On this earth there are pestilences and there are victims

I read The PIague when I was a junior at Notre Dame, in 1978. I'd been given an assignment to write a paper about the book but had confused deadlines, and I realized at about 6 p.m. one evening that the paper was due at 9 a.m. the next morning – and I hadn't read a page, had no idea what it was about.

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Read more about the article How to fly
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How to fly

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"I need to teach her that it’s OK to fall a lot. It’s the absolute best way to know you’re flying." - Ryan Reynolds

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Read more about the article That thread
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That thread

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I wrote the first draft of this poem on January 26, 2025, during a Courage to Teach retreat outside Frederick, Maryland. We had read William Stafford’s “The Way It Is,” and I just couldn’t get it out of my head.

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Read more about the article Nobody seems to mind
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Nobody seems to mind

I lived in my suburban townhouse for nine years before I set foot inside a neighbor’s house. I knew their names and enough for a few minutes of small talk, but after that it felt safer to hurry back inside…

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Read more about the article She Hit Me, So I Hit Her First
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She Hit Me, So I Hit Her First

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Long ago, I was invited to Thanksgiving dinner in the home of a family with two lovely little girls. Both the meal and the company were excellent. The kids had been excused to go play, and some of the grownups were eying a second piece of pie, when suddenly one of the little girls yelped, ran into the room, and burst into tears.

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Read more about the article About tomorrow…
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About tomorrow…

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About tomorrow... Written on Tuesday, November 5, 2024.Today is one of those Big Days. One of those dates that's been stamped out in my future in bright red ink: Tuesday,…

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