In 2009 Nashville youth from the Oasis Center took to the streets of historic Jefferson Street Baptist Church to celebrate the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King and the inauguration of Barack Obama. The youth reveled in interviewing those who actually knew and marched with Dr. King when they were...

At first glance Joe Guy and Ron Johnson are literally worlds apart. Guy is white, grew up in suburban Sydney Australia and Johnson, African American was raised in one of the roughest housing projects in North Memphis. When they...

Following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, there was a 17-fold increase in hate crimes directed against Arab Americans from the previous year, and while current national and local headlines suggest that the attacks continue, not all make the news.

Not all hate crimes result in physical injury...

Yesterday after circling back to my house three times in a row on my way to a meeting because of a faulty memory, it occurred to me what a luxury and privilege it is to get four blocks from home and turn around to...

Although the misspelled signs are everywhere, it would take more than a few English professors to articulate the logic behind what seems to be an addictive epidemic of intolerance and discontent raging through the Tea Party movement.

After granting an exclusive interview with Katie Couric last week and then being accused of pandering to the liberal media, God accepted an invitation by Rupert Murdoch to give equal time to Fox News. After vigorous arm wrestling and a fierce...

Perhaps disappointed and bemused with the incessant bickering, backbiting and slandering, God finally agreed to set the record straight about the proposed Ground Zero Mosque in an exclusive interview with Katie Couric.

Due to obvious security concerns--and because God's image or...

After the phone rang three times last week with family members snickering about Basil Marceaux and the political race in Tennessee, I sat down to ponder the peculiarity of the gubernatorial spectacle in my state. That some pundits were referring to it as the 'goober'natorial offers a clue...

Unfortunately, many white people aren't conversant (or honest) enough about the roots of racial bias to admit that often when a high-profile black person is accused of illegal activities or just clouded judgment that deep within is a sense of validation, confirmation and for some, even satisfaction. Even if the...

It seems the lines of art and activism have always been blurred and just like as a friend of mine says: 'A poem is rarely ever just a poem.'

I remembered those words several weeks ago when Nashville cinematographer Jeff Wyatt Wilson told me Nashvillian...

We've all done it. Said things we didn't mean or at least shouldn't have said out-loud. Sometimes in the midst of apology we find ourselves saying something like, "I don't know what came over me," as if temporarily possessed. And very often we are--in that the tirade has the effect...

Several weeks ago, while chatting with a male friend in my office, an associate's seven-year old adoptive son popped his head through the door to say hello -- as is his custom. Although, more subdued than normal -- perhaps fatigue or a tough day at school -- he extended an...

Pick a fear, any fear. Just like a card trick, the one selected in your mind will be chosen by a master magician whose expert sleight of hand impinges your ability to see through the illusion.

Are you afraid of dark skinned people whose native language is something other...

Like most people I am surprised when I receive a letter in the mail the old fashioned way: with a postage stamp, delivered to my front door. It took me a few moments to realize it was from a young person I hadn't seen since 2004 and have thought a...

Whether natural or man-made, disasters have a way of bringing people together. They also have a way of exposing the differences in how we experience a crisis.

As the world knows, last Sunday, Nashville was pummeled by horrendous flood waters that so far have left 18 dead in Tennessee, thousands...

Almost every year one of my family members calls and asks me if I remember what this day means and I clumsily shuffle through the mental rolodex for the appropriate occasion -- only to get it wrong. For my brother the celebration of his sobriety is as significant as his...

It seems everything I write these days is from a post-chemo perspective not because I still suffer the effects of the experience, actually quite the opposite. The upside of cancer -- as I like to call it -- is that nothing looks the same as before. As if borrowing eyes...

I got a call recently from a friend who was at the end of her rope. Her infant was colicky, and although they'd tried everything, their beloved bundle of joy wouldn't stop screaming. Singing, rocking, cajoling, feeding or changing his diaper had no effect. Even strapping him into the kiddie...

Perhaps the most dreaded words in the English language, the C-word and the R-word, are uttered in hushed tones and in mortal fear of being overheard or attributed to oneself.

It wasn't until recovering from stage IV uterine cancer that I began to notice the parallels between cancer and...

Yesterday I was musing about the unconscious arrogance of pretty young women who believe they will enjoy the world of privilege and power afforded to them by beauty -- forever. It seems all it takes is a 40th birthday to notice the expiration date on the 'all access pass.'