Remembering mom in these tough times
The care center where my mom, Dee Fate, lived in St. Paul, Minnesota, was in quarantine the week she died. So my brother, Robin, who lives nearby, had a nurse...
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‘I can’t help but look back’ — dad reflects on life after kids’ graduations
This morning, as I rebuild our rotten deck in the backyard, a male robin glides by with a beak full of dried grass, and flaps up to his mate in...
Lessons learned when a father takes his son fishing
My dad was a pastor in a small Iowa town. And sometimes, on a Sunday evening in the summer, we’d go fishing. The river and woods on the edge of...
Do you believe in God? Then you have a moral duty to fight climate change, writes Jim Antal
Jim Antal recognizes that most Americans are not engaged by the climate change issue. "Two in three Americans think global warming is happening (67%), yet most Americans (65%) rarely or...
The ups and downs of iGen: More tolerant, less happy
The subtitle of psychologist Jean Twenge’s new book, “iGen,” doesn’t leave much to the imagination: “Why Today’s Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy — and...
How do you build a tree house in the desert? New nature memoir finds a way
There have been dozens of hermit-in-the-woods Walden-like memoirs and essay collections written since Henry David Thoreau's death, but few capture Thoreau's raw, stubborn love for the natural world with as...
Happy 200th Henry David Thoreau: New bio reframes naturalist, activist and philosopher
July 12 marks the bicentennial of the birth of writer-philosopher Henry David Thoreau, who is best known for his nature memoir, "Walden:Or, Life in the Woods," which stems from the...
Review: ‘Tears We Cannot Stop’ by Michael Eric Dyson
Michael Eric Dyson's "Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America," was released two months after the presidential election. Whether Trump's victory impacted the choice of the subtitle is...
‘Henry David Thoreau for Kids’ uses activities to connect kids with nature
Hermit-philosopher Henry David Thoreau is widely known for his nature memoir, "Walden," a classic work of American nonfiction. The book, which chronicles Thoreau's two-year stay in a 10-foot-by-15-foot cabin he...
‘Fracture’ raises alarm about dangers of fracking in prose, verse
The same night I first started reading "Fracture," a new literary anthology about hydraulic fracturing (or "fracking"), I happened to hear Sen. Al Franken (D.-Minn.) on CNN, endorsing the practice...