I first saw “The Man In the Golden Helmet” in 1976 on a street corner in Monterey California. At that time he was labeled as “The Conquistador.” He was painted on black velvet and framed with enough faux gold woodwork and styling to make a rococo chapel blush. He stood out among the every day black velvet visual chorus of tigers, matadors and breezily attired gypsy women artfully arranged about the centrally placed interpretations of The Three Kings—Martin, Elvis, and Jesus. Much as the original was painted by an artist within the “circle of Rembrandt,” … Continue reading The Man in the Golden Helmet by Harry Lee James→
There are mobiles of paper goldfinches flying, falling raindrops, and flower bursts along with fanciful collages and small, carefully crafted books. Such intriguing pieces you will find in the Charlottesville, Virginia studio of mixed media artist Jennifer Billingsly. “I have always loved books and words and have strong memories of my first childhood books and stories,” Billingsly remembers. “In my mid 20s I picked up a camera and this opened up a new world for me. I devoured photography books and really began to think about visual storytelling.” At that time, Billingsly worked part-time … Continue reading Mixed Media Artist Jennifer Billingsly→
We’re happy to announce the winners of the 2026 Streetlight Essay/Memoir contest. First Prize goes to Wendy Kennar for “On a Scale Of . . . ”, her incisive and personal look at the difficulties involved in the medical diagnosis and treatment of pain—a subject familiar to all of us, sometimes too much so. “Lost Boots,” by Wendy Fontaine, is our Second Prize winner, a subtle blend of love, loss and nostalgia. Jeffrey M. Kane is our third prize winner with “Flare, Strobe, Pulse,” an antic account of an illustration of the irrepressibility of human … Continue reading Our Winners by Susan Shafarzek→
Twenty five hundred years ago, the Buddha propounded (among other ideas) that nothing in existence is permanent. Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are A-Changin” narrows this aspect of reality to a sociopolitical context. In the first instance, realization and acceptance is advised, while the second is an admonishment and a call for changes in attitude and for action as did Henry David Thoreau and others before him. A little more than a month ago when the country changed its clocks to Daylight Savings Time (DST) (on March 8, 2026), I began contemplating how we record … Continue reading Darkness Over America by Fred Wilbur→
The way down is always harder than the way up. On the way up a mountain, your muscles strain to push you vertically. Going down, you’re already tired and you’re fighting gravity to keep from falling. And fall I do, slipping on mud covering a smooth rock, and tumbling face down, my eyeglasses rocketing into a nearby tree. When I was younger, I didn’t think twice about hiking up a mountain. I enjoyed the challenge and the soreness that followed, my body’s signal that I had accomplished something special and was fit enough to do … Continue reading Coming Down the Mountain by E. H. Jacobs→
My Irish Catholic grandmother—no slouch herself to rosary beads and the Stations of the Cross—had a friend, Wilma, who was far more pious than she. So pious in fact, that she refused to answer the telephone, eat, cook, read the pay-puh or turn on the TV on Good Friday between the hours of 12 and 3 pm. Instead, she knelt in her living room and prayed during the Three Hours’ Agony—the hours of Christ’s crucifixion and death on the cross. Don’t get me wrong. My grandmother was all for a a solemn Catholic ritual, … Continue reading Good Friday by Kathleen McKitty Harris→
A few years ago, I was driving home from work, encountering typical rush hour traffic. At a red light, the car radio went dead. The light turned green. I hit the accelerator, and then the realization—my car won’t start. I am a nurse, and have been involved in many medical emergencies. The sight of blood captures my attention, but I know what to do. I can react and provide the necessary assistance in crisis situations. When it is required, I exude calmness, But any car issue, big or small, is an emergency that causes me … Continue reading Rush Hour Angels by Rosanne Trost→
My four-year-old granddaughter, “Zoe”, lives out-of-state. We often meet via Zoom. She and I share a screen and explore her burning questions by searching YouTube videos. Last Saturday morning, Zoe wanted to know: Do unicorns exist? Are mermaids real? We discovered that unicorn sightings might have been skinny rhinoceros or possibly rare Italian one-horned deer. We also learned that mermaids likely were manatees basking on boulders and the wishful thinking of sailors who had been at sea too long. This news didn’t crush the child. A week later, though, when I asked what she wanted … Continue reading Deconstructing Unicorns and Mermaids by Deborah M. Prum→
It is just after 5:00 a.m. as I browse among the books that prop up my life. I say prop because books are so often a means of leaving my surroundings, tuning out, turning off. I say prop, but more accurately, they are the existential nail on which I hang my time and effort. Poetry, mostly—Ron Rash, Ted Kooser, Wendell Berry, Kari Gunter-Seymour. Mountain words, plains words, red clay words, river words. Places where I am utterly myself and utterly absent in this fading night whose silence is suddenly shattered by the rattling of a … Continue reading Visitatio Divina by Sharon Perkins Ackerman→
Recently, my wife and I attended a dinner gathering of ten academics of which half were retired. We had met all before, though only a few do we consider knowing well. There was pleasant conversation as folks arrived—much about the inconveniences of the recent snow and ice. These folks were mostly scientists, with a good balance of humanities scholars and all are relentlessly curious and well versed in a range of subject areas. Dinner conversation bounced from tick-borne alpha-gal, to the absence of haggis being Robert Burns night (postponed because of the snowstorm a week … Continue reading A Necessary Addiction by Fred Wilbur→
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