• Hands Stacked
    Essays,  General Thoughts

    #BlackLivesMatter

    My heart has been heavy for a while now. And my mind is still trying to come to terms with the fact that there is still systematic racism in America in 2020. It’s 20-freaking-20, not 1920, and it was just as wrong then as it is now. I just can’t fathom why anyone would think to judge someone based on the color of their skin. As a white, southern woman, I’ve grown up around racism. I went to an (almost) all-white high school. Our school district would occasionally have a student of Hispanic or Asian heritage, but I don’t recall any students who had black or African-American heritage during my…

  • General Thoughts,  Pop Culture

    Day 4: Countdown of my favorite love songs (love/hate)

    Welcome to day four of my ten-day series of Valentine’s Day-inspired blog posts. Yesterday, I wrote about my favorite songs for the brokenhearted. Today’s featured songs are about love/hate. You know? When you love and hate them and can’t seem to figure out why? Or when you hate them but still love them? I don’t think I’ve ever truly hated someone. I’ve said it and regretted it. What kid hasn’t uttered those words to a parent or sibling? I am a firm believer that you must have loved someone first to hate them. I don’t think the opposite of love is indifference; I think it’s hate. HATE: loathe, detest, despise,…

  • Essays,  General Thoughts

    September 11, 2001

    I can’t believe it’s been 15 years when the tragedy still feels like yesterday sometimes. September 11 has become the “Where were you?” story for a lot of people in my generation the way the assassination of JFK or the explosion of The Challenger became for other generations. I was in my junior year in college and among the last group of people to know what had happened that morning. I didn’t watch any TV or listen to the radio that morning as I got up and went to class. That wasn’t unusual for me. Classes were held like normal and a few people mentioned to the professors that classes should be…