Connecting with Health Care
I often return to Lanier Johnson’s comment in Red Clay, Blood River that “Connection is the name of the ecological game.” (p. 32) The angry debates over reforming our health …
David Abram’s Spell of the Sensuous
Many readers of Red Clay, Blood River have been struck by the voice of Earth as narrator. It is Earth’s memory in which we find our own. It is in …
Festival in Cherokee
I’ll be going over to Cherokee, NC, this Saturday, August 29, to be on hand for the Saunook Village Festival. I will be hanging out in the Cherokee Heritage Museum …
Rupert Ross’s Returning to the Teachings
For some time my friend Tom Porter has urged me to read Rupert Ross’s, Returning to the Teachings: Exploring Aboriginal Justice (Penguin, 1996, 2006). I just finished it with the …
Bookmania in Waynesville
On August 1 I joined over 40 other authors at Waynesville’s “Bookmania” Fair, sponsored by Osondu’s Booksellers and held at the First Presbyterian Church. The sunny weather brought out over …
Remembering Holy Ground
On June 28 friends and supporters of Holy Ground, the retreat ministry here in western North Carolina which I have advised and supported for the past fifteen years, gathered to …
Bookmania in Waynesville
On August 1 I will join forty other regional authors for booksignings and presentations. Barbara Bates Smith and I will present dramatic readings from Red Clay, Blood River, with accompaniment. …
Ketoctin Church Homecoming
On June 7, I returned to a historic Baptist church in the community in northern Virginia where I spent much of my childhood to give the homecoming sermon. The congregation …
Guns, Germs, Steel, and God
PBS has recently aired a documentary on Jared Diamond’s book and thesis that “guns, germs, and steel” are the driving forces of history as we know it. In his episode …
East Asheville Performance
Barbara Bates Smith and I presented our dramatic readings from Red Clay, Blood River at the East Asheville Community Center on Sunday, May 17. We were joined by Geri Littlejohn, …
Trail of Tears: The PBS Documentary
I have found the first episodes of PBS’s series “We Shall Remain” on the American Experience to be visually as well as historically very well done. Their most recent airing, …
Upcoming Performances
I am pleased that Barbara Bates Smith and I have been invited to present our dramatic readings from Red Clay, Blood River at the Moss Memorial Library, Hayesville, NC, on …
On War and the Soul
When I wrote up my reflections on military trauma after the JustPeace Conference, I had not yet read Edward Tick’s book, War and the Soul: Healing our Nation’s Veterans from …
Military Trauma, Ethics, and Conflict Transformation
“Trauma Healing: Preparing Churches to Receive Returning Military Personnel” was the focus of the JustPeace Gathering I attended on April 1-2 in Nashville, TN. JustPeace is the Mediation and Conflict …
Comments on Red Clay, Blood River
I have received extensive comments from Jane Young, a published author in North Carolina, about Red Clay, Blood River. I have excerpted her reflections here. Thanks so much for giving …
On Time, Memory, and Reconciliation
Several things have converged in the last few days to make me think about time, memory, and reconciliation. But it’s not an easy topic! St. Augustine had it right: “If …