By Diane Dassow“There is a time for high tide—for being involved and active, taking risks and putting out effort to master the elements—and there is a time for low tide—inactivity and quiet reflection—and both are necessary in our lives.” —Elizabeth Tarbox, in “High Tide, Low Tide”This year I spent
By Erika A. Hewitt“Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.” —Carl SaganTwo and a half million years ago, our human ancestors began making stone tools. Ten
By Mike Adams"I'm not perfect. But I'll always be real." —Tupac ShakurThe residential school survivors gathered in the community center recited, "Holy Mary, Mother of God, blessed art thou..." I glanced at the box with mom's ashes, expecting it to topple. I thought, "She'd flip in her grave over Ca
By Shannon Lang“The fight is not just being able to keep breathing. The fight is actually to be able to walk down the street with your head held high—and feel like I belong here, or I deserve to be here, or I just have [a] right to have a level of dignity.” —Alicia Garza, civil rights activist and
By Jake Morrill“In time the Rockies may crumble /Gibraltar may tumble /They're only made of clay But our love is here to stay.” —Ira Gershwin, lyricist of “Love Is Here to Stay (YouTube)"One night a few years ago, I lay facing up on the frozen blacktop of a parking lot beside the Grand Canyon, list
By Erica Shadowsong“The reward for attention is always healing.” ― Julia Cameron, The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher CreativityAs a storyteller, I favor myths and folktales. I’ve never been one to tell personal stories. Then a virtual contest opportunity arose that invited me to confront
By Jami A. Yandle"There is a crack, a crack in everything That's how the light gets in." —Leonard Cohen, "Anthem"I’ve been rejected so many times, in so many ways, that I started to wonder what was wrong with me. It started early when my mom rejected motherhood (me) and chose alcohol instead. The u
By Elizabeth Stevens“Psychological trauma is an affliction of the powerless. At the moment of trauma, the victim is rendered helpless by overwhelming force. When the force is that of nature, we speak of disasters. When the force is that of other human beings, we speak of atrocities. Traumatic event
By Mariela Pérez-Simons“I wonder if much that ails our society stems from the fact that we have allowed ourselves to be cut off from that love of, and from, the land. It is medicine for broken land and empty hearts.” —Robin Wall Kimmerer During my high school years in Cuba, every student needed to
By Ndidi Achebe“Love is like the sea. It's a moving thing, but still and all, it takes its shape from the shore it meets, and it's different with every shore.” —Zora Neale HurstonAbout two years ago, my hometown of Dayton, Ohio became another city to experience a mass shooting—a very traumatic even
