“I don’t think I can do this,” I told my friend Mary.* The two of us were meeting on Zoom to discuss a collaborative project. Before digging into business, we were checking in with each…
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This past Monday, I participated in a public protest against efforts by a local group to ban more than 200 “inappropriate” books from the libraries in our school district. (Think Native Son by Richard Wright. Beloved by Toni Morrison. To…
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This past Monday, our family loaded the trappings of college dorm life into our two cars. It was time to move Nathan back to campus for his junior year. As we prepared to leave home,…
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What follows isn’t a poem. It’s a playful inventory of basic intentions that guide my creative work—indeed, my daily living. It sets forth how I aspire to conduct myself as a “maker” and as a…
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A light pops up on the dashboard of my Ford Fusion. My stomach sinks to the floor. “Check Oil.” This isn’t an emergency, exactly—just a bit of a pickle. In our family, Jihong’s the oil…
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During past visits to your mother’s elder care community, you’ve passed by this big dining room dozens of times. On occasion, you’ve eaten here, too. But never before today have you glimpsed the piano, stowed…
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It’s night-time in Baltimore, Maryland, a city with its fair share of troubles—high poverty rate, high unemployment rate, high crime rate . . . But if you scan the city skyline, what you see there…
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This week, in trying to grapple with the enormity of the recent earthquake in Turkey and Syria, I turned to writing poetry. The staggering numbers of the dead, wounded, and homeless (many of whom were…
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Tyre Nichols was, in his own words, an “aspiring photographer.” His favorite subject was landscapes. He also loved shooting videos while skateboarding. As one of his friends said, he used his camera “to capture the…
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Geoff stands on our snow-covered side stoop, bundled against the single-digit cold. Grinning through his frosty white beard, he delivers me a gift on behalf of his wife, Sue: a big, warm pair of mittens,…
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In my dream, I’m visiting a dear friend whom I don’t often get to see. Each hour of our time together is precious. As our reunion is nearing its unwelcome end, we hear a soft…
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In the July 10 edition of Staying Power, I told you about “Humanity Present,” an opportunity for shared, silent gazing that I intend to offer in a public setting, here where I reside. Planning for…
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My Latest Books
