The Barbershop

Institutions Rescue George Bailey

George offers his joyful holiday greetings to these institutions as if they were persons, bodies that saw his town through good and bad, through war and peace.

Grandmother’s Wisdom

When I hear some folk wisdom that I would have previously dismissed as backwards or ridiculous, I now look for the guardrails it establishes and what they might be protecting.

Stories That Bind Us

Despite differences that are exacerbated at the national level, we often share significantly more in common with our “enemy” when we interact with them at human scales.

Road Signs and Watersheds and Gratitude

Tributary streams remind us that every attitude flows to the sea. Our reactions to the streams of today’s circumstances feed the rivers of our everyday attitudes.

The Creative Promise of Less-Sung Places

Slacker portrays a city and a scene that are delightfully different and offbeat, and the best kinds of places for many emerging creatives today are that way, too. You don’t have to leave the state or run off to the biggest city to do something big: there is a real beauty and opportunity in the less-sung places.

Fitness, Fellowship, and Faith: Learning Masculinity in a Time of Despair

Robert Sapunarich shares what he learned during pre-dawn workouts with F3: true masculinity is about countering instincts of anxiety, despair, and resentment with courage, hope, and grace.

Dear Mom: A Letter on Time

Learning from Wallace Stegner, Doug Sikkema considers the timeless blessings of his childhood in a letter to his mother.

On the Front Stoop

Here emerges the stoop as neither an architectural adornment nor a fleeting trend, but as a central social locus for the people of New York. It is here where our neighbors’ joy and laughter and special moments come to light, brightening up the city street and making the neighborhood feel whole. 

Little Diamond

Little Diamond, an island bounded by the crisp waters of Casco Bay, is a rare sanctuary from the madness and modern life. Gregory Reynolds takes readers on a journey through the stages of its beauty.

On Talking About the Weather

Nashville, TN. “If you cannot think of anything appropriate to say, you will please restrict your remarks to the weather.” So says Mrs. Dashwood...