Tissues
Sentimental songs, moments or tearjerkers
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The pandemic changed death rituals and left grieving families without a sense of closure
Natasha Mikles The unexpected death of a friend and colleague to COVID-19 in January 2021 led me to start researching how American death rituals were transforming during the pandemic. My friend was Hindu, and while watching his funeral on Zoom, I witnessed the significant transformations that had to be made to the traditional rituals to accommodate COVID-19 safety guidelines. In the spring and summer of 2021, I conducted over 70 hours of oral history interviews with people involved in the medical and funerary professions, as well as grieving families and those who worked closely with them, including grief counselors, hospice workers and even spirit mediums. As a historian of religion interested in…
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This Cathedral for Boys, This Cathedral of Dreams
in the summertime,within the ivy-covered walls,upon the sun-drenched grass, the green, green grasswhere full grown boys lived out my dreams,in nine inning shares of timelessness,to hear the thunder of Ted Williams’ bat,to watch the smooth, smooth stride of Willie Mays,to sit in awe of lads once like me,but who grew up somewhere to become so much more,these mythic figures of a mythic game,a game once began on sandy backlots,now continued on fields in majestic ballparks,they are all grown up these once little boys,grown-up beyond the reach of mortals who wear tailored grey suits as they go to work,they live in realms of near perfection,they walk in air beyond our own,they…
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The Baseball ⚾️
A Children’s Story by Nancy Quinn “Matt!” called out mom. “It’s time for dinner.” Mom’s voice floated from the edge of the town park to the group playing baseball. Always quick to obey his parents, Matt quickly hit the baseball to the edge of the park and grinned. Yes, that tiny round pebble that the boys found this morning was the perfect baseball. With satisfaction, he swung the stick he had carved out for a bat over his shoulder and stepped away from home plate. Thankfully the bases and home plate didn’t blow away today like the last time they played baseball. Using oak leaves as the bases don’t always…
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San Diego
I loved living in San Diego. I moved there in 1990 to begin my freshman year at UC San Diego, a school that I would probably never get into today if I applied! UCSD was perched on the cliffs of La Jolla, and if you had the right dorm room, like my friend Natalie did, your dorm room might even have an ocean view. I met my now husband, Greg, at UCSD in 1992. He’s from the Bay Area, but I did not hold that against him as long as he didn’t limit my paper towel usage. We are a mixed marriage-I’m Catholic and he is Jewish, he is a…
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Moms in a puddle of goo…
5th grade promotion, 2013 Windrows Elementary, Rancho Cucamonga CA Picture a video of our little cherubs while these tearjerkers played in the background. Not nice, Windrows!
