Skip to main content
All Posts By

Debra Rienstra

memoirspirituality

Hallowed Ground for Humble People

Three months on from the deaths of my parents, a week out from my daughter’s wedding, I finally get back to this cloth tote bag, thoughtfully provided by the funeral home, emblazoned with its logo. I tossed into it, weeks ago, funeral materials, death certificates,…
mm
August 8, 2015
college lifecultural commentary

Slow Knowledge

Before the terrible shooting in Charleston on June 17, there was no Wikipedia page for the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. Over the next 36 hours, 44 different editors made 152 edits to create a “solid” page, according to a fascinating blog post by librarian/blogger…
mm
June 27, 2015
silly

Summer Camps I’d Like to See

Next week I send my highschooler to jazz camp, the first of three different music camps he’ll be attending this summer. When I was growing up, our camp options were far more limited than the proliferation now available. I remember music camp (which I did…
mm
June 13, 2015
memoirreview

Teaching Us To Number Our Days Aright

“There are no good choices.” I remember saying that to my mother three years ago when we hit the first major decision point in what would become a long sequence of no-win decisions. My father had fallen again, crossing undeniably over the threshold to dependence.…
mm
May 15, 2015
liturgical yearspirituality

I’m Done with Broken

During Lent, I expect to hear about sin and suffering, but I’m starting to get tired of the word “broken.” Also “brokenness,” “broken world,” “broken people,” and “messy, broken world/people.” Overused words descend into cliché, and I think we might be approaching that territory here.…
mm
March 6, 2015