Christians compassionate toward migrants and refugees can prevent or de-escalate heated arguments during holiday gatherings by developing empathy for disagreeable relatives and staying out of lecture mode, an immigrant advocate and former college debate coach advises. “Your loved ones did…
I didn’t have to be here and other existential truths
The cool cat, bird dog, James Dean wanna-be posing behind my mother thinks he has it made in the shade. The photo is dated “Mar 1954.” My mom first wrote “My boyfriend and I” on the back, but then, a…
Tucker Carlson, ‘equal opportunity bigot’
Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg and his husband, author Chasten Buttigieg, married in 2018 and have been wanting to become parents for a while. The excitement and joy they felt as they anticipated becoming parents were similar to what other…
‘Leave that boy alone; he’s at Grandaddy’s house!’
At 3 a.m. in the dark of the morning of June 14, 1954, William Emmitt Newell, my grandfather, stirred from his usual sound sleep. “Is it time to go to church, Momma?” he asked his wife, Lela Kittrell Newell, mother…
Making a covenant with aging parents
In early April 1996, occasioned by my mother’s declining health and her most recent fall, resulting in a broken hip, she and Pop decided the time had arrived for them to move from the only house they ever had owned…
Learning to sit with generational grief
I sat in bed staring at my laptop, the dozens of Google tabs detailing the journey I’d been on. Books were buried in my comforter, creating a type of literary war zone. My ojeras (the bags under my eyes) decorated…
Lessons from Karen Kingsbury on writing novels and living in faith
As a journalist, I thought I had learned what I needed to know about the Five Ws and the H — Who, What, When, Where, Why and How — the essential building blocks of writing a story. A conversation with…
Family and friends do have influence in vaccination decision
Americans’ attitudes about COVID-19 vaccination remain largely unchanged since January, but about one-fifth of those who said they would not get vaccinated have changed their minds and taken the jab. A common reason for changing their minds is seeing family…
Lessons learned during the pandemic as a parent who found joy in the desert
Months ago, we sat around the wooden table in our booth, enjoying our food and reminding our kids to be mindful of the other customers around us. With five kids under the age of 10, it isn’t an everyday experience…