June greetings! It is the Northern Solstice on June 20th, and we enjoy noting it as the longest day of the year. Whose heart hasn’t cheered at the thought of darkness at bay, then saddened a bit to know the days already grow shorter? The psychosocial difference between darkness and light is perhaps less for … Continue reading Andy’s Flaming Chalice – June 2012

When that April with his showers sweet The drought of March hath pierced to the root And bathed every vine in such liquor Of which virtue engendered is the flower…. Opening lines of The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer Greetings. As has become my wont in composing these notes to you, I’ve spent a Sunday … Continue reading Andy’s Flaming Chalice – April Column

“I wandered lonely as a cloud That floats on high o’er vales and hills, When all at once I saw a crowd A host, of golden daffodils; Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.” Wm. Wordsworth Greetings, and welcome to March. It’s time to welcome the coming of spring in … Continue reading Andy’s Flaming Chalice – March Column

February greetings! I always enjoy February, a rather whimsical month of Aquarians and Pisceans that is leaping this year to a 29th day. February celebrates the mysterious prognostication of the Groundhog, the sturdy virtues of Presidents Lincoln and Washington, the romantic (if historically unattested) honoring of St. Valentine. February is named for the Latin term … Continue reading Andy’s Flaming Chalice – February Column

Greetings! Welcome to 2012. I love January’s quieter calendar, blander foods and relative lack of retail exhortation. I enjoy January’s refreshing regularity. Holiday expectations are a done deal; they were met, or they were unmet. Personally, I don’t make resolutions, so my January regimen is not cluttered with seasonal attempts at self-improvement. In my experience, … Continue reading Andy’s Chalice – Plain Living

Greetings! I hope your holidays are feeling satisfying and manageable as you read this. It’s axiomatic that holidays are “supposed to be” filled with family, friends and cheer, along with at least a few gifts given and received. “Supposed to be” can be such a tyrant! I remember spending the winter holidays with my gathered … Continue reading Andy’s Chalice – The “Good Enough” Holiday

I am LOVING this autumn weather!  A few days ago, we had the type of rainy deluge that Nebraskans call a “frog strangler,” making driving tense but exhilarating!   The air is already crisp and leaves have just begun to reveal their colors.  Did you know that those same colors are in the leaf during most … Continue reading Board Message – Andy Hansen

Hello, Starr King family and friends. I write this on August 14th, 2011. Seventy-six years ago today, Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law. It was a great humanitarian piece of legislation and makes me proud. Yet, the shouting controversy over Social Security (and economic justice generally) has never much abated and … Continue reading Board Message – Andy Hansen

Hello, Everyone!  I am sitting in my office now, with the kind of July day outside that makes one think, “Where’s my parka?”  It’s nap-weather, though that’s not in the cards.  I had a sudden realization this morning that my Chalice column was due to our Fearless Chalice Editor Georgia Gruver yesterday.  Now I know … Continue reading Board Message – Andy Hansen