January 6, 2023
I picked up a book at a Vintage fair just before Christmas. It was a slim little volume, written by Bud Robinson, who was born in 1860 into a family of seven children, all living in a tiny, windowless, dirt-floored log cabin in the hills of Tennessee. His father was a mean drunkard who owned a still and sold whiskey like everyone else in those hills.
December 21, 2022
For all those working with reentrants, or related to someone who is incarcerated, I end this year with my take on some of the important lessons I've learned about the pitfalls that sidetrack even the most success-oriented returnees. Here you go...
December 7, 2022
Recently there has been an exodus of folks from a large popular church here. People who were staunchly committed to a certain ideology found that the temperature had changed and some foundational beliefs were now considered to be out-of-date. In response, a group of long-time members picked up and went elsewhere. So, who is right and who is wrong?
November 21, 2022
We've talked until we are blue in the face about the awful consequence of predatory lending, how they are aimed directly at the working poor, or anyone with any income at all. They target those on disability or folks on Social Security--any trickle of money--if its there, they plan to get it...
November 7, 2022
About 25 men and women from all over Indianapolis showed up at the police roll call on Tuesday in a crime hot spot at 30th and Post Road. They weren't picketing or calling to defund the police. IMPD East is one of six districts of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, and those officers serve in what is one of the most dangerous locations in all of Indiana.
October 21, 2022
Society has a way of creating its own difficulties. Like the push to defund police has led to a situation where no one wants to be on a police force, the idea that strong women don't need a husband or father in the home has led to---surprise!--a reduction in fathers...
October 7, 2022
What is it to have a second chance? UNITE INDY's SecondChanceIndy.com web site gives men and women access to a new future—one that is a gateway to a financially secure life, that opens doors to having successful relationships, raising successful children, and becoming self-sufficient and independent.But second chances are only for those who are willing to do the work. There are a lot of ways to end up inside, but most incarcerated people are not 'lifers.'
September 22, 2022
Year after year, exorbitant interest fees and onerous, unrealistic balloon payments are draining money from the meager earnings of Indiana's most financially vulnerable citizens. Even small financial emergencies regularly take working people and military families down the path to bankruptcy because they must turn to payday predatory lenders, whose schemes trap borrowers in a never-ending cycle of debt...
September 6, 2022
Over the last five decades, allegations of abuse combined with the reality of funding shortages caused the closings of mental hospitals here and across the country. It was probably time for a reset, but the pendulum swung too far, cutting services for many who have needed a hospital environment. When mental health problems are not addressed, we see increased addiction issues, self harm, and violence against others. Those with addictions, or violent tendencies often end up in incarceration over and over again.
August 22, 2022
A man accused of fatally shooting a police officer made a song about killing a cop, then he did it. Early on a Sunday morning he shot 24 year old Elwood Officer Noah Shahnavaz (pictured) in the face. According to the shooter's rap sheet, (which included the term SVF for 'serious violent felon') he had served 9 prison sentences.But Noah has plenty of company. Targeted shootings at police officers are up 43% this year compared to the same time period in 2021 and up 63% compared to 2020. Gone are the days of Barney Fife. Long gone.
