Should anger management extend to my reaction toward cockroaches? Last night I was in the bathroom, minding my own business, when I glanced to my right and saw a two-inch cockroach resting sideways on the roll of toilet paper. Yikes! I jumped up, but the roach remained calm, its antennae twitching, its body still. When [...]
I need to be hit with a ton of bricks for a message to sink in. For a long time I’ve spoken about gun control, nuclear disarmament, and crisis prevention, but it took the VT massacre to finally get the message. I know this must appear selfish to the millions of people across the globe [...]
Yes, I know it’s too easy, sitting on my couch and donating online, but that’s what I did Wednesday while watching American Idol. It’s a start. For too long I’ve been living my life by the saying that charity begins at home. It seemed like balancing work, family, and self sapped all my energy. But [...]
By Christine Swint
In a restaurant, I am sitting across the table from Keifer Sutherland. Trying to impress him I say, “Even though I don’t eat meat, I cook a pretty mean pot roast.” The image of a succulent, crispy roast appears before me. Keifer’s eyes widen in surprise, and he raises his eyebrows. Is [...]
by
Christine Swint
I go through periods when I try to connect with my creative mind, usually in an effort to understand myself better. Before I go to sleep I say to myself, ‘ I would really like to remember my dreams tonight’. When I wake up in the middle of the [...]
At a writing retreat in Texas I practiced Qigong for the first time. Imagine holding a giant cloud of foam in the air. You can feel the texture as you move it up and down and across a room. Everyone is quiet. In the stillness I reached a kind of meditative state. Time slowed down.
Qi, [...]
Forest Whittaker and James McAvoy, playing the characters of Idi Amin and Dr. Nicholas Garrigan, act out the archetypal themes of the son thwarting the father, and the father devouring his son. Nicholas flees Scotland in rebellion against his own father, only to find a substitute father in the charismatic Idi Amin. The acting [...]
At the Virginia Tech memorial service, Nikki Giovanni gave a moving and memorable speech. Her words were poetry in motion, urging the students to “embrace their mourning”. She reminded us that no victim ever asked to be rubbed out, citing examples of atrocities from Africa to the Appalachians.
As an individual, I can shape what I [...]
On Monday, the day of the shootings, I went to a yoga class, unaware of the violence unfolding in Blacksburg. The class was serene. Before raising our arms in salutation to the sun, the teacher had us fold our palms over the sternum, then place our hands over the third eye, fingertips [...]
