Graves at sea, graves on land
Today, May the 29th, officials from 17 countries are attending a “Special Meeting on Irregular Migration in the Indian Ocean.” Myanmar had threatened to boycott...
What do we have in common?
“It’s bad to say goodbye in my language; instead, we say ‘see you later’,” said the Aboriginal lady to me, teaching me an Aboriginal word, which...
Literary Resuscitation
“Words create sentences; sentences create paragraphs; sometimes paragraphs quicken and begin to breathe.” Stephen King, On Writing. Annie Dillard says that she...
Anger management
Gardening is good for my soul because I usually reap what I sow. Sometimes I don’t reap at all, because of the weather, which I cannot control, or the weeds, which I can...
Seemingly innocuous questions
I used to teach Form Filling as part of the English curriculum. It is exactly what it sounds like, that is, how to fill in forms – government forms, bureaucratic forms,...