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The Vicksburg Massacres Remembrance

In one month, in Vicksburg, Mississippi, we will have a weekend dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the Vicksburg Massacres. Creating the Vicksburg Massacres Remembrance has been a collaborative, community effort. The planners include Vicksburg National Military Park, Catfish Row Museum, Bethel AME Church, Becoming Beloved Community Episcopal...

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I Voted Today

Today, I walked ten minutes to our neighborhood polling place. We passed others also walking the streets (New Orleans has the most unpredictable sidewalks.) It was warm. For the first time, my cast began to itch. Inside, the poll workers were efficient without being rude. I cast my vote. On the way back home, Tom took my photo with one of the multitudes...

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How Haiti Made the USA

Y’all know hateful politicians aren’t denigrating Haitian refugees at random. They aren’t even choosing them just because in the brain of everlasting racists they’re Black refugees. Haitians are being denigrated because they are Haitian. And y’all know why racists hate Haiti, right? Haiti beat Napoleon. Oh, come...

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Train-Wreck Way of Thinking

I am here, this morning, in all my brokenness. I made a mistake yesterday. In the past, that would have sent me down a rabbit hole of catastrophizing. I imagine the worst, then worse, and worse yet until, in a demented version of the impact of butterfly wings, the world is hardly left standing because of my mistake. That didn’t happen yesterday....

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The Gate of Heaven is Everywhere

Reading William Thiele’s The Gate of Heaven is Everywhere is like slipping into a cool green lake. Refreshing, rejuvenating, and thoroughly immersive. I’ve done contemplation of one sort or another throughout my life, and William’s book reminded me why. But, more importantly, it taught me that the way I do contemplation is...

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Global “Ministries” Foundation

I read the headlines and immediately began researching. “New Orleans City Council Removes Tax-Exemptions for Another Neglected Apartment Complex.” Was the article about who I thought it was about? A long shot, sure. But when stink trails like a spraying skunk—”notorious,” “violent crime,” “dilapidated”—you...

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President for Everyone

When Donald Trump was elected in 2016, I waited for him to pivot from campaigning to being president. Take the win and move forward. I was shocked when he chose to keep doing his rallies. Now we know the rallies feed his self-definition. The adulation, the cheering at his remarks. He loves his rallies. It quickly became clear back then he had no...

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That is Swimming

First, you submerge into a different world. That’s the way I was taught. Sink. Quiet descends. The world turns cloudy, blurred. Bend your knees. Curl your legs and press your toes against the wall. Stretch your arms forward, cross your hands into a vee. Push off. You are an arrow cutting through the water. Take a breath, quick, under your...

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