Understanding Juneteenth: A Perspective from an African-born American

Monday, September 23, 2024Friday, June 18, 2021

My family and I fled the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1998 when I was 8 years old. The country was in the midst of a civil war and there was widespread violence. My father was assassinated and my mother, fearing for her life, escaped with nothing but her four sons. We lived in a refugee camp in the country of Benin, in West Africa, for the next two years. Benin also happens to have been a major hub in the transatlantic slave trade. For many Africans, their last sight of Africa was the Benin shore from the confines of a slave ship. My own journey to America was a miracle. It was a second chance at life for my family.

Much ink has already been spilled about HB 544, the so-called ‘divisive concepts’ bill – here’s some more

Monday, September 23, 2024Wednesday, June 16, 2021

As a longtime public school English teacher, I have a vested interest in whether this bill becomes a law. As someone trained in the law, I have profound reservations about its constitutionality. And as an active citizen in my community, I fear the bill will be used for nefarious partisan purposes that will have a significant chilling effect on the open exchange of ideas that is so critical to cultivating the next generation of active citizens, an outcome that I suspect is actually an objective of the bill’s sponsors.

SOAPBOX: Letter to Sununu on HB 2

Monday, September 23, 2024Wednesday, June 16, 2021

The following is a letter to the editor.

Organizing for change: Let’s make our neighborhoods safer for now, and for the next generation

Monday, September 23, 2024Thursday, June 10, 2021

The fact that low-income and minority people are concentrated into environmentally burdened communities shouldn’t be a surprise. Decades of federal, state, and local policies like neighborhood redlining and transportation disinvestment, combined with a lack of interest to act from those in power, have led us to where we are today. But just because that is the way things worked in the past does not mean it has to be our future.

Manchester Memorial High School’s valedictorian and her proud father

Tuesday, June 11, 2024Thursday, June 10, 2021

Manchester Memorial High School’s Class of 2021 valedictorian is brilliant and beautiful, and witty and wonderful. Oh, and she’s my daughter.

The Bucket: From My Perspective

Tuesday, June 11, 2024Wednesday, June 9, 2021

Of the approximately 20 residents of the Bucket, we helped about 16 of them move somewhere else in the woods, three of them still have no idea where they’re going, and one of them took a shelter bed with special conditions. If the city’s goal was to move these residents into a shelter, and only 5 percent of them did so, I’d say the city failed. If the city’s goal was to make the lives harder for 19 residents, I’d say they succeeded. As a consequentialist, the city’s intent doesn’t matter to me, only the results, which was more pain and suffering.

Junie B. June and some summer lovin’

Tuesday, June 11, 2024Saturday, June 5, 2021

In keeping with my monthly homage — or as long as my gnat-like attention span will maintain it — to a literary icon and one of my idols, retired Providence Journal columnist Bill Reynolds, here are some things to ponder as we swing into the summer season and, hopefully, a full return to normalcy soon.

A peripheral creature: Mindfulness, the broken cat and unconditional love

Tuesday, June 11, 2024Tuesday, June 1, 2021

How were we to know that Jade would become our true test of mindfulness, a workshop in patience and an example of the self as a wholly contained entity existing outside the reciprocity of connection. In other words, loving Jade, for my daughter, has become unrequited, and we’ve all had to learn to live with that.

Ready for an ‘out of body’ experience, too? Science is the key to our return to normalcy

Tuesday, June 11, 2024Monday, May 31, 2021

This is a sad, sad commentary on the state of our nation. Why is wearing a mask and getting vaccinated tethered to liberalism? These are not political decisions. They’re health choices, and sometimes you need to make sacrifices for the common good.

One day is not enough: We must honor our fallen heroes year round

Monday, September 23, 2024Monday, May 31, 2021

Memorial Day is important, to be sure, but our reverence shouldn’t be confined to a single day. Every American has a duty to ensure that our country is ever worthy of the sacrifices that our fallen service members made for us. That includes paying tribute to those we have lost.