Category: Non-Fiction

Many days later, as I lay on the bean bag chair to take my siesta, I would remember my last contact with humanity on those cold, windy days. At that time no one had expected that the remote virus would spread as readily as...

No social philosophy, economic strategy or cultural perspective can guarantee our well-being without the truth. Largesse is hawked by capitalists gone wild on one end of the spectrum while entitlement is claimed by socialists...

In the spirit of Alan Swallow’s Story “Golden Girl” Nearly ten winters ago, I received a letter from my employers on Christmas eve that I would no longer be needed at my job, after having announced that they were looking forward...

On December 19, 2018, acclaimed Oscar and Grammy-winning songwriter, Norman Gimbel died. He was the versatile lyricist of standards that varied in genre from the bossa nova to folk-rock to jazz-tinged movie-theme ballads. The...

Teochew dialect is a general term for a southern Min dialect popularly spoken in the Minnan region of eastern Guangdong, which is located in the south of China. The language is also referred to as Min Chinese or Chaoshan...

I am back in time, camped on the banks of a turquoise loch beside the ruins of a small castle. Never did I expect to have a place like this to myself. But, after spotting it from a remote one-lane road, I left my rental car in a...

I was the devil’s bride in a black, shapeless, tank swimsuit, the standard costume for the Indian Creek swim team. My thin bathing cap just barely covered my horns. I was cheating. The coach said, “Hey Karen, come over here. We...

5. Breathe. I have to remember to breathe. The average human takes 30,000 breaths every day. Most of these we don’t even notice because breathing is controlled by our medulla, part of our autonomic nervous system. I normally...

After spending most of the day trekking through the breathtaking scenery of Milford Sound, we were exhausted, “I can’t wait to get home,” I sighed. The four-hour drive between the inlet — home to seal colonies, penguins,...

Mother, have you ever noticed how in the middle of a cornfield the land stops only to meet the horizon in the far distance? I cannot recall if you ever lived in the sunny countryside as a child, as I did with my grandparents...