Winter 2023 River Terrace, a small neighborhood in Washington, DC The protagonist begins as they often do – irked about one thing or another. She dons a pair of blue nitrile gloves, trash bags stuffed…
In the summer of 2022, I found out I was not God. It might sound like a silly conclusion to come to, or a good one if I’m an otherwise self-absorbed, prideful narcissist. Whatever I…
I came back to pottery at the beginning of 2021 after a long break. I’m a psychotherapist, a recovering academic, a deep feeler, and a chronic over-thinker, which means that I often spend long hours…
At the beginning of this calendar year I undertook to write something more or less daily and to post it to a Substack page. Some political, some personal. I saw it mostly as a way…
While many of us are all too happy to leave our awkward high school selves firmly in the past, every once in a while we come across parts of that life experience we’re grateful to…
There is a quote from one of my favorite poets, Buddy Wakefield, that I sometimes mis-remember. My version of his words has to do with creating safe passage through our minds, which, in my opinion,…
Grief can be a lonely experience, but it doesn’t have to be. Sometimes we don’t talk about grief because it makes us uncomfortable or we don’t know what to say. The good grief project was…
The last week of the year is a fine time to look back on our occasions for gratitude these past 52 weeks and to look ahead to our aspirations for 2023. Join us Wednesday 28…
Join us for our fourth Zoom gathering this year to explore the work of Thomas Merton—Sunday 20 November7 p.m. Central TimeEmail me for URL: markjchmiel@gmail.com Rocco Erker has been a lifelong reader and student of Thomas…
14,000 Things to Be Happy About: A Class in Reading, Writing, and Sharing