"Music never stopped a war or put an end to greed or the hunger for power. But it was never supposed to. It has no reason, just as life has no reason. It just is. And what it is is the best that we can hope to be." Music is the talent - and the curse - that spans three generations to link Alex Ri...
Words are only the labels we put on thoughts to make them manageable for ourselves; to communicate them to other people. I guess that’s why the Babies had so much trouble teaching us the mind-speech. We had to overcome a lifetime of verbalising. I’m sure that most of the communication they used b...
My friend Thi does, though I doubt she would admit it in public. Thi was born here, and when she speaks she sounds about as Vietnamese as I do, but when it comes to the traditional customs of her family … Well, I guess she’s as susceptible as any of us. Her grandmother is to blame, of course. The...
later, I guess it made sense. Even though he was in Year Seven, Nanh was a little bit older than us — about fourteen, I suppose; he’d had a really mixed-up childhood, and his language problems had kept him back in school, but he was really quite small for his age, so he didn’t look older. And if ...
Theodore Roethke Christian 14 July 2006 The rain, which has been threatening for days, finally begins, spattering like bullets into the tarpaulin that covers the mound of soil at the graveside. Christian stands alone in the crowd of mourners, staring down as the coffin is lowered into the straigh...
I followed the old woman down a short corridor and into a large kitchen area. She pointed towards the dining table. “Sit. Sit … ” I pulled out one of the chairs and sat. The dog, I noticed, stuck close to her, watching from behind the folds of her skirt. Just like a little kid who’s scared of vis...