Speaking of Baby Jesus, Let's Talk About Tips for 12/10/2020
This is the time of year when I try to remind patrons of restaurants and coffee shops to tip generously, in the spirt of the season. I want us to tip well all year long, of course, but December can...
View ArticleA Christmas Like No Other for 12/17/2020
So, this is Christmas.No travel, and no family or friends outside our secure little bubbles. If we are to take care of one another, this is what we must do, one household at a time. Updated: Thu Dec...
View ArticleWe Are Not Helpless for 12/31/2020
This is a tightrope column, the kind you'd rather not write, about an event you don't feel you can ignore. You tread carefully, but you want people to pay attention as you do.Four days after Christmas,...
View ArticleDemocracy, Still for 01/07/2021
Like so many of you, I remember what I was doing when I first heard that insurgents had stormed our nation's Capitol. It was about 2 p.m., and I was on the phone with my son Andy as C-SPAN played in...
View ArticleChristian Hate Is No Faith At All for 01/14/2021
Most of us who miss our mothers can name moments when our longing is most acute. For me, it sneaks up when I see people wielding God as a weapon. My mother was one of the least judgmental people I've...
View ArticleWe Have Our Marching Orders for 01/21/2021
Finally, we have a new president. Many of us are feeling a lot of excitement, buttressed by wave after wave of relief. We are a nation of survivors.Updated: Thu Jan 21, 2021
View ArticleWhat We Owe Our College Students for 01/28/2021
Two weeks into spring semester at the University of Florida, groups of unmasked college students — 30 or more at a time, many hollering as they partied — stood in lines to enter bars and clubs in...
View ArticleWe Can Stop Wondering Who the Republicans Want to Be for 02/05/2021
When Marjorie Taylor Greene was a teenager, she — Oops, wrong age.When Marjorie Taylor Greene was barely into her 20s, she — Updated: Fri Feb 05, 2021
View ArticleA Mind of Winter for 02/11/2021
It was around 8 o'clock on a recent Monday night, and my husband was yelling at the neighbors. "Jackie! Kate! Jackie! Kate!""Honey, they can't hear you."Updated: Thu Feb 11, 2021
View ArticleI'd Rather Talk About Michael J. Fox for 02/18/2021
How do we acknowledge the death of someone who made a career of inflicting harm? Perhaps I should start with a story.I first met Michael J. Fox in 2006, not long after Rush Limbaugh had mocked his...
View ArticleLessons Learned for 02/25/2021
We're coming up on the one-year anniversary of our collective COVID-19 incarceration, and I thought it might be helpful to share a few things I've learned during quarantine. For example, did you know...
View ArticleMy Brother, Still for 03/04/2021
When my brother was a boy, he loved to leave pennies on the railroad tracks up the street from our house and wait for the freight train to flatten them as it zoomed by.This scared my mother to death. I...
View ArticlePraise Jesus, But Not Really for 03/11/2021
After I first started writing a column, in the fall of 2002, it wasn't long before I heard regularly from those who brandished God as a weapon in opposing LGBTQ rights. This was not surprising. Back...
View ArticleCOVID-19 Vaccine: Part I for 03/18/2021
There were many times, I'm sure, when my mother was disappointed in me, but one memory is seared into my brain like rice scorched into the bottom of a forgotten pot on the stove. Imagine it's your...
View ArticleCOVID-19 Vaccine: Part II for 03/25/2021
Hello, it's me again, your freshly vaccinated columnist, here to tell you about Dose No. 2. It's been 28 hours since I got my second jab of the Moderna vaccine, and I admit I was more nervous about...
View ArticleHello From Alaska for 04/01/2021
This week, I had an email exchange with a person who had every reason to be disappointed in me. Instead, he insisted his faith in me was steadfast, and I'm not the least bit embarrassed to tell you I...
View ArticleGet Thee Vaccinated, Evangelical Friends for 04/08/2021
Sometimes, I wonder if I'm ever going to get over how some humans have behaved during this pandemic.First, the good news: As of this week, more than 65 million people in the U.S. have been fully...
View ArticleThis Whiteness of Being for 04/22/2021
It's Wednesday morning. I sign into the eighth one-on-one student videoconference but immediately see that, on this call, with this cherished student, there's no oxygen for talking about the final,...
View ArticlePelosi and Harris Made History. What's Next? for 04/29/2021
There are many reasons to reflect on the historical significance of President Joe Biden's first joint address to Congress. It was a great speech by a man who understands why he is in this role, in this...
View ArticleHere's to Motherhood, or Not for 05/06/2021
Recently, a friend and I were talking about our younger parenting days when she said, "You know, you still talk about your single mother days, but that was years ago."She is right, but not really.I've...
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