by Kate Vanskike Let me be honest: Until the last decade or so of my life, I haven’t been incredibly interested in history. In high school and in college, it was simply a required class. In the latter, I’m embarrassed … Continue reading True Confession: I was ignorant (or, The Truth about Blacks’ journey to Civil Rights)
Day 1 On the plane, drifting over clouds And so it begins. We will play in unfamiliar settings and take in all the smells and textures that make up the tiny portion of the Dominican Republic which awaits us. Day … Continue reading DR398 (Our Dominican Vision Trip in 398 words)
Trying my hand at an art I have not touched in 20 years Continue reading 3 May Poems
It was my first time serving as a substitute teacher in a middle school English class. The topic was Mark Twain, and this should have been easy, as I had grown up near the park surrounding the great Missouri author’s … Continue reading On Twain & Tweens
What will I remember of the last 365 days? What is my hope for the year ahead? Continue reading My 2015 Review, by the numbers
Republican, democrat, libertarian. Muslim, Christian, Jew. Pro-life, pro-choice. Gay, straight, transgender. Marxist, fascist, socialist, Nazi, commie. Left-wing, right-wing, conservative, liberal. Rich, poor, educated, ignorant. Gun lover, cop hater, addict, hippie, redneck, abuser, victim. We have life-or-death issues to discuss: violence, immigration, terrorism, education, police brutality, war on drugs, freedom, equality, homelessness, mental illness (and more). Solutions don’t lie with labeling, segregating, name calling and fear mongering. Solutions lie with humanizing every concern, finding common ground. We all thirst for security, health and freedom. Let’s start there. Continue reading Cotton-headed ninny-muggins
At 31, following several years of medical treatments and a roller coaster of adjusting hormone therapy, I was anxious to proceed with a hysterectomy. Those troubled ovaries weren’t worth keeping. They caused so much pain and worked so poorly that … Continue reading I Wasn’t Supposed to Be a Mom (Or, Not Your Usual Mother’s Day Reflection)
It was like a Windex commercial, except without the laughing crows. The small sparrow on its morning trek was blissfully unaware that the scene ahead was framed by brick and encased in glass. The legal assistant inside the office building … Continue reading Grace for the Sparrow
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