Rachel Hadas: That Patch of Warmth
August. Midday. Look up: flawless sky
until a cloud sprouts; sidles; suddenly
blots out the sun. Wind troubles the trees
Lourdes Medrano: Mexican Farmers and Scientists Share a Mission: Saving a Wetland
Once mutually wary, farmers and scientists are working jointly to save a key ecosystem — and an endangered salamander.
Neil Shepard: Mating Behaviors of Storks, Egrets, Humans
We’re out of love again and wandering
with other birdwatchers over the cedar shakes,
spying on spring nesting sites where great
migrations end and settle into familiar patterns
of rearing and weaning.
Brett Wilkins: Albert Woodfox, Activist Wrongfully Imprisoned for 43 Years, Dies at 75
“Our cells were meant to be death chambers but we turned them into schools, into debate halls.”
Molly Fisk: Austerity
I love the bare, the necessary: tree without leaves,
man with no clothes. Muscle and skin, bark, knot,
scar, and stubble. Dignity planted before us without
apology.
Al Maginnes: God in Retirement
A little more wine before the sisters
of the scarlet moon perform their ritual
dance again.
Video: Joel Baden | The Bible Doesn’t Say What You Think It Does
Nearly 80 percent of all Americans think the Bible is either literally true or is the inspired word of God. And yet, most Americans have no idea what is actually in the Bible. So we have the paradoxical situation in which we as a culture “have invested the words of this book with amazing authority even when we don’t know what these words are and what they mean.”
Baron Wormser: Oona
When you have a dog, you get to participate in another creature’s being, a creature who wants to be with you, a human being.
Video: On Running – Nicola’s Spirit
It’s rare in sport to go out on top, to make the final chapter of a sporting career worthy of all the chapters that preceded it. But, Nicola Spirig has made a habit of doing the seemingly impossible.
Angele Ellis: “Raised Incorruptible” | In Book of Entangled Souls, Richard St. John tests the boundaries of life and death, compassion and spirituality 
St. John looks deeply and compassionately where others might glance away or move on, and draws the reader along with him.
John Greenleaf Whittier: Forgiveness
My heart was heavy, for its trust had been
Abused, its kindness answered with foul wrong…
Fiore Longo: The Maasai Are Under Attack in the Name of Conservation | ‘This Is Our Land, and We Won’t Leave’
We can no longer turn a blind eye to human rights abuses committed in the name of conservation.
Doug Anderson: We Get Old, We Get Sick
How we stumble, are glib
in the face of our fear
when we might show
our own raw heart
Bill Blum: Welcome to the New Era of Rightwing Judicial Supremacy
The U.S. Supreme Court has entered a legal fantasy world: advancing a regressive political agenda free from democratic accountability.
Vox Populi 