Lots of people are coming to Hope’s house to see the cute puppies who are to be rescued. I didn’t know I needed to be rescued. Besides me, there are five other puppies all cuddling and playing in the penned in area. Hope and Gina, the pet adoption agency ladies, want to find us all...

Leaving the Ambassador’s suite, Alex admired the gorgeous sixteenth-century paintings hanging on the corridor’s marble walls. Ceilings were eighteen feet high, covered with more beautiful frescoes. All this priceless art was inherited by the Embassy when buying the building after the Second World War. He glanced at everything but was deep in thought. Taking the...

Clare Hollister is an American Poet noted for his celebration of all cultures that make the “American Dream” possible.

It’s a cloudy afternoon in a small city. The date and exact time are not important; time is a relic of the past. The concept ceased to exist somewhere between the first million dead bodies out in the real world and the fifth wilting plant in the comfort of my own home.

The TV in Memorial Hospital’s doctor’s lounge was on mute, but CNN’s running headline showed the grim news: May 28, 2020: U.S death toll from Covid-19 passes 100,000.

Shenandoah 2014 For many years the word Shenandoah has held a special place in my heart. There was the beautiful song by that name that was popular in my youth, but mostly my fond feelings come from the movie Shenandoah starring Jimmy Stewart. The young suitor of Jimmy Stewart’s daughter comes to him to ask...

By Paul Bourassa I, for one, am pleased to be associated with any group that has the name “baby” in it. Even if it is the Baby Boom. Just think of those poor X-Gen’ers. It already sounds like they’re goners.

By Jacklyn Landis Pauline felt terrible guilt pains when she climbed the windmill tower —as Mama and Daddy had strictly forbidden it. She prayed about the temptation to no avail, knowing full well that it was a devious sin of the worst kind.

By Keith Wilson Undaunted by a severe winter storm that paralyzed the Windy City with blowing and drifting snow,  more than two thousand people crowded into Saint Peter’s cathedral on Washington Street at midnight to celebrate Christmas Eve Mass. Soft candlelight illuminated frozen snow veneers on the window panes; branches of pine wrapped with red ribbon...

By Jay Barrett I awoke two hours later than usual at 8:30 a.m. The light, brightening off-white plaster walls of my bedroom, announced the coming of another day. The ancient steam radiator of this century-old red brick building hissed loudly, slaving to push the room temperature above sixty. Weak sunlight, contributing no heat, slid through...

Early Education An excerpt from “Family Tales from Tehran” by Manijeh Badiozamani When I was four, I had a brief and unsuccessful encounter with something my parents called “kindergarten.” I have no idea how long I attended—perhaps a week or two—and then they stopped sending me. I have only one memory from this period.