Spring Equinox – Jeanette Winterson: Mind Over Matter

This whole essay is beautiful, but I love the concept of borrowing free energy. I am a big believer in using free energy - whether it’s the energy generated round religious holidays, like Christmas time, or the energy we can feel from the changing of the seasons. Every day is not the same. Our personal energy levels are not the same every day - we all know that.

http://blog.hughhollowell.org/spring-equinox-jeanette-winterson-mind-over-matter/

Native Plants and Depoliticizing the Wildlife Garden – Humane Gardener

We can’t take care of the planet in the long term unless we take care of each other now. And we can’t take care of each other in the long term unless we take care of the planet now. I believe in human rights, and I welcome the other citizens of this earth with open arms. I believe in the rights of our fellow species to make a home here, too, and I welcome them with the plants they need to survive.…

http://blog.hughhollowell.org/native-plants-and-depoliticizing-the-wildlife-garden-humane-gardener/

Watching the clouds

When I was a little boy, both of my parents worked a lot, and I spent a lot of time at my neighbor’s house. They were retired farmers, and as my surviving grandfather lived far away, they filled that role in my life. They were very much a product of their time. They didn’t follow daylight saving time, or government time, as they called it, and they didn’t have air conditioning, although I think that was mostly on him, because after he died, she…

http://blog.hughhollowell.org/watching-the-clouds/

Mike’s Bible

Today is Mike's birthday. Facebook reminded me this morning, which felt like a punch in the gut. So, I thought it was fitting to tell you about Mike's Bible. The Bible itself is nothing to look at. If you were looking for a generic idea of what a Bible should look like, it would look like this one. It’s black leather, with gilt edges and a black ribbon to mark your place, and in gold script in the lower right-hand corner, it has Mike's name embossed.

http://blog.hughhollowell.org/mikes-bible/

The Bar

It was pouring rain outside, but inside the bar, it was warm and dry. It was also dark, and the task lighting here and there behind the bar made pools that illuminated the area around them. The murmur of conversation played off the piped-in piano jazz, and the overall effect was that you were lucky to be alive while such a place existed.

http://blog.hughhollowell.org/the-bar/

Anti-Ableism | Ask Hugh Anything

I intend to answer a question from the readers of this blog each week (you can read more about this here). This week's question comes from Karen. So many otherwise progressive people I encounter, especially in faith spaces, have not really examined their own ableism. You are a rare progressive who is on an anti-ableist journey. I'm curious how that happened to you.

http://blog.hughhollowell.org/anti-ableism-ask-hugh-anything/

The Love List- part 2

In summer of 2024, I made a list of 100 things I love. Here is another 50. That sharp bite in the back of your throat from horseradish. The first sip of a Diet Coke from McDonalds. Browsing a bookstore on a rainy afternoon. The smell of a freshly plowed field. Muscadine jelly on a buttered biscuit. Wandering the produce section at the Asian market.

http://blog.hughhollowell.org/the-love-list-part-2/

Ask Hugh anything (aha!)

Hi friends. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’ve been updating my blog each weeknight for a couple of weeks now. I like daily blogging—it’s generative for me. It makes me practice writing, even when I’m not working on a specific writing project, like the next book. It’s like off—season training. Keeps me in shape. But in a way, blogging daily without a unifying project to order it is harder.

http://blog.hughhollowell.org/ask-hugh-anything-aha/

Why I stay

CW: Some mentions of sexual assault and spiritual abuse, but nothing graphic. When Dan was a boy, he idolized his grandfather: they were inseparable. Dan’s grandfather was a minister, and the way Dan described it to me,the grandfather was revered in their small town. He moved with integrity, his word was his bond, and he embodied manhood to Dan, and to many others in their town.

https://blog.hughhollowell.org/why-i-stay/

The one about hope.

I've been in a position several times recently where I have been asked what I do. To which I replied, "Do about what, exactly?," which I think is funny and they never do. It turns out, when people asked that, they mean, "What is your occupation?", and I don't have a good answer for that. The closest I come these days is "storyteller", which is somehow both true and not helpful, either to them understanding what I do, or to my getting paid work that…

https://blog.hughhollowell.org/the-one-about-hope/