A life in words

  • Christmas Carols in Prose

    Traditional Christmas carols are perhaps some of the most familiar text in the English language. I love singing them each Christmas, but for me the plain meaning of these old hymns often “hides in plain sight” due to the excessive familiarity that comes after a lifetime of repetition. I’ve found that restating them in more…

  • Painkillers for the mind

    Once upon a time as a 14 year-old I became very depressed. I was told I had depression, a serious illness that I would have to treat by taking antidepressant medications for the rest of my life. I started taking Paxil (a drug since linked to increased suicidality in young people) and it seemed to…

  • Mark I Bread Prototype

    My first attempt in recent memory at cooking one type of what may be the world’s oldest food: bread! Lessons learned: Cooking bread with olive oil maybe works. At first the bread tasted strange, but by the next day it tasted quite good. I think next time I’ll try using butter or vegetable oil to see…

Culture is not a territory to be won or lost but a resource we are called to steward with care. Culture is a garden to be cultivated.Makoto Fujimura, Culture Care, 2017