To Writeis to realize!
Revisit
again and again
Reimagine...
and Remember.
Journals
Walk with us as we open our doors. Turn the keys. How did each of us come to be? Who are we and why?
- Read our stories.
- Share your own.
- It is never too late to learn from our past, to better understand the present, and to build the finest of futures.
Coach K, Sports Fandom, and More on My Redneck Past
From early childhood through young adulthood, my wife and I lived lives dedicated to sports—she a real and successful athlete (state champion, MVP, honorable mention All-American), and me a sincere, hard-working wanna-be. Our daughter was born in 1989, and I am sure we almost immediately [...]
I was Six When a Man First Touched Me. I Didn’t Speak Up Until I was an Adult
There’s a reason why, when a woman whispers her story of sexual abuse, when she writes about it, when she Tweets about it or carries a mattress around on her back, calls the police or a rape crisis line, I believe her. The reason is [...]
Kids Can’t Read Grandma’s Recipe Because It’s In Cursive
During one of the recent polar vortex school closings, someone posted on Facebook about having to help her daughters read a recipe card. Her daughters are excellent readers who are in grades 3 and 6. So why couldn't they read the neatly written directions? Well, [...]
Heroin Addiction Sent Me to Prison. White Privilege Got Me Out and to the Ivy League
I was a senior at Cornell University when I was arrested for heroin possession. As an addict — a condition that began during a deep depression — I was muddling my way through classes and doing many things I would come to regret, including selling [...]
Will I Live In Fear For The Rest Of My Life?
I cannot even begin to express how hurt I am as an African American in this country. I cannot express how hurt I am for the families of Tamir Rice, Eric Garner, Michael Brown, and anyone else who has lost a child at the hands of [...]
Over-Policed & Under-Served: How The Phrase “F*ck The Police” Was Born
“ You fucking stupid bitch,” a man screamed followed by the slam of a car door. Feet thumped and the passenger door swung open. The incoherent pleas of a woman could be heard. Then the loud sound of skin making contact with skin reverberated through [...]
My Vassar College Faculty ID Makes Everything OK
The fourth time a Poughkeepsie police officer told me that my Vassar College Faculty ID could make everything OK was three years ago. I was driving down Wilbur Avenue. When the white police officer, whose head was way too small for his neck, asked if [...]
The Pain of the Watermelon Joke
As a child in South Carolina, I spent summers like so many children — sitting on my grandparents’ back porch with my siblings, spitting watermelon seeds into the garden or, even worse, swallowing them and trembling as my older brother and sister spoke of the [...]