by Guy Sayles | Jun 21, 2011 |
In his novel, Miss Wyoming, Douglas Coupland recounts an exchange between a young woman, Vanessa, and John Johnson, a “debauched, disillusioned movie producer who has given away all his possessions” in the attempt to start a new life—to “reinvent” himself. “Do you...
by Guy Sayles | Jun 11, 2011 |
We can’t learn very much—not much that matters, anyway—about love by gathering information about it. Sure, there are mountains of books about love: elaborate philosophies and theologies of love; thorough psychologies and sociologies of love; moving stories about the...
by Guy Sayles | May 25, 2011 |
Midlife is the autumn, the fall, of the human journey. Who knows precisely how young or old a middle-aged person is? Chronologically it starts within sight of 40 and ends within range of 70. But, chronology is not the main marker of midlife. The realizations and...
by Guy Sayles | May 18, 2011 |
Since my college days, I have had a recurring dream: On a rainy Sunday night, my car breaks down in a small town in rural south Georgia. The only gas station that boasts a real mechanic won’t be open until Monday morning. The only food available is at a combination...
by Guy Sayles | May 2, 2011 |
This week, a fairy tale came true in London; and a nightmare became tragic reality in Tuscaloosa, Alabama and across the south. People in this country who struggle to be a work by 8:30 in the morning set their alarms for 4:00 AM and rolled out of bed without...
by Guy Sayles | Apr 23, 2011 |
At noon today, we gathered in the chapel to be called to, and accompanied in, prayer by our Adult Handbell Choir; they rang so well, as they always do. Among the prayers we offered on this Good Friday (and Earth Day) were these: Creating and Sustaining God, whose word...
by Guy Sayles | Apr 16, 2011 |
Insider. . . outsider Male. . . .female Light. . .dark Weak. . . strong. Faith. . . doubt Life. . . death Courage. . . fear Love. . . hate. Yes. . . no These tensions rest close together in our minds; many of them are also entangled, like interconnected roots, in the...
by Guy Sayles | Apr 8, 2011 |
I need help. I was wrong. I don’t know. Those three statements are crucial to emotional and spiritual maturity. All three of them are confessions of our humanity—of the limits on our strength, goodness, and knowledge. I need help: I can’t go it alone. I was wrong: I...
by Guy Sayles | Apr 3, 2011 |
I wrote the following poem in response to something I heard from my grandmother over supper one night and to a glimpse of a faded black and white photograph of her husband, my grandfather, standing in front of a motorcycle. Years after my grandfather died, at a dinner...
by Guy Sayles | Mar 30, 2011 |
A sampling of the books I have read in the last month or so and/or am currently reading. POETRY I recently finished Christian Wiman’s new book of poems, Every Riven Thing and Galway Kinnel’s Three Books: Body Rags; Mortal Acts, Mortal Words; The Past. Wiman is the...
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