The Places That Bind Us

Weekly wisdom to bring you home in 3 minutes.

A SHORT STORY

For the past twenty years, I have been traveling to the mountains of Utah to work on Shakespeare.

This past weekend, I returned to teach at the Utah Shakespeare Festival for their annual High School competition, where over 3,000 students gather to share their interpretations of Shakespeare’s plays.

Over the years, I have seen elementary-aged students present an Antony and Cleopatra with cheerleaders and jocks that blew me away, a 13-year-old Hamlet that brought me to tears, and so much more.

But more than that, I am often struck by how their passion teaches and encourages me. The mix of their enthusiasm, the mountains, and the words of Shakespeare always summons in me a deep feeling of home.

On this trip, as I walked those quiet Utah streets with the mountains rising in the background, I was overtaken by memories—and by parts of myself I thought I had forgotten. In small, surprising ways, it felt almost like a religious experience.

The root of the word “religion” is to bind or connect together, which feels especially fitting here. Maybe that’s why I keep returning to Utah after all these years. The students remind me that Shakespeare’s words don’t just live on the stage—they bind us to each other, to memory, and to what is most alive in ourselves.

What are the places in your life that bind you back to what feels most alive?

A POEM

“The Rose” by Hafiz

How
Did the rose
Ever open its heart

And give to this world
All its
Beauty?

It felt the encouragement of light
Against its
Being.

Otherwise,
We all remain

Too

Frightened.

Grateful,

Michael