An early January day in Chicago, filled with warm sunshine. A day in February, with flower shoots poking through the soil. Mid-March and the tree buds are breaking open. The markers of a typical year, transposed in time, signs of a disrupted rhythm. Weather is not climate and history is not destiny, but this sits…
I usually resist the push for New Year’s resolutions because it feels to me like a contrived focus on personal change. Why does January 1st need to be the point when we change our behavior? Why would we be more successful at this time of year than at any other? So I usually don’t make…
It is a habit for many of us – tying the ideas of light and life and those of darkness and death. It seems logical – sunlight provides the heat for the ground to thaw, the energy for plants to grow, and therefore the power for our biological systems. Light means summer and increase and…
This is one of my first attempts at fiction. Please let me know what you think – positive or critical – by commenting below. Sebastian jolted awake from a nightmare, all blood and teeth, hideous laughter and terrified running. "Mommy! Daddy!" he called, but there was no answer. He yelled to them again, but heard…
I looked at the clock. It was 2:25am and I hadn’t slept one minute. I had been laying there for four hours, waiting patiently, hoping to drift off to sleep. But the moment I saw the time, I felt my last ounce of patience curdle into dread. I wasn't going to sleep. The next day…
During the 2006 World Cup, my wife and I experimented with watching soccer. We caught some of the US games on television and got into watching Germany because of my German heritage. We saw them beat Argentina on penalties in the quarterfinals and were disappointed when they lost to Italy in the semis. During the…
The snow arrives early this year, before we are ready. The leaves are still on the trees. They had some time to fall yet, we say. We are not prepared. But if we are honest with ourselves, when have we embraced change? It always comes against our will and wishes, Pushing in where it is…
November 11th is Veterans’ Day, when we recognize the heroism of those brave people who have served in the Armed Forces. The word “hero” comes to us through French and ancient Greek, most likely from a root originally meaning “defender or protector”. In many ways those in the military, along with police officers and firefighters,…
The 2022 election is less than a week away. I know that this fact should make me terribly anxious, but truthfully I’m not feeling it, and I wonder why. Is it the constant rush of news that makes it hard to grasp that the election is, in fact, next week? Is it because I have…
I was riding home from work on the elevated train through the West Side of Chicago. Feeling tired and a little fidgety, I shifted in my seat and my phone fell out of my lap and onto the floor. I bent to pick it up, but another man who was closer said, "I got it,"…
Entwining 