Let’s Go Duke
Even when victory Monday became commiseration Monday, I felt the beauty of living that disappointment together.
Ansley Kelly (’16) makes her home in Rochester, NY, where she delights in short, sweet summers spent sailing and long winters spent skiing at her favorite mountain. Between outdoor adventures, you can find her buying books more quickly than she can read them and indulging in mid-morning naps. She works for Wegmans Food Markets where she finds purpose and joy in feeding her community and the wider world.
How to Start (and End) a Decade
At the outset of my twenties I needed a lot.
Speak a Better World
Our chosen words are the latticeworks upon which our worldviews are grown and shaped.
Do Not Worry About Tomorrow
I’m feeling an invitation to linger a while longer in each moment, in each day, in each year.
Plenty of Hay
Unfortunately, horses do about as well being cooped up in the barn as we do being stuck in the house, and it didn’t take long for tensions to rise.
Surprises
I think my love of surprises has something to do with my love of good stories.
Through the Night
I pictured the coyotes silently circling, their yellow eyes and bared teeth ready to make quick work of the nylon between us.
Bat Tales
“If you have a bat in your dwelling after hours, please press four.”
Send It
You might find yourself less afraid of the unknown, because you have faced and conquered it before.
You’re the Same Stuff as Stars
Sleeping on a sailboat in the middle of the work week is my fulfillment of that dream.
Won’t It Be Fun
Stop fussing about the alternatives or worrying about wrong turns.
Texting Friends
It is my firm belief that the enduring power of middle school narratives is why therapists will always have jobs.
Words for When You’re Moving
You’ve never navigated that parking lot, or that odd intersection, or that strange left-lane exit and you are just trying to find the nearest Target.
February Light
It comes in the back door and doesn’t ask anything of us.
An Able Helper
I think about my bleeding control kit. I remind myself to radio base when I’ve arrived on scene.
You Become. It Takes a Long Time.
Just kidding! I can’t do any of the things I thought I could.
Hold Your Fire
But this year I learned that Dad had found her the next weekend, fifty yards from my stand.
Lessons Learned While Backpacking, Part II
It’s not the trailhead, or the campsite, or a vista, it’s the next blue paint on a tree, and you only find it if you keep walking.
The Andy Griffith Show
In a time when anticipatory grief and suffering are the ways of the world, it may seem naive to believe that Mayberry is more reality than dream.
It Gets Better
The world felt wide and untouched and while I was scared to hope, I wanted to believe that this was the part where I would find the joy.
Our Embodiment
Mostly, I think, I want to feel some bit of control.
Type II Fun
That night I called my parents and tried to make it sound like I was having fun, when I really just wanted a dry place to sleep and a few moments to myself.
Where I’ll Be Buried
Our family has been talking a lot about tradition these days.
(Almost) Getting Locked in a Cemetery
It’s comforting really, to know that even our greatest achievements will blend into the soil that others will stand on.
March in Six Meals
Picture a croissant but folded into a crown shape and coated with coarse sugar that carmelizes over the already crispy exterior.
Buffalove
My dad called me while we watched in silence and I said, “I don’t want to live here anymore.”
Phone Calls with Nathan
Like he says,”What’s the worst thing that could happen?”
Joy to the World Anyway
Both spaces have shown me the need for traditions that bring us back to joy, especially when the night is dark and the howling, frigid wind finds its way through every single-paned window and every batten board of the barn.
Benediction for the Bakery Manager
I learned how to use the mechanical bread slicer to slice fresh loaves of garlic tuscan, and how to base-ice a buttercream celebration cake.
Weekends in Chicago
I took an Uber Black back to my hotel just because I could.
