Brief Encounters

Spirit in the Sky

“Religion could be a source of catastrophic oppression for women as well as offering a way to imagine freedom.”

March 21, 2026

‘Like a Gossamer Sheet’

“The first time I experienced life on the West Bank, staying over in Palestinian homes, a whole new horizon opened up for me. I entered into that life, its personal friendships, its language, its ravishing landscapes, and its evident suffering. All of it felt meaningful and real.”

March 14, 2026

En Pointe 

“I’m struck by ballet’s ability to create something extraordinarily beautiful out of something so difficult and so taxing on the brain and body.”

March 7, 2026

For the Fossil Record

“I took the opportunity to observe the surviving lemurs in their natural habitats—and it was love at first sight.”

February 28, 2026

Home Free

“Every writer, sooner or later, must face the fact that our characters are taken directly from our own lives, so there will be friends, relatives, and acquaintances who are going to feel like they’ve been pushed under the bus.”

February 21, 2026

Contempt of Court

“True accountability lies with the American people. Do we sit by and accept such behavior? Or do we take to the streets to express our disapproval of what the government is doing in our name?”

February 14, 2026

The Writer from the Dance

“The twentieth century’s great utopian experiments are exhausted, but there doesn’t seem to be an alternative vision on the horizon that people might want to sacrifice for and struggle to achieve, and the wreckage all around is great.”

February 7, 2026

Sparkle and Status

“Biography is a wonderful way into the past, because it’s life as experienced, day to day, subtly influenced by what is happening in politics or the movement of ideas.”

January 31, 2026

In the Despot Archives

“Government officials routinely distort the truth, incite ethnic hatred, treat the legislature and the media with contempt, and appoint partisan judges, while security forces carry out arbitrary arrests, torture and kill people, and run amok in other countries.”

January 17, 2026

Community Poetry

“I’m interested in writing my way through, around, above, and below my life, as a way to navigate life’s joys, beauties, and sadnesses all at once.”

January 10, 2026