Only the Beautiful

Only the Beautiful

I think most people are aware of the eugenics movement through Hitler’s experiments in WWII Germany. But fewer people know that the United States had its own eugenics “pioneers” from the late 1800s to the 1940s. The goal was to eliminate undesirable genetic human...
The All-American

The All-American

Some of my favorite middle school memories are bicycling to the baseball diamond and keeping score for my cousin’s team. It was a boy’s team, of course. It was the 1970s. No option for girls to play in my small Michigan town. But this was the closest I could get to...
Under the Magnolias

Under the Magnolias

How has your life been touched by mental illness? Do you know someone who struggles from depression, anxiety, OCD, ODD, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, PTSD, or eating disorders? Maybe that person is in your own family. But if not, you don’t have to look far. ...
Hope Between the Pages

Hope Between the Pages

Decades ago, on my first trip to Southern Appalachia during college, I visited the Biltmore House in Asheville, North Carolina. That’s when I fell in love with the Smoky Mountains, the surrounding area, and its people—as an outsider and a Northerner. But author Pepper...
Thief of Glory

Thief of Glory

For years I read snippets about author Sigmund Brouwer and his books in my Calvin College alumni magazine, The Spark. I kept thinking I ought to read something of his. After all, we had things in common. We overlapped at Calvin (though we never met), we’re both...

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