Not-yet-published pieces, stories, essays, rants, and random strangenesses

The Kaddish—that is, the so-called “Mourner’s Kaddish” that is recited for the dead in Jewish prayer services—was originally prayed by...

A couple of weeks ago, Adamus told me he had gotten a dog at the pound, a Lab mix named Dusty. He said I should definitely meet her....

by Edgardo Krebs Special to The Washington Post Saturday, August 11, 2007; Page C02 After learning of the death of the Peruvian shaman...

I frequently had night terrors as a child, though apparently what I experienced was not what the psychologists call “night terror.” True...

Today is Ash Wednesday. Today you’ll see a strange sight: people walking around with smudges on their foreheads, like gray bindis over...

Holly was my friend, probably my best friend for a while, in college. She appeared sometime during my sophomore year. She was a little...