Here in a Manger
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 […]
Oh, Say Can You See… Somebody Done Somebody Wrong…
This recent spate of patriotic holidays has got me thinking about country music. It’s not that I’m an aficionado of that genre by any stretch of the imagination. It’s just that the songs brilliantly capture the anguish of “somebody done somebody wrong”. For me, the anguish is that spiritual-emotional space where the personal meets the […]
This is US
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 […]
Who Needs a Magical Reindeer? Or (#deconstruct 2020)
It’s finally fa-la-la-la-la time, and I couldn’t be more ready. Every year as soon as December rolls in (and not a minute sooner), I crank up the holiday music. However, this is 2020, a year in which everything is subject to deconstruction, even the iconic little, red-nosed reindeer. It’s not that I have something against […]
A “Karen” by Any Other Name . . .
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 […]
Whose Story Is It?
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 […]
“Sir, Can We Talk About Your Knee on My Neck?”
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 […]
Who is Mother?
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 […]
From the Fig Leaf to the Burning Bush: Who Are We Called to Become?
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 […]
When Getting Along is Not Enough
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 […]