Bathifying

by Sparrow, August 2002 (Issue 320)
(Essays, Memoirs, & True Stories)

Posted on: January 01, 2009

Recommended by: Genie Zeiger, author and Sun contributor
Why she likes it: “Because bathifying is almost as great as sexifying!”

What Miss Lena Prays For

by Jessica Anya Blau, September 1998 (Issue 273)
(Fiction)

Posted on: December 01, 2008

Recommended by: Rachel J. Elliott, Editorial Associate
Why she likes it: “It’s the story of an unlikely friendship that is both touching and funny.”

Behold

by Tim Melley, June 2004 (Issue 342)
(Fiction)

Posted on: November 01, 2008

Recommended by: Luc Saunders, Editorial Assistant
Why he likes it: “I laughed. I cried. I held my mother just a little bit longer the next time I hugged her.”

Crossing Borders

An Interview With Richard Rodriguez

by Scott London, August 1997 (Issue 260)
(The Sun Interview)

Posted on: October 01, 2008

Recommended by: Poe Ballantine, author and Sun contributor
Why he likes it: “Because Rodriguez is so valiantly eloquent and gloomily humorous, and because he is such a vivid and courageous outsider. This essay in many ways impelled me to live in Mexico. I returned with a Mexican wife.”

Pray for Peace

by Ellen Bass, June 2003 (Issue 330)
(Poetry)

Posted on: September 01, 2008

Recommended by: C.M. Bonny Harrison, a Sun reader
Why she likes it: “This poem has been on my refrigerator for five years as a daily reminder that everyday activities provide opportunities to ask for peace — not only for myself but also for all of humanity. My copy is yellow with age, much like my old refrigerator and also my very self.”

How To Find Him

by Ashley Walker, December 1997 (Issue 264)
(Fiction)

Posted on: August 01, 2008

Recommended by: Erica Berkeley, Editorial Associate
Why she likes it: “Because this story is filled with lines such as ‘Your brain is a safety-deposit box rented by a nutty relative,’ and ‘Write several poems about love, about him. Wish you were famous enough to stick your head in the oven.’”

The Plants Respond

An Interview With Cleve Backster

by Derrick Jensen, July 1997 (Issue 259)
(The Sun Interview)

Posted on: July 01, 2008

Recommended by: Mary Holden, a Sun reader
Why she likes it: “Reading it filled my soul with the wonder of all that is seen and unseen. I also love this interview because it was my first introduction to Derrick Jensen, who’s one of the best interviewers I’ve ever read.”

The Love Of My Life

by Cheryl Strayed, September 2002 (Issue 321)
(Essays, Memoirs, & True Stories)

Posted on: June 01, 2008

Recommended by: Alison Luterman, author and Sun contributor
Why she likes it: “Because of the way Strayed combines grief, sexuality, humor, toughness, and surprise. I use the essay all the time when I teach. It never fails to grab students by the lapels and shake them up.”

Beyond Happiness And Unhappiness

An Interview With Spiritual Teacher Eckhart Tolle

by Steve Donoso, July 2002 (Issue 319)
(The Sun Interview)

Posted on: May 01, 2008

Recommended by: Angela Winter, Associate Publisher, Digital Media & Operations
Why she likes it: “This interview introduced me to Eckhart Tolle, whose lucid, straightforward teaching about the nature of consciousness continues to ring bell-like through my awareness.”

Ecstasy

by Steve Almond, June 2001 (Issue 306)
(Fiction)

Posted on: March 31, 2008

Recommended by: Krista Bremer, Associate Publisher, Circulation & Marketing
Why she likes it: “This story captures the world according to a nineteen-year-old full of passion and insecurity, and evokes those brief, ecstatic moments of our youth that are seared into our hearts forever.”