Together

“So her mother died from a brain tumor? Sure, I can spend some time with her” “You’re spending too much time on Netflix? Let’s read Mansfield Park, 30 minutes a night, whaddaya say?” “Your friend…

Gratitude/998

Since she took my class in 2007 She’s read The Book of Mev  six times It’s an annual ritual It’s reading as rejuvenation To instill urgency To her flagging spirit

They Whispered So So Softly

We were on our honeymoon in Sicily Visiting with friends from graduate school They were both Sicilian-Americans They had moved there to start a family They had us out to their home in the country…

Fidel on Che

He had a gift for people. He was one of those people that everyone immediately cares about—it was his naturalness, his simplicity, his sense of comradeship and all his virtues. He was a doctor; he…

Facing the Facts

My life is mapped out: it is my destiny to take a bullet by the Mafia some day. The only thing I don’t know is when. —Giovanni Falcone   See how the accusations against the…

Books Can Be Subversive

Somoza’s  guards burned the 10,000 volumes of the Solentiname library –from Prophets in Combat: The Nicaraguan Journal of Bishop Pedro Casaldáliga [1986]

Accompaniment

Dear Layla We are staying with the Hijazzi family these nights We arrive in time to break the fast in the evening Spend the evening then sleep over Leave around 7 in the morning Yesterday…

A Dangerous Novel

In his novel Life and Fate Vasily Grossman exposed the horrors of the Soviet system Some of the Soviet intellectuals acknowledged He had told the truth But they were against publishing it Because it could hurt the…