by Kevin Heifner | May 23, 2022 | Opinion
Sitting on my zero-turn lawnmower is where I do my best thinking. What was on my mind after finishing my latest grass cutting were several comments that I’ve left publicly over the past few years that, in retrospect, would have been better left unsaid. Assessing my...
by Harrison Litzell | May 24, 2021 | Opinion
The U.S. has had a new president for just over 100 days. We have heard the new priorities and have grown accustomed to the new rhythms and cycles of news. Instinctively, we remember the events of the past four years, and even the terms before that, and do the work of...
by Starlette Thomas | Apr 5, 2021 | Opinion, The Raceless Gospel Initiative
George Floyd. Derek Chauvin. Breonna Taylor. Brett Hankison. Donald Trump. Joseph Biden. Colin Kaepernick. Cathy Park Hong. Amanda Gorman. We say their names and call forth their presence, evoke a memory or produce a feeling within us. We clinch our teeth or shout...
by Lacey Fitch-Ondracek | Mar 22, 2021 | Opinion
Words have power; they can carry freedom or they can carry weight. We often forget that power also resides in names. Our names are what we closely identify with in places of comfort and places of estrangement. Knowing someone’s name can allow them to feel safe and...
by Mitch Carnell | Feb 22, 2021 | Opinion
My friend said to his mother, “Don’t worry about it. They are just words.” In fact, she was right to worry. She was concerned about the wording changes in her church’s by-laws. Words that reeked of exclusion and fear. She had prayed fervently that the ugliness that...