He was thin – too thin – for any weather, but on the morning of New Year’s Eve Day, he shook under a Red Cross blanket, wearing a t-shirt and jeans, soggy socks, his feet pushed into yellow slides so small that the last three inches of his feet hung behind their soles. He had…
Love is our most unifying and empowering common spiritual denominator. The more we ignore its potential to bring greater balance and deeper meaning to human existence, the more likely we are to continue to define history as one long inglorious record of man’s inhumanity to man.” ― Aberjhani, Journey through the Power of the Rainbow:…
Every moment happens twice: inside and outside, and they are two different histories.” — Zadie Smith, White Teeth Most nights for five months, I listened to these words on a continuous loop tape that played in my sleep: “You can see beyond the walls, Gary.” The image I held in my dreams was of the…
After a recent awards ceremony, I approached a fellow recipient and extended my congratulations and my appreciation. The former was an acknowledgement for her outstanding performance in achieving excellence in her work. My appreciation, however, was more personal. It was my heartfelt thanks for how her institution — a library — was a part of…
My mom stood over the open dresser drawer, a small portfolio of envelopes in her left hand. With her right, she shuffled them, each with its flap gaping open. She wanted different answers to her question: “How will I make ends meet?” There was nothing in the envelop marked Medical. The Vacation one was always…
This week I participated in a story telling event at the university where I taught for more than three decades. It is the same place where I earned a bachelors degree, a masters degree, and a doctorate. I earned certificates in teaching and in school psychology. I earned a fellowship in rehabilitation counseling. I worked…
I am too intelligent, too demanding, and too resourceful for anyone to be able to take charge of me entirely. – Simone de Beauvoir Three children. Two miscarriages, at least. A shaky marriage. A will born for survival in an adolescent girl, now a woman who would not be controlled. She needed to work to…
My late husband Paul was an artist. When we were alone, I sometimes sang to him these lyrics that Joni Mitchell penned sometime before 1970: Oh I am a lonely painter I live in a box of paints I’m frightened by the devil And I’m drawn to those ones that ain’t afraid I remember that…
Prayer for a New Mother The things she knew, let her forget again- The voices in the sky, the fear, the cold, The gaping shepherds, and the queer old men Piling their clumsy gifts of foreign gold. Let her have laughter with her little one; Teach her the endless, tuneless songs to sing, Grant her…
Restoring order to my city after an evening of disruption appears to be the call of the day. It is the call from civic leaders, clergy, and community leaders. I do not advocate violence. I do not support destruction. But I do wholeheartedly support disruption of our collective comfort. We must take time away from…
Creating Community for Everyone 