Tagged with United States …

Forgive Us Our Sins

Back in 1995, actors Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt starred together in the crime thriller, Se7en, about a serial killer whose crimes fashioned to represent the seven deadly sins: sloth, gluttony, lust, wrath, envy, greed, and pride. The order of the sins is important; they traditionally begin with sloth, which is considered as the least … Continue reading →

Things That Make You Go “Hmmm”

As I write this essay in February 2025, I am shocked to discover that the year 1991 is now thirty-four years in the past! How is that even possible? Now, you might be wondering why it is that I’m thinking specifically about the year 1991. As a Gen-Xer, I was a young working mother in … Continue reading →

A Kinder Gentler Place

The nation said goodbye to former President Jimmy Carter last week, and as all of the living former Presidents and many of the former Vice-Presidents gathered to pay their respects it was impossible, for those of us old enough to have lived through each of their administrations to make comparisons among them. I was only … Continue reading →

Too Much of a Gentleman

Here I am in 1976. I was 13 years old and in the eighth grade. From ages 9 to 12 I had been somewhat vaguely aware of the Watergate scandal, not because it was interesting (the long summer of the Watergate hearings made for very boring television), but because, from the adults all around me, … Continue reading →

The Power of We

Colossians 3:12-14 English Standard Version (ESV) 12 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all … Continue reading →

What’s the Point of Conversation?

The Quora Chronicles – Part 8 Many times, when questions like this one appear in my “Asked to Answer” notifications on Quora I find myself wondering about the person who asked the question and why they asked it. Is this person simply shy, anti-social, or a Millennial or Gen Z who communicates mostly through social … Continue reading →

“Stop Eyeballing Me, Boy!”

The Quora Chronicles – Part 6 Actor Louis Gossett, Jr. made history as the first Black American to win the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role as Marine Corp Gunnery Sergeant Emil Foley in the 1982 film, “An Officer and a Gentleman.” One of Foley’s most memorable lines comes when Richard Gere’s character first … Continue reading →

A Different Kind of “Christmas Cheer

I love my job!  Since 2011, when I left the corporate world to become a teacher of English as a Second Language, I have probably learned as much or perhaps more from my students as they have learned from me.  In addition to learning the language, many immigrants to the United States are also anxious … Continue reading →

Who Am I?

I had always hated group sharing in school – always.  The other students were too dull, too immature, and just too slow, both literally and figuratively.  Being perceived as “really smart”, especially as a little black girl, from a working-class family, in a working-class city was both a blessing and a curse.  The was a … Continue reading →