Social media giveth; social media taketh away

Eerie digital face with X's for eyes beneath a red hood, with hands about to draw the hood away, all against a dark nightime background

For the past several months, millions of Americans have had their spirits boosted by a young librarian, Mychal Threets. Mychal is the supervising librarian at Fairfield Civic Center Library in Solano County, Calif., and he became social media (and general media) famous for sharing snippets of his life as a librarian on various platforms. Mychal …

Read more

The cops and anti racists—They are not friends

View of the roof of a police car, with blue roller lights flashing

The past couple of weeks have been an emotional and mental whirlwind as I navigate the aftermath of unexpectedly putting myself in the crosshairs of a rabid racist. I have been writing about race and racism in Maine and beyond since 2003, and while there have been times when I have written pieces where I …

Read more

When Black History Month becomes Black Harassment Month

View of a Black woman from behind as she gazes toward a wide cloudy landscape

It was over a decade ago that I received my first invitation to keynote an event for Black History Month. If memory serves, it was a UU Church in Kennebunk, Maine. At that time, Americans of all hues were awakening to the painful reality that despite having our first Black president, injustice still ran rampant …

Read more