Faith & Inspiration |
It’s my 21st Christmas, and I want to cut down the tree myself.
“You’ll get dirty,” Dad says. “And what if it’s too wet to bring
into the…
Education |
Since I wanted to catch hypothermia, I drew the bathwater as cold
as I could. I didn’t want to go to school. The romantic term
hypothermia
promised at least…
Essay |
Gordon’s hair stuck up like hay. His icy eyes moved fast above his
lips, which he rarely opened. There are always a couple students
here at Patrick Henry…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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:
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…
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…
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…
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…
