Columns

The rain looked like shards of ice in front of my face. I was bundled up as much as possible on that cold November day. The sky was as gray as I felt as we buried my beloved sister-in-law. Because I had just recovered from a recent illness, I stood…

My phone started ringing about 8:15 in the morning. I knew who it was and why he was calling. A wry smile was on my face as I answered it. The Spencer Cancer Center in Alabama makes laboratory results available to patients about 36 hours after a…

The noise was horrendous. People were dressed in penis gourds and grass skirts, all carrying some type of weapon — spears, bows, arrows, machetes. Many had boar tusks inserted through their nasal septum. As they danced and hollered around the small jungle plane I’d flown to this small village in…