With everything going on in the news this week, we might as well come right out and discuss what we’re all thinking about anyway: the apocalypse.
Debra RienstraMay 20, 2017
INT. KIDS THESE DAYS CAFÉ, HEAVEN – ETERNAL DAY Small clusters of saints in white robes, vaguely glowing, chatter convivially around heavy wood tables in a cozy bistro. The bright robes contrast with the dark wood paneling, rough ceiling timbers, and flagstone floors. Though everyone…
Debra RienstraOctober 28, 2016
Then we realized, as we hiked deeper in, that caterpillars were everywhere. On the leaves, on the trail, even hanging over the trail from little silken threads. They were writhing in large moving groups on branches crossing the trail. They were congregating slimily on certain…
Debra RienstraSeptember 3, 2016
If the joy of Christmas ever breaks through the frenzy of event-going and present-wrangling and (for me) end-of-semester grading, it happens through music. This year, for instance, I sat in my city’s gorgeous basilica and listened to a youth choir perform a haunting, dissonant arrangement…
Debra RienstraDecember 26, 2015
SIMI VALLEY, CA — “We have no firm explanation at this time.” That was as much as Patricia Drake, spokesperson for the Ronald Reagan Foundation and Library, would say to the press in the aftermath of a mysterious phenomenon that occurred on Thursday morning. All…
Debra RienstraSeptember 18, 2015
We have arrived at that late-summer turning point when we take stock of what we have or have not accomplished since Memorial Day, back when the broad expanse of summer days ahead seemed to glow with promise: anything is possible! Build a deck! Clean out…
Debra RienstraAugust 22, 2015
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…
Debra RienstraJune 13, 2015
I’ve been thinking about the complexity of modern communications and entertainment and the very long distance between the Ancient Near Eastern world of the Bible and life in a mass media culture. That led me to wonder what would happen if a bunch of biblical…
Debra RienstraJanuary 23, 2015
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Santa, the elves, and the reindeer have all completed sensitivity training. So when Rudolph is born with a red nose, everyone affirms his difference. Comet, the flying coach, now emphasizes inclusion, so he welcomes female reindeer into the games. In fact,…
Debra RienstraDecember 26, 2014
“I am so glad I’m not taking Divination anymore!” Hermione had just come down from the girls’ dormitory into the Gryffindor common room. She plopped down into a squashy armchair next to Harry and Ron, looking thoroughly disgusted. “Look at this,” she said, flipping open…
Debra RienstraNovember 15, 2014
