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3 articles
A tree’s life story is inscribed in its core. Each year, a new layer of cells forms around the existing wood. It’s thickness and color tell the story of weather and circumstances. Was it windy, wet, particularly hot that year? Was there a fire? A drought? It’s all written in the layers of wood, if you know how to read it, and enclosed in a layer of bark.
Laura Liska · 17 June 2026 · 1 min
There are two occasions when a community becomes closely knit and deeply connected, as if by magic. At these moments the heavens seem to descend upon the group. They occur in the case of life and of death, when a person speaks of their own life or about someone else’s.
Wolfgang Held · 10 June 2026 · 1 min
I asked for a receipt for the far-too-expensive visit to the small Ethiopian farmstead. The men just stared blankly at me. Was I getting ripped off? I sounded like my mother and realized that her way of dealing with things had shaped me. I tried to smooth things over with wit and charm, and without drawing attention to my womanhood. After all, women certainly don’t have much say in matters here. Secretly, I thought the guide was arrogant before realizing that he came from the line of clan leaders. And eventually, I sat in a young wife’s hut and listened to her singing, as beautiful as the savanna wind at 5 p.m.
Gilda Bartel · 03 June 2026 · 1 min