Acquisitiveness displaces memory, diminishing it, filling the soul with things rather than impressions and feelings. But memory also has the power to displace things that might otherwise be collected and kept, taken and held. An arrowhead, a piece of ancient pottery, a painted bead—memory can replace these too.… Read More The One Who Left a Handprint in that Place (republished from ROUTE 7, Dixie State University)

We were only guilty of trespassing on private land. We hadn’t damaged anything. We hadn’t broken into any buildings. We could have turned around right then and left no evidence of our transgression.… Read More In Search of Panther Creek (republished from Heart and Humanity)

He had simply walked away from the ranch one night, knowing he would die working or die escaping. He had seen his captors in the town, looking for him, asking into his whereabouts. He moved on. I listened, dizzy with the bewildering disclosure of slavery. In my lifetime.… Read More The Brazilian Slave (republished from the WORDPEACE literary journal)

Some days I stare at the scars in the crook of my elbow. There are so many. Both arms. Three decades of needle wounds. I know I’ve given up a piece of myself each time the needle goes in. I lose something. But I come back.… Read More Needle-Junkie Debt (republished from Litro-UK)

“The way you see people is the way you treat them, and the way you treat them is what they become.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe… Read More The Risk of Trust

The agent extracts very personal stories from the younger customers. She opens small windows into their souls. She gets to know them. Maybe when they are old—and she is very old—they’ll come here to share important matters. In a very short time, she has learned something personal—maybe sacred—about each one. Number 188 through 201 are waiting behind me. I’ll keep my turn short. No personal stories. Nothing private.… Read More A Window on Number 187

You and I are standing on the side of Pine Island Road when an Uber driver shows up. The passenger gets out. It’s Cruz. We’re walking backwards on this timeline, so we know what is about to happen. Here’s the question: what should we do?… Read More The Parkland School Shooting—and the way ahead

Another mountain. Another whiteout. We spent three days approaching the summit. First skis. Then snowshoes. Then crampons and ice axes, and a ten-millimeter rope tethering the two of us to the same fate.… Read More Resonance

I had always wondered how a person gets caught in quicksand. Inattention? A poor choice? Recklessness? I was guilty of all these in that moment.… Read More Quicksand

There is a little cemetery on the outskirts of Waregem, Belgium, where over 400 American servicemen are buried or commemorated. When the sky is clear, the white marble headstones appear to radiate light across the neatly-trimmed lawn. Most of the headstones are cut in the shape of a cross. A few hold a Star of David at the top.… Read More A Covenant of Peace – November 11, 1918