When the Hope College student body was sent home in March, it felt like the screws keeping me in place were suddenly bouncing on the floor. In some respects, I felt some semblance of relief. That quickly crumbled into a creative crisis. As a Type A person, I thrive on having schedules. I do not…
An interesting trend I noticed in the early days of COVID-19 life in America (March of 2020) was an emphasis on how to use your time. Some were preaching that “we should be using this time to be productive. [Insert author here] wrote their literary masterpiece in social isolation.” I was being told that this…
We were torn from each other like paper masks not knowing they launched us into new beginnings, black depth, how did we become so complex? Adorned with the same faces, hair types and skin, But our language, culture and traditions differ Even across continents we are connected like kin From countries we consider our mothers…
“I easily WIN the Presidency of the United States with LEGAL VOTES CAST. The OBSERVERS were not allowed, in any way, shape, or form, to do their job and therefore, votes accepted during this period must be determined to be ILLEGAL VOTES. U.S. Supreme Court should decide!” President Trump tweeted at 1:22 a.m. today. No…
On top of October being Disability Awareness Month, it is also Dysautonomia Awareness Month. Also, International Mastocytosis and Mast Cell Disease Day was this month. So October, at least for me, has a lot going on, and I encourage you to take a moment to look at various disease awareness events. But this article is…
And now that I have your attention, welcome to my TEDTalk. To be clear, I really did take the midnight train going anywhere. I didn’t like where it went, but that’s a different story. October is Disability Awareness month. If you talked to me five years ago, or two years ago, or maybe even a…
Earlier this semester, I had a professor ask me why I was still here. A little background—I have a rare disability that leads to a bunch of rare comorbidities. It was the first day of class, and I was doing what I usually do: letting my professors know that I am not a conventional student,…
In my life as a musician, I have three primary streams of income: composition, education and performance; most of what I do on a daily basis can be filed into one of those three cabinets. Usually, these things keep me very busy—sometimes to the tune of having performances every day. However, in mid-March, everything changed….
It is ironic that some of the loudest anti-immigrant voices originate from people who say they are Christians. If we listen to the words of Christ in Matthew 25:34-35, it’s clear the final judgment depends on how we treat others who need our help: “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come,…
As the only non-elected branch of our federal government, the Supreme Court usually gets a cursory glance during elections. The American political arena is dominated by the cult of personality. It makes perfect sense that politicians barely mention those stoic judges in black robes. Politicians are too busy screaming about tax cuts, gun control, abortion…