Category Archives: writing

The Future

I spend and have always spent a considerable amount of time picuring the future. This may be why I was able to move around the country so easily for so many years. I love the art of imagining a life yet realized. I wouldn’t say … Continue reading

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October Snow Makes One Think About the Future

Woke to snow Green leaves blown From ash trees October Snow Dry coneflower stalks bending in wind, one squash left in the garden bed. Last night I was reading a blog by someone I knew in college. In the last … Continue reading

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The Great Emergence

I’ve been reading Phyllis Tickle’s book The Great Emergence, with my skeptic heart engaged and as open as I can pry it, and the book has definitely resonated with me. Resonated is a word I would like to not allow … Continue reading

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Lindbergh and Lewis

The two local historical/literary figures in this area are Charles Lindbergh and Sinclair Lewis. Obviously, Charles Lindbergh is the better and bigger historical figure. His childhood home is in Little Falls, Minn., and has a really nice museum next door. … Continue reading

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Catholic Literature

I’m always interested in how people define “Catholic Literature.” I tried making a serious study of this question when I was a resident scholar for a year at the Collegeville Institute. Although I was raised a Catholic until 12, I … Continue reading

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Rocco

I have been trying to keep death out of the blog, more or less. Sister Jeremy’s death slipped in, but hers was the sixth death at the monastery since August. That’s been on my mind because I write the obituaries … Continue reading

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Jan Richardson, artist and writer

I’m adding a blog called The Painted Prayerbook to my blog list. It’s written and illustrated by Jan Richardson. This is one of her collages at left, called “All Souls.” She lives in Florida and is an ordained Methodist minister, … Continue reading

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Jon Hassler, Last Catholic Novelist?

Jon Hassler was a novelist who lived and worked in this area for his whole career, and whose novels are more or less set in this area (fictionalized) and the other places he lived– Brainerd and Bemidji. He died in … Continue reading

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How I Got Here

I came to Minnesota to spend an academic year at the Collegeville Institue for Ecumenical and Cultural Research, because I had to get out of Southern California, and because I was working on a memoir, and it was the story … Continue reading

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Time to Start Posting

Where to begin… is that the reason people have trouble beginning blogs? I’ve had an account here for weeks, maybe months, but it sits empty. Which is not to say I haven’t been communicating virtually. I’ve been listserving. I’ve been … Continue reading

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