Paideia: to nurture discipline, education, and instruction
Back in the day when I was called to nurture adolescent girls in my classrooms at Ursuline Academy of Dallas, I used the Paideia approach: didactic instruction, coaching, and Socratic seminars. Popularized by Mortimer Adler in the 1980s, Paideia nurturing of the...
There you shall bury me: burying our parents, buried in Christ
This week’s prompt was “bury,” and indeed, that word has been on my mind, as Mother’s death was last week. For six years ago, we buried her. From my February 17, 2020 post: “My two sisters and I will bury our mother next to our father in the New...
Benediction, the utterance or bestowing of a blessing, a prayer
The Benediction will come, I assured myself as I read another excerpt of a recent essay at the SWAG Open Mic last Thursday evening. Benediction, the point of my essay, “Memento Mori,” about my father and the physical remembrances of him that I keep. Memento...
A deep longing, an intense desire for something, especially home
The word for the day on Saturday was the Welsh word hiraeth, meaning a deep longing for something, especially one's home. How deep our longings can be for comfort, peace, and hope. Perhaps because it’s winter, those longings seem...
Six more weeks of the cold of winter out of the north
“Okay, campers, rise and shine, and don't forget your booties 'cause it's cold out there today,” says one of the two radio DJ’s every morning in the movie Groundhog Day. And yes, it’s cold outside again today but sunny. So, Punxsutawney Phil saw his...
Unusual hospitality and kindness, wisdom and miracles
It’s unusual to celebrate Christmas a month after the original date. But our son Alex had to work in December and is with us now, just in time for Winter Storm Fern, another somewhat unusual occurrence. With our usual precautions—a whole-house backup generator and...