The Red Stripe in Nashville
I live on a red stripe dividing poverty and fame in Nashville, Tennessee. My bedroom window frames an intricately twisted metal mass resembling a power…
Company of Contradictions
America has an obsession with Walmart. At Walmart, your dollar has 10-15% more value than at the local neighborhood discount chains and corporate supermarkets. Walmart…
Cell Mates
I’m still surprised by the cell phone invasion into United States culture—the same way I am surprised by pickled pork rinds or couples making out…
Losing Our Religion
What I call the “Matrix phenomenon” is something I wanted to believe in and tried to understand. For a split second, this phenomenon allowed me…
Beyond Catholic Guilt
It took me by surprise when my two very successful cousins, who both recently graduated from law school, said to me, “You’re going to have…
My Adorable Community
I know that my mother suffered terribly from postpartum depression after giving birth to my brother Franz and me, yet she and my father weren’t…
The Equalizer
My Iraqi friend, Ali, says that before the first Gulf War, Iraq didn’t have any homeless people. The rich took care of the poor and…
Time for the Intangibles
No one’s in the kitchen with Martha “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things,” said Jesus (Luke 10:38-42) after a productive Martha…
The End of the Day
Luke has appointed himself as my evening ride lookout. In the mornings, I ride the bus to work at the Campus for Human Development, but…
God of the Streets
There is a God on the streets. And a faith more genuine than the one we perceive the crazy street evangelists to be talking about.…
