"I can't make you love me if you don't."-Bonnie Raitt Eradicating poverty, as with all cultural shifts, needs to take place in our hearts for real change to occur. Policies are the 10 Commandments, ABC's and 1,2,3's of giving a shit about your neighbor. Civil Rights are a law and yet they haven't eradicated racism.…Read more We the Free
poverty
Thoughts on The Glass Castle
There are families in this country who live without food, furniture, proper clothing, emotional or physical stability, heat and running hot water. Accountability is a question mark. We don't like to talk about it because it means exploring our part in the story. These same families fight, have good and bad habits, create traditions, make…Read more Thoughts on The Glass Castle
Beat
We buried him in the street Big, little ol' me on my hip and Jesus Two maybe, three I have seen more than a mailbox be used as a weapon Beat, beat Be quiet The sirens came from the corner store Blow Pops, charmed Good and bad cops, harmed Sharpening pop Sickle sticks Her curly…Read more Beat
Lionitis
“I've been absolutely terrified every moment of my life and I've never let it keep me from doing a single thing that I wanted to do.” -Georgia O'Keeffe Good, bad or otherwise there was no time for fear growing up in my family. Poverty doesn't give you the space to pause; maybe that's true for…Read more Lionitis
The Perfect Storm
To get out of the projects, my parents moved us into a partially condemned apartment building with faulty electricity and no running hot water. It was a relief and discomfort at the same time; you a lose a network, a sense of rank and familiarity when you go someplace new. I could anticipate the violence…Read more The Perfect Storm
Love
"Prostitutes are in no danger of finding their present life so satisfactory that they cannot turn to God: the proud, the avaricious, the self-righteous, are in that danger."-C.S Lewis If you have ever spent a night, or many nights, with uncertainty about what you might eat or where you might sleep and you come into…Read more Love
Helter Skelter
He jammed my thumb in the door. I think I was five and we were at Meme's house on Social Street, across from the brick building that looked like a military base. The brick was coppery and the windows were framed in some kind of intricate verdigris stone. There was metal wire in between thick…Read more Helter Skelter
