AUTHOR
I could have driven to the coffee shop. I'd have stayed warmer and drier. But that wasn't the point. The point was that it was time for a walk. So, inside heavy wool coat, hat, scarf, and mittens, I set out on foot into the swirl of damp snowflakes. They stuck everywhere: on my nose,... Continue Reading →
All Saints' Day gives us opportunities to grapple with the sometimes-complicated legacies of important figures in our lives. These people were not, after all, perfect. The person who inspired us may have also disappointed us. The figure who exemplified love may have also exhibited spectacular dysfunction. To reflect on sorting through these difficult legacies, I... Continue Reading →
In "Quietness" the Sufi mystic poet Rumi speaks of taking an axe to one's prison wall and walking out "like someone suddenly born into color" (trans. by Coleman Barks). It's left me thinking of how many prisons humans build - both literal and metaphorical - and how often they do not serve the purposes of... Continue Reading →
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTE2llSOjtI There are many reasons we have difficulty talking about mental illness. Those silences have shaped my new novel, Suddenly Color: A Sacred Grounds Novel Book 2.
The titles on my bookshelves don’t fully reveal what those shelves or their books actually hold. Because I have the habit of tucking notes into my books for safekeeping, I never quite know what will fall out when I open a book. Not a great organizational method for my correspondence, this tucking away of notes... Continue Reading →
If you were to imagine God as a character in a story, what would God be like? Like a human? More like some other kind of creature? What kind of personality would this character have? (Don’t go with your first thought. Keep brainstorming and try an idea that’s four or five ideas down the list.)... Continue Reading →
Callie J. Smith 