 In the end, the best defense against bigotry is forging communities that are strong enough to withstand it. Really knowing each other is the starting place for healing all of our wounds. Learning each other’s stories and struggles leads to a broader sense of who ‘us’ is, and there is no victory over ‘them’ so complete, or so healing, or so effective, as welcoming them into ‘us.’ That is the radical subversion of fear by love. . . . → Read More: The Klan went home, the community stayed  This Saturday the Ku Klux Klan is promising to have one of its largest rallies ever in Memphis, Tennessee. I’m headed there too. The Memphis park formerly known as Forrest Park, after Civil War general, slave trader and first Grand Wizard of the KKK Nathan Bedford Forrest, now bears the innocuous moniker “Health Sciences . . . → Read More: Klansmen, Crips, Clowns, Memphis and Me  The American Friends Service Committee has opened a call for suggested nominees for the Nobel Peace Prize, and you are invited to submit your suggestions between now and May 1, 2013 for the 2014 prize. . . . → Read More: Nobel Peace Prize nominating season…  Ed’s first trip to the beach after prison. As Christmas approached last year, my thoughts were very much with my friend Ed Chapman. Ed spent nearly fifteen years in prison, thirteen of those on death row, wrongfully convicted. He was exonerated five years ago. Exoneration doesn’t involve any restitution or declaration of innocence, . . . → Read More: The Fifth Annual Freedom Ball  Antigua, Guatemala 8AM Sunday, Feb. 10, 2013 I wrote a song lyric yesterday that captures a bit of what I’m thinking and feeling on this particular trip to Guatemala, which must be about my tenth time here. I’m thinking about how the places we encounter literally become a part of us (and yes, I . . . → Read More: A new song being born: Angelita  For over fifteen years David has been offering Worldchanging 101 workshops and keynotes. In them, he challenges some common, but largely unexamined, ideas about how large-scale social change happens and how it does not. We have put together a new flyer for colleges and churches about various ways to organize a weekend event or . . . → Read More: Worldchanging Weekends  David Dault recently interviewed me for his podcast ‘Things Not Seen.’ It was a delightful conversation, and the edited version is here. I hope you will enjoy it. To listen, simply click here. …really comes down to five or ten minutes of your time. And a stamp. And an envelope and a piece of paper. And a decision to spend those minutes in a way that could take a step toward righting a wrong. Ed Chapman is a friend of mine. I’ve written about him before on . . . → Read More: What I Want For Christmas… 
On Saturday, I took my son Mason to the zoo in Asheboro. It was a gorgeous day, but there were very few people there. When I stopped into the gift shop to rent a stroller (Mason hurt his foot this week and wasn’t quite up to all the walking), I asked . . . → Read More: A Zoo Story…  Photo by David Simchock, www.davidsimchock.com It has now been three weeks since my Guatemalan friends returned to El Tejar, and I’m just beginning to gain the perspective that a bit of distance provides. Our time together in North Carolina was rich, dense and fulfilling, and I know that I am not the only . . . → Read More: Very More Awesome |
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