Suprise Me

”And that’s the way it is.” I’ve written about my family dinners as we listened to Lowell Thomas reading the day’s news on our Emerson radio,  and how to my childish sensibility it seemed he was speaking directly to us in the intimacy of our kitchen.   (See Kitchen Radio) Years later on my parents’ black… Read More

I’m not scared, not at all. Of course I’ve never hiked through this particular corner of the city dressed like a hooker. Read More

The silent sentry deceptively contrasts against the cold winter sky. A Minnesota winter is both a threat and a reward.  “The beast is loose and kills tonight…” Two popular songs portray winter with contrary emotions. The Russian band, Krokus, leads into terror: Russian winter, broken hearts/Cold winds in the dark/The beast is loose and kills… Read More

A man would be waiting for us—not always the same man—then off they would go and I would sit with her infant daughter, already fast asleep in her crib.  Read More

Quilting in Angola An extraordinary humanitarian project has been on-going at the Louisiana State Prison for years now. That prison is commonly known as Angola, as that was the name of the slave plantation whose land it now occupies. Louise Kelleher was the co-founder of The Social Justice Quilts Project with Kenya Baleech Alkebu, who… Read More

Years ago, while visiting my sister, one Sunday I went to church with her and her family. I remember the pastor delivering his thoughts about how many times in our lives we are faced with choices. Choices which cause us to make decisions as to what path in life we might choose to take and… Read More

I lost my father, suddenly, more than 27 years ago. I miss him every day; his gentle spirit and home-spun wisdom.  At the time of his death I had a 4 year old and an 8 month old child. I realized there was so much I wanted to ask him, to know about him. He… Read More

Darkness is not "my old friend." Read More

During my 16 months in Chicago in the late ’70s, I lived in a structure known as a “4+1”, as it had parking under the building, then four floors of apartments above, on the north side of Chicago, off of Sheridan near Lake Michigan. The building was H-shaped and I lived all the way at… Read More

One of the most remarkable discoveries of my dive into family history is the connection between my mother and a close friend with a secret (from me) history. Read More