Wit has truth in it.

Poets, I believe, are some of the most comforting people that exist. I’m talking not just about real poets like Billy Collins, wordsmiths whose verse welcomes like a freshly brewed cup of tea or a familiar cardigan sweater, but poets of all kinds: songwriters, filmmakers, actors—thinkers and feelers, magicians and alchemists, translators and tour guides.
I’m […]

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Al Gore—speaking tonight before a crowd of PennFuture benefators, supporters, and activists—told a story from his recent speech at the United Nations: after discussing the role of all nations in stemming the consequences of global warming and requesting the immediate need for countries to ratify a treaty toward sustainability, Gore was shocked when the delegates […]

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Leaving Philadelphia has me feeling particularly melancholy. Today, describing to Dr. Peterson a wonderful encounter I had on the City Hall bus, my favorite Messiah professor said to me, “See, those are experiences you just can’t have in Harrisburg.”
“What are you doing to me!?” I exclaimed. “Don’t say that! I have to go back and […]

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One of Anne Lamott’s favorite prayers is “Help me, help me, help me.” It is a plea that has certainly entered into my own repertoire since I moved to north Philadelphia: not just because my mother fears for my life on these mean (or, in my own mind, merely disgruntled) streets, but because almost everywhere […]

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College isn’t an easy place to become a morning person. Which was nice for two years of my college experience, because I’m not a natural morning person and my years of growing up and rising early to catch the schoolbus didn’t encourage early-morning practices, either. (Mostly it encouraged brief showering, seconds-only tooth-brushing, haphazard dressing, and […]

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I found this little tidbit in a portfolio I once put together for my Creative Writing class. The prose surprised me, and it seems like something I should share. So enjoy. And try to figure out what’s fact and what’s fiction.
When I was young I wrote in the damp space beneath the kitchen sink, or […]

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A few weeks ago the RA staff organized and planned one of the campus’ weekend Gatherings, a time when the entire MCPC community comes together for corporate worship, fellowship, and engagement with a speaker working in and contributing to the city. This week we decided to prepare a time for reflection, complete with old hymns […]

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At my old church, we spent much of Easter Sunday singing upbeat praise and worship songs about the glory and majesty of the risen Christ, victor over the grave, holy sacrifice now walking among us. This morning, I listened to this Gillian Welch song instead, because it moves me in ways I don’t understand.

And reading […]

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It’s difficult to believe that this journey to which I’ve submitted myself ends in five days. The DVD box sets (my complete eleven season of Frasier, two seasons of Arrested Development and Veronica Mars, and single season of 30 Rock) have gathered much dust in the last weeks. Honestly, it’s been easy. Maybe too easy. […]

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I think it’s safe to say that in the last seven days, the tides of life have definitely shifted—and not necessarily in my favor. For starters, Messiah kicked off their spring break yesterday, reminding me that I have less than twenty-four hours until I’m back in the City of Brotherly Love (yay!) and back to […]

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