Blog

Spoken word (or performance poetry as it’s also known) has been creeping into the public consciousness of late. Thanks to sites such as YouTube and SoundCloud, artists have found a digital platform on which to share their voice and their work. Performers such as Kate Tempest , George the Poet and Jess Green , and festivals such as Glastonbury and The Last Word , have also helped. Performance poetry is fast becoming a staple of the entertainment circuit. Aside from the obvious entertainment...

I first saw a psychiatrist for my anxiety and depression as a junior in high school. During her evaluation, she asked about my classes and grades. I told her that I had a 4.0 GPA and had filled my schedule with Pre-AP and AP classes. A puzzled look crossed her face. She asked about my involvement in extracurricular activities. As I rattled off the long list of groups and organizations I was a part of, her frown creased further. Finally, she set down her pen and looked at me, saying something...

1. You are not a bad sister. Or a bad daughter. Or a bad friend. Or a bad anything. You are sick. You are suffering from a disease that has to do with genetics and brain chemistry and environmental factors and probably something much deeper than what our human minds can comprehend. Try to bring curiosity, rather than blame, into this moment. 2. The point is not to look like you are changing so that the people you love are happy. It is to actually change within yourself. And sometimes that...

With the expert help of our new resource analyst and administrator, Emerald Montgomery , we’re in the initial stages of overhauling our outdated Resource Center. Here’s our idea: The new Resource Center will have basic information, such as lists of: — ACE studies and surveys besides the original CDC-Kaiser Permanente ACE Study (epidemiology of ACEs); — ACE surveys that have added questions to the basic 10-question ACE Study survey (epidemiology of ACEs); — ACEs/Trauma-Informed/Resilience...

The Juneau Suicide Prevention Coalition sponsored another Suicide Prevention Conference in Alaska's Capitol City. [ LINK HERE ] I spoke at one of the first conferences years ago. I was fortunate to attend part of last year's conference. I like to see what progress is being made in disseminating information about the ACE Study. This particular conference looked like it might have some reach because a prominent Alaska Native Politician came out and spoke about the trauma his family experienced...

The stallion kicked out, nostrils flaring. In the ring, it faced off against a 32-year-old former infantryman. Months ago, Mitchell Reno was sitting in a hotel room with a half-gallon of vodka and dark plans. But this April afternoon found him serenely still as a stallion kicked up sawdust in an arena in Poplar Grove. Slashes across the horse's heaving belly and back revealed fights in the Wyoming wild. The horse zeroed in on Reno, who wrestles with PTSD and knows a thing or two about scars,...

I do not remember much of Muhammad Ali’s life firsthand. The sharpest memories that come to me are of the middle-aged man, slowed and bowed by a crippling disease, who lit the flame at the ‘96 Olympics in Atlanta. Part of my life has been spent watching Ali’s in reverse; watching his godlike physique and hellfire oratory return, trying to figure out just how the figure of dignified defiance, one whom my elders treated with utmost deference, had been forged. The photograph of his stunning...

The Second Chance Society, 1.0 and 2.0, are very important and reminiscent of Connecticut’s progressive nature. But, as a policy analyst for a nonprofit in Hartford whose agency has strongly supported this legislation, I’m becoming increasingly concerned as to why children with incarcerated parents have not been included in either version of this legislation. As of April 1, 2016, 54 percent of those currently incarcerated reported being a caregiver. Over 75 percent of those with an...

Concordia Parish extends tall and narrow along the Mississippi River, where the ankle of Louisiana meets the instep. Almost one-third of its 20,000 residents live below the federal poverty line. Strip malls dominate Vidalia, the parish seat. Smaller satellite towns are home to Pentecostal mega-churches, defunct gas stations, and tin-sided shacks selling crawfish for $2 a pound. State highways run through low fields once flush with cotton that was picked by slaves and sold across the river to...

They lean unsteadily on canes and walkers, or roll along the sidewalks of Skid Row here in beat-up wheelchairs, past soiled sleeping bags, swaying tents and piles of garbage. They wander the streets in tattered winter coats, even in the warmth of spring. They worry about the illnesses of age and how they will approach death without the help of children who long ago drifted from their lives. “It’s hard when you get older,” said Ken Sylvas, 65, who has struggled with alcoholism and has not...

For years, Gov. Jerry Brown has resisted efforts to spend more money to build affordable housing. As part of his revised budget released Friday , Brown announced what he said was a better solution: making it easier to build homes for low-income residents. In a new package of legislation, Brown is proposing to streamline the permitting process for developers building affordable homes. “Hopefully, the supply is going to bring down the cost,” Brown said. “Otherwise, through subsidies and...

Howard French has an interesting piece in The Guardian tackling “the enduring whiteness of American media.” French’s claim is two-fold: 1.) Big media organizations have failed to produce a staff that looks like the larger country. 2.) Big media has failed black journalists, specifically, by siloing them in “stereotypical roles—sport, entertainment and especially what is euphemistically called urban affairs.” These twin effects, according to French, “strongly but silently [condition] how...