The Way We Are Made: On Courage and Becoming Real

I've thought a lot about bravery and courage the past few days.  While those words were my constant companions for a long while, I no longer feel the same constant drive to live into them - mostly, I think, because I don't feel fear biting and gnawing and whispering quite so often anymore. This weekend,...

On Faith: Hitting the Light

Last week, I attended a retreat - "Courage to Lead for Young Leaders and Activists" - with Parker Palmer and his organization, "Center for Courage and Renewal." I feel this desire -- and something of a pressure -- to write about it. People keep asking me, "how was your trip?," "how was the retreat?," "what...

Name This

Name This I have always been precise in my naming. I want the just-right word at the just-right time: I wield the power of my wording like a weapon. Verbing nouns, changing phrases to make them new and surprising, I move to the matters of soul heart-clenchingly quickly-- hold on, y'all. This is how things...

Revolutionary Love

This week, I've been thinking about revolutionary love. The first time I remember hearing a call to revolutionary love, I was 18 and I was volunteering at an after-school program in Baltimore City. The school consisted of 97% black students, and it was falling down. There was lead in the pipes. The paint was chipping...