Category: writing Page 1 of 34

After


I was a junior in college on September 11. Coming back to work at the university where I completed my undergraduate degree has brought plenty of déjà vu moments—not to mention the surreal feeling of seeing my children walk the sidewalks I once walked as a student—but today, twenty-five years after the attacks, I became aware that there was a lot of time and space between then and now.

All of it can be classified as after.

Just as there were on the fifth and tenth and twentieth anniversaries of that clear-blue Tuesday, today’s news has featured a parade of recollections, photos and videos just as fresh in my mind as they were a quarter century ago. There have been a few stories I hadn’t heard, new chapters to consider.

For the first time, there is a focus on the generation that was born and has come of age in the span of days since our national frame was shattered.

Strife Closed in the Sod

The Calling of the Disciples. Eugene Higgins, 1874-1958.

“He was a good man.”


This weekend, in Minneapolis, an American citizen was killed in broad daylight by federal agents. It was the second such killing this month.

Saturday’s murder claimed the life of 37 year-old Alex Pretti, a nurse who worked at the city’s VA medical center. Pretti was on the street documenting ICE agents with his cell phone camera, following them as they continued their weeks-long mission to capture and deport undocumented immigrants.

More Light

A winter night’s grace.


Last night at dinner, I felt a twinge of emotion spring into my throat. It caught me by surprise, not that it shouldn’t have: we were sitting down to Sunday supper around the table, each of the children lighting the candles of the wreath the fourth week of Advent, our plates piled high with steaming-hot food on the darkest evening of the year.

Our anniversary.

It’s been too long now for me to remember with any accuracy whether we thought much about the symbolism of getting married on the winter solstice. Rather, I suspect we chose the date because it was a Saturday. That it happened to fall on the 21st was lovely enough–we first started dating on a 21st, and my birthday is on a 21st. Kelly, a young teacher, and I, a poor college student, both knew we’d have winter break to count on for time off from work. The church was available–and, importantly for a budget wedding, already decorated. So it was that we spoke our vows to each other four days before Christmas.

Page 1 of 34

Powered by WordPress & Theme by Anders Norén