I Remember by Nima
Nima, one of my former students, took a “Writing as a Spiritual Practice” class with me and one evening we explored the theme of memory. Now a fourth-year medical student, Nima wrote this recollection of…
Category: Friends
For Amal and Amal
The enemy is all about erasure Tactics: derision and denial Insults and salt in the wounds When you’re a student of history It’s no surprise— That’s what the powerful do So tell them over and…
Sealing the Deal
Long ago, I did a reading and signing of The Book of Mev at Left Bank Books in the Central West End. I asked one of my former students, Magan Wiles, to read the very…
Your Life Is Your Message: A Toast
An older Gujarati man was sitting in a train about to leave When a reporter came up to his compartment window and asked “Do you have a message I can take back to my people?”…
One Day
When you are twenty-seven And at last done Done DONE with medical school We should do a marathon/festival of words Reciting poetry to each other Then writing off of the lines of Neruda, Szymborska And…
Exit-Interview
She’s spent four years at SLU And is moving on I’ve spent fourteen years at SLU And am moving on We had class together fall 2008 Her tender sophomore year We’ve met ten or twelve…
Sundus’s Inquisitive Mind (Writing down the Bones/273)
What is my role in this world? Am I capable of making a difference? What can I do to help? Do I fall under the trap of stereotypical thinking? Is just my awareness of injustices…
I Heard
I heard that Lenka is the best correspondent in the Western hemisphere, the kind whom you want to reread twenty times. I heard someone give a phenomenological analysis of a 25 year-old evangelical Marxist’s zeal….
After Attending the SOA Watch by Carol Wright
A year ago, many of us were in a course called Writing as a Spiritual Practice. Carol was part of that gang, and she just sent me the following reflection, which I offer for your consideration….
Sara’s Writing down the Bones
One maxim I try to live by is “Share the wealth.” Sara Rendell wrote this on January 14, 2010, the first week of Social Justice class. Amigas and amigos, may these words set off inspiration,…