By the Book: Lessons from an 86,000-word journey
At that moment, though, putting 70,000-plus words to paper seemed too daunting, too intimidating. What if I couldn't finish?
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Dheepa
- Dec 15, 2022
- 2 min
This One's for You -- Yes, You!
You have been part of my journey. You have helped me embrace the title I nervously claimed six years ago.
Dheepa
- Sep 8, 2022
- 5 min
Earth Love: Getting to the Other Side of Ecological Grief
I took a deep breath, spread my fingers wide, and placed my palm directly upon the glacier. At first, the chill was pure pleasure, sheer...
Dheepa
- Jun 3, 2022
- 7 min
Finding My Voice
Why, in the moments that authenticity and honesty were most called for, did my voice disappear?
Dheepa
- Mar 23, 2022
- 5 min
The Path of the Monarch
Sue stood at our door, holding an odd-looking plant with a green stem and a dangling pod. "It's for Raj," she said brightly, extending it...
Dheepa
- Dec 31, 2021
- 2 min
A Year-end Message
This morning, I was relieved to learn that my friends had marked themselves safe from Colorado's Marshall Fire. As the unthinkable slowly...
Dheepa
- Jul 29, 2021
- 4 min
Two Lifelines
"Want me to read your palm?" On a sofa in a gloomy college lounge, my study partner Nancy immediately stuck out a hand to be examined by...
Dheepa
- Apr 15, 2021
- 4 min
Kolam and Country: the art of welcome in modern America
For thousands of years, householders have knelt at entryways and drawn a template of creation — using flour to feed that same creation.
Dheepa
- Feb 23, 2021
- 4 min
Coming to Order: a Mother, a Daughter, and an Illness
I don't like what I'm hearing over Zoom, so I fiddle uncomfortably with my necklace, twisting it between my thumb and forefinger and...
Dheepa
- Nov 17, 2020
- 4 min
Braiding: a Caregiving Detour
I was always hesitant to wake her up. After all, she was a night owl — the kind that stayed awake long past midnight, every day. I'd look...
Dheepa
- Oct 16, 2020
- 5 min
I Love You to the Moon and Back
A baby macaque leaped onto a man's orange-robed shoulder and twittered to him animatedly. As I watched both monkey and monk, pink...
Dheepa
- Aug 20, 2020
- 5 min
Shout, Resist, Witness: the Power of Poetry
George Floyd's recent murder has sparked not only demonstrations, but also an explosion of poetry—written, spoken, shouted, screamed
Dheepa
- Jul 9, 2020
- 3 min
Breakage and Beauty: reconciling history and hope
Though our behavior has cracked these ideals profoundly, America doesn't have to shatter, nor does our love for her.
Dheepa
- May 7, 2020
- 4 min
Honor thy Mother(hood)
. . . an ancient knowingness — that the raising and launching of another human being is an awe-inspiriting act and responsibility.
Dheepa
- Mar 19, 2020
- 4 min
Embracing the Virus
While I'm terrified at the harm it is wreaking, it has also cleared away much of my internal noise and nonsense.
Dheepa
- Feb 20, 2020
- 5 min
Finding Clarity: a Tribute to Ghee
Did I need this traditional aspect of my culture to be re-packaged and re-gifted by the western world in order for me to accept it?
Dheepa
- Dec 10, 2019
- 5 min
Moment by Moment
Composed of gleaming pearls and diamonds, it sits in my line of sight whenever I write at my desk. Each jewel represents a failure.
Dheepa
- Nov 12, 2019
- 2 min
Taking Note
When my son was seven years old, he left me notes. They were scrawled on multi-colored Post-it notes that he sneaked out of my desk...
Dheepa
- Sep 19, 2019
- 4 min
By the Book: when the facts obscure the truth
Those facts about Europe would have been accurate, yet I would have missed the truth.
Dheepa
- Aug 8, 2019
- 6 min
The Winter of the Great-Grandmother
I have both a heritage and a legacy. And I myself am the thread unfurling in both directions, connecting both.
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