First Impressions Stick

First Impressions Stick

View image | gettyimages.com   Thank God for Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf. I never expected to utter those words, but they summed up my reflection on Acts of Faith by Eboo Patel, which I read to participate in Loyola University Chicago’s reading program for first-year...
The Good and The Perfect

The Good and The Perfect

I don’t think I’ve ever lost gracefully. In fact, I’m not sure I know what that even means. If I want grace, if I want to feel right and blessed and good when the final buzzer sounds, then I have to win. But still, I like to think that I’m not that competitive. All my...
The Way Women Talk?

The Way Women Talk?

As a high school history, philosophy, and religion teacher, I spend a significant amount of my time irritating my students by nitpicking at their writing and speaking style: Avoid the passive voice! Don’t say “I feel like” when you mean “I think!” In fact, better not...
The Face of Jesus

The Face of Jesus

I was getting out of the car during a late night errand to the local Target store in the Bronx and hustling before it closed for the night. As I was making my way across the parking lot, a departing customer caught sight of me from his car. He hit the brakes, rolled...
Newborn: Prayers Answered

Newborn: Prayers Answered

I don’t think I ever prayed for anything as regularly or as fervently. Since last Christmas, when my sister told us she and her husband were expecting their first child, the constant petition on my lips was for the health of mother and baby. “For my sister and all...
TJP Reads: All the King’s Men

TJP Reads: All the King’s Men

All the King’s Men, by Robert Penn Warren, tells the story of a corrupt politician’s rise to power in the midst of the Great Depression.  Partially based on the life of Huey “Kingfish” Long, who served as Governor and Senator of Louisiana, this novel is a fascinating...