. These essays span a twenty-year period of writing; published in various periodicals, including the Monitor; written for very different times and purposes. Echoes of our Family Farms, The Man in the Photo, the Sound of Writing, Conversations with my father, A Civil Rights Anniversary, Bird by Bird, and The Application for my daughterÕs affection each explore a Nelson arcÑthe surficial arc of our family moving from place to place on the planet; the intellectual, moral, and talents arc as sensibilities and careers developed; and a kind of inheritance of preoccupation with wordsÑfive generations worth. They are all wrapped up together: immigrant, farmer, tool and die maker; journalists, English majors, teachers, writers, musicians, poetry aficionados; parents and children.