Tuula Pere

Time is a mystery. Existence is a mystery, too.It is not easy to measure time, at least not beyond its scientific and technical aspects. The experience of time is unique and individual for each person. For me, time is connected to the energy of being alive. Without the force o...

Illustration by Andrea Alemanno

As a child, I climbed high trees and slippery cliffs, secretly went to the house's roofs, and hung from the ladder my head down. Was I too adventurous? Maybe, but my perception was that I knew my limits. Or if I didn't know yet, I had to find them. It wasn't enough if someone ...

What is your first memory of a library? I can share mine, even have some evidence for it. There is still a faded photo in an old newspaper clip in Mom's drawer, a picture of children listening to fairy tales read at a small library. I'm perhaps five years old and concentrate o...

Though authors, scientists, and philosophers have filled libraries with books about life and death, the subject is still not covered and will never be. That’s why I don’t even try to do more than just touch these most significant issues of existence here.I’ve had a feeling of ...

I love the moments at the borderline of reality and dreams. They are characteristic of a child but also possible for adults. There is a risk that the realities of our lives are so firmly present that not even our dreams can rise above everyday life. So, to take care of these b...

Bread is a kind of holy thing for me. There are so many thoughts and emotions involved in working on the fields, flour mills, bakeries, and home kitchens. We are all joined together in a mysterious chain. It starts from the seed and grain and ends to the warm bread that nouris...

Illustration by Andrea Alemanno

Restrictions make us often want just that particular “forbidden fruit” more than anything else. The messages of my friends and acquaintances clearly show that isolation from the others is a very individual experience. I feel deeply the same fears as all the others. Staying cal...