Author: Avellina Balestri

  • Movie Review of the Snow Queen, 2002

    BY MIKE FLYNN I love the way in which this adaptation shows the changes, as our heroine adventures through the different seasons, and how… Read more

  • Hanzi

    Can fly up to the heavens and around the earth. As prayers, whispers, letters, books, and songs, and poetry, the quiet voice of God… Read more

  • It’s Chat Time

    Marinette glanced up and let out a screech. There, crouching on the balcony, was Chat Noir with that signature grin on his face.  Read more

  • In the Year of the Comet

    We spoke of it often in the years before, the end of our world in the first great war. Read more

  • Thorns 

    Finally, as he had done every year on this date, he lifted the blue cloth to display one of the few relics of his greatest friend that remained. Read more

  • The Restorative Power of the Night (Night Bathing) 

    BY BETH FLYNN The night frees our minds to process everything that we have experienced, from the smallest, most mundane task. Read more

  • Dark Waters

    “We must pass through dark waters, before we reach the sweet.” Said Van Helsing as with heavy heart, and aching feet… Read more

  • Crystals and Their Importance

    BY MIKE FLYNN I’ve stumbled across more and more evidence that leads me to believe that at least some of the claims that are made about… Read more

  • A Not Especially Original Poem About October Rain

    This morning I had planned to clear and burn, more of that summer-fallen live-oak tree; that giver of firewood against the winter cold. Read more

  • Personal Reflection on Imam Hussain (Peace Be Upon Him)

    BY SYEDA KAUSAR As someone who is a descendant of Imam Hussain (Peace Be Upon Him), the pain somewhat hits home. Read more

  • The Icon on Your Desk

    We kiss the frame of an icon because. We pray for a Breath of the Eternal. We gaze upon an icon because… Read more

  • Kessho Chronicles

    The door of a quaint little house opened, and a teen entered, his mouth covered with a scarf and a hood over his head… Read more

  • Picking a Fight: A Movie Review of “Braveheart”

    BY AVELLINA BALESTRI The whole Battle of Stirling made me feel kind of adrift and apathetic about who was doing what. Read more

  • Veil of Sorrow

    She came from an affluent and strict family, whom Father Flaherty was very close to. Carol Ann Murphy was, by all accounts… Read more

  • Light & Dark of Halloween

    There are two forces at work when the sun sets on Halloween, one dark, the other light. They are often at war with each other… Read more

  • Halloween Night

    On Halloween night, when the old folk take fright and the children are snug in their beds. The Faerie and Goblins all take… Read more

  • Gilligan’s Island of Castaway Verse

    The discipline of reading at least one poem each day. The meter started getting rough aboard. A scheduled poetic three-minute tour… Read more

  • Lord of the Rings Drabbles

    Hurt. A Small Word… “Does it still hurt, Frodo?” Pip swaddled him in blankets. Hurt. A small word – more fitted to… Read more

  • Lovescape: Meditatations on the Saints of October

    BY AVELLINA BALESTRI St. Teresa of Avila puts me in touch with Christ through her ecstatic longing for union with a lover. Read more

  • Slip in Time – Chapter 15

    BY CHRIS S. (ALIAS WEREWOLFKING350) In the middle of the night, he awakened in a cold sweat… Read more