Faith is the essence of being. Everyone has faith. Whether theistic, pantheistic, or atheistic, everyone believes in something, and faith perspectives stack exponentially. I mean, we must have faith in not only the legitimacy of our faith, but also how each...
A legend lives no more. Tragically, Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter, and 7 other souls lost their lives in a horrific helicopter accident. The Mamba is gone! I'm not an L.A. Lakers fan, but there are no word to express how I feel about the passing of Kobe, how...
The United States of America, land of the free and home of the brave, often feels more like the land of the isolated and home of the cowardly tweet. We are more divided than at any point in my lifetime. It seems to be more than a mere lack of unity as an expression of...
Being incarcerated for any length of time can be a brutal, psychologically taxing experience. As of this writing, I am 40-years-old, and I have been incarcerated for 19 years, roughly 48% of my life. And while that may be eye-popping, it is important to remember that...
While certainly not as grossly unjust as it was prior to the 1980s, incarceration is still an incredibly dehumanizing experience, and given that people are incarcerated for years at a time, imprisonment in the United States often permanently scars a person to the...
In the movie Shawshank Redemption, one of the incarcerated characters, Red they called him, went before the parole board. He had been in prison for over 30 years at that point, and one of the members of the parole board asked him, "Do you think you have been...
It deeply saddens me that what has become institutionalized hypocrisy is rapidly leading to the erosion of civility and free speech in this country. Opposing views are rarely debated with substance and intellectual force. They are attacked with ritual humiliation and...
Human brokenness is a universal aspect of the human experience, right. I mean, we are all messed up a little. It's the common denominator that links us all and levels the playing field to a certain extent. There are countless variations, but we all feel it with great...
As of 2018, I have a little over eight years left before I go before the board of parole and potentially release back into the community. Although I'm admittedly a bit apprehensive, I do feel prepared. I've put in considerably effort improving myself not only...
These days people can be quick to tell you what's wrong with our society, and we all have canned solutions to almost every problem — just add water and simmer for 15 minutes... problem solved. I do it myself all the time. Give me a half-an-hour, and I can tell you how...