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
Category: Journal
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 Raspberry blood redTears in the supermarketNo more bananas There are some things that you can’t prepare for. Sheila walked into the supermarket. It was a weekly visit, a leisurely trip. She …Read More
My Personal Prayer for 2022
On this second day of the new year, I step into the ritual of looking at the year ahead. I celebrate beginnings and endings in the same way that I marvel at the sunrise and the sunset, marking time with their beauty. Today, I sink into my intention for the year. From a place of …Read More
Ode to My Socks ~ Pablo Neruda
Ode to My Socks by Pablo Neruda (1904-1973) Maru Mori brought mea pairof sockswhich she knitted herselfwith her sheepherder’s hands,two socks as softas rabbits.I slipped my feetinto themas though intotwocasesknittedwith threads oftwilightand goatskin.Violent socks,my feet weretwo fish madeof wool,two long sharkssea-blue, shotthroughby one golden thread,two immense blackbirds,two cannons:my feetwere honoredin this waybytheseheavenlysocks.They wereso handsomefor the first …Read More
Day of the Dead
In many cultures it is said that you die twice. First, when your body leaves this earthly plane. Second, when there is no one left that loves you to utter your name on their lips. On this day of the dead, many cultures have ceremonies to remember and honor their ancestors, visits to graveyards to …Read More