Between Two Worlds: Malidoma Somé On Rites Of Passage
“There’s an African saying: ‘If we go forward, we die; if we go backward, we die. So let’s go forward and die.’ ”
Interview by Leslee Goodman

Not Another Word
No talking, no sex, no writing
Essay by Gillian Kendall

Pretending
With a nosy grandmother, an adulterous father, a bored girlfriend
Personal stories by our readers

Plus: Poetry by Mark Irwin, Sy Safransky’s Notebook, and Sunbeams

The Dead Book
By Jane Churchon [February 2009]

“I like to take my time when I pronounce someone dead. The bare-minimum requirement is one minute with a stethoscope pressed to someone’s chest, listening for a sound that is not there; with my fingers bearing down on the side of someone’s neck, feeling for an absent pulse; with a flashlight beamed into someone’s fixed and dilated pupils, waiting for the constriction that will not come.”

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Former Sun proofreader Brent Winter writes: “ ‘The Dead Book’ is written from the clear-eyed, unsentimental perspective of a nurse whose job it is to pronounce patients dead in a hospital. Jane Churchon’s intelligence and compassion shine through every cleanly written line of this gentle yet compelling essay.”

What’s your favorite piece from The Sun? Tell us, and we may include your suggestion on our website and in our newsletter.

A student of Zen writes in Ode Magazine about the benefits of dropping out of the “bigger, better, faster” corporate life in favor of slowing down, as discussed in Thea Sullivan’s interview with Woody Tasch, “Prophet of Modest Profit” [June 2010]. A contributor to the Super Eco website also writes about the virtues of “slow money.”

A photographer reflects on her own risk-taking in light of the June Readers Write on taking chances.

After reading Laurel Leigh’s short story “Shoeless” [June 2010], a writer in Frazier Park, California, remembers that “there are worse things in life than being poor.” She received a subscription to The Sun for her birthday and discusses the entire June issue in this post.

A mother and tenured professor who attended our “Into the Fire" gathering in Rowe, Massachusetts, shares her experience of being a student again.

The Sun is included in a list of a Philadelphia reader’s favorite things. We’re in good company: road trips, dark chocolate, and This American Life.

1. Troubled Youth
   Essay by Poe Ballantine
   (June 2010)
2. Taking Chances
   Readers Write
   (June 2010)
3. My Accidental Jihad
   Essay by Krista Bremer
   (October 2007)
4. What About God
   Poetry by Alison Luterman
   (June 2010)
5. Countertop Culture: Something Is Fermenting In Sandor Katz's Kitchen
   Interview by Liz Crain
   (May 2010)

Into The Fire
The Sun Celebrates Personal Writing

Join Sun authors, readers, and staff — including editor and publisher Sy Safransky — for a lively weekend of conversation, reflection, and inspiration. The Sun will host a gathering on October 22–24 at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California.

Online registration is now available; click here for details. Spaces fill quickly, so we recommend registering soon.

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