One: Brooklyn, December 1967 I knew it was going to be a long day when I saw the woman having an epileptic seizure in the Intake room. She was on her back, eyes rolling, jerking and thrashing, head thumping on the cement floor. A Welfare Department security guard ran over and straddled her, trying to … Continue reading How I Got So Lucky: A True Quaker Christmas Story
< one > Chekhov: “Any idiot can face a crisis; it is this day-to-day living that wears you out.” Sometime around the late 1980s, I started having two recurring nightmares: One, I’m maybe at home, or out somewhere, when the sky darkens and a dull roar starts up. It’s a tornado, bearing down on right … Continue reading Karmic Collision IV: Like a (Kidney) Stone
In my experience, the work of overcoming racism and its sordid history has many aspects, and can be pursued in many ways. Some are loud and disruptive. Others are calmly persuasive. Different strokes for different folks. Here I want to pay tribute to a current worker, a friend of mine, and fellow Quaker, Ron Osborne. … Continue reading Ongoing: The Everyday Work of Facing a Racist History
May 4, 2024 is the 54th anniversary of the Kent State killings of four students by National Guard troops during an anti-Vietnam war protest. Only a few years ago, on a balmy spring Sunday, was I able to visit & pay respects at Kent State, not far from Cleveland, with my good friend Henry Bloom, … Continue reading Kent State – May 4, 1970: Part One