A Test Of Our Compassion

Louisa Willcox & David Mattson On The Plight Of Grizzly Bears

Do we want a deeper, richer relationship with nature, or do we want to just kill everything and live through our smartphones?

Top Ten

Abby has a progressive congenital disorder, fatal, and lives her young life with a deep-running current of wisdom in her spirit, a quiet equanimity to her understanding of what it means to be alive in a day that the rest of us can only feel as hint and shadow.

Sparrow’s Guide To Meditation

Meditation teaches that change is constant. You fool yourself into believing that you are a fixed entity, but you are not. You are a river of transforming whims.

The Cat Years

He stops short, horrified that he has interrupted his employer during an emotional moment. Bishop quickly wipes away her tears and says, in Portuguese, Don’t worry, José. I’m only crying in English.

Waiting For The Coywolf

I’ve read about a new creature called a “coywolf” — the offspring of a coyote and a timber wolf. That must have been what I saw. Waiting for it to reappear gives me something to do.

Peaches

There were signs, I suppose. First she stopped lining up with the other kids for ice-cream sandwiches and chocolate bars. No dessert, she said.

Lava

Once, two women hiked a volcano, / stood on the lip, and watched the fire / move in the crater’s mouth.