In a life with many valleys and a few mountaintops Alvin has met many people he thought were normal and others he thought not.

No red kettles and bells this December outside the stores at the mall in our suburbs this year. They irritate shoppers,

A bright winter day and not a leaf left on this skeleton tree teeming with sparrows

I’m on my way to Larry’s Place, a food pantry in the city. I park a block away because parking in front of Larry’s isn’t wise even if one drives

When Molly and Tim got married they spent hours talking about everything they had to get done. And indeed they got a lot done. Now their kids have families

An hour before dawn the paper is out on the lawn white in the moonlight a trumpet dozing after a long night in a jazz bar

Two new crutches and two double shots of Bushmills Irish Whiskey enabled Joe Faherty to move from the back seat of Moira Murphy’s 1976 Buick into Eagan’s Funeral Home for Tim McGillicud...

Happened 40 years ago senior year of college they were engaged to marry in June till he dropped her off

I can’t speak for the women attending this conference on Homeland Security. They’re scholars, too, brought here for their expertise.

It’s not the same as seeing the po… in Bangladesh on PBS and hearing Gwen or Judy tell us about them b… the poor in Bangladesh scream in s… brown and gaunt and hollow-eyed.

Melanie cried for hours the day a drunk driver ran over her dog a week after she had an abortion. She loved that dog so much she told her mother she knew

Heaven’s Sake or maybe Hell No. Even if we weigh a ton our body’s not a problem

Used to be she’d tell him what to get at the grocery store and he always brought it back. Now she makes a list.

Fred’s a reasonable man something he takes pride in. Just the other night before he threw a dish against the wall while