She’ll Put a Spell On You
This remembrance yesterday from the St. Louis American of one of the truly great artists of our times, or any other: “Wishing …
The Terrible Beauty and Power of Language
If you love the written and spoken word, and haven’t yet seen “The Book Thief,” director Brian Percival’s adaptation of the best-selling …
What Makes a Classic?
Long before I had any direct encounters with peoples of different racial and ethnic backgrounds, music was my doorway to worlds otherwise …
Icon of Holy World Evangelist Thomas Merton
Celebrating a New Icon of Thomas Merton by William Hart McNichols Author’s Note: When Fr. Bill sent me this image of his …
Singing the Forgotten Mother Tongue
This semester I’m teaching a new course called “The Black Catholic Experience.” One of my students in the class, Jon, plays jazz …
Undocumented: Between Silence and Speech (Part II)
In a recent blog post, “Legs That Breathe Snake Venom: On Silence and Speech,” I reflected on the experience of driving through …
What We Have Looked Upon and Touched with Our Hands
We are bombarded daily by so many images it’s easy to miss the diamond flashing in the rough. But this one stopped …
Knocks Me Off My Feet!
There’s somethin ’bout your love / That makes me weak and knocks me off my feet Dancing around the breakfast table …
Legs That Breathe Snake Venom: On Silence and Speech
I recently found myself on a nighttime walk through Washington D.C., discussing the power and limits of language with a science-minded friend. …
Waking from a Dream of Separateness: A View from West Virginia
“Hospitality means primarily the creation of free space where the stranger can enter and become a friend instead of an enemy. Hospitality …
