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A-boat Mercy
“It’s the boats!” On a walk with my mother along the Oceanside pier just a few days ago, we saw “the boats.” I knew exactly which boats she meant as she pointed them out: the boats that taught me mercy. You see, when I was about three years old, my family vacationed along this exact…
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Great (Thwarted) Expectations
Choosing to read Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations now of all times felt satisfyingly ironic. After all, my expectations for this season of life have been consistently frustrated. Like Pip, the novel’s protagonist, I spent the last year building grand, beautiful, ambitious plans only to have them come crashing down in painful succession. In reading Great…
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Unmasking Cognitive Dissonance
It is difficult lately to know which contemporary issue to address. Every morning, I wake to discover another potential disaster. (Today, it was the threat of “meth-gators,” which thankfully do not seem to be a likely threat as I’m pretty sure Steve Irwin would have been the only person capable of dealing with that.) Today,…
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Dear Mr. Potter: An Open Letter on Cancel Culture
Mr. H. PotterThe Cupboard under the Stairs4 Privet Drive Little WhingingSurrey Dear Mr. Potter, We at the Ministry of Magic are writing to inform you of a significant occurrence of which it is imperative that you be informed. To put it bluntly, you are now thrice-orphaned. The passing of your heroic father and mother, Lily…
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Pedals and Pandemic
I moved to St. Andrew’s, Scotland in September of 2019 to pursue my master’s degree in “Theology and the Arts.” Almost immediately, I was given an organ scholarship at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, which featured a beautiful historic building and a loving community. Serving in music ministry and being a choir member has long been…
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Organ Sonnet 1
Until sent stepping down the pedals—scalar,My feet were not sure of their footing hereBut then, at once, my most pressing fearBecame naught but a small organ failure! And once my frigid fingers found their noteI settled into newfound harmonyIn a choir which turned much-loved companyAnd rendered far-off home not so remote. But now, removed, another…
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Befriending Dante: A Reflection on Readership
Although I have always been bookish in about every sense of the word, I went through a “rebellious” phase in high school when my AP Literature class was required to read Dante’s Inferno. I was adamantly against it and now, as I reread it for the fourth or fifth time, I can explain away this opposition as…
AP Lit, AP Literature, bookish, books, characters, Christian literature, cultural literacy, dante, divine comedy, Fiction, history, inferno, inspiration, literacy, literary, literary friends, literature, narrative, paradise, purgatory, reader, readership, Reading, relationships, theology, theology and the arts -
Whatever is Lovely
“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” – Philippians 4:8 . I prefer to live my life in double-speed. My long legs are well-suited to covering…
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The Word Kept: a reflection on John 1:1
“IN PRINCIPIO ERAT VERBUM” The Latin for “in the beginning was the Word” is inscribed on the gates of my college at St. Andrew’s. Each day, I was reminded as I walked beneath them why I was studying, why I am a writer, and why I was in that particular place. After all, what is…
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Two Poems for St. Andrew’s
When I moved to St. Andrew’s, Scotland to pursue my master’s degree, I was convinced that I would love that little town of stone and sea with my whole being. I was sure that falling in love with its historic ruins, its adorable streets, and its rain-purified air would be simple. Yet I found myself…
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Lack to Love: a sonnet
Inspired by C.S. Lewis’ The Four Loves: My moon-sick eyes I turn from Sun above; Too brilliant, let me see yet silhouettes And trace them on my heart lest I forget These shades that show the shape of Light, my love. Permit that I might feel those phantom limbs Of One I neither see nor now…
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Whoever you are, I miss you
In this time of isolation, many lovers have been forced into long-distance relationships and many friends and neighbors suddenly separated by an unfeeling six feet. Like everyone else, I miss being close to those I care about. However, I have their numbers for FaceTime and their addresses for letters, and these make the missing easier,…
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Ryanne Molinari 