Magical thinking

Some incidents from chaplaincy are unforgettable. One was watching a woman get cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) — three times over the course of a day. Twice, she was resuscitated. Death won the last match-up, but not without a fight. Before the attending doctor instructed the code team to stop, the woman’s abdominal area looked like a…

The View Has Changed!

Not just the leaves turning golden yellow in the background either! This is the desk of someone who only has one chapter to go to finish writing the first book in a new series. (Don’t get too excited, I still have to keep editing, (hence the big coffee pot) but I only have one chapter…

. . . It’s STILL A Work In Progress

I just can’t wait any longer. I have been slaving away, writing this book for oh–about ten years, TEN YEARS! (At least now the book is a three book series – but is that justification for how long this is taking? no!) These past few months I have been frantically trying to meet my publisher’s…

Vulnerability to violence

Some of my memories from the early 60s are clear. Records and newspapers can confirm public events; unverifiable is what they meant to me. Mourning President Kennedy’s assassination: November 1963–a worldwide tragedy but heartbreaking and personal for Irish Catholic immigrants, like my parents–“He was one of us.” Watching the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show: Feb…