essays, personal stories, and quick thoughts
Mr. Fender suddenly mumbled, “Oh no.” “What?” Squish asked. “Did you buy groceries for dinner?” “Nope. I thought you did.” Mr. Fender froze. “But we invited Jason.” “Yeah?” “A black bear.” “Yeah…” “And I’m pretty sure…
Years ago, when I was running the Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless, my mom gave me some invaluable advice. I was on the phone with her one day, talking about how I needed to go…
Today, I found myself thinking about Richard Sondah, someone I worked with during my years as executive director of the Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless (MCH). Although we were no longer working closely together when…
Poverty sucks. And, as many of you know, I believe one of its cruelest forms is homelessness. Every night in Minnesota, thousands of people are excluded and forced to live with out a home. Children…
America’s food system is centered neither on health nor sustainability. It is not organized around providing people with healthy food grown in living soil or produced on well-managed pasture. Much of what fills grocery store…
A handful of days ago, I wrote about revisiting some of my favorite music and paying closer attention to the lyrics that have stayed with me over the years. In that post, I shared a…
As this question notes, withholding forgiveness can function as a kind of self-harm. I just finished reading, The How of Happiness, by Sonja Lyubomirsky. In it, she points to a substantial body of research showing that…
1. When I eat food from my garden, I am eating responsibly. 2. When I am in my garden, I feel at peace. 3. The diversity and quality of tastes of food from my garden…
I wonder how Howard Zinn would have framed what’s unfolding in America right now. How would he have assessed Donald Trump’s impact on Black and Brown communities—and the forms of resistance those communities have mounted?…
Optimism says 'everything will be fine,' and pessimism says 'nothing will work out.’ Hope, on the other hand, has no uncertainties. It is the dogged determination to do what is in our power to make…
