by jo | Jun 16, 2015 | Everyday Stories
photo credit: i’m not okay. via photopin (license) We were sitting in a smaller room in the back of the church and I had made fajitas for my volunteer staff of youth leaders for the middle school youth group I ran at the time. It was during the students’...
by jo | Jun 9, 2015 | Everyday Stories, Jesus Time, Memoir & Essays, People I meet, Travel
photo credit: Lower Floor. via photopin (license) I met a man in Seattle recently. His name was Sean. He was in Pike’s Place market, his worn backpack and layers the only things suggesting he was without a place to stay. I may have taken him for a wary tourist if he...
by jo | Jun 2, 2015 | Everyday Stories
For a long time I felt like an enemy in my home town. That was the best verbiage I had to describe the feeling of always being on guard, always feeling ready for an affront. Always jumpy and distrusting. Strolls down the milk aisle were hurried and vigilant. More...
by jo | May 26, 2015 | Everyday Stories
I wrote this poem almost exactly two years ago about some of the people in my hometown. I have moved away now, but they are still people whose faces light up when they see me in town, who hug me and ask how things are and are willing to hear the honest answers. They...
by jo | May 19, 2015 | Everyday Stories
My brother sent me a post on facebook recently that I loved. It didn’t have any information on it, so it’s hard to verify if it’s true or not, but it said, “There are libraries around the world where you can check out a person as a living book and listen to their...