Blog

Oh, Shenandoah, I long to hear you…

Posted June 12th, 2012 by Thomas Norman DeWolf

Whenever I’m here, the song gently plays in my mind over and over. I never tire of it. As with many American folk songs of uncertain origin, the meaning of Oh, Shenandoah is unclear. For me, I simply long to return here whenever I can; to the home of Coming to the Table. This is […]

Peacebuilding in these hard times

Posted June 10th, 2012 by Thomas Norman DeWolf

You try to sleep, you toss and turn, the bottom’s dropping out Where you once had faith now there’s only doubt You pray for guidance, only silence now meets your prayers The morning breaks, you awake but no one’s there We’ve been traveling over rocky ground, rocky ground There’s a new day coming I’ve listened […]

Truth & Wisdom from the Mouths of Babes

Posted May 21st, 2012 by Thomas Norman DeWolf

Children are the most precious beings on earth — and they say the most special things. On a recent visit, my two little sweethearts, wandering around my office looking for things to get into, discovered the proof copy of Gather at the Table on my credenza. Julian picked up the book and looked at it […]

Alone, thinking, late on a Wednesday night

Posted May 10th, 2012 by Thomas Norman DeWolf

My wife Lindi and my friend and writing partner Sharon have gone to sleep. As they rest upstairs, I sit alone in Sharon’s dining room; thinking. The clock that counts down the time until Gather at the Table is published ticks by very quickly. Lindi and I arrived at Sharon’s home yesterday. We depart tomorrow. […]

Making Peace with the Past

Posted May 8th, 2012 by Thomas Norman DeWolf

Tom DeWolf and I penned an article that has just appeared in the Oklahoma Humanities magazine. The them of the issue is “reconciliation” and our contribution is entitled “Making Peace with the Past.” Oklahoma was one of the stops on the road trip we took last year to inform the writing of our book. It […]

Trayvon Martin and the specter of white supremacy

Posted April 3rd, 2012 by Thomas Norman DeWolf

In response to a March 23 post at my Inheriting the Trade blog — “Trayvon Martin: thoughts from a white parent” — a reader posted the following comment: I cannot stop thinking about all of the Whites, who have been murdered by blacks, because they were in the wrong place at a certain time, or […]

Page Proofs – our final writing task before…

Posted March 29th, 2012 by Thomas Norman DeWolf

I dropped a package in the mail to Sharon yesterday. She’ll be exceedingly happy to receive it, just as I’m exceedingly happy to have sent it. Sort of… I guess… This is a weird moment in the life of Gather at the Table. I’ve spent the past week meticulously scouring the page proofs of our […]

A Provocative Question

Posted March 25th, 2012 by Thomas Norman DeWolf

Like so many other people throughout America and beyond, I share the grief of Trayvon Martin’s parents. I have no words to express how heavy my heart is in mourning such a vital, well-loved young man whose life was cut so short… for no logical reason I can fathom. Like President Obama said: “If I […]

Hilltop Haints

Posted March 21st, 2012 by Thomas Norman DeWolf

I just returned from the national gathering of Coming to the Table. This is the group that brought Tom and I together in 2008 and led to our collaboration in writing Gather at the Table. The group has grown a lot since then. Sixty-five inquisitive, motivated souls gathered at Richmond Hill, a location of enormous historical […]

NEW HOPE

Posted February 18th, 2012 by Thomas Norman DeWolf

I spent my entire day glued to the television, fully involved in sharing the home going service for Whitney Houston. I could not believe how riveted I was to the drama unfolding on the screen. At many points, there were tears in my eyes and a choke in my throat. People who know me, know […]