Facing Drought

Apocalyptic scenes of forest fires, reddened atmospheres thick with ash, scorched earth, and people in flight have filled our news media recently. I was particularly awed by a photo published a few weeks ago of a pyrocumulonimbus cloud, also known as a cumulonimbus flammagenitus cloud, which formed over the devastating California Creek Fire located just …

Contemplating the Active Life

I thought myself into a slightly uncomfortable corner the other day. I was reading about the religious observances of Carthusian monks in the 15th century, and I was both a little inspired by their lifestyle and a little critical. They built their lives almost exclusively around prayer, reading, contemplation, meditation and reflection. For hours in …

A Brief Inquiry into Normalcy

I want to begin this post by recounting a conversation that, as I’ve looked back on the weeks and months since the COVID-19 pandemic brought schools, universities, and economies to a halt, I’m sure I had hundreds of times. Whether talking to family members, friends, roommates, peers, professors, or acquaintances, riffs on the following phrases …