Make way for King Tree

Make way for King Tree

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…

Renegade learning

Renegade learning

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…

Getting comfortable

Getting comfortable

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…

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…

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