By JIM McKEEVER If life seems more than a little unsettled these days, here’s one thing you can control. We’re running out of time, so here’s the plan: Put something in writing that epitomizes your life, your world view, your beliefs — a mantra, of sorts — for your family, friends, loved ones, even people …
By MIKE DONOHUE In the days since the Uvalde massacre, there have been more questions than ever as to why America has more gun violence than anywhere else. Having worked for 35 years as a professional treating alcoholics/drug addicts, I see some parallels between the rise in mass shootings and the opioid epidemic. Per …
By JIM McKEEVER For the past few months — has it been longer? — I’ve half-jokingly said that we should change the name of this website to “Sense of Despair.” It pretty much sums up where many of us have been lately, whether it’s the pandemic that won’t go away, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, lies …
By JIM McKEEVER We are heartbroken. News reports, photos and video of the suffering in Ukraine, images of innocent families dead on the ground, have infuriated us, sparked us to act. We send money, food, supplies, weapons. We attend rallies to show solidarity with Ukraine and speak out against Vladimir Putin’s cruel war. America’s empathy …
By DENNIS HARROD Ty Seidule never thought of himself as a white supremacist. He didn’t think about white supremacy at all. Growing up in the South, first in Virginia and then in Georgia, he had one dream: become a southern gentleman, like his idol, Robert E. Lee. He accepted without question the narrative of the …
By DENNIS HARROD “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.” — Isaiah, 11:16 We should be ashamed. Amanda Gorman wrote in the New York Times Jan. 20, …
By DENNIS HARROD At a trailhead leading to a path through woods and fields flush with late summer’s abundance of gold and green, where the wind rustled leaves and shook a few loose, and a scent of fall hinted at what was to come, someone had scrawled a message of despair meant to harm any …
By JIM McKEEVER I won’t give you their names, but names shouldn’t matter anyway. They are voices at the other end of a phone call, faceless men ages 18 to 48, who tell me their stories in 60, 90 minutes. We say good-bye, I wish them luck and I have no idea what happens to …
By JIM McKEEVER Ten years ago, during the welcoming ceremony for incoming students at my youngest son’s college, a speaker read a poem that ends with a question. Many of you will recognize it, perhaps have claimed it as a mantra. “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and …
By JIM McKEEVER The Facebook message from Julie at Minority Humanitarian Foundation arrived on a Wednesday afternoon. “Hi Jim and Nina would you be available/interested in driving to Calexico tomorrow to pick up an asylum seeker? His wife just called us and he is being released today. … we were wondering if you could pick …
Sense of Decency 