Julie Phillips’ “The Baby on the Fire Escape”: Incomplete Thoughts on Motherhood and Art
If you talk to enough women who are fascinated by the interplay between motherhood and creative endeavors, you will get the recommendation […]
A Catholic Take on the Declining Birth Rate
In the realm of doing things that make you uncomfortable, we can add live radio to the list. I had the pleasure […]
The Serenity of Properly Calibrated Expectations
“The old painters, however diverse their ideas in other matters, all fixed upon one quality as proper to the pattern of Mother. […]
The Seeming Impossibility of Motherhood: Letting Go While Still Entwined
Our children are just coming to the age when everything depends on my efforts. They are delicate in health, and nervous and […]
“Gift from the Sea,” Grace, and a Woman at Peace with Herself
The source of our agitation is rarely external. We want badly to believe that someone else bears the blame for our sour […]
Noel Streatfeild’s “Ballet Shoes”: The Rhythms and Routines of Life and the People Who Make them Happen
Summer is the time in between, a time for reimagining the patterns of ordinary life. Once September is underway with a crush […]
The Pattern of a Beautiful Summer in Wallace Stegner’s “Crossing to Safety”
Wallace Stegner, the legendary author of the American West, also spent time teaching in New England. A keen observer, he recreates the […]
Summer and Keeping the Big Picture in Mind
It’s easy to wax poetic about summer: endless open time, seemingly endless hours of evening light. The reality can involve more children […]
Catherine Price’s “The Power of Fun” and a Formula to Move Toward Eternity
Fun is a spritely thing. Hard to pin down, often out of reach. Children are apt to exclaim with satisfaction, “That was […]
Sarah Orne Jewett’s Mrs. Blackett, a Mother with Admirable Feminine Qualities
Sarah Orne Jewett’s “The Country of the Pointed Firs” is a short, meditative, plotless novella. But it is exquisite in its imagery. […]