“What,” say you, “are you giving me advice? Indeed, have you already advised yourself, already corrected your own faults? Is this the reason why you have leisure to reform other men?” No, I am not so shameless as to undertake …
Essay
For Actors in Pornographic Films
Almighty God, in your infinite wisdom you have outfitted us with the necessary physical accouterments for reproduction, the stimulation and appreciation of which not only brings us great pleasure, but allows the codes of our DNA to mingle with our …
Literature is the “Stuffy” Art
A student recently confronted me with the maxim that most poets, novelists, and playwrights suffer from a disease he called “universal stuffiness.” Trying to be “relevant,” I agreed that literature on the whole was perhaps the stuffiest of the stuffy …
For Not Knowing
Almighty LORD, incline Thine ear to hear this day a confession: we sometimes do not feel real. That is, when we take the time to reflect upon our existence, we grow fearful, in part because we are unable to sum …
For Beds
Merciful God, we humbly thank Thee for setting the earth on its rotation around the sun, thus providing humanity with periods of light that permit us, as we go about our daily business, to recognize with relative clarity the things …
The Chain Catches Hold
{from Issue 31.2}
Fall 2003. High on one wall of Markey’s Bar, on the corner of Louisa and Royal, behind beer signs and framed pictures of ballplayers, is a mural of the old Banana Walk. Against a gold, nicotine-softened sky, …
Betsy
The first concert I ever went to was ELO. They were on their A New World Record tour. I played the songs so much they got stuck in my brain, like snakes swimming around. The show was at the Omni …
Beloved Father Person (excerpt)
1
At the end of October when I call my dad in Ohio he sounds like a trucker. His voice a box of rocks. I am on my way to campus to teach a weekly class. I don’t like to …
One Man’s Myth: How Joss Whedon Showed Me the Crack in the Invisible Wall
Illustration by Dale Thompson
Harold’s Problem (excerpt)
I. Kenwood, Minneapolis
As on the last several Saturday afternoons, Brian Ward, a 56-year-old illustrator of considerable local renown, was counseling his friend on how to preserve his marriage. The effort, as always, was hopeless. Ward’s friend, the hedge fund …
