Does This Photo Make You Feel Nostalgic? Screenshot of U.S. Dept. of ED post taken by the author. An old looking photograph . A classroom full of children standing at their desks, hands over their hearts, facing the American flag. All white children. A classroom that looked like it was lifted straight from 1959 — because it was. And across it, in bold white letters: “Make Education Great Again.” This was an official post from the U.S. Department of Education. I wasn't surpri

Or anywhere, really. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents patrol Louis Armstrong International Airport in Kenner, La., Monday, March 23, 2026. (David Grunfeld/The New Orleans Advocate via AP) They stopped him before he even made it through the jetway.  Our plane had just landed. I was walking toward the terminal, almost there, when I turned around and realized my partner wasn’t behind me. I doubled back — and found him. Standing completely still, two white se

And That's Just One Reason Why the SAVE Act Scares Me. Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash Can I tell you about my February? Because I think it says a lot about why I keep writing about the SAVE Act. I've gotten a lot of responses to my last two posts about the SAVE Act. Some thoughtful. Some frustrated. A few that were, honestly, a little condescending. But here's what I noticed in almost all of them — people were speaking from their own experience. And they genuinely seemed to

I need you to hear me on this one. Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash Not as a political argument. As a person you know. As someone telling you plainly and honestly: if you support the SAVE Act, you are making it harder for me to vote. For my spouse to vote. For people we both know and love to vote. And the problem this bill claims to solve? The data shows it barely exists. You're helping make voting less free and less fair — and I don't think that's what you actually want. Plea

You know those moments when you’re out with a good friend and, for a little while, the world feels lighter? That was us that day. Just browsing, laughing, talking easily. The kind of conversation that fills you up instead of draining you. For a moment, the heaviness so many of us are carrying felt far away. And then — there it was again. She approached us — two white women — slowly. A sweet-looking older white lady. Warm smile. She complimented us, said she’d been watching fr

Can we sit with this for a minute? Photo by Phil Hearing on Unsplash I know people who support the SAVE Act. They care about elections in the U.S. They want things to feel fair and secure. That makes sense. Wanting secure elections isn’t extreme. It sounds responsible. So let’s take that concern seriously. The SAVE Act would require people to show documentary proof of citizenship — like a passport or certified birth certificate — in order to register to vote in federal elect

“Don’t be a tool.” Photo by James Orr on Unsplash I heard that a lot growing up. Maybe you did too. It usually meant something like, don’t be annoying  or don’t ruin the fun . Sometimes it was said to someone who seemed entitled — someone acting like they thought were better than everyone else. I don’t hear the phrase much anymore. But I think about it often. Because now, when I hear the word tool , I think of Audre Lorde’s words: “The master’s tools will never dismantle the

Understanding Our Connections I’ve been thinking a lot about how close so many of us are to things we still refuse to see. We’ve shared meals. We’ve sat on each other’s couches. We’ve celebrated birthdays, graduations, and weddings—so many markers of life together. We say we care about one another, and I believe many of us mean it. Yet, there are realities shaping my daily life—and the daily lives of many people who aren’t white, or who love people who aren’t white—that I don

At the start of a new year, I notice my questions shifting. Photo by Buddha Elemental 3D on Unsplash They’re less about what I want to accomplish and more about what I’m already part of — sometimes without choosing, and often without fully seeing it. Less about fixing myself alone. More about how we’re living together, and what our ordinary, everyday lives are helping to create. One question keeps returning — even when I try to set it down: What do division, violence, and “s