We buried both of my grandparents this week. They died from COVID-19 just 18 hours apart, and their deaths somehow managed to be tragic and beautiful at the same time.
Pete and Dolores Maltese were...
A Jan. 20 Washington Post article title reads: “The campaign to impeach President Trump has begun.” No, not Jan. 20, 2021. This wasn’t regarding the most recent effort to impeach the former president....
A vow, a sermon, a procession and a presider in robes. Watching Joe Biden’s inauguration ceremony last week, I was struck by the prominence of religious themes. Some of these themes were obvious: a prayer...
The small state of West Virginia is mainly known for two things: coal and the opioid epidemic. Whenever I tell strangers from other regions where I am from, those are the topics that come up most. I am...
The world is watching. “Trump remains president of chaos, thriving on violence, rifts, divisions,” read one French headline following the violence on Capitol Hill Wednesday. The British “i” newspaper...
In 2016, the Russian Federation launched an assault on American democracy. The assault came not by tank nor by missile but by the very tools that were supposed to bring us together — email and social...
This year needs no introduction. It has been filled with prolonged separation, chaotic unpredictability and tremendous loss. But this constant stream of bad news has been met with technological togetherness,...
Did you know that the federal government classifies the drug marijuana as more dangerous than drugs like fentanyl and cocaine? It is classified as a “Schedule I” drug, which stands alongside drugs...
We’re sick of hearing it — that this was unexpected, that our lives turned upside down, that we should “return to a sense of normalcy soon.” 2020 was a terrible year in many ways, and we are aware...
A 2007 Yale study found that children as young as 2 years old analyze artwork in terms of the artist’s creative intention. To me, this was a stunning study. Children can recognize the value of artwork...
At Blackwater Pond the tossed waters have settled after a night of rain.
I dip my cupped hands. I drink
a long time. It tastes
like stone, leaves, fire. It falls cold
into my body, waking the bones....
For months, the mainstream media and pollsters claimed the nation would witness a blue Democratic wave on Nov. 3. According to these polls and predictions, the nation would oust President Donald Trump...
