Author Archives: anne

America, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Sociopaths

Target shelves Frank Sinatra next to Britney Spears.  Ol’ Blue Eyes getting a posthumous eyeful.  I found myself in the “pop music” section a couple weeks back, ostensibly to research a Rihanna tune. The middle school choir at the Big … Continue reading

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Memorial Day

In the quarter quell of the WWI draft, my grandfather voluntarily took the place of another man.  The man, barely known to my Faf, had a wife and young child.  Faf shipped off to the battlefields of Europe in his … Continue reading

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Be Still.

The summer after my sophomore year of college, I was one of five camp counsellors at Koinonia, a church camp nestled on the banks of picturesque Lake Sylvia near Annandale, Minnesota.  We spent the first week sequestered at a remote … Continue reading

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Vernal Signs – or – Oh Yeah, This is Why We Live Here.

                                                                                … Continue reading

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Arrested Development

In the basement of my childhood home, tucked under the steps, is an enchanted room.  A room of possibility.  The unfinished beams of the underbelly of the staircase, a cool cement floor.  Always dark. The silhouette of my dad glows … Continue reading

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Gem On Demand

Bringing your best self. So many aspects beyond your control:  A fight with your spouse, the weather, traffic, political events across the globe. My gem is dingy, debris obscuring the sparkle. Wash me in a fountain of mindfulness.  Buff me … Continue reading

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Unholy Grail Part Deux – Making Elsa’s Dress

My middle initial is F.  Growing up, other kids naturally assumed it stood for Frances.  They’d snicker a bit because it was the 70s and Frances was old-fashioned, not yet recycled and polished by popular opinion. The F actually stands … Continue reading

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Unholy Grail: The Quest for Elsa’s Dress

Numerous publications ran articles last week regarding the extreme prices some parents are willing to pay to get their paws on Disney’s sold-out Elsa dress.  For those living in sublime ignorance of this consumerist lovefest and the movie upon which … Continue reading

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A Tisket a Tasket, I Lay Down in a Casket

I wonder sometimes if there’s any leeway with that whole open casket thing.  Could you ask for crossed arms like an Egyptian mummy?  Or one hand raised in a peace symbol?             How about your … Continue reading

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Remembering Gram

When my grandparents died, I inherited a lovely little settee, a two-seater.  In true Victorian style, knobby carvings adorned the arched back of rich walnut.  My Gram upholstered the piece in a beautiful timeless floral print with a green as … Continue reading

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