Photoofauthorandfarm

On a sunny afternoon in July of 1995, I went to a farm outside of Janesville, Wisconsin to see a buffalo. She wasn’t an ordinary buffalo. She had been born pure white. There had been a story about Her in the Washington Post. It said She was sacred to Native Americans and that thousands of people from around the world had come to visit Her. She was called Miracle.

I'd taken a leave of absence from my position with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, D.C. Disillusioned with public service, I was hoping to find a new job in the Midwest and relocate closer to my family. In the meantime, I was living with my mother and stepfather at their home outside of Janesville. My grandmother had recently been hospitalized and was weeks away from being diagnosed as a terminal cancer patient. During this challenging time, the phone at their house rang nonstop. Crisis or not, my stepfather and I kept up our thirty-two year tradition of constant quibbling.

In spite of all the confusion, I was looking for answers to tough questions about life and living and the changes I needed to make to redirect my future. I wasn’t religiously reverent when I first went to see Her. I was simply a curious tourist. But when I got to Her farm and sat on a blanket beside Her pasture, I surprised myself by starting to pray to Her. I've been encouraged to tell the story of how those hours I spent with Her brought me many blessings -- how I learned about Her legend and the spirit of hope and renewal that accompanies it. I share all these things in my first book, By the Side of the Buffalo Pasture. I sell my books under the imprint of White Magic Publishing. My second book, Reflections on a Haitian Pilgrimage, tells the story of Miracle's continuing influence on my life. I hope to have it in print by the end of the summer.

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