Commentaries & Essays

I never wanted a dog. Growing up, my main interactions with dogs involved being chased by the junkyard variety. 

Years ago, my ten-year-old son, Ian, began lobbying for a dog just before his remaining sibling headed off to college. This last child desperately did not want to be left alone in a house with aging parents.

The postcard read, “One memory of Iran, that I present of my very perty (sic) Sara,” and was signed, “Bahman and Reza.” 

The card showed a picture of a young girl, maybe 14 years old, working at a loom—“A girl carpet weaver of Isfahan, Iran,” read the caption.

I’ve always told my children, “Don’t hitchhike and don’t pick up hitchhikers.” But, in truth, from my own experience, I’ve found that hitchhiking can lead to some interesting adventures.

Economists speculate about the extent of recovery from this country’s great recession.  Since 2008, many families have faced hard times, but Charlottesville writer Mary Alice Hostetter says things were tough for some folks when she was a child, growing up on her parents’ farm in Pennsylvania.  Sometimes proof of the nation’s economic troubles would arrive at the farmhouse door.

Top entries from the 13th Annual Celebration of Reflective and Creative Writing (2015):

It’s never easy to deal with sickness and death, but nurses do it every day.  In her essay, UVA graduate student Melissa Beth Behl   explains how  and why she’s  able to cope with the stress of caring for patients.