Propped up in my cousin’s casket were two baseball cards—Brad Lidge and Dave Hollins, if you are a sports fan. Sean had forgone the typical burial suit and chose instead to wear a gray Phillies hoodie. Much to my regret, I didn’t know my cousin well. In retrospect, his life had many parallels to my own.
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Rest up. There is much work to do in the new year. By Heather Shayne Blakeslee During the holidays, most of us plan to take some time to reconnect with ourselves and our families. A break is in order after a year of the world feeling particularly topsy-turvy. It’s time to check in with our
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The holiday gift-giving season is upon us- make a star of your local makers It’s become something of a sport to call out how much earlier each year stores begin to put up tinsel and displays announcing the holiday gift-buying season. I started seeing Facebook posts as early as mid-October from unsettled friends who went
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Walls and Windows by Heather Shayne Blakeslee We’ve long debated what makes us human. But as our understanding of other species becomes richer and more complex, brick by brick we’re dismantling the imaginary wall that separates us from the natural world. We’ve learned that we are not the only species to have verbal language (whales),
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Reckoning with our past and future requires us to open our eyes by Heather Shayne Blakeslee The images are terrifying: white civilian men armed with semi-automatic rifles, staking out ground around Justice Park in Charlottesville in August. It’s terrifying, but not surprising in its entitlement; it’s also not surprising that one woman died and many
MoreNature’s Miracle Worker by Heather Shayne Blakeslee In the same way that friends in rural areas might know the difference between a tree branch hitting the side of the house and someone knocking on the door, city dwellers learn to distinguish—before we’ve even turned around—the sound of a car behind us from the hiss of
MoreNatural Law & Order by Heather Shayne Blakeslee America watched in fascination last year as an armed, native-born, private militia occupied Oregon’s Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. Some were convicted and others were acquitted on charges that included conspiracy to obstruct federal officers, firearms violations, theft and depredation of federal property. One protester died trying to
MoreIce Storm by Heather Shayne Blakeslee In 1912, Mayor Yukio Ozaki of Tokyo made a gift of 3,000 cherry trees to Washington, D.C., as a sign of the close relationship between Japan and the United States. For centuries, the Japanese have revered the fleeting beauty of the cherry blossoms, which bloom in early spring and
MoreFreedom from Want by Heather Shayne Blakeslee During elementary school, the bedroom that I shared with my little sister could not have been more ideal. It was light and airy, and our matching set of tiny brass beds each had wooden shelves above them that my father had made himself. In between the beds, under
MoreState of mind by Heather Shayne Blakeslee This month, we swear in a new president. Some of us will be swearing a lot for the next four years. There is a mighty cognitive dissonance in looking at an overwhelmingly red map that exists side by side with the fact that nearly 3 million more Americans
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