Today my friend Tom wrote in One Whole Life, It is unfortunate it took a deadly virus to bring LGBT people into visibility to society. You would have to know Tom even just a little to know that it would be really difficult to be angry with him. He is the kind of guy that…
In 1982 I ended a relationship with a wonderful man who remains a dear friend still. We are both good guys and generous. I was just not able at the time to understand and address the chasm created by our class differences. Because I had been raised poor and working class, his kind politeness and…
In the early-1980s, baby boomers were looking good. At 35, we were running, pumping iron, and discovering organic. We were taking over in so many ways. Unlike the 1950s and 1960s, when we were crowding into overflow barracks in beyond-capacity schools, in our 30’s we were getting into supervisory roles and management positions that surpassed…
The day after I went to a Patti LaBelle performance last month, I woke with an acute awareness of having lost something. The concert itself was a thing of joy for us die-hard Patti fans. Ms. LaBelle brought it for over 90 minutes. There were people in the audience of roughly 3,000 who had seen…
Accountability has fascinated me for a decade or more. I teach about it over and over. I am a student of it as well. Because of this, I am a stickler at times for how the word is used. I rarely if ever ask to hold someone accountable; the concept of doing so is foreign…
“Get ready!” It feels like I hear these words all the time in one form or another. We are approaching the terminal. Look in the area around your seat. The flight attendants are making their final pass through the cabin before landing. Be sure your seatbelt is securely fastened before take off. Anna will need…
A year ago I wrote about an experience that I had three decades earlier. It is an experience I visit again and again when I ponder what to do longer than I feel that I should. I am at a workshop and there is a major upset going on between two participants. They are standing…
When we get real with ourselves and tell the truth about what is going on, we are left with a dilemma from which many cower. We have to stare down our perceived powerlessness. So common is our “but who am I to do that?” that the question frequently does not even get vocalized. Our failures…
For a couple weeks I have been writing about truth-telling, the directness required to do so, and the vulnerability to examine one’s own motives in doing so. Accountability is a critical feature in truth-telling, and truth-telling is at the core of accountability. For a week my posts also examined an odd sort of victim playing that is…
As the many facets of the public health emergency in Flint, Michigan, continue to come to light, they reflect poorly on Governor Snyder and the increasingly common practice of government take-overs of municipalities, school districts, and other locally controlled functions from police departments to utilities. In the case of Governor Snyder, his reprehensible disregard for…
Creating Community for Everyone 