Yesterday was my 80th birthday. Despite the unopened and flagged emails that have piled up since the Texas deep freeze in mid-February and the papers overflowing on my office desk, I gave myself the day off to reflect, remember, to…
Carpe Diem: Seize the day before it’s too late
As is my custom, I poured my first cup of coffee and sat down in my favorite chair to check my emails and my friends’ activities on Facebook and Instagram before settling in with the morning news. To my shock,…
Everything I know about separation of church and state I learned from my mother
I must have been in the third or fourth grade when Mama said to me, “When people want prayer in the schools, they are assuming the person who is praying has the same beliefs they do.” And then she added,…
Getting into the holiday spirit is hard this year
Along with the election next week, I cannot ignore the fact that the darkest, loneliest period of the year begins Sunday with the end of Daylight Savings Time. Before my husband’s death in April 2009, I never paid much attention…
On teaching history, the president has a point, but he goes too far
A few weeks ago, the President made headlines at the National Archives Museum when he denounced the teaching of American history classes as a “left-wing cultural revolution … designed to overthrow the American Revolution” and responsible for everything from tearing…
Where do you go for news you can trust?
Steve Lopez, a columnist for the Los Angeles Times, has been thinking about this question in much the same way as I have. “We are so helplessly, irrevocably divided, it’s time to quit talking about coming together as one and…
Reclaiming joy in widowhood: a conversation with author Ella Prichard
In a book for new widows, author Ella Pritchard describes her experience of grief, recovery and “return to joy” in the months and years following the death of her husband, Lev, after 46 years of marriage.