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Essay

Essay

The Story of Academy

Out in the middle of nowhere, the old white frame building is all that remains of a heart-felt dream that, as an answer to prayer, opened its doors in 1893 to frontier kids who wanted the kind of education not…
Essay

Metamorphosis

My kids caught an obscene number of tadpoles this week. The fattest tadpoles I have ever seen. They look like little green egg yolks -- the very definition of plump (which is a word that sends my boys into gales…
Essay

Delicious Autumn

“Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns.” –George Eliot Autumn has always been my favorite season: I like the weather. I have…
Essay

The Discipline of Specificity

“Be more specific,” I used to tell my writing students. “Don’t say cereal when you could say Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Don’t say your character walked into the room when you could say he sauntered in. Don’t say you were reading…
Essay

A New Language

Once upon a time I lived in the country of Chile for six months. It was quite a long time ago, during my junior year of college. There was a short list of Spanish minor requirements that would be met…
Essay

The Greatest of Songs

I want to take back the Song of Songs. I want to take it back from its designation as “Wedding material.” I want to take it back from sniggering high schoolers. And I want to take it back from the…
Essay

Centered

This past Saturday morning, I attended a workshop at The Colossian Forum's annual conference. The workshop was titled Beyond Good Intentions: The Practices of Calm Presence. The presenter, Trisha Taylor, has been a coach to me and a friend for…