Essays

We invite you to share those insights and experiences
that are signal to you as artist and human being.

Nikolais alumni and others are invited to submit essays, stories, and poetry, which may
be reprinted on this site at the disgression of the Editor. Please include a short biography
and any other information you may consider pertinent. E-mail Bearnstow Journal editor.

I am thankful for the Earth. I have seen its vast oceans breathe and have looked out over its canopy of trees stretching endlessly. I have breathed the scent of rain on hot pavement; I have seen rain rush to me across the waters. I have chased rainbows down a country road. I have seen the sun rise over the Sea of Cortez and the full moon set into the hills across Parker Pond. I have lain in a mountain hay field and felt the earth turn down the sky.

I am thankful for the words of mouth, the sweep of brush, the sounds of horn and string, the visions of motion and gesture, all which bring Earth’s wonders close again.

I wish for all an open heart so that they may taste and relish life, and a sentient mind and hand that they may increase the wonder.

—Ruth Grauert, December 2014

War and I

by Ruth Grauert

In this time-expansive 1996 essay Ruth reflects upon the impact war has had on her life.

The Laurel Leaf

by Susan Buirge

A personal moment that leads to a statement of performance

Voyage of the Invader, by Louise Omwake Eckerson, is a schooner voyage in the summer of 1941, from California to Hawaii, with a crew of well-meaning amateurs. This autobiographical account is the fascinating tale of adventure and misadventure on the Pacific. The author was Ruth Grauert’s high school English teacher from 1933 to 1935.