Israel: In Search of Miracles

Israel itself is a sort of miracle. A land of constant surprises. The first thing I notice when I come out of the airport in Tel Aviv is bats. Bats streaking the sky in this beach city with tall buildings and busy streets.

Stephanie Harper

Stephanie Harper received her Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing at Fairfield University with an emphasis in fiction. Her work can be found in The Huffington Post, HelloGiggles, HerStories, The Montreal Review, Poetry Quarterly, Midwest Literary Magazine, Haiku Journal, and Spry Literary Journal. She lives in Denver, CO.

A Bad Relationship, A Hateful Sister-in-law, A New Me

“She said, ‘cocktail of mental illness …” Emma relayed the information verbatim from the source. “She also said that ‘your engagement pictures looked like you were trying to hide an accidental pregnancy with the sweater choices.” She finished what hurl of insults she had overheard. I felt the full weight now Read more

Overcoming My Fear of Jesus

The first time I saw Jesus, I was five years old. I was walking down Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, holding my mom’s hand. He was tall, bearded, and dripping with blood. Two muscular men flanked him, their veins bulging as they supported the bulky wooden cross he dragged along behind Read more

Lela Casey

Lela Casey grew up on magic and get-rich-schemes. She learned from a very early age that nothing is as it seems, and behind every facade lies a portal to places unknown. When not seeking out rabbit holes or chasing after her three little imps, she spends her time writing about deep thoughts and big adventures. You can find her writing on kveller.com, themid.com, brainchildmag.com, and jkidphilly.com.

Only Light will Save Us

When Paris was attacked on Friday November 13, we felt it— all of us. For some it was a punch in the stomach, so hard and fast that the urge to vomit was almost unbearable. For others it came as a heavy weight that bore down on our hearts slowly, Read more

Lela Casey

Lela Casey grew up on magic and get-rich-schemes. She learned from a very early age that nothing is as it seems, and behind every facade lies a portal to places unknown. When not seeking out rabbit holes or chasing after her three little imps, she spends her time writing about deep thoughts and big adventures. You can find her writing on kveller.com, themid.com, brainchildmag.com, and jkidphilly.com.

Should Freedom of Speech have Limits? Maybe.

After two harrowing weeks in Paris, it behoves me to make a few enlightened comments. I use the word ‘enlightened’ not as a means to flatter myself into brilliance but instead to indicate that I am making observations based on the thinkers of the Age of Reason or the Enlightenment. Read more

Nathalie Findlay

After completing a degree in Fine Arts and another in Interior Architecture, Nathalie began modelling in New York, Hamburg, Munich and Paris where she eventually decided to base herself. Always on the lookout for opportunities to grow, she combined her modelling career with other areas of interest, working for the Canadian Embassy, Christian Liaigre, A Small World and Sotheby's. She has also enjoyed appearing regularly as a presenter and speaker for television and media events and as a pit-lane reporter on Eurosport. Exposed both personally and professionally to the intricacies of etiquette and protocol, Nathalie now focuses on applying her extensive knowledge-base practically, addressing matters of refinement, image and manners for individual and corporate clients with Lifestyling, a consultancy she created in 2007. Nathalie lives in the French countryside with her husband, their baby and two Korthals.

Born Again: One Woman’s Journey Out of Religion

“No thank you, we’re atheists,” I respond with a smile to yet another invitation to church. It happens a lot here in southeastern Missouri. I wasn’t always an atheist. For many years I was what you might call a hyper-fundamentalist, but I wasn’t always that, either. My parents did the Read more

Kaleesha Williams

Kaleesha Williams accomplishes her musing, writing, and goat-wrangling in rural southeastern Missouri—that is, when she has time between homeschooling and adoring her seven children, gardening, making goat milk soap, planning projects with Denny, and trying to get her sourdough English muffins to cook up properly. Her family moved to Missouri in 1990 when her parents realized that the answer to the riddle, “What’s green and goes backward?” was their current state and the state of her birth, Vermont. Now that she’s out of her religious bubble and in her right mind (eh, questionable), Kaleesha is considering that Vermont is actually one of the few states thinking and acting progressively. Regardless, she anticipates calling Fredericktown, Missouri home for a good long while. Though Kaleesha is a homeschool dropout, since high school she has worked as a teacher, nurse, accountant, CEO, mechanic, plumber, electrician, carpenter, landscaper, gardener, photographer, veterinarian, goat breeder, counselor, dietician, chef, baker, dishwasher, laundress, seamstress, event coordinator, chauffeur, diplomat, painter, decorator, fitness coach, masseuse, astronomer, and nanny, all within her own home and among her family, often performing many of these roles in the course of a single day. For peanuts. And brownies. And foot rubs. And she loves it. The first bits of writing Kaleesha had published were some poems as a teenager. Most recently she has published articles in the Countryside And Small Stock Journal and the Astronomical League’s Reflector magazine.

Common Sense, National Pride, and a Pinch of Compassion: Isn’t it that simple?

Six months ago I moved back to the U.S. after living in Central America for three years. I had limited exposure to the media and the events occurring in the U.S. and the rest of the world.  When I did take the time to read about political, social, and economic Read more

Bert Woodson

Bert Woodson currently lives on Florida’s Gulf Coast in Cortez, with his Rhodesian Ridgeback, Colt, and Colt’s kitty Woof. (Yes, he named him.)