I've always loved the game of Hidden Pictures: that corner of the Highlights kids' magazine where you stare at two nearly identical pictures and try to spot all the differences between them. Stained glass is a little like that game - there's always more to see than just the picture. There is the picture of... Continue Reading →
Conversation with Myself
"I'm dying," said I. "I know. How far would you go?" said she. "How far would you go to be free?" "Free of the thing that is killing me? Cut it out! Carve and slice, burn and dice, poison it until it disappears. I surrender to the physician's knife and knowledge. In short: do whatever... Continue Reading →
In Praise of Good Gossip
Walking through the high school courtyard on my way to the office one day in spring, I ran into a tree ... so to speak. The sight of a monkey-thorn acacia in full bloom stopped me in my tracks. As I stood transfixed, gaping up at the branches, a colleague came up behind me. "What... Continue Reading →
On Madness and Wasted Lives
At the start of October, a lone sniper opened fire on a crowd in Las Vegas, Nevada. At the beginning of November, a shooter entered a church in Texas and opened fire on the congregation. Both of these happened as I was in the middle of my post-op, healing journey. Though not special in the... Continue Reading →
The Wrong Way to be Right
The two girls could not look at each other anymore. Their faces were flushed and their eyes full of angry tears. One stood facing me with her arms crossed and foot thrust forward. The other stood with slumped shoulders, clutching her elbow and shifting her weight side to side as she looked through the window... Continue Reading →
“On Getting Over Things” (or The Great Healer pt.2)
One of the happy outcomes of my surgery four months ago is that I have rediscovered my voice. This is perhaps to oversimplify a nuanced experience because it's true on many different levels; still, it is also quite literally true. I have always loved to read aloud. Ever since childhood, when my family would read... Continue Reading →
Bliss or Bondage? Thoughts on Ignorance
When you’re new, you don’t KNOW. You don’t know what’s important and what’s incidental; what you have the power to fix yourself, and what you need someone else to fix for you. You don’t just have questions – you have questions about your questions: Who do I ask? Where do I go to find the... Continue Reading →
Life in Limbo
Throw a ball into the air and watch carefully. There is a moment at the top of its arc when it is no longer going up but it is not yet going down. It appears to be - ever so briefly - suspended in midair. Jump hard on a big trampoline and you can feel it... Continue Reading →
“Are there rocks ahead?”
One Sunday evening sometime in February, a couple of friends I had recently met here in London invited me to dinner with a larger group. I sat next to to two people I did not know and we began the standard opening conversation. Hi, my name is ... who are you? Where are you from? What do you... Continue Reading →
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