A couple of weeks ago, I announced in this post that United Thank Offering, a ministry of The Episcopal Church, is considering a grant proposal I’ve written and submitted for a series of workshops on racial reconciliation. Awards won’t be announced until early July 2018, so that gives me plenty of time to plot, plan, and flesh out some ideas.
The Bigger Picture
Love One Another: It’s Just That Simple
Photo by @hellojardo at unsplash.com
Palm Sunday, 2018. I forget exactly when I started closing my essays with the words “love one another,” but what follows is a redux of an essay I wrote on June 26, 2016, days after the Pulse shooting, that lays out my interpretation of those three little words. Plus with Easter coming up on Sunday, it’s kinda relevant. Enjoy.
What’s a ‘Normal’ Guy to Do With All These Marginalized Groups
Annie Spratt on Unsplash
Recently, a friend told me he posted a meme on social media that he thought was perfectly fine until a friend pointed out to him that said meme might be offensive. My friend informed me that he removed the meme and proceeded to render a heartfelt apology. But between his confession and mea culpa, he sandwiched a question: is an Oompa Loompa meme offensive to Little People?
Staying Human: The Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Shooting Edition
Staying Human
Over the past few years, we’ve witnessed a number of mass shootings. Yes, the ones that make national headlines, and the ones that go unmentioned by the mainstream media. There’s a lot that’s been said about them; plenty of debate, conjecture, blaming, shaming, convicting, and support of victims. But there’s one subject that is rarely addressed: the ripple effect these shootings have not just on those not directly impacted, but those who are continually watching from a disance and what coping skills we should we all employ.
What do we do?
Sometimes You Eat the Bear, Sometimes the Bear Eats You
Photo by aaron clinard on Unsplash
Difficult people are hard to love. This makes having healthy relationships with them challenging. Read as: a pain the ass, thorn in the side, fun as a sharp stick in the eye, or all of the above. Everyone has at least one difficult relationship. And probably the most challenging relationship is the one between parents and their adult children.
Depending on How You See a Thing
The Helix Nebula, news.nationalgeographic.com
New Year’s Resolutions, 2017, and Beyond
I don’t do resolutions. I gave up the practice a long time ago. Maybe it’s just me, but by the time February rolls around, I’m too consumed with surviving the public shame of not having a proper Valentine to remember a promise to improve some aspect of my behavior that I made after three glasses of champagne on New Year’s Eve. I can’t recall exactly when I tossed the promise to lose weight long. It doesn’t really matter as I’ve kinda become accustomed to my new cherub-bod. It’s growing on me. Literally.
Joyeux la Fête nationale, mes amis!
The French Tricolour, the flag of France.
Known to those of us in English speaking countries as Bastille Day, the National Celebration is their equivalent to our Fourth of July.
Pulse: One Year Later
For me, viewing televised reports of mass murders and terror attacks had become, dare I say, commonplace. Yes, a detached sadness accompanied watching those tragedies, but those types of events happened in other cities. Disasters like that could never happen in my hometown. But on June 12, 2016, that all changed when forty-nine victims were brutally murdered, the gunman killed, and scores more injured at Pulse, an LGBTQ nightclub five minutes from downtown
London
If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.
— Romans 12:18
An African-American in Paris
Me, in a friend apartment in Paris ... steps away from the Eiffel Tower. “An African-American in Paris,” that was the name of my first visit to the City of Lights. And Paris did not disappoint.
For Vanessa (or anyone else) interested in Paris.
Vanessa, congratulations on your upcoming trip to Paris! You’ll have a wonderful time. It’s one of my favorite cities on the planet (the other being New York). I’ve had the pleasure of going a couple of times. Here’s a few of my favorite things to do with links for more information.