Time to reevaluate the prominence trauma has in our stories

There’s an excellent article on the prevalence of the trauma plot in contemporary literature in the January 3-10 issue of The New Yorker, which grabbed my attention for two reasons: first, as a writer wanting to understand more about the craft (and which types of stories are currently popular and why) but secondly, as someone …

We all lived in bubbles long before COVID-19 came along

The truth is, we’re going to come through this four-week period of social isolation with flying colours, because, let’s face it, most of us live in states of social isolation in the course of our daily lives anyway. Seriously, what will we miss over the next month? Spending time in cafes? Hanging out in pubs? …

‘I will be known’: A treasured conversation

Our last coffee was had beneath the gaze of Mary, mother of Jesus, on December 17, 2018, some months before she left. I didn’t know it would be our last one-on-one conversation. Neither did she. That’s the point—we rarely know. It’s only afterwards, in retrospect, that these final conversations find their light. Fortuitously, the conversation …

Tears for my sister of mercy

I'm not a teary man, not really. But I've wept more in the past few weeks than I have in my whole life. And it's all because of Darlene. My friend. Who's dying. I think it's that I've been caught out. I've faced tragedy before. Lots of it, actually. I've experienced the death of people …

Immerse your soul in love: a manifesto

Immerse your soul in love, sings Thom Yorke at the end of the song Street Spirit (Fade Out). The line emerged from nowhere during a brainstorming session at Laidlaw College with Jaime Taylor 10 years ago, and subsequently adorned the brick wall of the college foyer, as the institution grappled with the idea that love …

One Tree Hill: A conversation with Scruff

The cuttings of Scruff's extraordinary life are stuffed into a fat, brown leather wallet, along with his personal documents, references, some photos and books. Anything that's been written about Scruff, by anyone, at any time over the past few decades, is in this file. His personal library. It's so full the zip barely closes. It …

The Beautiful Risk: Self-other encounter

One of the best descriptions of relational encounter you will read, by therapist James H. Olthuis, in The Beautiful Risk: So when time and again—no matter what I throw at you or how I test you, no matter how I attack or pull back or digress—you continue to announce your availability without defense or without …