Plugged In!
I am finally and hopefully able to send out announcements of recent postings after a two-month hiatus due to a malfunctioning “plug-in” that wouldn’t work in my new server. I …
On the Trail
Walking in his moccasins I felt a pain shoot up my leg. I tried to shift terrain, find smoother ground, a grassy place rolled flat. I shook my foot and …
Celebrating FRESH
To celebrate the second issue of Fresh, the new literary magazine edited by J. C. Walkup, Buffy Queen, and Penny Morse, I will join former NC Poet Laureate Fred Chappell …
Collegiate Peaks Forum Event
In May 13 and 14 I gave two presentations on “Pathways in Reconciliation” for the Collegiate Peaks Forum in Buena Vista, Colorado. Located in the valley east of the Collegiate …
The Trail of Tears Association
In 2003 Sylvia and I retraced, by car, the main overland route of the Trail of Tears, starting northeast of Chattanooga and proceeding across Tennessee, western Kentucky, into southern Illinois, …
Memory and Reconciliation
I have been thinking a lot about memory and reconciliation lately. It’s nothing new, since Red Clay, Blood River is an exercise in memory that leads to new forms of …
Peacejam Memories
This week I made some presentations on South Africa and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to 8th graders at the nearby Waynesville Middle School. Most of them are heavily involved …
Earth Speaks in Haiti
All our careful plans and fervent hopes are devastated by one brief shudder in earth’s crust. In the face of such appalling suffering and destruction, an offering of words seems …
Tiger Woods, Publicity, and the Earth
Tiger Woods captured my loyalty when he emerged as a Wunderkind on the collegiate golf circuit. His steely concentration, discipline, and even-tempered calm soon vaulted him to the top of …
Bluegrass at the Boston Roundtable
Last week I spent some time in the Boston area, where I helped lead Tom Porter’s seminar on Restorative Justice at Boston University School of Theology before moving on to …
Rooting in the Past
In her recent column, “Rooting Around in the Past,” (Newsweek, October 28, 2009, p. 24), Raina Kelley reflects on the way media have handled news about Michelle Obama’s mixed racial …
A Visit to Boston – Update
On November 9-11 I will be in the Boston area. On Monday I will be at Boston University School of Theology to join in leading Tom Porter’s seminar on Restorative …
Legless — A Poem
This poem has been gestating for a while and finally reached a point where I can share it. It bears on a theme in Red Clay, Blood River, but is …
Lake Junaluska Peace Conference
You haven’t been hearing from me as much as I would like, because Sylvia and I have been very involved in planning for the second annual Lake Junaluska Peace Conference. …
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 …