Columns
Living through the Coronavirus: Part 2
Editor’s note: This is the second in a two-part series. The first part appeared in the April 8 edition of the Tri-City Times. Columnist Paula Parisot is sharing the experiences of her relative, Morgan Gallup Zhu, who resides with her husband and daughter in Nanjing,...
Learning the meaning of things
A girl learning to read cursive, I discovered a piece of paper on the kitchen counter one day. Mom’s pretty handwriting listed words like flour, baking soda, tea bags–things she used in the kitchen. Then, in the middle of the list she wrote TP. What was that? I heard...
Living through the Coronavirus in China
Editor’s note: This is the first part in a two-part series. Look for the conclusion in the April 15 edition of the Tri-City Times. “An American in China” is a blog written by my second cousin’s daughter, Morgan Gallup Zhu. The blog details her journey through the...
Stories of faith and tradition
Comic relief Youtubes and email about the present plague fill my mailbox. The “mask controversy” leads. But that will change. Zoom and Skype keep folk connected and business rolling forward best they can. My heartfelt thanks to the farmer and hunter who feed us, and...
Spring peepers, silver linings
I cried inconsolably when my father uprooted us from our Kentucky farm to Detroit in 1954. To soothe my homesickness, Mom taught my two sisters and me how to make hollyhock ballerinas with toothpicks. She bought us ice cream at Brown’s Creamery. I loved spinning on...
Birdsong and a prayer
A harbinger of spring, we tackled the asparagus patch this week. Mel pulled dried weeds and pushed loads of compost uphill. With shovel in hand, I assessed my half of the labor. Yes, our food is worth the work. Fastidious about my gardens’ borders, I began with a...
A nice but strange homecoming
I think I had forgotten exactly how much I had missed winter in Michigan. Despite wreaking hell on my nasal passages, there is something electrifyingly rejuvenating in inhaling the crisp outdoor air, with its ubiquitous scent of campfire. Even its chilly caress on my...
The beginning of a new world
Living with uncertainty is bringing me down. I am a planner. How can I plan anything when every day I wake up to different parameters and damage reports? Of one thing I am certain, society is about to find out what it’s like to pare down our material items and make...
Finding blessings all around you
Editor’s note: The following guest column was submitted by Catherine Minolli, the Times’ former editor, who retired in September 2019. She currently operates Peaceful Moon Yoga. Ahhh, the poetry of Spring! The season of rebirth and renewal...the time when the Earth...
Light upon an unraveling world
Last Wednesday began in my sunny kitchen, chopping broccoli and onions for soup with Joyce. At 10 a.m. she arrived towing two photo albums, her memoir in progress, and coconut macaroons dipped in chocolate. Her immediate eye spied the ruffled bowl holding Granny Smith...
