Windhovering
the writing of Jerry Windley-Daoust
Why are we reading if not in hope that the writer will magnify and dramatize our days, will illuminate and inspire us with wisdom, courage, and the possibility of meaningfulness, and will press upon our minds the deepest mysteries, so that we may feel again their majesty and power?
Annie Dllard
New Words
Americans Need to Stop Fueling Partisan Violence. Here’s How.
Millions of Americans say they could justify violence in the wake of an electoral defeat. To stop a post-election nightmare, we need to act now. Does anyone else wake up at 3 a.m. worrying about the future of democracy in … Read More
Reading Lists
AAA Book Club The AAA Book Club is a men’s book club that has been meeting…well, just about forever, but at least since I joined in 2006. We only read nonfiction. The “AAA” stands for affordable, accessible, and…what? No one … Read More
Maybe Graduation Isn’t All About You
What if graduation rituals celebrate more than individual achievement? My daughter wants nothing to do with her high school graduation: she doesn’t want to wear the cap and gown, she doesn’t want to take graduation pictures, and she definitely doesn’t … Read More
The Healing Power of Old-Fashioned Phone Calls
The humble voice call may just be the premier venue for rich (and healing) conversations. Every Sunday since things shut down for the coronavirus emergency, I have been taking an hour or two to connect with far-off friends and family. … Read More
Spring Harvest
A poem. I have come here to harvest humusfrom the rotten bottom of the compostI left by the apple tree last fall. Raking away the shrouding cover of dry leaves reveals the dark heart of newborn earth. Leaning into the spade, I slice through the … Read More
Real Men Wear Their Babies
I should have known why my toddler daughter and I kept getting sidelong glances from the three tough-looking guys who were fishing at the end of the municipal pier. After all, it’s not every day you see a 6′ 7″ … Read More
If Only the Romans Had Played Basketball
Sunday afternoon in January,and the YMCA is full of boysdrumming brown basketballsagainst the shining floorand launching themin languorous arcsat red-rimmed hoops. The boys run, reach,and leap,throwing themselves skyward:they rise like egretsand land like yearlings,long limbs circling roundto snag spinning ballsfrom … Read More
Winona Ryder’s Super Bowl Ad Missed the “True Winona”
Her ad about my hometown was fun, but she should come back for the annual gathering of Native Americans and locals. Winona Ryder came to my hometown to find herself last month. Actually, she came here to shoot a Super … Read More
A Meditation on Standing Still
Any square foot of Earth is worthmore than all the snow-white Moon;why, this spot on which you standis crowded and crammed with the memoryof seeds and stones, blood and bones, birth and breath, and yes, not a little death;and the footprints of … Read More