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Select a Month October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 February 2008

September 2018

September 05, 2018

Tahlequah’s Grief

On July 24, an orca calf died off the coast of British Columbia within thirty...

August 2018

August 21, 2018

Meditations of a Library Assistant in the BS Aisle

As I shuffle through the stacks pushing my cart of books along, awkwardly favoring one...

June 2018

June 27, 2018

The Summer I Wasn’t Attacked By a Shark

Jaws is released the summer I turn fourteen, and my friends and I spend every...

May 2018

May 25, 2018

Poetry Friday: “Post-Miracle”

Ashley Wong’s poem “Post-Miracle” begins with empathy for the hard-hearted: “I understand now how the...

March 2018

March 15, 2018

Haunted by Phantom Limbs

One such patient, under my care, describes how he must “wake up” his phantom in...

January 2018

January 24, 2018

The Shore after the Storm

The sun rises over the ocean where I live, two miles from the Atlantic. You...

September 2017

September 29, 2017

Poetry Friday: “Underwhelmed”

Put on your hiking books and grab your compass, magnifying glass, and shovel: this poem...

August 2017

August 23, 2017

The Sweetness These Days

On the phone, he says, Your mother throws me over her shoulder and carries...

August 15, 2017

Miscarriage

Guest Post One of the first official symptoms of pregnancy is an out of character...

August 01, 2017

Our Lady of Czestochowa

Before a metastasizing cancer had fully whittled away her quality of life, my mother left...

July 2017

July 13, 2017

The Beautiful Boy

It’s barely even summer and already, in our house it is the Summer of the...

June 2017

June 02, 2017

Poetry Friday: “June Prayer”

How to pray for someone bent over by grief when nature is stretching upward in...

May 2017

May 30, 2017

Preaching the End of the World

For my husband, Brian Jarboe I learned the news that guitarist Chris Cornell’s death had...

April 2017

April 21, 2017

Poetry Friday: “Sewing Box”

We don’t think enough—or at least I don’t—about how objects can contain memory. But Murray...

April 06, 2017

Muddy River

By Jen Pollock Michel. It was the summer of Leiby Kletzy, the eight-year-old Hasidic boy...

March 2017

March 28, 2017

Mysteries Sherlock Holmes Can’t Solve

“No, you should definitely major in English,” I told our babysitter, a high-school senior from...

March 22, 2017

The Landscape of Grief

Grief is like a long valley, a winding valley where any bend may reveal a...

March 10, 2017

Poetry Friday: “Grief Daybook: A Love Supreme”

It’s fairly common for a poem to be inspired by (or be in conversation with)...

February 2017

February 16, 2017

Epiphany in the Memory Unit

By Cameron Dezen Hammon. The priest’s wife handed me her half full can of beer....

February 07, 2017

The Song of the Desert

“The Word of God which is his comfort is also his distress. The liturgy, which...

January 2017

January 24, 2017

Kenneth Lonergan’s Manchester by the Sea

It’s impossible to speak of Kenneth Lonergan’s film Manchester by the Sea without alluding to...

January 09, 2017

Hea i ka Haku

By Marlene Muller On day two we fired the harpist. “The music is really very...

December 2016

December 19, 2016

I Miss Gwen Ifill

For Kate Keplinger It is the blight man was born for It is Margaret that...

December 13, 2016

Keeping Vigil

By Suzanne M. Wolfe These are dark times. Here in the northern hemisphere the sun...

December 05, 2016

The Nightingale Floors

In Kyoto, Japan, seventeenth-century Nijo Castle contains an architectural feature meant to protect the ruling...

November 2016

November 29, 2016

A Farmer’s Lament

Last weekend, I cooked lunch for three farmers. One of them was my husband. The...

November 21, 2016

Listening to Beautiful Darkness

Waking from the Nightmare A little girl awakens in an autumn wood. She stands, looks...

November 10, 2016

The Final Roll Call

As a little girl, I remember watching the grownups in my hometown Episcopal church cross...

September 2016

September 23, 2016

Poetry Friday: “Visitation Rights” by Jeffrey Harrison

I sometimes talk to friends who have died. Especially to friends who acted as spiritual...

June 2016

June 10, 2016

Poetry Friday: “Quantum Theory” by Victoria Kelly

A friend said to me once, if time were flat, if everything were always happening...