Feature Stories
Feature Stories
A Novel Idea of Time
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Short of a video recording, it is impossible to relive your past. Even if you succeeded in convincing H.G. Wells’ Time Traveller to let you hitch a ride on his machine, your experiences since childhood have changed you to the degree that you would experience those years differently the second time around. This is what Thomas Wolfe was getting at when he said you can’t go home again.
An exercise in nostalgia can be disappointing if you dig past the superficial memories. It is no coincidence that the word’s origins in Greek are nostos (return home) and algos (pain). Specifically, I wanted to determine if the novels I treasured in my youth and young adulthood still had the same effect on me.
Feature Stories
A Different Sort of Service
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A dozen faces were arranged across the computer screen during Sunday morning’s Zoom meeting, waiting for the weekly service to begin. The conversation was marked by jovial banter and irreverent humor, with discussions of coffee and coffee floats mixed with talk of a pandemic-themed board game. Three participants utilized a virtual background, including one depicting now-famous Four Seasons Total Landscaping. People gathered singly, or in pairs, in their kitchens, bedrooms or living rooms. A cat named Mila walked across one screen just before the service was to begin. Despite it being a Sunday morning during the pandemic, this was not a virtual church service.