Magical Memoir Moments
Beautiful Sentences Contest Winners: Toujours Bon Appetit!
The poet Keats, at the age of twenty-four, penned these immortal words, ‘Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.’ I thought of them often as readers and I struggled with how to evaluate the many different kinds of sentences entered into the contest to find…
Iran? Why Iran?
During the last month Iran has consistently shown up on the top of the list of readers of this blog outside the U.S. I am curious about the 13-20 readers who evidently come here regularly. To my knowledge I have no close friends living in Iran. I would love to hear from some readers in…
Memoir as Potential Social Movement
Last Friday, The Kalamazoo Gazette published an op-ed I wrote. Its conclusion contains the revolutionary idea that if all of us finished the tasks (see below or click link above) we need to accomplish before a “good” death is possible, we would have years to live free of the fear of death and thus could…
Love and Death: Forrest Church's Testimony and a Mini-Memoir
Forrest Church’s voice rings in my head today. I finished his memoir last night, and many of his themes are ones deeply embedded in my own life. His 2008 book, Love & Death: My Journey Through the Valley of the Shadow, published by Beacon Press, focuses on the two big ideas of the title, especially…
Beautiful Sentences: A Different Kind of American Idol Contest
About 200 people visit this website each week–not a great crowd, but one that is slowly growing. Each time I log in to the dashboard to begin writing another post, I get another set of statistics that informs me which post is most popular and what search terms people are using that brings my blog…
Our Neighborhood: A Twenty-First Century Community
The poet Gary Snyder once said, “Find your place on the planet. Dig in, and take responsibility from there.” Stuart and I found a place called Stratford Woods four years ago, dug in (literally) with the first new house in a 22-lot development, and looked for an opportunity to help build community. The picture above…
Let Us Now Praise Famous Women: Cheri and Cherri
Last week was national Administrative Assistants week, and I would like to pay tribute, today, to two of the finest ones I know. This also happens to be the last week I will be working with Cheri Dundon, (pictured on the right) my “partner in crime” for the last 4.5 years. Cheri will retire on…
Contests, Gilchrist, and a Poem: Mini-Memoir
Without the Kalamazoo Gazette Literary Award Competition of 2007, I would not be writing this blog. Each year the announcement of the award kicks me into gear again, and I review what I have written that might fit. The writing itself happens throughout the year, often in 2-3 day retreats at Gilchrist, the Fetzer Institute…
Holding Class Outdoors: A Springtime Mini-Memoir
People often ask me, “What do you miss most about not being a college president anymore?” My answer always is “the students.” Right now students and faculty at Goshen College are frantically preparing for the end of the semester and commencement. But I know what many of them will be doing tomorrow in 70-degree weather. …