A California Cajun Returns to the Bayou
I’m away from my San Diego home, visiting Louisiana right now, crashing in a friend’s New Orleans guest house. It’s the tail end of…
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Tina & Me | Memories of the Great Tina Turner from Linda “Peaches” Tavani
At the time our paths crossed, Tina was under new management and offered to help me reach my goals in any way she could. She was so supportive, she invited me to come to France and stay with her, offering me a place to formulate my path forward. Her generosity to this day overwhelms me.
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Documentary Review | Becoming Frederick Douglass
If you are looking for a helpful primer on the life of Frederick Douglass or a way to further educate yourself during Black History Month, Becoming Frederick Douglass is an excellent place to start.
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Living Local | Pasadena: 41 Years of Celebration with the Black History Parade
Pasadena’s Black History Parade is the longest running Black history parade in the Southern California area. Established in 1982 as a family-friendly festival with the purpose of bringing together and celebrating the Black community in the Pasadena area, this year marked the parades 41st year.
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Dr. Angela Davis | How The YWCA Saved Her Mother’s Life
In a timely and inspirational message, Dr. Angela Davis said that the work that her mother did, and so many others, especially women, and also including white women – is work has never been lifted up, until now.
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Book Review | White Swan and the Heavenly Lake
In White Swan and the Heavenly Lake, first-time novelist Kim Aasland has crafted her own take on the swan princess myth and its connection…
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Juneteenth Celebration | Leimert Park, Los Angeles, CA
The Leimert Park Juneteenth celebration is essentially a large family reunion to bring the Black community of LA together. It is designed to give back to Black owned businesses within the south Los Angeles area exposure, and to create awareness of the Black creative community in Leimert Park.
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Essay & Lament | Boarding Schools – Weaponized for Cultural & Religious Indoctrination
Before we spend the effort to understand the situation in China, it is vital for us, as people of good will in the United States, as well as in Canada, to examine our own history with Native American boarding schools.
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Book Review | All the President’s Men: Democracy in the Balance
Fifty years ago in 1972, two young journalists, Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward began following the leads of a small story regarding a break-in at an office building in Washington DC.
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Book Review | The Celtic Way of Prayer by Esther de Waal
The Celtic Way of Prayer is a treasured echo from the last millennium speaking across the decades through author and scholar Esther De Waal. Now in her 90s, de Waal wrote this classic while
living in the borderlands of the Welsh countryside, and as a primer for those curious about the Celtic way.
Series | Social Justice Tourism – Take Me Home, Country Roads
This was in May of 2020. The world was only about less than four months into the COVID-19 pandemic.
Even for a family of four with just enough space in our home and a reasonably sized backyard…
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Pasadena, CA | A Tale of Two Runners, 2022
The year was 1859 and Charles Dickens was writing about the French Revolution…
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,” wrote Charles Dickens at the beginning of his seminal book A Tale of Two Cities.