Category Archives: Authors

Authors A-H, Education, Race & Ethnicity

Diversity and Speech Part 22: The Critical Race Theory Donnybrook – by Carlos E. Cortés

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A year ago, who would have predicted that Critical Race Theory (CRT) would have become a 2021 national buzz word?  A buzz word for those attacking it.  A buzz word for those defending it.    Probably with relatively few of those attackers and defenders actually having read much of it.

I have, but it’s not easy going.  Lots of ideas.  Lots of jargon.  Lots of obscurantist legal analysis.  But if you stick with it, CRT can be very thought-provoking.

CRT is based on a simple premise: the law is not neutral.  As a result, institutions and systems that arise from the law will not be neutral.   When Mark Twain asked a friend to explain his position on a controversial issue, the friend answered, “I’m neutral.”  To which Twain responded, “Then whom are you neutral against?”

Continue reading Diversity and Speech Part 22: The Critical Race Theory Donnybrook – by Carlos E. Cortés →

Authors A-H, Poetry 2021

The Awakening by Anna Cates

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The Awakening

Night descends.
Shadows flit through the forest. In the middle of a clearing, a campfire crackles and fizzes with sparks.
A Nazi, in uniform, roasts a strangely-shaped flank over flame. Slowly, he cranks the handle.
Jews hunch like gargoyles in the gloom beneath the trees. They chortle gutturally, riveted.
The Nazi turns to address them. “This is what German men do with their women.”
Approvingly, the Jews chuckle, dazzled at the display.
The handle keeps creaking . . .

dawn
a psychiatric patient
rubs his eyes
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Editor’s Notes: This is a variation of the Haibun, which typically is a piece of prose followed by a related Haiku. Robert Lee Brewer in The Writer’s Digest describes the Haibun (a Japanese form popularized by Matsuo Basho) as a combination of a prose poem and one Haiku, which communicate with each other. The prose poem usually describes a scene or moment in an objective manner. In “The Awakening,” the four single lines can be thought of as four one-line paragraphs or can be thought of as lineations, in which case I would consider it a subverted form. I admire subverted forms.

Image credit: Distorted faces (depositphotos.com) are combined with a swastika (applicants.com)

Authors A-H, Poetry 2021

mechanics by Jennifer L. Collins

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mechanics

As if you’ve been given a how-to guide,
I come apart.
My breath lost to your eyes,
my hands held at my sides by your words,
my control lost in your kiss—
desire takes apart the bits of restraint
that have reminded me in the past
to be myself, apart from others,
and imagines me forward into a love
I’ve been given no map for.

Continue reading mechanics by Jennifer L. Collins →

Academic Articles, Authors A-H

Religion, Relationships and Generational Trends – by Dr. William Hicks

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A Christian Case Study

The problems and trends facing society are complex: moral turpitude and decay; increased crime; the deterioration and demise of the family; despair, loss of purpose and insidious incompetence among our young; economic irresponsibility and the disappearance of personal and corporate integrity. These problems are essentially spiritual problems and relational in their essence. Systemic solutions related to the welfare system, economic system, and criminal justice system merely the symptoms of the problems. It is logical that spiritual approaches to these problems are the most effective means to ameliorate them and their negative and all-too-often tragic consequences.

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Academic Articles, Authors A-H, Authors I-Q

Making Healing a Priority – by Drs. Temika Edwards and Cynthia R. Jackson

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Abstract

An outlier incident has crushed the economy, hurled masses into unemployment, closed schools, and forced isolation. The global pandemic has generated a health crisis tsunami of suffering, anxiety, depression, and addiction, which is why our inner and outer healing must be a priority for overall health and well-being. Authors Edwards and Jackson view inner and outer health as the wholeness required to adapt to an ever-changing environment. They explain the differences and connections between inner and outer health, as well as the importance of altering one’s environment to secure the essence of inner peace and be an extension of one’s own perceptual systems when their own are compromised. Spoken from lived experience and research, Drs. Edwards and Jackson describe the impact to a person’s well-being when inner and outer health are not in harmony and discuss the fortitude that it takes to focus on one’s own healing – not the healing solutions chosen by someone else. Focusing and committing to inner and outer healing positively can affect one’s personal and professional lives and the communities around them if prioritized.

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Authors A-H, Poetry 2021

9 to 5 by Monica Garcia

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9 to 5

I ate an apple fritter once
A honeysuckle whisper
Glazed each hair within my ear
And told me to look from the screen

I sat by a window
Happy and soft
A dimple tugged shyly at my cheek
A coat of sugar crowned my teeth

Then the clock, upon the ninth hour
Ticked and tousled its morning hymn
I swallowed in shame, a begging whisper
And closed the drapes another day.

I sipped warm tea with lemon once
A cumin seed powered a song
And stretched the deepest baritone
To juice my piercing bones.

A lime drop rested on my tongue
And drowned the cracking skin
And dared to dress behind a hum
The scarring screams within

Then the half-hour struck,
And coughing up, upon a pulp
My bare feet plead again
Not to walk on that burning dessert

Of golden sand
And golden coins

Once I ate an apple from a tree
And upon the fifth hour
My teeth ripped from my skin
And my blood drenched
the yearning soil
And the tree stretched high

And its green leaves flapped away
Sighting whispers
On green-driven eyes

And I sat with a half-eaten apple
And with blood-stained soil
And browning leaves,
To rest and mourn.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Image credit: Desert abstract (vecteezy.com)

Authors A-H, Authors R-Z, Of Women, Social Issues, Wellness

Arts in Health Inspire Women – by Nicole Brown and Chyela Rowe

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Arts in Health Program

Why create an Arts in Health program for Mother’s Day? According to the CDC, women caregivers have a greater risk for poor physical and mental health, including depression and anxiety. Mothers have held such heavy weights this last year: from grieving losses to taking on more responsibilities such as managing work from home, additional hours for childcare, homeschooling, at-home nursing, coaching, offering tech support and much more. The presence of art and music in healthcare enhances the overall experience. It allows us to remove ourselves from whatever we’re battling to be motivated and inspired. 

Diverse partners joined together in Chattanooga, Tennessee, to inspire and support women and female artists for Mother’s Day and, most importantly, promote health and well-being through the Arts. The program included artwork by Alex Paul Loza, music by Shane Morrow and a presentation of new work from poet Erika Roberts in partnership with multiple organizations that will resonate with communities across the country.

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Authors A-H, Social Issues

Diversity and Speech Part 21: Predicting the Future of Cultural Expression – by Carlos E. Cortés

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Historians devote their lives to predicting the past.  So when called upon to predict the future of cultural expression, as the editor did for this issue, I had to distance myself from my disciplinary comfort zone.

Not for the first time.  Two decades ago I had to do this when completing  my book, The Children Are Watching: How the Media Teach about Diversity (Teachers College Press, 2000).  In that book I focused on the traditional mass media: magazines; newspapers; film; television; and radio.  It was the first book (and maybe still only) to examine how the media have treated the theme of diversity, not the depiction of specific diverse groups.  In other words, how have media provided an informal public multicultural education, for better and for worse?

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Authors A-H, Teams & Leaders

DEI in the Boardroom – by Dr. Deborah P. Ashton

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Equity Impacts Corporate Decisions

Why have diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) expertise in the Boardroom? Look at the controversy swirling around the Georgia’s voting law–the backlash, the boycott, and the backlash to the boycott. Georgia’s most vulnerable citizens lose from both the law and the boycott. I contend that if there had been DEI experts on the boards of the major corporations that traditionally lobbied in Georgia, this may have been averted. Corporations could have predicted how the passage and signing of the bill into law may have impacted their brand. While the bill was being crafted social justice concerns could have been addressed, along with concerns regarding voting integrity. When you are driving you slow down before you come to the hairpin curve rather than trying to correct for it afterward. I have always contended that we should resolve a problem before it begins.

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