We live within circles – the circles of racism, of white supremacy, of domination. And we may not always be clear where within these circles we reside. I condemn the racist actions of a man who walked into a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, and shot down 13 people because of his belief in replacement…
Jimmy glanced over his room for any sign of danger. Seeing none, he flicked off the lights and dove into his bed. At that point, he was in a race against time to pull the covers over his head, tucking them quickly underneath all points of his body. Because he didn’t like the stuffy feeling…
A cacophanal burst of colors arriving first in slow motion, Green pushing through white and brown and gray Joined by tentative flaxen yellow, then accelerating bronze and turquoise, Suddenly ferocious maroon and crimson. The cardinal perches high in the branches of a tree, Proclaiming his insistent message to everyone in the neighborhood: "We were sealed…
During the 40 days of Lent, the season leading up to Easter, many Christians traditionally forswear some vice or temptation. Some people might give up coffee, sugar, or alcohol. Catholics may fast entirely on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday and avoid meat on every Friday of Lent. This year, the First United Church of Oak…
We human beings search for patterns. We look for them in the weather, in the habits of those around us, in the lives of other creatures and in our own. We especially search for patterns in tragedies. We don’t want to believe that horrible events could happen at random to anyone, let alone to us…
I stand in the doorway between two rooms: one dark, one full of light. I know which one calls me, but I cannot pass through. I believe I am ready for the brightness, but is there something I must still do to prepare? March is that doorway, that space in between, neither barren winter nor…
This essay was also published in the local Oak Park newspaper Wednesday Journal. Two recent incidents at Oak Park River Forest High School have caused many parents and community members to react with alarm. Several weeks ago, there was a fight between a group of students in the lunchroom. And this past week, a student…
Recently, I woke from a dream. I was a young man, maybe in my early twenties, hanging out at a restaurant with a group of friends, talking and laughing. The woman who is now my wife was with me, and she was young as well – we are about the same age. In the dream,…
Winter can brutalize. Winter can sensitize. Winter can prioritize. Winter can fill our eyes with stinging tears of loss and regret and sadness. As we tilt away from the sun, a chill fills the air around us And it seems the end of something. But what is the end if not the beginning Of whatever…
I stand in the midst of a snowy wood, heavy flakes falling gently around me. I feel the swirl of a cool breeze against my cheek, and I close my eyes. When I open them, an old man in a black overcoat, long gray beard streaming over his chest, appears before me. He beckons me…
Entwining 