Today we took our infant son to the doctor for his regular checkup and vaccinations. We do not relish these visits. We gang up on the baby; I restrain my son’s hands, my husband pins his legs, all so the nurse can administer four different vaccine shots. The baby screams, later becomes letharg

I put my hand in the oven a few weeks ago and scorched myself on the heating element. In normal times this would have been just another domestic accidenta careless mistake for which my skin paid the penalty. But the times were not normal. I was in a dark space following the breakdown of a significan

As Senator Barack Obama explores a presidential bid, media headlines across the country ask, Is America ready for an African-American president? Between 50 percent and 62 percent of Americans polled answer yes, that race is no longer a barrier in the United States. But that this is considered a news

As Congress and the President debate the merits of sending 20,000 more troops to Iraq, a very different cohort of 20,000 troops is trying to prepare for life after the war. They are the men and women who have been wounded in action in Iraqmen and women whose bodies may never be whole again, whose mi

The starlight had dimmed. The magic of the Magi had dissolved into the gray of a January work week. And it had been a long week. I was feeling quite tired as I climbed into the taxi that would take me on the first stage of my journey home from the retreat house where I had been working. I was also a