Tying Shoes: A Collection of Essays

Abstract

This collection of seven personal essays centers on certain commonalities of human experience as discovered in the life experience of the author. Issues of discussion include the acceptance and/or alienation of self, the way issues of gender are transferred to succeeding generations, the divide between spirituality and physicality or faith and reason, the transformation of the stages of grief, as well as the dichotomy of living in a world filled with beauty and horror, pleasure and pain. Also discussed are issues dependent on human institutions or frameworks such as self in relation to community, family, friendship, as well as marriage, and parenting. In each of the texts, it is the author's intent to demonstrate that hope or faith can be evident through subtle paradigm shifts and simple actions rather than miraculous epiphanies or heroic deeds.