The Gospel of the Black Dog
I recently learned about “riot dogs”—dogs who’ve shown up in protests around the world to protect people from harm. One of the most well-known is a black dog from Chile named Negro Matapacos. During the student-led protests for education reform in Santiago (2011–2013), he became a fixture in the community—always showing up to protect protesters, […]
True Safety
I was getting home late on a Saturday night from a gathering at a friend’s home, so I did all the things I ought to as a single woman alone after dark: looked around me before getting out of the car, kept my keys in my fist, made sure I walked on the more brightly […]
Always More
“I’m in the house if you have questions,” he would say, leaving me there in his pottery studio. Grateful to be alone with my beginning efforts, I would nod, determined to figure out my own answers because when I asked, he told me too much. I had no inner framework, no way to store what […]
Greater things (for Barry)
Sent to our church when I was little, the young pastor remembered me before I remembered him. My first mentor. His apprentice. Helping him lead a retreat in the mountains of North Carolina, which I had done for years, I stood in front of the old wooden altar where I first heard the voice of […]
