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One of the joys of working with teenagers is that they so often have a way of articulating what adults are sometimes unable to vocalize. As an example, last summer I accompanied a group of middle school girls to a local nursing home to visit some of…
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Six months before his death, John F. Kennedy delivered a commencement address at American University: “So let us not be blind to our differences, but let us also direct attention to our common interests and to the means by which those differences can…
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One of my most treasured belongings is a quilt my grandmother made. I have others from her that are more technically impressive, but this mismatching simple nine-patch scrap quilt is my favorite. It’s made entirely by hand and the stitches that hold…
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When I was in high school, I worked at a homeschooling curriculum supply store. Our shop was wall-to-wall with books, games, programs, software; basically every supply a person would need to educate a child at home from preschool to 12th grade. This…
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The world in solemn stillness lay, to hear the angels sing. Those words, penned by Edmund Sears in 1849, conclude the first stanza of the carol “It Came upon the Midnight Clear.” On this twelfth and final day of Christmas, I hope you have managed to…
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Have you purchased your partridge in a pear tree yet this year? Received your three French Hens or two Turtle Doves? Ordered your seven swans for this Saturday? Neither have I. I must admit, I’ve never really understood the meaning (or the appeal) of…
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My family moved from Colorado to Wisconsin just weeks before my sophomore year of high school. I eventually made some really wonderful friends, but the first months were very lonely. On Christmas morning that first Wisconsin winter, my dad gave me an…
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Everyone who enters church on Christmas knows that singing carols is far and away the best part of the worship. The melodies stir deep-down sentiments that most of us can’t even find words for. And the words of the carols themselves? – “The hopes and…
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This time of year, I find something special hitting bookshelves across town – holiday-themed children’s books. Filled with re-imagined familiar stories and bright illustrations, the time between Halloween and Christmas is a book-lover’s dream. Stacks…
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Last night, St. Paul middle schoolers observed the season of Advent. All of it. In less than two hours. But, please, don’t try this at home. 678 is a gathering of – you guessed it – sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students that happens on the fourth…
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Last month, Peter DeMarco wrote a letter that was later published in the New York Times. It was addressed to the numerous medical professionals who cared for his 34-year-old wife in the hospital. Laura had suffered a severe asthma attack and later di…
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A few years ago, during the busiest part of a Sunday morning at St. Paul, a 4-year-old boy went running past me at full speed. I gently interrupted his race and asked him to please walk and be careful of everyone around him. “There’s a lot of people…