“Hope is a thing with feathers, that perches on the soul,” she begins, swaying a little and looking down. Her voice gains strength as she reads the familiar words. Another student snaps a few pictures, and in only twelve lines she is done. With a sigh of relief, amid two dozen clapping hands, she sits…
Tag: Learning
Jumping (with Coach Dahlstrom)
I earn my living by writing a daily newspaper column. Each week I am aware that one column is going to be the worst column of the week. I don’t set out to write it; I try my best every day. Still, every week, one column is inferior to the others, sometimes spectacularly so. I…
On Doing Hard Things
And I’m convinced that if the Christian church loses this generation, it will be not because we didn’t entertain them, but because we didn’t dare them… with the truth of the world. And it won’t be because we’d made the Gospel too hard, but because we made it too easy, and we just played games…
Sie Versteht Alles
Kristi, sie versteht alles… I’m seated at a table at the Ochsen, a guesthouse at the end of town, where I’ve just finished my first rehearsal with the Kanderner Frauenchor, or women’s choir. I’ve been invited with the rest of the choir to the 70th birthday party of one of the other singers, so I…
Remembering
We are the Dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie In Flanders fields. Take up our quarrel with the foe: To you from failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high. from “In Flanders Fields,” John McRae, MD This…
Where They’re From
It is approximately the third question we ask each other. Unless we’ve found something interesting in the answers to “What’s your name?” and “What do you do?” we move on to “Where are you from?” It’s the most universal of the first-conversation questions. After a while you just can’t tell if someone should be in…
Time and Space
“Ms. Dahlstrom… can you read my paper?” -Everyone English 11 has a paper due in an hour and a half. Originally, I hadn’t intended that they would turn in their first literary essay at 10:00 PM on a Friday night. It had been Tuesday morning, at the beginning of class. Later, remembering that our department…
This Week, I’ve Learned
One of my hopes for life is to keep learning forever. This week of continuing to grow up seems like an appropriate time to celebrate that I’m learning more now than ever. Here are a few lessons, some serious and other less so, from this week. This Week, I’ve Learned: Recycling is financially profitable in…
The Western Front
“Comrade, I did not want to kill you…. But you were only an idea to me before, an abstraction that lived in my mind and called forth its appropriate response. It was that abstraction I stabbed. But now, for the first time, I see you are a man like me. I thought of your hand-grenades,…
The Canadians
It’s about pace, the First Nations versus the European explorers. Like shopping. If you’re just looking, you might spend ages in the store, trying everything on and deciding if you need it. If you want a white tank top, you go to the store, find the tank tops, pick up the right sized white one,…
The Way Home 