spite

This tag is associated with 17 posts

The Repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell

By Terry Hoffman-Vincevineus ⋅ January 3, 2011 ⋅ 3 comments

Within the past few weeks, our country has seen the repeal of “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” (DADT). The policy was introduced as a compromise measure by former president Clinton who campaigned on the promise to allow all citizens to serve in the military regardless of sexual orientation. Despite good intentions, DADT effectively became a blatant [...]

Choose Joy to the World

By Beverly Kipp ⋅ December 23, 2010 ⋅ 3 comments

I was raised a Christian and I have continued to practice and study and live my life as a Christian all sixty of my years. I am a Christian because I want to be and in reading Angie’s email, I realized, for the first time, that I am a Christian because I choose it daily. I marveled that she sees that in me. The choosing, I mean.

Can Christmas Coexist?

By Terry Hoffman-Vincevineus ⋅ December 20, 2010 ⋅ One comment

Happy Holidays to All: As I toured the Miller Brewing company in Milwaukee with in-laws, we enjoyed a light show synchronized with music. My 2 year-old niece pointed, laughed, and smiled, with a look of excitement accentuated by holiday lights reflected in her blue eyes. After the show, one of the tour guides proclaimed over [...]

Working a Different Side of the Streets

By LAH ⋅ December 13, 2010 ⋅ One comment

At night, Rangel hits the streets on his own, sometimes to find a particular child, but just as often to cruise rougher parts of town, checking on kids he knows and making himself available to anyone needing help. During the day, he steps into classrooms to deliver life lessons.

There's Everything Right About Being Unique

By Berni Xiong ⋅ July 18, 2010 ⋅ 5 comments

THERE’S EVERYTHING RIGHT ABOUT BEING UNIQUE This is my positive spin on, “There’s nothing wrong with being different!” For over a year now, I have wanted to bring up this topic: Why are we judged and criticized for challenging the status quo? So, you ask, why do people judge or compare? I believe it is [...]

TJ Leyden: former racist skinhead now author and Peace activist—Part I

By Arno Michaels ⋅ July 18, 2010 ⋅ One comment

Not too long ago, I had the honor of engaging in a 2 ½-hour conversation with a man I consider a hero: TJ Leyden. TJ left the white power movement during the mid-nineties as I did, after spending many years recruiting kids to become violent racists. Since then, he has been a tireless advocate for [...]

A comparative review of Skinhead Confessions and Autobiography of a Recovering Skinhead

By Arno Michaels ⋅ June 20, 2010 ⋅ One comment

In 2007 I sat down and started writing a memoir of my own. It started with a jot of a sentence. A jot of a memory. Line by line, and not necessarily in chronological order—just things that happened. As one-line memories started to add-up to pages, I tried to flesh-out the glimpses of experience into [...]

Silent Resistance

By Katharina Hren ⋅ June 19, 2010 ⋅ Post a comment

Lately I have been asking myself what I would have done during the Holocaust had I lived at that time in Germany. I’d like to think I would have done something to resist the Nazis. I’d especially like to think I would have risked my life and spoken out. But of course I cannot know [...]

Parents, Don't Let Your Children Fight Violence with Violence

By Berni Xiong ⋅ June 19, 2010 ⋅ Post a comment

My good friend posted a link to an article that was published on JS Online last week and urged me to read it. It was about Hmong and gang violence. My initial reaction after reading the article in its entirety was disappointment because I am not a proponent of any type of violence for any [...]

On Sister Mubaraka and Islam

By Angie Aker ⋅ May 18, 2010 ⋅ Post a comment

Islam. Muslim. Take a moment and evaluate your knee-jerk reaction to these words. Even if you’re a tolerant and progressive person, do you initially feel comfortable with these labels when you hear them or do you fill with conflicted feelings? Do you feel, as many do, that you don’t really know enough about different religions [...]

Sammy Rangel “FOURBEARS: Myths of Forgiveness”

FourBears: The Myth of Forgiveness: isn't a simple memoir; it is a graphically illustrated guide from tortured child, to remorseless beast, to healing and change. This book is about helping others find their way out of their history and into the here and now. Proof that what once held you down can now hold you up. After the book reflects on a horrific upbringing it looks to offer key and ground breaking insights of the inner workings of the mind of a victim and later a perpetrator of hate and violence. Service providers working in treatment centers and institutional settings would greatly benefit from this work. Anyone facing issues with forgiveness and change might find a process toward healing and recovery.