Poem (I always loved John Updike; here is a delightful Christmas poem he wrote) A Sound Heard Early on the Morning of Christ’s Nativity By John Updike Issue no. 155 (Summer 2000) from a special edition of the Paris Review Redux The thump of the newspaper on the porch...

In response to my last post about "Do what you are doing," I have thought in the last twenty-four hours how cell phones have all so often kept us from doing what we are doing. How many young people have you seen at a table together, all looking at their phones? How...

Sometime during my senior year of high school, I listened to a motivational speaker named Clayton Barbeau. He came to our church in Huxley, Iowa, and I remember being enthralled with what he had to say. At the time, I was entirely, utterly dedicated to being as...

Today, one of my students stood a bit awkwardly beside me and finally said, "Becky, I have to ask. Are you in a commercial?" Yes, this is me.  During the senior games in August, a production company for Blue Cross asked all participants if we had stories of...

This drizzly morning, I have been doing much thinking. I need to blog about the 24-Hour race, but since I feel as if it's all been said, I keep making lame, failed starts. Here's what I've been thinking. My life has been divided into 20-year increments. Every 20...