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The Burial Ground, After the Battle

April 21, 2013 by Margaret Hammitt-McDonald 2 Comments

The dead are lined up according to size and type,
as neatly arranged as clothing in a drawer,
records on a shelf,
bullets in a chamber.
A quiescent machine waits to lift them,
its steel mouth clamping one, nipping at mossy skin
and flaccid lichens.

[Read More]

Filed Under: Nature, Poetry, Spirit, ULE

Little and Big: a story about a town

April 5, 2013 by Ursula K. Le Guin 7 Comments

Once upon a time there was a little town by a big ocean. It was a wise little town. Long ago it had looked at its dunes and beaches, its big trees, its marsh where the red-wing blackbirds sang, its little streets and little grey shingle shops and houses, and said: This is all good.

[Read More]

Filed Under: Art, Culture, Featured Writing, Spirit, ULE Tagged With: Cannon Beach, Oregon Coast, Ursula K. Le Guin, Ursula Le Guin

America is in Moral Decline

April 4, 2013 by Mike Carter 2 Comments

If we are to truly measure morality, then we need to look at what we prize as a society. How do we spend our free time? What is our treasure? What motivates us? What do we value the most?

The answer isn’t very far away–it’s in our driveways, in the corners of our living rooms, in our hands, our ears and our pockets. It is money and everything money can buy. [Read More]

Filed Under: Culture, Politics, Spirit, ULE

As society evolves, it becomes more moral

April 2, 2013 by Don Anderson 2 Comments

Some of my conservative friends that I’ve talked to recently think that America in particular and the world in general is in a moral decline. It is common for them to compare America with ancient Rome. “We’re heading the same way as Constantine,” a Republican colleague said to me a few weeks ago.

[Read More]

Filed Under: Culture, Politics, Spirit, ULE

The Scientist Stood

March 22, 2013 by Kathryn 3 Comments

Closer and closer his little spaceship came
To the event horizon of the black hole.
This was his great adventure.
What he had studied all his life
Might today be proven true or false.
Or perhaps not proven at all.

[Read More]

Filed Under: Poetry, Spirit, ULE Tagged With: loss, meaning, religion, science fiction, spirituality

The Sea as Soul-Maker

February 28, 2013 by Margaret Hammitt-McDonald 6 Comments

When I was a child, two sounds soothed me to sleep each night: the washing machine in the basement and the bell buoy in the bay. The liquid repetitiveness of the washing machine churning laundry in its gullet contrasted with the intermittent knelling of the bell as it warned ships away from the shoreline.

[Read More]

Filed Under: Culture, Spirit, ULE Tagged With: bell buoy, dream, laundry, washing machine

Valentine for Flipper

February 14, 2013 by Watt Childress 16 Comments

One of the most important cultural centers in the ancient world was founded by a dolphin. According to a Homeric Hymn, the creature jumped aboard a ship sailing from Crete and commanded the mariners to build a sanctuary at Delphi. The animal was said to be a manifestation of the Greek god Apollo. Apollo Delphinios.

[Read More]

Filed Under: Culture, Nature, Spirit, Television, ULE Tagged With: Delphyne, Dephi, dolphin, Flipper, omphalos, sea serpent

Surfing Pop Culture: Who Wants the Truth?

January 16, 2013 by Rick Bonn 7 Comments

Does it even matter anymore that light sabers aren’t real? Or that Lance Armstrong used drugs to win races? Or that Manti Te’o’s dead girlfriend never existed? Or that faith, as the filmed LIFE OF PI suggests, needn’t be based on truth to be valid?

[Read More]

Filed Under: Culture, Entertainment, Feature, Movies, Spirit, ULE Tagged With: Frederick Buechner, Lance Armstrong, Life of Pi film, light sabers, Manti Te'o girlfriend, Star Wars religion

The Evolution of a Personal Code of Ethics or What Will You Leave Behind Stevie-Dean?

January 7, 2013 by Stevie Stephens Burden 4 Comments

It seems to me in light of the current culture and politics of America that perhaps it is time for me, and maybe others, to actually examine their own ethics and how we live our lives prior to condemning others for the way they lead theirs. Perhaps if we work harder to become our better selves then our communities and our country can evolve into better versions of themselves as well. [Read More]

Filed Under: Culture, Politics, Spirit, ULE Tagged With: culture, Ethics, politics, values

Evergreen Testament

December 26, 2012 by Watt Childress 6 Comments

Suddenly I feel like I’m standing on sacred ground. My sense of kinship with the place expands in the company of cedars, some large enough to barely get my arms around. I press my palms against the taut skin of their trunks. I revel in the scent of sprigs picked up from earth their kind have nourished for lifetimes.

[Read More]

Filed Under: Culture, Nature, Spirit, ULE Tagged With: cedar, Clatsop-Nehalem Confederated Tribes, Glencoe High School, Lewis Hyde, potlatch

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Open Letter for Creation’s Caregivers

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Additional Wisdom...

Readers’ Comments

  • Watt Childress
    June 13, 2026 at 2:40 pm
    on Reverend Billy wants Oregon to Legalize Potlucks
    I can see how one comes to that conclusion, given all the frustration that accompanies disempowerment. Here's a truth that
  • DHCG
    June 7, 2026 at 2:49 pm
    on Reverend Billy wants Oregon to Legalize Potlucks
    “ They could encourage togetherness by example, tee-up other practical reforms to help free folks from the overreach of top-down
  • Susan Banyas
    June 7, 2026 at 11:00 am
    on Opening the Book of Indigenous Grief
    "The future is made from grief that has been grieved." Thank you Cliff. Thank you Little People, for this gift
  • Watt Childress
    June 6, 2026 at 4:18 pm
    on Reverend Billy wants Oregon to Legalize Potlucks
    I imagine most members of city and county governments here on the coast support open community potlucks. It would help
  • Watt Childress
    June 6, 2026 at 4:13 pm
    on Reverend Billy wants Oregon to Legalize Potlucks
    I'd like to believe it would never get to that point, where someone would be penalized with a fine and/or
More Comments...

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