I watch CNN because there are no alternate news sources over here.  It usually leaves me feeling a little duped and a lot misled, but as long as I get my daily dose of Sean Hannity’s podcast, there’s a sort of “polar balance” to my news consumption.  Every so often, though, Ted Turner’s cable channel […]

I was having dinner with my good friend Mari Ellen two days ago, and we were talking about a woman whose husband has two weeks to live and who has been writing beautiful blogs despite the impending tragedy.  I mentioned that I didn’t think I’d have strength to project so much serenity in the face […]

I’m an idealist at heart. If I had any control over this planet, teenagers would have a “mute” button, cheesecake would be calorie-free, and garbage would walk itself to the curb. Sadly, if I’ve learned anything in the past week, it’s that my control over circumstances only extends so far. The last days before a […]

It’s a topic I both love and hate to discuss, mostly because it’s so nebulous.  And yet…it’s also powerful and life-altering and sanity-preserving.  Corrie ten Boom said, “Prayer is the slender thread that moves the hand of God,” yet she watched her sister die a horrible death in a concentration camp.  How could she believe […]

A year ago this week, I entered the hospital in Ann Arbor for my tenth (and hopefully final) de-cancering surgery.  I marked the anniversary last weekend by taking a quick, overnight trip to Switzerland with my dear friend, Mari Ellen.  It started out wonderfully—a beautiful autumn day, a charming (and affordable) Bed & Breakfast nestled […]

In my mind, I’m a world-class body builder who can bench press a VW bug.  My biceps are so large my arms can’t hang straight and my six-pack has morphed into a twelve-pack.  That’s how buff I am. All fantasy, of course, but it sure would have come in handy a week ago, when a […]

Change. In most communities, it’s a word that inspires anticipation of adventures to come. Obama supporters made of it their mantra during his presidential campaign and there’s a Korean student at BFA who still screams “We want change!” on occasion—a sort of political Tourette’s syndrome—though he knows nothing of the man or the agenda behind […]

FLAGS UNFURLED There are moments that unequivocally mark the passage of time.  Such a moment happened on Tuesday, as BFA’s new year got underway.  There were ghosts lurking in the corners of every room I entered on that day–ghosts that looked familiar, in a sweet-wistful-happy-sad kind of way. But how could I stay bittersweet for […]

MISSIONS AND DEATH BY APNEA It’s a lazy Sunday afternoon–possibly the last lazy afternoon there will be until Christmas break.  I’ve been marking the moment by multitasking in my favorite way: watching TV (sorta) while surfing the Internet, writing emails and keeping my eyes off the small mounds of un-put-away items that are testaments to […]

THE REASON WHY It was in late June that I received the following note from a whimsical and profound pixie in the girls’ dorm where I work.  It’s taken until now—with my return to BFA imminent—for me to respond to it.  I can’t think of a more appropriate time.  Here’s what Hallie wrote: I’ve been […]