Love Is At The Center

—an interview with Rev. William E. Alberts, who discusses his work as an activist minister, writer, and hospital chaplain

Bob David (BD): Bill, at age 84, you are about to retire as chaplain at Boston Medical Center. You’ve been there for 18½ years, which means you were around 65 when you came onboard. Can you give a rundown of your rich history and experience before then, which I understand was not without controversy? ...more

Hug Her

Rev. William E. Alberts, PhD.

“Lift her up, Lord! Take that fluid from her body. I’m going to keep on praying to you day and night... Almighty God, make her well. Which will be a great testimony to you for all patients and doctors and nurses to see.” These were prayers of the sister of a 47-year-old black Baptist woman who was critically ill with cancer. ...more

Like Any Other Night, Except...

Tranda S. Fischelis

It wasn’t always pleasant when my husband Bill and I discussed politics. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan aren’t pleasant so why would discussions about them necessarily be? We usually ended up agreeing to disagree before a full-scale war would break out at the kitchen table. That can happen when a closet Republican marries a Democrat. On matters of religion, Bill’s predictable response was a discussion stopper: “You mean you haven’t figured that one out yet?” ...more

Dear UNKNOWN, BB

Kimball Prentiss, MD

I knew we would meet exactly three minutes before we in fact did. I got a call on a special phone at work late last night telling me you were an estimated age of 3 and you had been shot in your chest and were not breathing. That was all I knew, but that was enough to get my attention—all of it. The truth is I had been preparing to meet you for many years, readying myself in every way I could to take the very best possible care of you in the seconds that mattered most if we should ever meet under these circumstances—even though I never EVER wished we would. ...more

Hot Cut And Color

Tranda S. Fischelis

No one has asked me out in nine months. I met the last guy on Amtrak on my way home to Philadelphia after getting a haircut and splash of color in New York. The man was attractive and smart, but married. I turned him down flat. I didn’t look back when we parted at the 30th Street Station. No one has approached me since. And at the age of 64 and a widow, I am not looking. ...more

The Blind Convention

Dan Cohen

In high school, I briefly dated a girl who liked me a lot but couldn’t stand that I was always late to meet her. Whether it was going out to dinner or a movie, I would always show up late and she would always get mad. One time we were supposed to meet at South Ferry to go the Statue of Liberty. I was late. She took the rest of the afternoon to plot her revenge. On some pretense she managed to get me to give her all my money, then she escaped on the subway leaving me at the very southern tip of Manhattan. I walked for a long time then snuck onto the subway at 34th Street. ...more


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