Each of these artists were working with an understanding that almost everything improvisational is ephemeral. Little lasts. Most is lost.
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Save the Snow Day!
As important as the joy of a snow day is in and of itself, there are even deeper educational issues at stake in the snow day debate. It raises questions as to what counts as ‘education,’ how school and ordinary life ought to be integrated, and what the student brings to the table in that endeavor. The question of whether a snow day is no more than a ‘wasted opportunity for learning’ is the question of whether a child’s experience in the world outside of the classroom is an essential dimension of education or not.
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Of Clementines and Christmas
Did you wake up Christmas morning to an orange in your stocking (be it chocolate or the original fruit)? Publishing Luke Sawczak’s wonderful little poem “Citrus” so near the holy day got us thinking … Why oranges at Christmas?
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The Perilous Joy of Book-Lending
Like reading itself, book-lending ought to be demanding: it is a way of life fraught with danger and vulnerability. At its best, giving others books – to borrow, that is – can be a heroic act of trust and love.
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Stepping Through the Blue: “The Truman Show” and Ancient Cosmology
Each day, there are countless demands on our time and our energy. We work to provide for ourselves and our families in the short time we have on this globe. But despite all that, we do well to remember the poet Hopkins’ call: “Look at the stars! look, look up at the skies!” The entire cosmos, from the electrons that orbit their nuclei to the planets that orbit other stars in other galaxies, cries out for our attention and promises to reward the one who stops to see.
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The God Who Mugs You
God scoffs at religious superiority; he wants his people to love him and their neighbors. When a Muslim or a Buddhist or an atheist suspicious of or even antagonistic to the Church lives out a better example of Christ’s life than a Christian does, the Christian is freed to recognize the face of Jesus Christ along with Jacob and admit in wonder that “I have seen your face like seeing the face of God."
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Six Unwanted Books
For bibliophiles, their books are mirrors of their character, and we judge ourselves by the relationship we maintain with our books. An unlikely group of six books made me confront this part of myself.
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Memento Mori in Minneapolis
But rather than forgetting pain or fooling ourselves into silliness, perhaps there is a holy admixture of laughter and mourning, a way to remember our own end through these earthly and earthy rituals.
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All This Juice and All This Joy: A Reflection on the Minnesota State Fair
Unlike Hopkins' bounty, the “juice” and “joy” of the state fair is far more often to be found sticking to the bottom of your shoe than in a pristine experience of nature...and yet...
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The Waiting Place
If you are waiting for a few things—say, a tray of seedlings and a batch of sourdough starter and muscle to build and grief to heal—I think that it makes the beginnings of a rich life.