Where’s my niche – spiritually, philosophically, politically? As a writer? For a writer, nichelessness can be a problem. I’m a hopelessly open-minded, doubting, wondering, yearning skeptic who senses the Holy at work in all sorts of people — Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Muslims, atheists.
Barbara’s Riffs on Life
A Case of the Human Condition: Feminine, Feminist Pink
Christina likes pink. Given a choice, my five-year-old daughter will take the pink balloon, the pink panties, the pink baseball bat. Read more.
A Case of the Human Condition: When Your Six-Year-Old Wants to Talk Money
My six-year-old wanted an allowance. Jon and I debated. Fifty cents a week? 75? “Let’s not talk in cents,” said Peter. “Let’s talk in dollars.” Read more.
Writing Room: The Punch Line Always Goes Last
Everyone knows that the punch line goes at the end of a joke, not the beginning. A mystery writer knows to set the story up and get all the necessary events and clues in place before revealing that the pizza delivery guy did it. The same is true of a paragraph and a sentence.
GodsBigBlog: Native American Tori Isner — Want to Find Holy? Go Look at a Rock
Army vet Tori Isner traces her roots to the Eastern Band of Cherokee of North Carolina. She’s an adopted Lakota Sioux who currently lives in Texas. “Go look at the ocean. That’s Creator. That’s beauty.”
Simone Weil on Prayer — First, Pay Attention. Book Openers
Simone Weil’s life was a short one, but her startling insights into the nature of God and God’s relationship to humanity pertain today. Read more.