Author: Ms. R.

To the average passerby, this shrine may seem like a fairly commonplace neighborhood site. Its neighbors include a busy main road, a concrete hotel, and a construction site. But take just a couple of steps inside and the world lightens to reveal a tiny oasis in an urban world—full of bunnies. Sorry, no real ones, but bunny motifs, statues, fortunes, and carvings. Visitors are greeted by two curious rabbits that almost appear to be sniffing you. Many shrines and temples……

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In times of trial, stress, and frustration we often say things we later regret. It can be very hard to hold one’s tongue until the red mist fades. William Kempe, however, was weighed with so much regret after one indignant outburst, in which he accused his wife of adultery, that he swore to hold his tongue. Kempe, a gentleman of the country house called Spains Hall in the 17th century, would have surely been familiar with Psalm 141 and its……

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In July of 1943, the Allied troops invaded Sicily, sparking what would be a nearly two-year-long campaign to liberate Italy from the Axis forces. The Battle of Ortona, which took place during what’s now referred to as “Bloody December,” was one of the most devastating battles of World War II that took place in Italy. Today, Ortona is home to the largest Canadian war cemetery in Italy, the final resting spot for the thousands of Canadian soldiers, among other……

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Here is what historians have been able to piece together about the lives of tavern-keepers Joseph and Lucretia Thomas Brown. Lucretia Thomas was born in 1772 in Marblehead, Massachusetts, a rough-and-tumble seaport just south of Salem. She was most likely born free, but her parents had been previously enslaved by Continental Navy Captain Samuel Tucker. When Lucretia was a young woman, she met Joseph Brown, who’d been born into slavery as the son of an African-American mother and a……

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Steven Clothier never intended to become an artist. A mechanic by trade, the New Zealander used to work odd jobs around his home of Tirau, a small township of 800 people whose name means “place of many cabbage trees” in te reo Māori. Today, he’s known for his quirky outdoor sculptures and colorful signs made of corrugated iron, which can be found across the country, especially on the North Island. In Auckland, a smiling strawberry waving a flag marks……

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