Author: Jane Getchell Gildart

Last week in the news there was a teenage girl being exploited by the international community, and I couldn’t watch. I’m self-aware enough to know that I can sink into crippling empathy if I let myself, especially when it comes to bad things happening to children. Heck, I couldn’t even watch full episodes of Lassie when little Timmy was in trouble; I had to leave the room until I heard the happy tones of the heroic rescue scene. Who’s going to rescue this teenage girl and her followers, here and abroad, from the joy-killing, guilt-building, rage-inciting, resentment-stoking Malthusian hopelessness they’ve…

Three roommates called Earnest, Vic, and Patsy spent part of every day gathering returnable bottles and cans they found littered about their college campus and surrounding environs. By mutual agreement, they brought their stash to the redemption center twice a week in exchange for cash which they dropped into a large envelope stored in a kitchen drawer. One December evening at the start of reading week, the three roommates decided to take their accumulated cash out of the envelope and stop for a pizza on the way home from the monthly Indivisibles meeting.  Thanks to their daily efforts, the trio…