There are so many questions that have come to me after my parents and their generation have crossed over, especially questions about their parents and grandparents. I wish I'd thought of those questions when I had the opportunity to ask. Now during the holiday season, you might have a chance to ask some of these … Continue reading What I wish I had asked my relatives while they were alive: 4 types of questions
Memoir
Considering My Own Racism: The time I opposed an MLK holiday
Since I started this blog series over a year ago, I've been much more aware of my thoughts and actions regarding race. And with that awareness more memories are popping up. When I was reading Michelle Obama's memoir Becoming, one of her experiences reminded me of a time when I spoke from a racist perspective … Continue reading Considering My Own Racism: The time I opposed an MLK holiday
Considering My Own Racism: My community’s history regarding slavery
I never wondered who these enslaved people were and what their lives were like. They were just a part of the church and community history, like the fingerprints in the church bricks.
Considering My Own Racism: The biggest lesson I learned from some of my high school students
This is the day we honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. here in the United States, so it seems an appropriate time for me to get back to my racism series. I taught at a new high school in Year Five of my 23-year high school teaching career. This school was a consolidation of two … Continue reading Considering My Own Racism: The biggest lesson I learned from some of my high school students
Floating to find a word for my new decade
Many of you know that each year around January 1st I choose a word for my year. I was inspired by the Abbey of the Arts and the process suggested here. A former student who has made it a practice to choose a word for her year in January asked via Facebook message if I … Continue reading Floating to find a word for my new decade
At 60: Six things I’d tell my younger self
This week my life's clock will tick into a new decade. I'll be 60. No longer can I try to claim that I'm "middle aged." I'm obviously much closer to the end than the middle. So what have I learned in these 60 years? What would I tell my younger self to help make her … Continue reading At 60: Six things I’d tell my younger self
Considering My Own Racism: My beginning years as a high school teacher
I left law in the summer of 1985 to become a high school English teacher. When people would ask where I was going to teach, I told them, "Rossville High." More than once I received the reply, "They have a lot of blacks there." The way that comment was delivered was a kind of judgment … Continue reading Considering My Own Racism: My beginning years as a high school teacher
Considering My Own Racism: My Law Years
I'm continuing my chronological look at the racism in my past thoughts and reactions - and I now have arrived at my law school and assistant district attorney years. That was only five years for me. Three in law school, and two as an assistant D.A. I discovered that law just did not suit my … Continue reading Considering My Own Racism: My Law Years
Considering My Own Racism: My College Years
I don't remember very much having to do with race during my college time, and those few memories are from my freshman and sophomore years. My last two years were almost completely "white." I attended Georgia College (now Georgia College and State University) from fall of 1976 through spring of 1980. Of the predominately white … Continue reading Considering My Own Racism: My College Years
Considering My Own Racism: My High School Years
As I continue the series of blog posts in which I explore my racism, I'm focusing on my high school years. I don't have a lot of actual high school memories that touch on race. The first has to do with riding the bus to school. My guess is that this was during ninth or … Continue reading Considering My Own Racism: My High School Years
eddies and currents 