thirty in the a.m.

Several weeks ago, I stumbled upon these photos portraying one of Eastern Orthodoxy’s holiest sites–Mt. Athos, a penninsula in Greece and self-ruled monastic state. I am both confused and drawn to monasticism (not as a personal vocation–I’m a married man, mind you). Such a life, to me, is simultaneously strange and beautiful, alluring but repulsive, [...]

After a few days of trying various routes, you settle on one that cuts through the wealthy neighborhood to the two-lane street in town, tree-lined and heavy with traffic but moving. Trees stand at attention on either side, all the way down, making for a more pleasant commute than the alternatives—namely, the one past the [...]