As soon as I left the bedroom this morning, I knew something was wrong. There was an unnatural breeze floating through the apartment and I could hear the wind whistling around our ill-fitting windows. I later learned that there was a wind advisory in effect – 50mph wind gusts. Sure enough, it was a kind of French door behind my desk with a poorly designed latch that has failed several times in...
Governor Ron DeSantis has declared himself ruler of the kingdom in which Woke comes to die. In the process he has skillfully pulled off a language coup which he and his friends on the right have proven themselves adept at – taking ownership of words and phrases in ways that distort and misrepresent their original meaning and intent. It’s no secret that language is a powerful instrument in shaping...
Whatever reading I do in connection with a trip usually takes place before we leave. I definitely did some in advance of our Curaçao adventure. Rarely have I had the energy and the motivation to do follow-up reading on our return. This trip broke that mold, though, and I want to tell you about what I’ve been immersing myself in since we’ve been back.In our visit to the slavery museum in...
Mentoring is very much on my mind at the moment. Many of you on Facebook saw the photo I posted last week of three mentors, including me, who have been supporting Sara, the fourth person in the picture – you won’t have any trouble distinguishing her from the mentoring trio – for 27 years. In our most recent dinner together the other night, Sara reminded us of the fact that she was only 21 years...
Here I am writing about Dr. King on the day AFTER MLK Day, something you won’t be reading until almost a week after the official commemoration. The fact that I have to comment on this timing is another reflection of the ghettoization of Black lives, much like the often-criticized relegation of things Black to the month of February. Much of what I’m about to say and what columnists said yesterday...