Category: blog

Daily walking has been a physical and spiritual practice of mine for years. I playfully have called it my time of exorcising all the demons that distract my mind and perturb my general wellbeing. As the sun was rising one morning while I walked in the neighborhood of Springfield, IL,…

On a semi-warm day last week I uprooted and removed what was left of my winter garden. The horrific ice storm that crippled Nashville for several weeks had decimated the plants in my raised flowerbed— the ornamental cabbage and kale and even some pansies that had lifted my spirits as…

In the middle of World War II Fred and Mavis Brown, my parents, delivered me, their first-born, to the altar of First Methodist Church, Corpus Christi, TX. As I was passed through baptismal waters, they promised to raise me to live a life that becomes the Gospel. The current ritual…

For nine years I have been a part of a group that has as its aim the expanding of our photography skills and sharpening of our ability to see. The membership of this group of eight has shifted over the years, but the group has remained resolute in its purpose.…

My sister diedThe wolf wails to the moonA plaintive, melancholic dirgeAs I plant pansies

Almost every early morning finds me breakfasting on our sixth-floor balcony porch, come clouds or sun, rain or shine, hot or cold. It is open air yet provides enough shelter to protect from rain, unless the wind is blowing from the north or east, a rarity. In the almost two…

Disruption, chaos, brutality. Uncertainty, anxiety, fear. Where do we find comfort when it feels like the end of the road? There is no easy way through or out. Yet there is one thing of which I am confident—endings, even deaths, are not the last word. The photo of arrows pointing…

Setting the table for supper was my responsibility for some of my childhood years. Five forks, five knives, five spoons, five plates, five napkins. It was routine. It was part of the Brown family evening ritual. Each of us went our separate ways during the day, but we gathered at…

In recent days I’ve been thinking about harboring. My reflection started sometime after U.S. troops were sent to Los Angeles and President Trump bombed nuclear sites in Iran. It has continued as Congress struggles with the U.S. budget proposal, deportations of law-abiding immigrants increase, and the Supreme Court hands down…

My car was loaded with all my earthly possessions. I was ready to embark on a journey of a lifetime. A journey from Corpus Christi, Texas, to Appleton, Wisconsin, where I would make my post-graduation home. I was driving solo from the southern U.S. to the northern U.S. A several-day…