Tag Archives: politics

FMM 9 12 2025 How Free is Free?

“America’s greatest contribution to the world is its concept of democracy, its concept of freedom, freedom of action, freedom of speech, and freedom of thought.” ~ Benazir Bhutto. Although I was old enough, I cannot say I remember where I was when Kennedy was killed.  Our family had just moved to Jamaica, and I imagine […]

FMM 3 14 2025 Holding Space

“… everything on earth can be eliminated under the right conditions.” ~ Louise Erdrich. Some years ago I had an experience which proved invaluable in the classroom: I witnessed a man experiencing the sudden onset of a stroke.  We were at a fundraising dance together, he had gone to buy us a drink each, and […]

FMM 11 22 2024 No Time for Tears

“They don’t want to see us uniteAll they want us to do is keep on fussing and fighting.” ~ Robert Nesta Marley. More than 25 years ago, a very close friend of my husband was murdered.  In cold blood, in his driveway one morning.  He (the friend) had been involved with some unsavory characters and […]

FMM 11 15 2024 The ‘W’ Word

“The reason why the world lacks unity, and lies broken and in heaps, is, because man is disunited with himself.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson. For those who don’t know me, I had a uniquely educational childhood. The youngest daughter of a minister who moved his white family from the UK to the heart of rural […]

FMM 11 8 2024 Our Better Angels

“The rose and the thorn, and sorrow and gladness are linked together.”~  Saadi. I have no memory of this, but when I was quite young (our family was still living in England at the time), I stood in front of our black and white television and yelled: “Stop talking about Mr. McMillan!”  He was the […]

FMM 11 1 2024 Think for Yourself!

“It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences.” ~ Audre Lorde. Like many children, I grew up seeing the world through the lens of my parents’ eyes – in particular my father.  He had a way of making observations that helped you to see […]

FMM 10 25 2024 Sacred Footprints

“Ya running and ya running,But ya can’t run away from yourself.” ~ Robert Nesta Marley. It is hard to imagine now, but there was a time when photographs were scarce commodities.  Cameras were not ubiquitous.  Film was expensive, and you wouldn’t know until it was developed how the photos would turn out.  My mother once […]

FMM 10 18 2024 Showdown!

“I learned a long time ago the wisest thing I can do is be on my own side, be an advocate for myself and others like me.” ~ Maya Angelou. One night this week I awoke from a dream that had a very clear message, so clear that I immediately texted myself (my method of […]

FMM 9 27 2024 How Very Dare You?

‘Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see a shadow.’ ~ Helen Keller. When my children were little, their altered understanding of common phrases or things became our name for them.  The Hard Rock Stadium was erected a short distance from our home, and in its first naming was the Joe Robbie Stadium.  […]

FMM 9 20 2024 Sticks and Stones

“My fellow Americans, we are and always will be a nation of immigrants. We were strangers once, too.” ~ Barack Obama. I have spent more than 85% of my life living in a land that was not the land of my birth.  Thus, as I recently posted on social media, I identify as Immigrant.  My […]