The Heritage of Mata Ortiz
Las Cruces is in America’s Borderland with Mexico. We are staying, in fact, in Old Mesilla, where the Gadsden Purchase was signed that defined the geographical border between the two …
Petroglyphs at Three Rivers
Images of lizards birds sheep stuck full of arrows suns and faces …
O Sacred Head
In the Organ Mountains the head of a canyon often weeps among the desolated trees. It’s a sacred place where the earth’s ribs wounded by …
Looking for America
We have been on the road again. In a moment when our country seems to have lost its way, this is one way to try to find the “real” America …
Queen and Constitution
Queen Elizabeth II has been the only monarch of the United Kingdom and its Commonwealth that I can remember. I am not alone, of course. Since her accession to the …
The Hidden Life of Trees
As I walk, sit, work, live, and sleep in one of the world’s greatest hardwood forests, I am constantly aware of the world of trees around me. Cherry, walnut, ash, …
Transgender Conversations
I live in the state with the famous “bathroom law” (HB 2) that the North Carolina Legislature, dominated by Republican extremists, passed in a one-day special session last Spring. Because …
A Liturgy from the Roundtable Gathering
As close readers of this blog site already know, I gather every month with about fifteen other people at a round table for a time of circle conversation, prayer, song, …
Black Holes Exist
As I try to orient myself to the new political realities before us, I find myself diving beneath the waves of political analysis and commentary to deeper levels. I have …
Climate Change and the Work of Peace
The day after Donald Trump was elected President of the United States, we gathered at Lake Junaluska for our seventh annual Interfaith Peace Conference. Our theme this year was “The …
That November Day
That November day a robin heading south struck the window full force flying at the tree in the glass fell still upon the leafy deck. When I went out to …
Corn, Wind, and Sun
We just drove out to western Minnesota from our home here in the Smoky Mountains, taking in our old stomping grounds in Milwaukee on the way. We needed face time …
Art and Craft at Warm Springs and Timberline Lodge
My final report on our Oregon trip begins with the Museum at Warm Springs, on the eastern flank of the Cascades north of Bend. The Warm Springs Reservation is home …
Time in Lakeview
Lakeview, Oregon, nestles at the foot of Black Cap, a promontory of the Warner Mountains in south central Oregon, its shoulders soft with sagebrush in grey abundance like a lawn …