Together

When It Comes To Our Nation’s Children, Actions Speak Louder than Words

I grew up in a family that was long on challenges and short on money. To be frank, my parents were both alcoholics and had untreated mental health issues, and we didn’t have much money after my dad lost his job in the 1980’s and we moved to a small town in rural MN. Because of where I have been,...

Happy Earth Day, Earth: Sorry we were too cheap to get you anything

EarthDay.png I’m old enough to remember when Earth Day was mostly about planting trees and recycling. Since then, it’s taken on a whole new urgency as we’ve ( most of us , anyway) realized that this climate change thing is real, it’s our fault, and it’s serious. So it’s strange to realize that on...

Child Watch® Column: Recognizing All of America’s S/Heroes

Every day I wear a pair of medallions around my neck with portraits of two of my role models: Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth. As a child I read books about Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad. She and indomitable and eloquent slave woman Sojourner Truth represent countless thousands of anonymous slave women whose bodies and minds were abused and whose voices were muted by slavery, Jim Crow, segregation and confining gender roles throughout our nation’s history.