Russel E. Saltzman on the magic of locality:

In the summer of 1993, family obligations dictated that I move closer to home. It also meant taking a sabbatical from parish ministry.

That’s how I ended up in Marceline, Missouri, population 2,500, interviewing with the publisher of the Marceline Press to become editor. He’d already offered the spot to me by telephone based on clips I sent. Now he was taking me on a tour, selling the town.

Also today, Alana S. Newman on gay marriage and the test-tube tidal wave:

I am the daughter of a sperm donor. For a long time I didn’t understand how this had negatively impacted my life, until I read David Blankenhorn’s Fatherless America. It was like stepping into a series of scenes from my adolescence. Never before had someone so eloquently and acutely described my personal struggles. I now staunchly defy the pro donor-conception script I was expected to embrace.