The most important moment of Dr. Robert Putnam’s presentation “Closing the Opportunity Gap” on July 21st at the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts came after he’d already offered his conclusion. During the question and answer session, an audience member asked Dr. Putnam about former presidential candidate Bernie Sander’s plan to make college free. The…
I awoke this morning to a text message from a friend. It was a screenshot of a post made in a neighborhood Facebook group: The picture was of a black child walking down the sidewalk. He was unaware that he was being photographed, and as of the writing of the post, there’s no way to…
I am not a journalist. I am a writer who loves my city, my neighborhood and the people who inhabit them. Every time I walk past Dunkin’ Donuts Park and glance through the shuttered doors at the manicured, empty field, I feel sadness and anger. The people I love and the neighborhoods we all live in…
I’d never seen Romeo hit a B-Boy stance until I entered the practice studio for the Hartford Stage. The unique combination of hip-hop inspired breakdancing and the Bard’s lyrical language are the core of the Hartford Stage’s Breakdancing Shakespeare program. As a celebration of its ten year anniversary, the program is going back to the…
Let’s try some experiments. First, read the official story of Korryn Gaines, the 23-year old woman who was killed by the Baltimore police on August 1st. If you don’t want to click on the link, here it is: The officers intended to serve arrest warrants on Gaines and a man. Gaines was wanted on a bench…
I’ve written in the past about not voting. I was writing in the midst of President Obama’s second term, after five years of watching Hope and Change fail to live up to my expectations. Where was the closure of Guantanamo? Where was the single-payer healthcare law? Where was the era of peace promised by resets,…
