St. Corona seems to have become the patron saint of pandemics. But she hasn’t always been so. Here’s how it happened. The martyrdom of St. Corona and St. Victor St. Corona was martyred in the year 170, or perhaps 177. As with so many early saints, we know very little...
I love the opening line of The Dancers: “Three summers ago, when I was still a little kid, my mother and auntie took me to a powwow where we danced and danced.” Of course, the narrator is still a little kid. You know that. I know that. But she doesn’t know it. And her...
I didn’t read Miss Rumphius when I was young, of course. It came out in 1982, when I was already an adult, but didn’t yet have children. And so the book escaped my notice for many years. And when I first read it, standing in a bookstore, I thought it was sweet and...
My husband and I love Christmas shopping. We skip the malls and go to the small, eccentric, family-owned brick-and-mortar shops that have unique and meaningful gifts. And we fill in with gifts from small online shops. This year’s going to be different, though....
Li-Li, the sensory kid who stars in Miracle at Bates Memorial, is back! In Jump-O-Ween, the third book in Gin Noon Spaulding’s “Adventure of Li-Li” series, it’s Halloween. Li-Li’s church has borrowed the neighborhood school for their annual Hallelujah Party. It’s full...
Updated for 2021! Friends, St. Nicholas Day is December 6. That’s not as far off as it sounds. Especially this year, when plans are likely to be complicated by uncertainty. I can’t predict the future for you. I don’t have any way of knowing the...