The Little League World Series is in full swing, and along with it the adultification of young boys of color. An annual international baseball tournament for ages 10 to 12, the LLWS has transcended youth sports to become one of…
America keeps mistaking Black children for threats
Cyrus Carmack-Belton. That was the name of the 14-year-old Black boy in South Carolina chased, shot and killed after being accused of stealing bottled water from a gas station store. A jury recently acquitted the store owner in his death….
Elton John, minister of music
I was mortified when my mother asked Glynn, a high school senior, to give me a ride home. Glynn had two sisters — Lynn, a freshman, and Flynn, a seventh grader like me. I never had spoken to any of…
A doorway to the sacred: Encountering God in the theater
In one of my oldest memories, my little hand is held firmly in my mother’s as we climb a long, wide staircase. We are dressed in our finest shoes and dresses, matching the elegance of the great chandeliers, plush carpeting…
spare your face the razor
*Author’s Note: For maximum poignancy, please listen to The Oh Hello’s The Truth is a Cave repeatedly whilst reading. You’ll thank me later. A few mornings ago, as I stood staring groggily into the poorly complected face stubbornly greeting me each…
Miss Jane
Officially, she had no children. Unofficially, she had scads of them. I don’t know of the children she shepherded as teacher and librarian. By the time I met her she was long retired. I know only of the countless children…