Fruits of Forgiveness: Overcoming Evil with Good
There is nothing like inhumanity to remind us that we are human. Tell yourself all you like that you are a piece of electric meat, a random causation of evolutionary theory, and all sense of…
Tag: Avellina Balestri
One Small Star: A Les Miserables Poem
~ by Avellina Balestri One small star, like the flame of a candlestick One small star which my blot out the rest One small star that may heal all enmity One small star that may…
Water in the Wasteland: Unexpected Elements of Hope and Redemption in Television and Film
I am the kind of person who sometimes derives hope from unusual things. As a lover of stories, I often will comment that a certain twist seemed rather “hopeful” to me, even if most other…
Outside the Law: A Robin Hood Story
~ by Avellina Balestri Robin slunk up the stairs, trying hard not to let his teeth chatter together as he passed by his father’s study. He had learned to walk like an animal in the…
Hussain at Karbala
I wander the sands, smeared crimson o’er gold The blood of my house runs red as the dusk The children are crying, their throats parched earth Children of this earth, begging for rain Just to…
The Soul is Stronger than Death: A Meditation on Love and Eternity
In sterile scientific terms, we all understand the nature of death. It is, by definition, the shutting down of the biological functions of the body, rendering it lifeless and susceptible to corruption and…
The Worst of the Mohicans: A Movie Review of “The Last of the Mohicans”
Year: 1992 Filming: Color Length: 114 minutes Genre: Action/Adventure/Drama/History/Romance/War Maturity: R (for graphic battle violence) Main Cast: Daniel Day-Lewis (Hawkeye), Madeleine Stow (Cora Munro), Steven Waddington (Duncan Hayward), Russell Means (Chingachgook), Wes Studi (Magua), Jodhi…
For Wrath, For Ruin: Aragorn Reflects on Helm’s Deep
This must be the end of all things for me, this height, this depth, this place. It presses down on me, shrinks me, and stifles me. I am used to roaming wide plains…
Souls We Hardly Save: Staying Spiritually Aware During Dark Times
The world is turning faster and faster and faster, and so many of us feel as if we’re about to fall off the carousel. We are shocked at the spin, and cannot find our footing.…
Brian Bedford: In Memoriam
~ by Avellina Balestri Some voices shape our own In memory, in manifestation In twist of accent, turn of tone In the comfort they give, the hope they plant Those are the voices that form…