Something you really like

Something you really like

Faith & Inspiration |  My grandfather and I gazed into the green M&M’s in the dish on the Thanksgiving counter, feeling happy about their peppermint flavor. As we kept taking…

Worth a smile

Worth a smile

Faith & Inspiration |  Rusty the fawn-colored dog lived in our house, even though she belonged to the next-door neighbor. A squat, top-heavy animal, she squeaked and squealed and…

A painting of Martin Luther in his study

Loving Luther

Faith & Inspiration |  In honor of Reformation Day, I set aside Oct. 31 to meet in an upstairs dorm lounge with root beer, a pudding invention fondly called a “Diet of Worms…

Pressing on

Pressing on

Faith & Inspiration |  I stood yesterday outside the office of my literature professor and academic advisor, Dr. Bonnie Libby, peering through the window. Dr. Libby passed away…

Loves like a hurricane

Loves like a hurricane

Faith & Inspiration |  In July I sat on a New Jersey beach with my best friend Kayla, singing about hurricanes. The ukulele had a broken string, so it was just us and the waves:

From contempt to celebration

From contempt to celebration

Essay |  The other day, Jonathan Rauch’s 2003 Atlantic article “Caring for Your Introvert” hit our dorm room like an asteroid. “Extroverts are so weird!” cried…

Thwarted desire

Thwarted desire

Essay |  On a regular Monday night in my college dorm I begin to tiptoe around, with one toe breaking through my stockings, interviewing everyone I can find. “Tell…

The pleasure-exchange

The pleasure-exchange

Essay |  Last Sunday we had just stopped at a traffic light in Northern Virginia when my father began hooting with laughter from behind the wheel. We knew my father…

If you see something, say something

If you see something, say something

Sexual abuse |  I knew intuitively about sexual abuse long before I knew anything about the details of actual sex. My parents warned me about abuse back when I was still…

The write stuff

The write stuff

Essay |  In a tall wooden room in the Purcellville, Va., train station, 10 writers sit at a table. One, named Jerry, wears an earring and has veins running through his…

String theory

String theory

Faith & Inspiration |  Every morning at 6:30 the red lights of the school bus blinked at the end of our driveway. My sneakers crashed through the neighbor’s yard, breaking the top…

In tune with God

In tune with God

Faith & Inspiration |  Every night before bed I sit on the top bunk and pray, with my pianist roommate Tiffany, that God will send us a piano. Tiffany wants one so she can compose…

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