Sticks and stones may break my bones But words will never hurt me. There’s power in little ditties such as these. They have such cultural currency that we typically don’t stop to wonder whether or not they’re true. In fact, we may not even notice if they’re linguistically nonsensical or patently insulting. The pot should […]
Sticks and Stones and Words as Weapons Read More »
The last time I worried about vampires was when I was about eleven years old. Of all of the shape-shifting monsters, vampires were the scariest because they could creep in through the creaks and crevices of your house as a barely discernible mist. They could also be deceptively charming and beautiful before they sucked the
Not All Vampires Live in Transylvania or Texas or . . . Read More »
Two Black women walked through a door. If that sentence sounds like a setup, it is. But it’s not a setup for a joke, nor is it the beginning of a “once upon a time” fable. It’s the prologue to the vicious and toxic reality of right now. Claudine Gay, the former president of Harvard University, walked
Two Black Women Walk Through a Door Read More »
About 40 years ago, I had an intense conversation with a man whose name I don’t remember, so I will just call him Paul. Both of us were nearing completion of our graduate coursework in psychology, and we met while interviewing for a clinical internship at a south Florida university. Following those interviews, Paul announced
America, America, How Does Your Wisdom Grow? Read More »
One of the many gifts I received from my mother is a healthy skepticism about religiosity. Although she was a deeply devout, churchgoing, Bible-loving, Sunday School teacher, she was intensely suspicious of anything that felt like performative spirituality. I remember a neighbor who would routinely greet her with “Praise the Lord!” – instead of a
“Biblelistically” Blessed: Liberating Christianity from White Supremacy Read More »
Nothing has as much durability as a racialized trope. Memories of 60’s television include racing downstairs with my cousins to see the “Negro” who had been spotted in a soap commercial. Believe me, it was a race-worthy event (pun fully intended). At that time, Black bodies were rarely represented in the media except in highly
Still Playing in the Dark? Read More »
In gratitude and memoriam for Erica Garner, Heather Heyer, Fannie Lou Hamer, Coretta Scott King, Dorothy Parker, Ida B. Wells, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg I know. I can hear the indignant objections now. Somehow in the past two years, what was a “comical” media meme is now loaded with racialized invective, evoking everything from
A “Karen” by Any Other Name . . . Read More »
All this talk about history and statues reminded me of my third-grade lessons in Mrs. Bennett’s class. It was there that I learned to recite this little ditty: In fourteen hundred ninety-two Columbus sailed the ocean blue… October 12 their dream came true You never saw a happier crew! At seven
Whose Story Is It? Read More »
Try to imagine this scenario. You walk into your home and see that it has been plundered by burglars. You even know who the burglars are; after all, they have ransacked your home and stolen your property many times before. Since you know who the burglars are and how they operate, you decide that it’s
“Sir, Can We Talk About Your Knee on My Neck?” Read More »
That’s a fairly long title, I know. However, it quite accurately captures where I found myself when Reverend Mary Ann Macklin invited me to share the pulpit at the Universalist Unitarian Church of Bloomington (UUCB) over the Martin Luther King weekend. Of course, I felt honored; there are few privileges more satisfying than having a
From the Fig Leaf to the Burning Bush: Who Are We Called to Become? Read More »
