Wake of Echoes

When you see the Stars & Stripes, do you feel like standing or kneeling?  For my part, I stand. In fact, I stand with by hand over my heart, the Star Spangled Banner on my lips and tears in my eyes. But here's the thing: if you see yourself as more of a kneeler, I understand. Even if we tally just a brief list of grievances that might convince you to kneel, we include these whoppers: slavery, native extermination, suppression of women's rights, Japanese internment camps, Jim Crow laws, child labor, exploitation of workers, forced sterilization of the mentally ill, and state-sanctioned murder of the unborn. So, yes. I understand. Forgiveness is hard. Yes, forgiveness. Because that's the issue, isn't it? America has committed sins, and you want her held accountable. You want her to pay for what she's done. But here are a few things to consider while you're on your knees: 1.  America is more than 250 years old, and the people who led her -- t...

Do you love a good suspense novel? I do! And for me, summer is a great season for reading suspense. There is something about the long, warm days that make me feel safer when the words I'm reading turn dark and sinister. So what books do I suggest? Here is a short list of suspenseful summer reads for 2018. Some of them are romantic, some are thought-provoking and some have villains that will make you double check your locks at night, but one thing they all have in common: prose that will raise goosebumps across your sun-kissed shoulders. 1. BENEATH THE SURFACE by Jeni Grossman Griggsberg. A Safe Place to Raise a Family. That's what the sign into town reads, and few people have any reason to think differently. From the stately church on the hill—its magnificent stained-glass windows visible anywhere in the town—to man-made Lake Shiloh dotted by beautiful homes along the shore, an air of peaceful tranquility seems to envelop all of Griggsberg. But things aren...