America’s Guinea Pigs
Medical Apartheid is the inequity of health care based on racial classification. Unfortunately, the United States has a history of this practice. When we normalize inequality and the denial of human rights, we gravitate toward our lowest common denominator as … Continue reading America’s Guinea Pigs
The Sharing Circles of Health Equity: The Louisiana Prison System
Louisiana is one of the states with the highest incarceration rates, with a total of 28,387 incarcerations (Department of Public Safety and Corrections, 2020). African Americans make up the highest percentage rates of individuals being incarcerated, followed by Caucasian Americans … Continue reading The Sharing Circles of Health Equity: The Louisiana Prison System
See Thy Neighbor: A Healthy Civic Circle
In the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the word “circle” has about nine different definitions. This illustrates how a circle can mean many things in various contexts. However, one particular definition stands out: “a group of persons sharing a common interest or revolving … Continue reading See Thy Neighbor: A Healthy Civic Circle
Descendants of U.S. Chattel Slaves Exempt from Unfriendly Laws, Secrets of 2023 Supreme Court Decison Provides Protection for the Historically Vulnerable
And Other Secrets the White House Doesn’t Want You to Know And Reasons Why Immigrants Won’t Share Your Rights With You Before gathering around the Thanksgiving table let’s pay homage to the First people of this beautiful nation, the pre-colonial … Continue reading Descendants of U.S. Chattel Slaves Exempt from Unfriendly Laws, Secrets of 2023 Supreme Court Decison Provides Protection for the Historically Vulnerable
Unmasking The Trauma Of Mental Healthcare
Over 50% of prisoners have been diagnosed with either bipolar disorder or schizophrenia. It is obvious to me that the greater good is better served by helping the vulnerable become stronger and the ill become healthy. My son is one of those people who ended up in the system because of trauma-triggered mental illness and lack of appropriate, timely intervention by medical staff who should have seen the signs of addiction. Continue reading Unmasking The Trauma Of Mental Healthcare
Does America Have Capacity for the Enduring Qualities of Change?
Change. That word—three syllables that shake the bones of a nation built on sandcastles, fragile and crumbling under the weight of its own contradictions. Does America have the capacity to endure the tremors that come with shifting toward justice, toward … Continue reading Does America Have Capacity for the Enduring Qualities of Change?
Resting Upon Fallen Leaves
Does America Have the Capacity for the Enduring Qualities of Change? Let’s take a moment to ponder. They gazed into the heavens, and at first shine, they glowed, and they blazed in the brilliance of the color spectrum of magnificence. … Continue reading Resting Upon Fallen Leaves
Attending to the Past, Dreaming of the Future
Change is hard for many people, both individually and collectively. As a pastor, one of my roles is to help people amid significant life changes: weddings, funerals, illnesses, and job changes, to name a few. People look to the church … Continue reading Attending to the Past, Dreaming of the Future
Kýrie
I was raised in a Norwegian Lutheran tradition in the rural Midwest. The “Kýrie” is an important prayer in Christian liturgy. Like a prairie fire, Kýrie disrupts and awakens. With song like a prairie, Kýrie is a call for healing … Continue reading Kýrie
Three-Fifths 