Writer Ellen Morris Prewitt Blog

Don’t Fall for the Ewing Effect

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on February 5, 2017. Posted in General, Racism to Reconciliation. 4 Comments on Don’t Fall for the Ewing Effect

Cast your mind back to 1982. The time is the NCAA Basketball Championship. The game pits the Georgetown Hoyas, coached by the brilliant John Thompson, against Dean Smith’s Carolina Tar Heels. The Hoyas’ star is the new phenom center Patrick Ewing. As the game opens, Carolina puts up a shot. The seven-foot Ewing soars to the rim and knocks it...

Small Things I Do FWIW

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on January 30, 2017. Posted in General, Racism to Reconciliation. 10 Comments on Small Things I Do FWIW

I shop at the Family Dollar or Dollar Tree or the downtown Walgreens rather than the ritzy Walgreens because one does not have to exercise class privilege just because one has it. I choose to place myself in situations where I’m the only white person around—such as my Ob-gyn’s office—because I need to be constantly reminded of what it’s like...

The Flexible Heretics

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on December 23, 2016. Posted in General, LOVE. 6 Comments on The Flexible Heretics

I shuffled clothes through the narrow hallway. Brick wall on one side, eclectic paintings on the other, I didn’t have much room to maneuver. I’d spent the week sorting my stuff (this pile goes with us, this pile to the Salvation Army) and two suitcases had come with me to our small apartment in New Orleans, not a particularly...

How to be a Winner in the New Normal

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on November 12, 2016. Posted in General, Racism to Reconciliation. 11 Comments on How to be a Winner in the New Normal

I’ve never been with a winner. Well, except that streak when the North Carolina Tar Heels won the NCAA Basketball tournament and the St. Louis Cardinals won the World Series and Peyton Manning and the Colts won the Super Bowl. That was an outlier. The problem is, I don’t tend to pick my “teams” based on winner...

My Patriotism, Who Knew?

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on November 6, 2016. Posted in General, GRIEF, LAWYER, LOVE. 2 Comments on My Patriotism, Who Knew?

For almost a week now, creeping unbidden into my brain is the image of me early voting. I keep seeing me walking across the voting precinct floor. I pause, touching the arm of the poll worker who is leading me to my machine. He is older, African American, and he pauses too. “I feel like I did when I voted for President Obama,” I...

My Choice, One Way or Another

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on November 2, 2016. Posted in General, GRIEF. 5 Comments on My Choice, One Way or Another

For some of you this might be too much information, but for too long we haven’t shared then complained when others don’t understand. So here goes: During the abortion wars of my youth (and by “youth” I mean when I was in my 30s) when the airwaves were filled with demands to ban abortion even in the case of rape or...

Dressing Up My Vote

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on October 21, 2016. Posted in General, LAWYER. 6 Comments on Dressing Up My Vote

Usually, when I vote, I dress to scare the other voters standing in line. I want them to look at me and think, “Dear God—she’s got the right to vote?” But this morning when I thought about casting my vote to elect our next president, I went back to 1982 when I arrived at Wise Carter law firm in Jackson, Mississippi as a new associate. I’d...

Toppled from My High Perch of Holiness

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on October 21, 2016. Posted in GOD, HOMELESSNESS. 4 Comments on Toppled from My High Perch of Holiness

The alarm went off, and I drifted, reliving my dreams. Startling awake, I checked the time. I still had an hour to make it to church. Until I looked closely. The secondhand was stuck on the 4, click, click, clicking. After I hurriedly dressed, I ran downstairs where real clocks exist. I had 8 minutes to make it to St. Mary’s. I was...

Courtesy of the Dog

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on October 16, 2016. Posted in General, LOVE. 4 Comments on Courtesy of the Dog

Because we all need a little break:

Put Him Back in His Place

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on October 10, 2016. Posted in General. 21 Comments on Put Him Back in His Place

Why am I so mad about the presidential race? Because I’ve lived through this shit. I’ve been stalked while riding my bike, cutting and swerving through the neighborhood, trying to get away from the pickup truck, pedaling as fast as I could, realizing I couldn’t outrun him, couldn’t keep up my flight much longer....