Oak Park, Illinois, the community where I live, recently initiated a campaign called “Make REAL Change, Not Spare Change”. The “spare change” they refer to here is giving donations directly to people who are panhandling or soliciting on the street, whereas the “REAL change” is giving money indirectly to local nonprofit organizations to then support…
The national turmoil about antisemitism and Israel’s attacks on Gaza has come home to Oak Park in a series of recent events. At the end of the OPRF school board campaign, the Democratic Socialists of America handed out a flyer calling one of the candidates, Nate Mellman, an “Israel-first Zionist fanatic,” said he is “an…
Last Saturday, I joined 30,000 people in Chicago’s Loop and 5 million across the country protesting the Trump administration’s policies and actions. We decried the administration’s deportation of immigrants, targeting of students for their free speech, gutting of federal programs including education and health, persecution of transgender youth, and so many other harms. It was…
If I boy screams in the forest and there’s no one there to hear it, does it make a difference? What if the boy screams and one person is close but they pretend they didn’t notice? What if a hundred thousand boys, girls, children, people howl in anguish but the rest of us ignore their…
It is natural for us as humans to seek security. We are motivated to find every opportunity for ourselves and our families to be safe. When we encounter difference, we are primed to see that difference as a threat to our security, and we react accordingly. Immigrants are, by definition, different. They have come to…
I stilled my nerves to sleep on and off through the night, but the third time I woke up, I thought I saw sunlight creeping in under the window shade. “Maybe it’s morning,” I thought, checking my bedside clock and seeing 5:40am. “I can’t wait any longer,” I decided, climbing out of bed and stumbling…
November 5 approaches. Everyone knows this date – the marker for our nation to decide between Harris and Trump. In reality, we may not know the results of the vote for days or weeks after that, but the importance of the day is seared into our minds. Still, I am concerned that our focus on…
The dictionary defines hope as “desire accompanied by expectation of or belief in fulfillment”. This common definition evokes the idea of gratification, happiness, our dreams coming true. It describes wanting something and thinking that what we want will magically appear. It is high on waiting for others to act and low on taking action oneself.…
This summer, my family and I visited friends who live in northwestern Illinois for a weekend of swimming, roasting marshmallows, and looking up at the stars. One afternoon, our hosts invited us to attend the local County Fair – rides, games, and tasty treats were on offer, so we said yes. We drove over country…
It was 1pm and we were scheduled for a 1:20 tour of Independence Hall. We had just gotten off the bus and were meandering a couple blocks down a Philadelphia street before getting in line. The temperature and humidity were conducive to meandering – I could feel the sweat gathering on my back while a…
Entwining 