GOODNESS, A Wising Up Anthology

Charles D. Brockett, Heather Tosteson, Editors

The forty-three writers included in this anthology responded to our invitation to think with us-broadly and intimately-about goodness in our lives:

Goodness is hard to define, but we know it when we see it. In action or inaction, that pause that isn’t uncertain, that is more like a deep, steady breath, an existential embrace. It is easier to see goodness in others than in ourselves. But do we experience it as a choice or part of their essential nature? If a choice, what is the nature of the choice? What other adjectives constellate around it? Strong? Independent? Loving? Astute? Generous? Sui generis? Trusting? Confident? Firm? Unequivocal? Kind?

Where have you seen goodness in play? How has it changed your own life, the actual choices you make or how you evaluate your choices? Is there a cascade effect? Or is it, in its specificity, always a one-off? What happens to us when we think about it, try to describe it, share our experiences of it with others?

We hope you will find personal inspiration and resonance in this thoughtful and moving collection that discovers goodness in such difficult social realities as homelessness, imprisonment, and more intimate ones like illness, families, marriage, aging. We also hope these meditations on the often unexpected good in us and those around us can help us develop larger, much needed social conversations about our common good.

CONTRIBUTORS: Lenore Balliro, Charles D. Brockett, Kevin Stuart Brodie, Bonni Chalkin, Marion Deutsche Cohen, DC Diamondopolous, Norita Dittberner-Jax, Terri Elders, SJ Engstrom, Kevin Fidgeon, Jennifer L. Freed, Rona Frye, Lee Gaitan, Kathie Giorgio, Jo Going, John Grey, Patrick Cabello Hansel, Stephanie Hart, J.O. Haselhoef, Lowell Jaeger, Lorraine Jeffery, Mary E. Kendig, Michael Konik, John Laue, Lori Levy, Janet McCann, Wendy Jones Nakanishi, Don Noel, Andy Oram, John Pierce, Dorothy Oliver Pirovano, Mary Kay Rummel, Nicholas Samaras, Terry Sanville, Gerard Sarnat, Ruth Margolin Silin, John L. Silver, Mark Tarallo, Milton Teichman, Heather Tosteson, Johnny Townsend, Gary Young, Andrena Zawinski