Wearing a face mask covers the patch of gray that is now my beard. When the lady at the cash register confuses me for one of the college students, I smile inside. I suddenly realize that the mask makes me look decades younger… and I like looking younger! As middle age has stealthily set in, …Read More
Category: Journal
Grandmother Tree
Grandmother Tree by Dr. Joel Ying I remember the great grandmother tree of Claymont Mansion. The dappled light under the shade of her branches; the wind rustling the leaves into the rich moist soil. Grandmother has seen many suns, moons, and stars. A lark sings to the beauty of her nurturing. Walking paths meander here …Read More
Oath of an Engineer
The steel ring, notable for its simplicity of engineering, is placed on the little finger of his right hand, his dominant hand. The ring symbolizes the strength of the profession as it touches all that he will do. Along with his fellow graduating classmates, he takes the ceremonial oath of his profession to serve “the …Read More
Grit ~ Angela Lee Duckworth
In the 11th grade, I joined the track team with the dream of becoming an athletic nerd–the straight-A athlete that every college would want. The counselors told me that I needed to be “well-rounded” in order to get into a good college, and I was determined. I had been on the cross country team, and …Read More
Catch the bloom in Myakka State Park
“The Coreopsis are blooming in the park,” he said in a flat matter-of-fact tone as if making a scientific pronouncement. The group nodded in agreement, but I’m not from the Sarasota area of Florida. As far as I could tell, he was speaking a foreign language. I had no idea what he was talking about. …Read More
One Problem
“The pain of a friend is itself a mountain waiting to be climbed…” ~ Jim Gustafson As I contemplate the words of my friend and poet, Jim Gustafson, I am drawn to the language of poetry to help me uncover how I survived the past week of challenges. One Problem ~ by Dr. Joel Ying, …Read More
Learning from College Jobs
In college, my financial aid package included work-study. There was a list of jobs on campus, and I ended up working in the dining hall. I don’t actually remember how this happened, but this was the “law of least effort.” There wasn’t an application process, just a box to check. There were about a thousand …Read More
Dreams ~ Paul Laurence Dunbar
“I am the Dunbar Jupiter Library. I am neither walls nor shelves that stand in rows. I am the Wisdom of the Universe, Captured, and arranged for you. I am an open door. ‘ENTER.’” — Mary L. Rice (1933 – 2022), first librarian of the Dunbar-Jupiter Hammon Public Library Today, I had the opportunity to …Read More
What is prayer? ~ Mary Oliver
As Mary Oliver says in her poem, “I do not know exactly what prayer is.” What I do know is that when we pray, we invoke something greater than our current selves; we drop into a deep sense of gratitude for all that we already have; and we ask for the support that we need …Read More
Joy and Grief ~ Raspberries and Bananas
We shake with joy, We shake with grief. What a time they have, these two housed as they are in the same body. ~ Mary Oliver There are some things that you can’t prepare for. Susan walked into the supermarket. It was a weekly visit, a leisurely trip. She liked finding new things to try. She had …Read More