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In my “Welcome Message” I describe how my eye often goes to the line where two different colors meet, such as that familiar ceiling – to – wall intersection.   A friend has since told me that she has a long history of gazing at this particular meeting place, too, and was relieved to learn that she wasn’t alone. From my vantage point as a clergy spouse with virtually no religious upbringing in my youth, I see this kind of one-thing-meets-different-thing … Read More

“Out with the Old, In with the New” is a line we hear often around New Year’s time.  In a way, of course, that’s much easier said than done:  aren’t we all more or less amalgamations of what’s past, what’s present, and what’s still to come? You may grant me the first two easily but hesitate at the third:  none of us can fully predict what is still in front of us, and that is probably for the best.  But … Read More

One day early in our marriage, I came back to our apartment in New Haven and found my husband sitting back in his desk chair, feet up on the desk, with a strange expression on his face.  “What are you doing?”  I asked.  “Waiting for the Eschaton,” he replied.  It was then that I realized I had some adjusting, or a whole lot of catching up, to do. The Eschaton, as many of you no doubt already know and I … Read More

We are just a couple of weeks away from the year 2012, and that means we will be just three years away from 2015 – target date for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (or MDGs).   Established in 2000 at the United Nations by 189 world leaders, the eight goals are: 1)   Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger 2)   Achieve universal primary education 3)   Promote gender equality and empower women 4)   Reduce child mortality 5)   Improve maternal health 6)   Combat … Read More

I spent the day after Thanksgiving, a day that has come to be known as “Black Friday,” at a sports complex with multiple hockey rinks.  Our daughter plays on a team in the New England Girls Hockey League, and this year the state tournament happened earlier than usual.  Through the past half a dozen seasons which stretch from October to March, I have become accustomed to driving to one hockey shrine or another on this holiday weekend.  It might be … Read More

This essay was published on Nov. 18th  as a “First Person” column in Hampshire Life — weekly magazine of the DAILY HAMPSHIRE GAZETTE.   At the end of August, we took our high school senior to visit a couple of Pennsylvania colleges she was curious to see.  Having done this kind of thing before, I was determined that we would expand our trip a little, particularly for the benefit of our unenthusiastic 12-year-old. And so, on the first day, here’s how … Read More