Our society teaches us to seek out “experts”— to fix our cars, heal our bodies, manage our relationships, resolve our conflicts. You’d think we can’t do much for ourselves. We’ve created a “nation of clients.” Remember the commercial that shows a big-bellied man sitting at the lunch counter with massive indigestion? The message of the […]
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Protect our children
Monday, June 16, 2008My audacious idea is that we all commit to protecting and nurturing our children. Protecting our children requires responsible parenting. It is unacceptable that any child lives in a home where he or she is not wanted and cared for. It is up to us as a community to show all children that they have […]
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Eliminate the concept of fatherless in our communities
Monday, June 09, 2008Just the other day I received an email from a young man whom I worked closely with while I was directing a Beacon School in the heart of Harlem during the early 1990’s. Victor was writing to invite me to a book signing for Bandana Republic, an anthology of poetry and prose by gang members […]
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Stopping the war on drugs
Monday, June 02, 2008More than two decades ago, the rush to enact federal mandatory minimum drug sentences was driven in part by the drug-related death of University of Maryland student Len Bias who had been a first round NBA draft pick of the Boston Celtics and was thought to have died from an overdose of crack cocaine. At […]
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Rethinking the school day
Monday, May 19, 2008Baltimore is a playful, vibrant place. You need go no further than the parking lot of M&T Bank Stadium to watch adults chasing each other around, football in hand, before and after a Ravens game. If you stroll through Federal Hill, Patterson Park or Canton on any given evening, you will almost certainly run into […]
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It’s a right, not a privilege
Monday, May 12, 2008Last week I participated in a discussion about the Supreme Court’s decision in Crawford v. Marion County Election Board with Ron Christie, a former special assistant to George W. Bush. In that case, the Supreme Court upheld, 6-3, Indiana’s voter I.D. law. The venue was NPR’s News & Notes, a public affairs program hosted by […]
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Everyday heroes
Monday, May 05, 2008Note: In honor of National Foster Care Month this May, Shantel Randolph, this week’s blogger and 2007 Baltimore Community Fellow, is organizing a picnic for more than 200 foster care youth in the Baltimore area. To read more about her May 10 event, click here. Youth in the foster care system live in a world […]
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What do Baltimore’s children & youth need to succeed? Let’s ask them
Monday, April 28, 2008I have practiced civil rights law for twelve years and have had the pleasure of traveling to cities across this country to work with youth, particularly African-American and Latino youth, who wanted to improve services provided by public schools and juvenile justice systems. When I think about some of the youth I have met, I […]
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Joy: a radical solution for schools
Monday, April 21, 2008Ask any creator…an architect, sculptor, writer, carpenter, choreographer, composer or designer. Sometimes you just have to stop and start all over again. They say it is ‘insanity’ to continue doing the same things and yet keep expecting different results. Sometimes you have to detach, throw out and then re-create. This is the formula I suggest […]
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Happiness is Baltimore’s Sunday Streets
Monday, April 14, 2008Two years ago, my wife and I got to know an amazing 12 year old girl as a summer host family through www.Kidsave.org . When we traveled to Bogota, Colombia to complete her adoption, people told us not to miss Ciclovia. Every Sunday from 7 am-2 pm, over 90 miles of roads are ‘opened’ to […]
