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 »
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 »
I know next to nothing about barnyards and stables. In fact, I just learned that a manger is a feeding trough for animals. Other barnyard images that come to my mind involve buzzing flies, odious smells, as well as animal excretions and emissions of various sorts. I am also pretty sure you have to watch
By Way of Prologue Anyone wanting an easy listening overview of a city’s attractions knows exactly what to do: climb aboard a climate-controlled tour bus. For the price of a ticket and minimal mental effort, you get to sit back, relax, and get an infotainment version of local history. Those were the likely expectations
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 »
I was once again honored to join the community of the Unitarian Universalist Church in Bloomington, in their virtual pulpit this past Mother’s Day. Thank you to Senior Minister Reverend Mary Ann Macklin for her warm and welcoming invitation. The holiday, Mother’s Day, as a ritual of recognition, elicits a wide range of emotions as
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 »
Sometimes when bad things happen, the need to do the right thing becomes all the more urgent. The election of the 45th president (which I unequivocally experienced as a bad thing) shattered any illusion that just “getting along” as racialized beings is enough. “Just getting along” does not and cannot foster an expansive imagination of
When Getting Along is Not Enough Read More »
There are some images that leave an indelible imprint on the brain. As they should. One that is burned into my consciousness is that of the young student-athlete – standing frozen and stoop shouldered in a posture of parasympathetic surrender while his head is shorn of his precious locks. He had only two options: to
What Shall We Do about the Negative Space? Read More »
