Many years ago, in my initial career as an educator, I tried to persuade elementary school teachers to take time to observe the children in their classrooms. I hoped they would sit back now and then and be quietly, intentionally...

Are you as conflicted as I am when I see a homeless person, who appears to be young and able-bodied, carrying a sign asking for help? On the one hand, I’ve watched investigative news reporters catch panhandlers sauntering off at...

Compassion is the force that moves people towards social justice. You can see it weaving through each of the examples given below, and there are so many more. To live out the belief that we are all equals, we will need to...

I could start on the outskirts of this idea, focusing the ongoing health crisis in Flint, Michigan, over contaminated drinking water. There, we have allowed an entire urban population to suffer the consequences of poor decisions made by politicians since...

The videos are horrifying. A city building explodes and collapses to the ground. Thousands of people inside are trapped. On the streets outside, people are racing every which way, trying to outrun billows of smoke and cement dust so aggressive...

Planning for the Women’s March on Washington initially focused on making the day after the inauguration of President Trump a day for hearing the voices of minorities. It was to be a protest against the utter disrespect he had expressed...

  In the summer of 2016, Native Americans set up Sacred Stone Camp in North Dakota to protest the construction of an oil pipeline under Lake Oahe. The lake is a critical source of water for the Sioux tribe. That...

Flight Behavior (by Barbara Kingsolver, Harper Collins, 2012)   The main story line of Flight Behavior goes like this: Monarch butterflies are discovered swarming around the treetops of an Appalachian mountain. This has never happened before! Why here? Why now?...

Our elected politicians parade across the TV screen in starched white shirts, silk ties knotted splendidly, each hair groomed with sticky gels that cement it into its perfect place. That’s not what I want to see....

Sign, sign, everywhere a sign Blockin’ out the scenery, breakin’ my mind Do this, don’t do that, can’t you read the sign? Tesla (1990)   Do you remember this song? It’s a protest song of sorts, protesting all those signs...