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 is a follow-up to last week’s musing, titled “Would You Sit in the Chair?” In case you missed that, or it's fuzzy in your memory, let me quickly recap: I intend to find a public…
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Wending your way through an art museum, you come to a gallery with two wooden chairs in the center. A small table separates them. White tape on the floor delimits a large square around the…
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This morning, you come downstairs to find me. You greet me in that sunny voice with which you always bless the beginning of my days. Then you slump on the couch beside me. Your youthful…
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WAKING IN TRUMP’S AMERICA Jan Steckel The Statue of Liberty’s arm is tired. She may have torn her rotator cuff. She still has dual citizenship, wonders if her passport is in order. She imagines lowering…
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I'm trying to finish a novel. I'm under contract to produce a poetry anthology. I have a speech to prepare. No shortage of things to do. But sometimes a writer has to take time to…
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I'm writing to ask your help. Perhaps you’ve been following the strong nonviolent resistance to the Dakota Access Pipeline, particularly on the part of native peoples who have established the Red Warrior Camp in its…
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Every Sunday afternoon, here in Brookings, South Dakota, a group of us gather on a downtown street corner to "Stand for Peace." It's a silent vigil, only fifteen minutes long. We've been doing this for…
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I put this music montage together some years back but decided to post it today as another cry of protest against the hateful rhetoric dominating so much of the current political discourse in the United…
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Four years ago I created this video presentation for a commemoration of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s death, held here in Brookings, SD. I thought it worth sharing again today, in remembrance of MLK's profound work…
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On Tuesday, October 28, the Public Utilities Commission met in Pierre to decide who can formally weigh in on whether it should re-certify TransCanada’s permit to build the Keystone XL pipeline through our state. As…
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I'm an introvert, at heart. My husband, too. So maybe you know now why we're dead-tired. We arrived home this afternoon from the People's Climate March in New York City. Look at that. Wow. The…
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My Latest Books
