Since The Color of Life launches into this world in less than a month, it’s only appropriate that I ramp up the book here on the blog. Feel free to share the highlighted image and be sure to preorder your copy today! — Everyday in my early twenties, I stood in front of a classroom of sixteen and seventeen year olds. Privilege, of course, had always been mine: I went to a four-year liberal arts university. I graduated from said university... Read more
Up for something a bit different today? I read a lot – for my job and for pleasure, for learning and growing and catching glimpses into worlds different from my own. After all, as novelist George R. R. Martin said, “a reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one.” If you’re anything like me, I’m guessing you want to be transported to other worlds, that you want to live a thousand lives, that you want to learn how... Read more
It only took me twenty seconds to say sorry to the Target lady this time. My feet didn’t budge after she called the next person in line, maybe because I knew I needed not to move until I said what I needed to say. My eyes fixated on the counter, I stared at the cash register, willing it, hoping it would somehow speak magic words of apology for me. I wondered if the scene between the two of us could somehow... Read more
I couldn’t help but stare at the holiday cards taped above the pew bench today: each face smiling and happy, a few purposefully striking a dramatic pose intended to make the rest of us laugh. The cards were arranged geometrically, with a dash of gold and cream washi tape over the top just to add to the merriment of the season. If dining room walls could scream, mine would have been shouting the merriest of obscenities. But after browsing through... Read more
A couple of months ago I had the privilege of attending the Collegeville Institute alongside a dozen other spiritual writers. Over the next couple of months you’ll meet some of these artists, either through books they’ve written or through a series of essays about faith entitled, “Where Art Thou?” Today, I can’t wait to introduce you to Michelle de Beauchamp, a Washingtonian who’s so, so very good at finding beauty in the most ordinary of places. Enjoy! — Every year my spouse and I try to... Read more
A couple of nights ago, I lay on the floor of my four-year old’s bedroom, stack of books read, lights already out. “Mama, can we sing a song together?” He asked, requesting to sing one of the songs from his preschool’s Christmas program. As we began singing the yuletide chorus, we hadn’t made it through a single line before the little conductor stopped me. “Mama, no, no, no, no,” he said. “It’s star-A wonder, not star-OF wonder.” I mean, I may... Read more
On Tuesday morning, I gathered with a group of local mamas, ours a tabletop conversation of talking to our kids about issues of race and justice. I read excerpts from my book and talked about how, as a white person, mine is a learned experience – and my entry point into the conversation primarily stems from doing my homework and understanding my privilege. But in the midst of listening and learning (and listening some more), there’s also a responsibility to... Read more
A couple of months ago I had the privilege of attending the Collegeville Institute alongside a dozen other spiritual writers. Over the next couple of months you’ll meet some of these artists, either through books they’ve written or through a series of essays about faith entitled, “Where Art Thou?” Today, I can’t wait to introduce you to Catherine Hervey, a Chicagoan whose fiction writing makes me SWOON. Enjoy! — It feels like there are two people inside of me–someone who can be with God and someone... Read more
We put up our Christmas tree a week or two earlier than usual this year. Really, we hadn’t planned on heading to the local tree farm two days after Thanksgiving, nor had we woken up thinking we’d adorn the house in kitschy decorations while turkey and mashed potatoes still festered in the fridge. If I’m honest, I’ll tell you that in previous years I’ve wagged my finger at people who play Christmas songs in November, who delight in the green and... Read more
A couple of months ago I had the privilege of attending the Collegeville Institute alongside a dozen other spiritual writers. Over the next couple of months you’ll meet some of these writers, either through books they’ve written or through a series of essays about faith entitled, “Where Art Thou?” Today, I can’t wait to introduce you to Jane Dawson, a Canadian writers whose essays hold a beautiful blend of the sacred and the profane. Enjoy! — “In every era, God calls to every one” claims a Hasidic... Read more
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