You may not know that we often host ‘Readers Write’ competitions (for lack of a better word), and you are invited to participate! We provide a one-word prompt, and then our readers send us personal essays of under 1000 words, inspired by that prompt. You can find all the details (like the prizes) here, but I can tell you the process: our current prompt is seed, and the deadline is May 1, 2024. You can email your essay to [email protected].
I mention this now because we have a brand new batch of these essays, from our prompt bell. Here are the six essays we published; they are not only lovely reflections in their own right, but they are a fun way to learn who is reading the Century around the world. (Another way to appear in our pages, of course, is by writing a letter to the editor. You can find a link for this at the end of each of our articles, or you can send an email to [email protected].)
“Each ring sent shivers to my core, each five seconds of silence caused me to reflect on the power of tradition, the power of being with others at times of mourning, and the power of a bell.”
“In contrast to some Asian families, mine did not come to America because we wanted to get a good education. My family didn’t want to come to America at all; we came on pain of death.”
“What are we to make of the contradiction between the presentation of God in Leviticus as a God of benevolent forgiveness and the presentation of God in Deuteronomy 25 as a God of justice and vengeance?”
