January brings with it the promise of change: all those New Year’s resolutions and 365 days to implement plans and hopes and dreams of a better future. Three weeks in, and we find ourselves reflecting on the life and legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr., a man who proclaimed a vision of change before our […]
Five Memoirs to Read Alongside White Picket Fences
Last night, Natasha Sistrunk Robinson, author of A Sojourner’s Truth: Choosing Freedom and Courage in a Divided World, and I read passages from our respective memoirs side by side at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Herndon, Virginia. We read and spoke about two very different life experiences–she as a black woman growing up in a hardworking […]
Silence, Solitude, Stillness, and…Sickness
I usually love Sunday mornings. I sleep until I wake up, and then I make a cup of tea and sit in front of the fireplace and read and journal and review the past week and eventually look to the week ahead. This practice usually gives me a sense of peace. I decide which mornings […]
‘Tis the Season for Stress
I woke up at 4:32 this morning. I had set the alarm for 5:30, but my body seemed to think that would not do. There was the knowledge that American Girl orders had to be processed by today in order to ensure delivery by Christmas. There was the overflowing email inbox. There was the intention […]
Jesus Came From A Dysfunctional Family
We had Marilee’s parent/teacher conference yesterday morning. We heard about her leadership in the classroom and the play she is writing with her friend Nathan. She’s kind to the other kids. She loves math. And she loves writing–especially acrostic poems. At the end of our time together, her teacher pulled out one poem written to […]
A Note on the Terms in White Picket Fences
White Picket Fences addresses the topic of privilege, giving particular attention to race, class, and disability. I chose to use the term “African American” most of the time within these pages because studies show that white people implicitly associate the word “black” with negative ideas, whereas the word “African American” connotes more positive and respectful […]
