Author Archives: maryangelis

About maryangelis

Hello Readers! (= Здравствуйте, Читатели!) The writer lives in the Catholic and Orthodox faiths and the English and Russian languages, working in an archive by day and writing at night. Her walk in the world is normally one human being and one small detail after another. Then she goes home and types about it all until the soup is done.

5/25/13: Reconciled

Posted on May 12, 2012 by maryangelis

I’d be happy to give his name here. But he wouldn’t see the point of that. People who truly help, that’s how they are. If anybody needs them, then they’ll stop, set things straight, move on to the next indicated … Continue reading →

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She Don’t Fade: 5/18

Posted on May 6, 2012 by maryangelis

Late last week at 3:00 a.m., along came two whole different nightmares about the misty far-off past, leaving me wide awake and wondering “What does it all mean? How am I supposed to cheer up enough to go face the … Continue reading →

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New Mexico. Update 5/1

Posted on April 12, 2012 by maryangelis

The Land of Enchantment has a quiet voice. It’s patience in adversity, and the sound of past stories over and forgotten. The place for hearing it is ear to ground, kneeling on hardpan or sotol brush or the cracked concrete … Continue reading →

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Welcome to Big Sky Country! 4/14

Posted on April 11, 2012 by maryangelis

This is Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, and I am pretty good & sick. Deep calliope cough. Some fever. It changes perspective in an interesting way: every detail seems equally important and overwhelming, down to the most random bits of color … Continue reading →

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2.20/12.29 Unexpected Joy (Нечаянная радость)

Posted on February 20, 2012 by maryangelis

The Akathist Before the Icon to Our Lady of Unexpected Joy opens with this prayer within a prayer: “Today we, Your faithful people, rejoice in spirit and glorify you, our fervent Advocate. Coming to your most pure image we call, … Continue reading →

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Adorned with Precious Gems: Sunday walk, 2/5

Posted on February 7, 2012 by maryangelis

Sunday I was carrying groceries home and fretting over a hymn for the Feast of Stephen. The hymn about this first Christian martyr is in the Thomas Hopko book Winter Pascha, a lucky dollar buy at Value Village. I am … Continue reading →

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Light in the Window

Posted on January 18, 2012 by maryangelis

One winter I was house-sitting an elegant new condominium in a pretty much empty building, keeping an eye on the place rent-free to work off my student loans. Back in the day, the neighborhood was tight-knit immigrant families in fishing … Continue reading →

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5 People That I Didn’t Want to Meet

Posted on January 12, 2012 by maryangelis

First Impression 1. The subway is packed. The wind chill is -5. That girl in the back is still talking. Is she going to keep it up to the end of the line? Yes. The girl in the back is … Continue reading →

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New Year’s Speech

Posted on January 1, 2012 by maryangelis

This is about visiting a church on New Year’s Eve. Except it’s really about why visiting this church turned out to be a good idea. That was an eventful year. Our warm harmonious group house broke up, with roommates going … Continue reading →

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Solitary 12.26.11

Posted on December 26, 2011 by maryangelis

In 1996 this wave of solitariness washed up on the inner landscape, this cumulative wave of having stuff to talk about and process, but no one available to hear it. It was like spending the day behind a soundproof glass … Continue reading →

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