Sandra A. Miller

Writer

I could picture the owner smiling as he gave us our crullers in a cardboard box. And now he was dead.

How A Mass Shooting Changed My Childhood

The author, pictured around the time of the killings at the bakery in her hometown. (Courtesy)

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“If a racecar driver looks at the wall,” Echols said, “he’ll crash into it.”

We have to get involved and take action. But first we have to see that world, with as much clarity as we have been considering the devastating alternative.

Seeing The World, Not The Wall: Election Lessons From Death Row

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At this crossover age when the weight of time tips from counting up to counting down, I feel compelled to be more thoughtful about adventures.

A bucket list implies that some experience, some place, some particular kind of food is going to make our life more complete. And it might, but only if it happens from a place of joy, of growth.

Rethinking The Bucket List

Sandra Miller: There was a time when covering surface area of the earth was a goal, now I’m less interested in width than the depth that only comes from slowing down, breathing into the gaps, going deeper, deeper. (Amanda Sandlin/ Unsplash)

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I don't know what I hate more: that SAT Camp exists, or that I still feel torn about enrolling my son.

Campfire Or SAT Camp: What Is A Kid’s Summer For?

Listen to Sandra Miller on WBUR's Morning Edition

It seems the helicopter parents who didn't hover enough during the school year have hijacked summer, too.

...the competitive frontier of college admissions has become a tale of conquest and persistence, a Wild West of pushing and pressing forward until the family has staked a claim to those coveted admissions letters.

Campfire Or SAT Camp: What Is A Kid's Summer For?

Sandra Miller: "I don't know what I hate more: that SAT Camp exists, or that I still feel torn about enrolling my son." (Photo credits left to right: mnlamberson/flickr, biologycorner/flickr)

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We hear that a blizzard is on the way, and the city pauses. We take a moment to stop what feels like an endless state of activity and pay attention to the world outside of our windows.

Emily Farr and Cait Simmons, of Scituate, battle winds as they attempt to walk toward Egypt Beach in Scituate, Jan. 27, 2015. (Jesse Costa/WBUR) 

<img src="https://media.wbur.org/wp/2015/02/0214_jesse-three_cog.jpg" alt="Emily Farr and Cait Simmons, of Scituate, battle winds as they attempt to walk toward Egypt Beach in Scituate, Jan. 27, 2015. (Jesse Costa/WBUR) " width="592" height="323" class="size-large wp-image-25855" /> Emily Farr and Cait Simmons, of Scituate, battle winds as they attempt to walk toward Egypt Beach in Scituate, Jan. 27, 2015. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)<br />

I love how after the storm is over, the city falls under a shivery white spell. We reach a still point in which all is quiet.

Dear Winter 2015, Will You Be My Valentine?

Sandra A. Miller: While I certainly sympathize with those who have suffered from winter's vigorous embrace, this is my day to swoon over snow. (Pekka Nikrus/flickr)