Tag Archives: religion
Christmas 2020
Not being a Christian, I don’t celebrate Christmas, but it’s impossible to avoid observing it when the world around me makes it so clear in myriad ways that, first, Christmas is coming, and, at last, Christmas is here. Fine with … Continue reading
On Living in Bubbles
I’ve been accused of living in a bubble. It’s true: I live in a bubble. Several bubbles. Bubbles have a bad rap. If someone accuses you of living in a bubble, they generally mean you associate only with people who … Continue reading
New Station on the African-American Heritage Trail
NOTE: I sing in the M.V. Spirituals Choir, part of the U.S. Slave Song Project, and also manage its website. This post is a reprint of one I posted there yesterday. If you’re on the Vineyard and like to sing, … Continue reading
Going to Church
When I moved to Martha’s Vineyard, I wasn’t surprised by the number of churches. The town I grew up in west of Boston, population about 10,000, had one for every denomination I’d ever heard of at the time (which isn’t … Continue reading
Measles on the Map
Measles came to Martha’s Vineyard earlier this month. An off-island child, presumably here on vacation, was taken to the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital and diagnosed with it. Before, measles was deep background for most of us. Now it occupies a prominent … Continue reading
Singing After Charleston
I wrote this for the little blogsite I maintain for the U.S. Slave Song Project. I sing in the project’s Spirituals Choir, and yesterday we traveled off-island to sing at a Unitarian Universalist church in Canton, Mass. A moving and … Continue reading
Twofer
One of the joys of my life is singing in the U.S. Slave Song Project Spirituals Choir. Directed by project founder Jim Thomas, we sing songs sung by African slaves in the American colonies and the United States from 1619 … Continue reading
O Christmas Blog!
On our walk this morning Trav and I found a Christmas tree. “Leave it,” I told Trav, who was eyeing it with tug-of-war on his mind. “It’s mine.” I picked it up and brought it home. My first thought was … Continue reading
Kim for Pope
The other day Pope Benedict XVI announced his intention to resign the papacy at the end of this month. The news produced a big splash internationally but barely a ripple on Martha’s Vineyard, preoccupied as we were with the approach … Continue reading
I Hate Fresh Fruits & Vegetables
The other day X declared that she’d taken to her bed with raw spinach poisoning. A friend noted that X’s symptoms sounded suspiciously like those of the nasty stomach bug she herself had just gotten over, and she had not … Continue reading
From the Seasonally Occupied Territories . . . 