Langston Hughes Slept Here
Springfield, Illinois, is a Lincoln-haunted town, and much of the old downtown has a Lincoln association of some sort or another. But more than Lincoln has happened there.
Moonrise over Meeman-Shelby Forest
The moon rises over the forested horizon as we witness its appearance from the lake shore. How many moonrises have we seen across these waters?
The Abundant Life of the Hoh Rain Forest
The Hoh Rain Forest waits as a patient guide, a moss-embroidered forest of wisdom, lined with ferns and storied over with trees older than memory.
The unheard songs of Saddleback Mountain
Saddleback Mountain stands silent, motionless, stoic above frantic, superficial California as a reminder that some remnant of wildness persists beyond the freeways and strip malls.
The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River
The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone is unlike any other canyon in color, charm, in picturesque calendar-ready beauty, wild and frightening.
Morning on the Riverwalk along the San Antonio River
I greet the day with delight in the cool air of dawn. I am happily surprised to find a sliver of solitude along the San Antonio riverwalk.
American Sacred Space in the Twenty-first Century
Americans have always been ambivalent about the sacredness of their land, which has made American sacred space a story of perpetual conflict.
Trekking through the Yellowstone “Museum of Wonders”
Wonder-Land Illustrated by Harry J. Norton, published in 1873, was one of the first tourbooks recounting the Yellowstone experience for a general audience.
A Civilized Savagery: Rev. Stanley’s ruminations on his way to Yellowstone
Rev. Edwin J. Stanley’s 1873 tour of Yellowstone made him a witness to “the scepter of the irrepressible white man” in the divine right of Manifest Destiny.
Holy Dirt: Review of The Healing Power of the Santuario de Chimayó
Review of “The Healing Power of the Santuario de Chimayó: America’s Miraculous Church” by Brett Hendrickson.
Acadia National Park: A Soul and Spirit Stretching Place
The current issue of Chebacco focuses on the history of religion on Maine’s largest island and includes my essay on religion in Acadia National Park.
Devil’s Slide or Angel’s Ascent?
Devil’s Slide north of Yellowstone National Park has unsettled the religious imaginations of visitors since the nineteenth century.