BY TOMMY HOUSWORTH “There are always flowers for those who want to see them.”— Henri Matisse Our neighbor’s tulips came up today, bursting with defiant vibrance. They rose in spite of the stubborn Shenandoah soil, the tariffs on fertilizer, and the mid-spring freezes....
By Tommy Housworth As a teenager, I awaited Valentine’s Day with the kind of naive optimism Charlie Brown had forwinning the affections of the Little Red Haired Girl in Peanuts. My awkward high school (andcollege) years were filled with clumsy, insecure attempts at...
BY MATTHEW ROBERTSON Over the holidays, I revisited one of my favorite films: Interstellar. Framed as a sweeping space odyssey, it explores themes of love, survival, and the future of humanity. Beneath its epic scale, however, lies a quieter and more radical...
BY TOMMY HOUSWORTH “I think the world is going to be saved by millions of small things.” – Pete Seeger It was, perhaps, the last thing I expected on a Saturday morning, but you never know when paying attention will pay off – even when scrolling through social media. A...
by Tommy Housworth Our minds can sometimes seem like wild horses but even when they aren’t charging around, mindfulness takes work. For many of us, maintaining intentional awareness of the present moment is, in fact, our greatest challenge. Thankfully, there are...
Our Ceaseless Swimming Lessons By Tommy Housworth There is a river flowing now very fast. It is so great and swift that there are those who will be afraid. They will try to hold on to the shore. They will feel they are torn apart and will suffer greatly. Know the...
by Carol S. Hyman What do you say at this time of year? Season’s greetings? Happy holidays? While these expressions may upset folks who’d like something more specific, most of us respond well to them as gestures of good cheer. Still, they can feel a bit bland. So this...
by Carol Hyman It feels risky to admit to optimism these days when doomsaying is so prevalent and irony is fashionable. But without ignoring how much work we have to do, I’m cheered by some of the changes I see unfolding around me. I don’t think it’s naïve optimism:...
by Carol Hyman If you’re going to borrow, borrow from the best. So how about this? “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the...
by Carol S. Hyman ‘Tis the season when the mind turns to giving. But how many gifts through the years are keepers? How many do we even remember? Diamonds may be forever but most stuff tends to go the way of all things. So what do we keep? Memories, of course, but...