter sermon a few weeks ago, our dinnertime conversations...

April 18, 2016

Conference Envy: A Survival Guide

Yesterday I was running around the park in a T-shirt with a birthday party full...

April 14, 2016

There Must Be a Word for This

Now spring has come again, the season that’s best for hope. Post-Lenten promises are fresh...

April 11, 2016

A Strange Season for Inter-Christian Families

American culture, at this late and plural hour, seems to have pretty well normalized the...