Tag: magic

  • May 26, 2015

    May 26, 2015

    I saw Edouard Vuillard’s Repast in a Garden for the first time years and years ago. I was maybe twenty-five years old. I remember standing in the National Gallery and staring at that light, at the people gathered around the table, at the magic circle of it all, and thinking: there is where I want…

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  • July 10, 2012

    July 10, 2012

    Sometimes, when I am out walking, I like to visit this old coal chute in Uptown Minneapolis. I like to rest my hand on the raised letters: MAJESTIC. It’s a little like rubbing a lamp. I don’t expect (or necessarily want) a genie to pop out and grant me three wishes. But there is some…

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  • May 22, 2012

    May 22, 2012

    I often have the feeling that if I turn around quickly enough (or slowly enough) I will catch something wonderful that is happening just out of my sight. I call this feeling “peripheral magic.” It can happen when I look up or kneel down or hold myself still. Suddenly, I am aware of wonder, marvels,…

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  • April 5, 2012

    April 5, 2012

    I received a letter this week was from an almost-nine year old who had just finished reading The Tale of Despereaux. Her name is Rachel and she says that she likes to “read with a snack and sink into the story.” Isn’t that grand? But here’s my favorite line from the letter: “Some people call…

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