But it has helped me to survive them.
writing
This is true of failures in writing, in faith, in life itself.
How do you construct a narrative in the aftermath of communal trauma?
Simone and André the obscure
The Weil siblings and the dense worlds of their minds
A novel about the chasms between people
Can we cross them? Is it worth it?
The poet’s essays are winsome and articulate, wide-ranging and intellectually rigorous.
While women have historically been bound by family obligations, household chores, or desperate poverty, there have been monasteries throughout history that allowed some to focus on their vocation without those typical pressures.
We cannot always create something out of nothing. Rather, we change what already exists, and these tiny alterations give us meaning and purpose in our lives.
This year, as I meditated on my longing, my pregnant hope, I located it on that table, somewhere between the salad and the ravioli, when our imperfect lives came together.
Do women have to trade intimacy for trust in ways that men do not? If we do, should we stop? Are we playing into stereotypes? Are we inviting people to take us less seriously?
This summer I am going to be teaching at a Kenyon College writing workshop designed for clergy who want to hone their writing skills for conversations beyond their congregations and denominations. The program, Beyond Walls, is envisioned as an interfaith conversation with writers and clergy from both Jewish and Christian traditions. I will be teaching essay writing along with Rodger Kamenetz, and he and I each have an essay in this month’s Beyond Walls e-mag.