Everybody Wants Better Until Better Gets Expensive I have heard people complain about struggling neighborhoods most of my life. We want the abandoned houses repaired, the streets cleaned, the schools strengthened, the businesses reopened, and somebody to finally invest in the place. We want grocery stores instead of empty buildings and safe parks instead of
When the Neighborhood Gets Better, Who Gets to Stay? Read More »
The Difference Between a Word and What It Carries The older I get, the more I understand that words do not travel through life empty. A dictionary can give me a definition, but a human being gives that word history, memory, emotion, and context. Two people can hear the same word and feel completely different
Words Mean More Than the Dictionary Says Read More »
Every Piece of Writing Has a Reason One thing I have learned about writing is that nobody truly writes into an empty space for no reason at all. Something usually happened before the first sentence appeared on the page. Somebody made a claim, asked a question, created a problem, challenged an idea, or left something
What Was the Reason? Teaching Writing Through Exigence Read More »
I Never Knew There Were Names for All of This The older I get, the more I realize that the way people talk carries a whole history that most of us never stop to examine. I used to think an accent was simply an accent and a dialect was just another way of pronouncing words.
The Language We Carry With Us Read More »
What the Buss Family Taught Me About Wealth Whenever I hear people talk about generational wealth, the conversation usually begins with making enough money to leave something behind. That sounds simple enough until I look at families that actually accomplished it. The late Jerry Buss bought the Los Angeles Lakers in 1979 as part of
The Hardest Part of Generational Wealth Is Keeping It Together Read More »
A Lesson I Had to Grow Into One thing my granddaddy told me did not make much sense when I was younger, but age gave it a different meaning. He said, “Stop crying over money you already lost.” At first, that sounded too easy because losing money can make you feel angry, embarrassed, and disrespected
Sometimes the Money Was Tuition Read More »
Buying Power Is Not the Same as Wealth Every year somebody reminds Black America that we have enormous buying power, and the number usually lands somewhere around the trillion-dollar range. The figure sounds impressive because trillions sound like economic strength. But I have learned that money moving through our hands is not the same thing
We Keep Celebrating the River Instead of Building the Reservoir Read More »
What Chess Taught Me About Life The older I get, the more I understand why people compare life to a game of chess. Chess requires patience, attention, planning, and the ability to think beyond whatever is happening directly in front of you. Life asks many of those same things from us. One emotional decision can
Don’t Let a Small Win Make You Forget the Game Read More »
When Quantum Language Meets Everyday Life I understand why certain ideas from quantum physics can make us look at life differently. At the quantum level, nature does not always behave according to the common sense we use in everyday life. Quantum mechanics describes physical systems using probabilities, and measurement plays an important role in determining
Becoming the Person Who Can Live the Life I Want Read More »
The Sale Is Not Over When You Leave the Sales Floor I have learned that buying a car is not finished just because I have agreed on the price with the salesperson. In many dealerships, the finance office is where another round of selling begins. By that point, I may already be tired from test-driving
The Most Expensive Room in the Dealership May Be the Finance Office Read More »