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Select a Category A. G. Harmon Alissa Wilkinson Allison Backous Art Authors Brad Fruhauff Bradford Winters Bryan Bliss Caroline Langston Chad Thomas Johnston Chris Hoke Christiana N. Peterson Culture D.G. Myers D.L. Mayfield Daniel Bowman Jr. David Griffith Elizabeth Duffy Faith Film Greg Wolfe Guest Contributor Interview Jan Vallone Jeffrey Overstreet Jessica Eddings-Roeser Jessica Mesman Griffith Kelly Foster Lindsey Crittenden Morgan Meis music Natalie Vestin Nick Olson Peggy Rosenthal Personal Reflection Poetry Friday Reflection Relationships Review Richard Chess Richard Cole Sara Zarr Shannon Huffman Polson Sonya Bilocerkowycz Tania Runyan Tony Woodlief Topical Categories Uncategorized Vic Sizemore Writing

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 04, 2018

At the Table

1. The temptation is there. Every time my daughter rubs her elbow against it, the...

January 2018

January 19, 2018

Poetry Friday: “Sometimes I Am Permitted”

On my first reading of this poem, I felt disoriented by all the non sequiturs,...

September 2017

September 26, 2017

Painting Brings the Ancestors Around

On a November evening last year, I walked to my rosemaling class and sat around...

September 19, 2017

The Spirit’s Indwelling

Beside me this morning is a child at the breakfast table vigorously chewing a Fuji...

August 2017

August 24, 2017

Global Neighbors

This post originally appeared in Good Letters on October 20, 2011 In the last few...

August 02, 2017

Rules for the Male Gaze

Once, in high school, a guy in the trombone section brought a Playboy to band...

June 2017

June 30, 2017

Poetry Friday: “The Fawn”

Narrative poetry has its special challenge: how does it differentiate itself from prose? David Mason’s...

May 2017

May 09, 2017

Disturbing the Silence: Part 2

Flocking to rural life and simple living can be just as much an attempt to...

May 02, 2017

Endurance Test

By Matt Newcomb. My father held the wall to work his way from the bed...

April 2017

April 18, 2017

Finding My Sister in Young Adult Novels

Lately all I want to read are young adult novels about sisters. Young adult (YA)...

April 11, 2017

Take, Eat

By Sneha Abraham. I clutch the edge of the cracked leather seat and close my...

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 30, 2017

Share If You Agree

I have had it with the rage. It might drive me off social media. At...

February 2017

February 14, 2017

Weddings, Women, Sweets, and Wishes

My heirloom cookbook was born during a Washington D.C. snowstorm in February of what was...

February 08, 2017

Literacy Class: Learning the Language of Love

By D.L. Mayfield. This past week, I taught my last English class for quite some...

January 2017

January 30, 2017

The Next Abraham

A few days ago, I was blessed to be present at my grandson Abraham’s bris,...

January 23, 2017

The World at Midday

I spent Christmas Eve with my mom last month for the first time in years....

January 16, 2017

Martin, Everett, and Me

I am writing this essay on the fortieth anniversary of my father’s death, so my...

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...

November 2016

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 15, 2016

Unfriending, Impractical Jokes, and Other Foibles

If I were to graph my mental health over the past five years, the line...

July 2016

July 15, 2016

Poetry Friday: “I Am Poured Out Like Water”

What attracts me to this poem is something deliberately absent yet evocatively present: baptism in...

June 2016

June 16, 2016

Pieces of Resistance

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

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 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...