Thoughts Among Ruins
Thoughts Among Ruins Mr. Thomas Ellen This, Warren, is our trouble now:Not even fools could disavowThree centuries of pietyGrown bare as a cottonwood tree(A timber seldom drawn and sawnAnd chiefly used to hang men on),So face with calm that heritageAnd earn contempt before the age. —Allen Tate It is on the hunt where the martial […]
An Outdoor Lessons & Carols for Advent
Iused to be one of those people who would complain about the Christmas creep, that disgraceful shifting of the beginning of the Yuletide marketing season earlier and earlier into November (or even October!) with each successive year.
Then I had children. And on the day when . . .
From Darkness to Light: Reclaiming Advent
I am a latecomer to the Advent tradition, seeing as the season is at least fifteen hundred years old. My childhood home overflowed with beloved lowercase “t” Christmas traditions — Santa left coal-ridden bootprints on our carpet and occasionally tore his red suit on our fireplace — but none of them hinted at an ancient, cyclical calendar that expanded beyond my mid-80s American sensibilities. We baked cookies, watched our never-miss holiday movies, and attended . . .
Cocktails, Commitments, & Crafting Conversations
Cocktails, Commitments, and Crafting Conversation Mr. Ben Christenson Modern meals, even at restaurants, can be a sad sight. The young kids tap their rubber-encased tablets while the tweens hold their phones under the table and the parents awkwardly attempt to interact or just pull out their own phones in resignation. (In some cases, the parents […]
Paper Routes
Working Hard & Humanely
Paper Routes Working Hard & Humanely Mr. Paul Schweigl My son recently turned seven, which puts him just beyond the halfway point to the age when I expect he will begin giving serious thought to having a job of some kind. I will counsel him to consider the opportunity costs involved with regular employment during […]
Talking to Strangers
Talking to Strangers Dr. Dixie Dillon Lane Premium Subscribers Sorry, this feature is only available for H&F Print Premium subscribers. You can sign up here. (If you are already a Print Premium subscriber, be sure to click the authentication link you were sent by email so this won’t happen again.) When I was a little […]
To Create & To Remember: A Reflection on Moving, Mementos, and the Meaning of Home
To Create & To Remember A Reflection on Moving, Mementos, and the Meaning of Home Mrs. Gina Loehr Black and white floor tiles make me happy. The comforting joy that those contrasting squares conjure in my soul has its roots in my grandmother’s basement. Her subterranean floor also had a shuffleboard court painted on it, […]
Powerless
Powerless Mrs. Carmel Richardson Crack. Crash! Another enormous pine limb fell in my neighbor’s yard, landing atop the project car parked in his driveway. It was coated, from sappy bark to fir-fronded tip, with thick ice, warped and wibbly like an old church’s basement window. The freezing rain had started just before dawn that morning, and continued, […]
Don’t Be a Stranger
On Names & Naming
Don’t Be a Stranger On Names & Naming Mrs. Libby O’Neill No one makes you face your ignorance about the world like a child, whose limited time on earth throws into sharp relief the use you have made of your own time. Years ago, my then three-year-old son and I watched a caterpillar make its […]
The Shovel & the Mountain
The Shovel & the Mountain Mrs. Gina Loehr I was thirty-one years old when I learned how to use a shovel. It’s true. I had moved some snow around on my parents’ driveway when I was young. I had dug a few holes in garden plots to plant some vegetables along the way. But I […]