Inside from the Inside

We are who we are as the sum of two defining traits: our “otherness” and our relationships. Where one sets us apart, the other binds us together. I am my father’s son and my son’s father, distinct from each in thoughts, loves and talents, yet welcomed and loved by both.
When my otherness is held in balance [...]

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Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins, elected as the first county DA of color in Texas back in 2007, has some amazing ideas for law enforcement - the best part is, he’s actually seeing them get passed by the state legislature.  And he’s not done yet.
Professor Paul Butler, former federal prosecutor in the District of [...]

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This past week driving down a main street of the community I live in, I came upon a garage sale in front of a business.  I have always been fascinated by looking at people’s possessions when they reach their end at estate sales or in this case the business closing. 
As I scanned the items on display [...]

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Two weeks ago, South Carolina activist Rusty DePass mistook an escaped gorilla for a relative of Michelle Obama. Critics charged racism.
Now, the state’s governor has mistaken a romp in Buenos Aires for a hike along the Appalachian Trail.

A failure of the state’s public education system?  Something in the water?
A commenter on this blog recently suggested [...]

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That Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, which opens today, is a narrative and conceptual mess is neither surprising nor the greatest of its blames. That it is, at critical moments, visually incomprehensible—and this from someone who considered the faceted clatter of the first film’s shifting multiplanes, at moments, symphonic—is the least of its faults.
That it [...]

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I am putting myself on trial here—at least in the sense of opening myself to public scrutiny—and I know that there is no excuse for what I am about to confess. Yes, there were circumstances. But so what? There is absolutely no justification.
I actively and knowingly discriminated against many people on the basis of their [...]

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I knew He was speaking of that car in front.
“The license plate is current. The bumper sticker is Christian-based. The driver is a man. That’s pretty much it.”
“Very good, Son, very good.”
Father’s a Cool Dude. Ever the consummate Teacher, Friend, Guide, Confidant. Some liken Him unto the Shaolin priest, Master Po.
We drove on.
I beamed inside: [...]

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Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865 when Union General Gordon Granger informed the slaves of Galveston, Texas that they were free. Currently recognized by thirty one states Juneteenth should be a national holiday on a par with July 4.  If this country was “born” July 4, 1776, it surely was “born again” June 19, 1865 when [...]

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Jorge Luis Mora is a Catholic priest on a mission to provide people of all denominations, socio-economic status, and ethnic background with happiness.  According to his research the majority of humans are unhappy and some miserable on the edge of despair and suicide.  His message is simple, “God’s purpose for you is to pursue and [...]

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“Let [the attack] be a wakeup call.  For us to be any sort of beacon of hope to the rest of the world, we must truly change ourselves.  We must take a deep look inside of who we are, and begin to transform our hatred to love.  We do this by putting our foot down [...]

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