Author Archives: Tracy Cochran

“People are somewhat gorgeous collections of chemical fires, aren’t they?” wrote Harold Brodkey. “We are towers of kinds of fires, down to the tiniest constituencies of ourselves, whatever they are.” Those tiny constituencies include our mitochondria, the little engines in the center of our cells, and smaller still: the molecules and atoms whirling and pulsingContinue reading “Gorgeous Little Fires”

“How did it get so late so soon?” –Dr. Seuss The dark season is here in the Northern Hemisphere. And maybe it is dark for you inside as well as outside. You may feel lonely or in pain. You may fear the future. It can be a great comfort to remember that all beings, includingContinue reading “How to Not Be Alone In The Dark”

According to descendants of the Wampanoag Nation, the first feast that came to be called Thanksgiving didn’t really happen, and the events that led up to the myth were far from celebratory for them. The thing was sparked by fear. In their version of the story, in 1621, the Wampanoag heard the Pilgrims firing offContinue reading “Thanksgiving 2021”

Life is difficult. Everyone suffers. This has been true in all times. Always. We tend not to allow for this because we compare our insides with other peoples’ outsides, and people can be very good at hiding their personal suffering–or fighting it or fleeing it or distracting themselves from it. Until they can’t.  But thereContinue reading “Halloween As A Practice”