Ephemera of Spring

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April brings not only the loon on the retention pond, but the ephemeral woodland wildflowers in the Indiana parks. These flowers emerge before the trees have leafed out, and mostly disappear by summer, dormant until the following spring.

In my Alabama garden, I had planted one tiny ephemeral, Virginia spring beauty, admiring the pink pollen and stripes adorning the minute blooms. And then this spring I happened upon a field of thousands of spring beauties. Wandering through Columbus, Indiana, Sergey and I came upon a handsome park with mature trees towering over a lawn. Within the lawn grew endless spring beauties and violets.

Tiny white flowers fill a field.
Spring beauties blossom in Columbus, Indiana.
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Columbia University’s Bahá’í Club Builds a Spiritual Community

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Students at an Ivy League school face the same spiritual tests as many youth across our nation, but in an environment where personal ambition and competition are vaunted. Striving to find a higher purpose can feel like a lonely journey—unless students can connect with like-minded peers.

Ajay Mallya, a senior at Columbia University, identified as agnostic when he entered college. His family is Hindu, but Mallya did not grow up deeply immersed in Hinduism. As a teen, he attended Catholic school and found Catholicism to be intriguing. Nevertheless, Mallya felt ambivalent about religion overall. 

“I’m an applied math major who enjoys science and math. I always thought there was a huge clash between science and religion,” Mallya explains. Still, he wondered: how could his life contribute to society?

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Houston Community Revitalizes Feast Gatherings

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Every Central Figure of the Bahá’í Faith has championed Nineteen Day Feast gatherings as keystones of community life. The Báb and Bahá’u’lláh ordained that local communities should gather on the first of each Bahá’í month. Abdu’l-Bahá wrote: 

“As to the Nineteen Day Feast, it rejoiceth mind and heart. If this feast be held in the proper fashion, the friends will, once in nineteen days, find themselves spiritually restored, and endued with a power that is not of this world.” 

Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith, specified that the Feasts should include devotions, consultation on community matters, and socialization to create fellowship. Beyond these outlines, communities have many options in how they design their Feast gatherings.

Sometimes, the consultative portion of Feast, which usually includes reports on recent activities, the status of the local Fund, and open discussion, can become the focus. In Houston, this administrative emphasis had characterized Feasts for some time. To quote a younger participant, it led to gatherings that felt “boring.” As the 2020 pandemic restrictions were lifted and people could once again gather in person, the need to revitalize Feast gatherings became apparent. Community members turned to Houston’s Local Spiritual Assembly for support. 

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The Loon

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Dogwood blossoms kiss wafting clouds. The sun now is strong enough to burn me after winter has left me pallid. April is a month of special wonder.

Branches of a dogwood tree in blossom are juxtaposed with an old building with a clock tower.
A dogwood blooms in Bloomington, Indiana.

En route to the zoo, I saw on a retention pond surrounded by duplexes a bird at once familiar and unfamiliar. I asked Sergey and Jasmine, did they think it was a loon? They thought it was more likely a duck because why would a loon, denizen of wild lakes and singer of an eerie song, have chosen this spot surrounded by Indianapolis’s web of highways to rest? 

But Jasmine offered to turn the car around so we could investigate the bird. We parked, she grabbed her binoculars wisely stowed in the car for just such moments, and we carried my nephew. 

The visitor was indeed a loon. 

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Middle-Marching: Lessons on Compassion

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Driving to and from Bloomington, where I go to my office at Indiana University three days a week, the interstate unfurls and my mind can travel along with my body. 

I see the land grow hilly and wooded as I go south. From my start date in September to December, I watch autumn advance. Days shorten: I set out before dawn and return around sundown. Leaves inflame, then drop. I like the morning drives best when mist pools in the dells of cornfields.

A limestone chapel peeks out from behind autumn foliage.
Beck Chapel at Indiana University Bloomington
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Sustaining and Incentivizing Tutor Education through Self-Paced Modules

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WLN: A Journal of Writing Center Scholarship - Authors Bowles, Stowe, Miron, and Gilmore and Hudson

Miron, Layli. “Sustaining and Incentivizing Tutor Education through Self-Paced Modules.” WLN: A Journal of Writing Center Scholarship, vol. 49, no. 2, 2025, pp. 15–21.

Abstract: Most writing centers staffed by peer tutors undergo regular turnover of employees as they graduate. While a consistent training program for new tutors can ensure that the entire staff knows the essentials of one-to-one writing pedagogy, no such program can cover everything. Often, tutors continue their learning through professional development (PD) meetings that focus on more advanced topics chosen by the center’s leaders. To keep the entire staff engaged, including returning tutors, the PD curriculum must change from semester to semester. Yet, that means that some tutors will miss out on topics covered in a semester before their hiring. In contexts of high turnover, how can tutor educators sustain tutors’ knowledge? This article offers one solution: online PD modules that reward completion with badges.

Full Text: You can read the article or the full issue.

Glass and Water in the Pacific Northwest

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In Sea-Tac Airport, hectic and congested, one gate opens a serene vision. Rising 33 feet across vast windows, “I Was Dreaming of Spirit Animals” introduced me to the folkloric glass painting of Cappy Thompson. I happened upon another of her installations, “Stars Falling on Alabama,” at the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts. And our most recent visit to the Seattle area brought me to the Museum of Glass, where I encountered her “Gathering the Light.” These bejeweled stories make me wish I could step inside. 

In the Pacific Northwest, sojourners can step inside kingdoms of mossy forests and majestic mountains. A delicate balance kept these systems thriving for millennia. Salmon, for instance, feed other animals, people, and even trees with the nitrogen they bring inland from the ocean. The fish’s remains nourish not only predators and scavengers, but the roots of ancient plants.

A waterfall cascades between mossy banks and tall evergreen trees.
Sol Duc Falls in Olympic National Park
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Developing Writing Consultants’ Multimodal Literacy through ePortfolios

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Praxis: A Writing Center Journal - 22.1 - Writing Center Practices in Times of Flux

Basgier, Christopher, Layli Miron, and Richard Jake Gebhardt. “Developing Consultants’ Multimodal Literacy through ePortfolios.” Praxis: A Writing Center Journal, vol. 22, no. 1, 2024, pp. 47-61.

Abstract: Writing center consultant training must account for the multiple media and modes students use as they compose on new digital platforms. While most consultants come to writing center work already confident in traditional literacies, to advise on multimodal projects, they also need to understand how elements such as visual design, navigability, and accessibility play into the rhetorical situation. Starting in 2021, our writing center assigned an ePortfolio-focused professional development curriculum to our consultants, culminating with their creation of websites that integrated and showcased their knowledge, skills, and abilities. The authors studied the consultants’ responses over the first two years of implementation, collecting data from surveys, session observations, and interviews, which we analyzed through inductive and deductive coding. Our results indicate that consultants advanced their understanding of multimodality through their participation in the ePortfolio curriculum and applied their learning in consultations not only about ePortfolios, but also about other visually rich media and application materials. Other writing centers may consider incorporating ePortfolios into their tutor development programs.

Full Text: You can read the article on the Praxis website.