I lived my entire life alone. It was always me and them. I found a woman and “I” became “we,” and thus it was us and them. It was much the same when we had children. There was us and there was everything else. We...
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I wish people understood a little bit more about what it meant to be adopted, what it means to be adopted. Ben  (Adoptionbeat.org Adoptees Gallery ) CNN’s picture essay (John McCain Memorial pictures on CNN) on Senator McCain’s funeral shows his wife and grown children...
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Above the din of disturbing news – that discordant banging you’re hearing, steadily getting louder and louder, that you can no longer ignore – that’s the drumbeat of the unfree. Dehumanized by the labels “prisoner,” “inmate,” and “convict,” even reduced to serial numbers like Victor...
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There was a time when I avoided all manner of politics and current events from the professional chattering classes. And today, I wake up and find out that Paul Manafort has been found guilty of numerous crimes. On top of that, President Trump’s attorney, Michael...
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Think of Donald Trump’s personal qualities, the bullying, the greed, the showing off, the misogyny, the absurd third-grade theatrics. We have long referred to him as ‘The Donald.’ He is the only person in America to whom we have added an article before his name....
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How I learned Jesus loved kids Every summer, my mom would sign us up for vacation bible school (VBS) programs at a local church so we could experience Jesus. The summer I was seven, my sister and I attended VBS at an all-white church located...
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The aroma is not pleasant when you’re sitting between two boys and a dog. But, for some reason, my mother thought my younger brothers wouldn’t fight if I was in the middle. For two summers in the mid-1960s, my family traveled across the country pulling...
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When I moved to Davis after 5th grade, I didn’t have any friends. My parents were twice divorced and I was an overweight “outsider.” I was the target of jokes and insults on more than one occasion. Physical bullying was minor, but did occur. Davis...
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