Alot has been written about loneliness. The acute pain that afflicts the heart, or the gut, or perhaps lives in the deep, dark, cobwebbed basement of the soul. People experience this loneliness when they lose a beloved friend, furry companion, a spouse or family member. Or when depression sucks the air out of one's life. … Continue reading Existential loneliness

Suddenly life seems less sure. Less secure. Anguish and outrage runs in our streets like blood. The beginning of 2021 has seen the threats of civil war become real. The obscenity on Twitterfeed and social media alt right has moved once again out into our streets with violence. This time to clash with police in … Continue reading Provisional

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com Between 1998 and 2000, Sue [Monk Kidd] and her daughter Ann travel throughout Greece and France. Sue, coming to grips with aging, caught in a creative vacuum, longing to reconnect with her grown daughter, struggles to enlarge a vision of swarming bees into a novel. Ann, just graduated from college, … Continue reading Traveling with Pomegranates

Friends, even as 2021 dawns, we are in a struggle to bend that moral arc towards justice. Those who see clearly are collectively bending it together. On the front lines of the pandemic, caring for the sick and dying. Teaching children in homes and classrooms. Singing on zoom calls. Comforting the fearful. Sending beautiful words, … Continue reading Hold to the Difficult

Everyday I don my snow boots, my neck gaiter, wool hat with the flaps, boiled wool mittens and puffy down jacket to walk into the Carson National Forest. It is .5 miles from the Shepherds cabin where I am living this winter. At 8,500', tucked among the mountains of Northern New Mexico, the snow flies … Continue reading Tracks