TWENTY SOMETHING It started with news from Camp Wapo, the Bible camp I’d attended as a kid. The camp counselors in Amery, Wisconsin, enforce a strict no cell-phone policy: Ditch your iPhone when you arrive, get it back when you leave. My reaction surprised me. I felt relief, triumph, a sense that the arc of […]
Christina Capecchi: The path of inspiration
TWENTY SOMETHING During his down time at work, a Minnesota surgeon often browses the New Yorker in the hospital library. One day he spotted its famed cartoon caption contest — a caption-less cartoon that calls on readers to submit captions and then vote on their favorites, to be published in the following issue of the […]
Christina Capecchi: The duty of delight
TWENTY SOMETHING Here we are, in the thick of summer, this deep and gentle place. The world is still broken, but we are given a season of delight. Sweet corn and watermelon, birdsong and bare feet and the nostalgic sensation of endless summer stretching out before us like a million tufts of cloud roaming the […]
Christina Capecchi: Designing a better swimsuit
TWENTY SOMETHING For years, Catherine Huss’ twin passions were evident: faith and fashion. The 30-year-old Catholic never felt that her faith was at odds with her penchant for apparel. But the career path she projected for herself did appear lonely. She wasn’t aware of any other Catholic fashion designers. “I didn’t see anyone doing it,” […]
Christina Capecchi: Bedtime stories of saints
TWENTY SOMETHING We never really outgrow the desire for a bedtime story. It just takes different forms when we’re older: Netflix, the evening news, Instagram Stories. But the original cannot be improved upon, the bare-bones version told in the dark. When it doesn’t come with special effects, it flips on more lights in the listener’s […]
Christina Capecchi: Finding God in the wilderness
TWENTY SOMETHING The sense of place and pull to the wild that inspired Nick Ripatrozone’s new book are tucked in his very name. The rip-roaring surname is the name of a mountain town in central Italy, which the 40-year-old writer has visited. Like his ancestors, Nick is drawn to the mountains, living with his wife […]
Christina Capecchi: Advice for grads from a curious Catholic
TWENTY SOMETHING George Corrigan never met a person who didn’t fascinate him. The delivery guy. The plumber. The barista. He wanted to know their names and their life stories, which came tumbling out when he flashed his megawatt smile and asked his earnest questions. His love of humanity flowed from his love of God, culminating […]
Christina Capecchi: When an obituary becomes a prayer
TWENTY SOMETHING I’ve never had to write an obituary. I realize how fortunate that makes me. As a professional writer, I’ve imagined what it would be like to write one. Perhaps that’s morbid, but it’s a curiosity of mine. Of all writing forms, the obituary is the life summary, the final word. It conveys what […]
Christina Capecchi: Hospitality at six feet
TWENTY SOMETHING “Can you come in?” My grandma’s favorite question is one we now discourage her from uttering. The impulse to swing open her door and her arms, honed over nine decades and stitched into her Irish-Catholic DNA, is not easily thwarted. Yet we have attempted to do so this year. She’s doing her best, […]
Christina Capecchi: Our balm for 2020
TWENTY SOMETHING Paula Kraus wasn’t afraid to utter the wish burning on her heart, the one that seizes so many preparing to lose a loved one. The Minnesota mom yearned for some kind of indication that, though she and her dying father would soon be separated, they would remain connected. And being a Catholic, Paula […]