All Posts By

Debra Rienstra

Blog

Tomatoes: A Bagatelle*

“With 10,000 to 15,000 known varieties of tomatoes worldwide, there is no shortage of new varieties to try.” — The Old Farmers Almanac This summer, I

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Endlessly Remarkable Quiddity

“The faithful ought never to run over the good things in creation ‘with a fleeting glance; but we should ponder them at length, turn them

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The Aesthetics of Decline

A palpable holiness remains. The foundation stones and a few walls trace a jagged outline of daily monastic life. The arches of the abbey church

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A Prayer for Turning Corners

Today feels like a moment of transition. This past week, I closed the books on one of the longest academic years I’ve ever experienced. Today,

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Living on the Fault Lines

Walking the dog last October, before the US presidential election, I noted the obvious evidence that my neighborhood sits on a fault line. Not a

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God’s Wildness

I didn’t plan this—honest—but on Earth Day this part Thursday, my syllabi had me teaching nature-related literature: in one class, some poems by Andrew Marvell

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