This poem, that I wrote more than a decade ago, inspired by the brief stumble of a gifted guitarist, seems relevant today as we strive to regain harmony. As the poem suggests, isn’t it the misplayed note that awakens and rededicates us to finding our way back to our song, back to the harmony intended […]

Matt Stevens, Director of “Somebody Cares, Baltimore,” stood on the front steps of Grace Beyond the Walls at 2214 E. Oliver Street in East Baltimore. We had just left the tiny storefront church, two seats flanking a narrow aisle about the size of an airplane’s center corridor, and as long as a large living room, […]

Knowing how hard it is to keep our legs under us doing this tough work, I included a chapter called “Glossary of the Walk: The Words that Keep Us on the Path” in my recent book Policy Walking: Lighting Paths to Safer Communities, Stronger Families and Thriving Youth. Well, the chapter is incomplete. It should […]

Behind a remarkable resolution passed by the Santa Rosa City Council on Tuesday, Feb. 2, behind the “Whereas” and the five “Resolved’s,” lies a story – a story unique to a single person whom I know and so respect, and at the same time a story that belongs to millions of Americans.  It is “a” story.  […]