I wake up at 4:20 a.m. Unable to get back to sleep, I brush my teeth, make a cup of coffee, and curl up in a rocking chair in the living room. My cat sits nearby. Christmas tree lights illuminate the dark room with a warm glow. The day before, I attended my kids’ Christmas…
You’re all I can think of, every drop I drink upYou’re my soda pop, my little soda pop While the city around me is subject to an immigration enforcement blitz and threatened with military occupation, I can’t help but smile as five little girls in tights and leotards — my daughter among them — belt…
I was a few hours from home, towards the end of an eight-hour drive from visiting family in Nebraska. It was dark and my three kids were asleep. I needed something engaging to keep me going. A few weeks earlier, I had put on my playlist the audiobook version of a few different parenting books,…
Keep your windows rolled up, we were told. Don’t leave a wallet or purse out in sight. Being confronted with race is uncomfortable for white people. I’ve felt that discomfort. One of my earliest recollections of it was when our all-white rural Nebraska high school football team played against a team from North Omaha, a…
“One word.” It’s a newer trend to ring in a new year foregoing the traditional New Year’s resolution. Instead, you opt for a word or phrase that sets your intention for the coming year. Adventure, Inner Peace, Joy. You get the idea. It’s an alternative with some real benefits. Magellan Health says a focus word,…
I grew up Catholic, but the Catholicism of my childhood looks very different from the one I embrace now — especially when it comes to politics. Impassioned political discussion used to be commonplace at my parents’ kitchen table. Debates around crop subsidies, subsistence agriculture, and international trade agreements were hot topics as I questioned the…
I stand at the back of a darkened room as another group of visiting students watch a video interview of my dear friend Anita, a Black woman in her fifties and the matriarch of four generations. I have heard her words many times before, but each time they hit me differently. She describes standing by…
The Sunday Mass experience at my home parish is unusual. Before walking through the front doors to encounter the smiling faces of our greeters, we are met by a loyal handful of protestors who line the sidewalk and carry posters bearing accusations towards the parish of stealing, lying, and sacrilege regarding the closing and attempted…
I remember once when I was younger, our parish priest returned from a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and brought olive wood rosaries for all the students in my Catholic grade school. I enjoyed holding that rosary in my hands and breathing in its earthy smell. It reminded me of my grandpa’s shop where he…
Through the work of prison ministry, I read letter after letter from men in prison who describe encounters with the devil and evil spirits, haunting and taunting them. Behind the walls of prisons, demons are something known and feared. These men have been made out to be enemies of the state, bearers of evil that…
Having slid in a few minutes late, I sat in the last row of the courtroom. I had only been in a courtroom one other time since my husband’s immigration court appearance. Neither were particularly positive experiences. Court proceedings are dry, confusing and surreal. Jargon and formalities make it feel like a scene in a…
I live in a neighborhood filled with vibrant, Mexican art and murals. Some of my favorites are mosaics. I love admiring a cohesive image from afar, then drawing close and realizing how many different shades and colors are really there. From close up, it can be hard to imagine how these little shapes could possibly…
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