Sitting
The night before I left, one of the patches containing painkiller came off, and Mev was in a lot of pain. She wet the bed twice, vomited once. For some reason, the alarm on the…
Author: Mark J. Chmiel
How Things Looked in 1990
All over the world, we are saturated by a contemporary culture of materialism, instant communications, and electronic luxury. Advertising bombards us with pulsating music, sexual imagery, and the urgent appeal to involve ourselves more and…
Advice from the Sages
I am sorry that I cannot say anything more comforting, for active love is a harsh and fearful thing compared with love in dreams. Love in dreams thirsts for immediate action, quickly performed, and with…
Reading’s Joys
“Nothing is more beautiful than Plato; such reading, for those who are able to understand him, can give one happiness even in the most miserable circumstances.” –Simone Weil
Live, Trash, Love: Share the Wealth with Katie Murphy
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…
“Neither Do I Condemn You”: An On-going Collage
“God will punish all atheists. They will burn in everlasting fire.” [A hermit] Obviously upset, the Staretz said: “Tell me, supposing you went to paradise and looked down and saw somebody burning in hell-fire—would you…
So Thinks Simone Weil
Something mysterious in this universe is an accomplice of those who love only the good.
For Katie Murphy
Photo by Natalie Long
Who Remained Decent?
So let us ask: who behaved better under pressure, imprisoned Bolsheviks or religious believers? Materialists or those who acknowledged absolute standards of good and evil? Who acted nobly and who behaved like a scoundrel? To…
Twenty-two Years Ago
The following is from Israeli novelist David Grossman’s Seven Days: A Diary, October 2001, in Death as a Way of Life: Israel Ten Years after Oslo MONDAYI keep reading hostile remarks about Israel in the…