The Great Depression Was Not One Single American Experience The standard story of the 1930s usually begins with collapse. We hear about the stock market crash, failing banks, soup kitchens, Dust Bowl farms, Hoovervilles, unemployment, and families standing in bread lines. Those images are real, and the suffering was enormous. But the problem comes when
Black America Kept Building While the Country Was Falling Apart Read More »
We Were Never Designed to Feel Nothing There is a difference between having emotions and allowing emotions to hijack the whole operation. I hear people say they want to become less emotional because they believe emotion makes them weak or irrational. I understand what they mean, especially when they are thinking about decisions they made
Having Emotions Is Not the Same as Letting Emotions Have You Read More »
The Danger of Looking Away We have probably all heard somebody say, “That’s not my problem,” and sometimes I understand exactly why they say it. Life is already heavy, and nobody can carry every burden they see. But in a broken system, the greatest danger is not always the person causing the harm. Sometimes it
When “That’s Not My Problem” Becomes Everybody’s Problem Read More »
Who Do You Become When You Drink? I have always found it interesting how differently people behave once alcohol enters the picture. Some people become happier, louder, friendlier, and suddenly want to talk to everybody in the room. Others become sad and start talking about things they have not mentioned in years. Some become angry,
What Alcohol Can Reveal About the Parts of Us We Hide Read More »
The Question Is Bigger Than It Sounds When somebody asks whether people want children more than they want marriage, I understand why the question feels timely. Marriage no longer carries the same automatic expectation it once did in American life. More people delay marriage, avoid it, divorce, remarry, co-parent, or build families outside the old
Marriage, Children, and What People Really Want From Family Read More »
What Those Words Really Mean When I hear a president or political leader say that losing the midterms could effectively mean the end of a presidency, I pay attention to what is actually being said. Losing control of the House would not literally remove a president from office. A president would remain president unless he
When a President Says Losing Congress Could End His Presidency Read More »
The Job Search Has Changed I keep hearing from people who have sent one hundred, two hundred, and sometimes even more applications and still cannot understand why nobody is calling. After enough rejection or silence, a person naturally begins thinking something must be wrong with them. Maybe they are too old, too experienced, underqualified, overqualified,
Why Sending More Applications Is Not Always the Answer Read More »
The First Reaction Is Usually Emotional If my boss comes to me and says, “It has been brought to my attention that you did X, Y, and Z,” my first instinct may be to defend myself immediately. That reaction is human because nobody likes being accused of something they believe they did not do. The
When Your Boss Confronts You, Silence Can Be a Strategy Read More »
We Are Living in the Age of the Image We live in a time when somebody can spend money to look successful without actually being financially secure. People can rent luxury cars, borrow designer clothes, pose inside somebody else’s mansion, and photograph themselves in places they could never afford to live. Somebody can take fifty
Real Recognizes Real in a World Built for Appearances Read More »
The Mind Can Get Stuck One of the most important things I have learned about the mind is that thinking about a problem is not always the same as solving it. Sometimes we convince ourselves that if we keep turning something over in our heads, eventually we will find the answer. We replay what happened,
When Thinking About the Problem Becomes Part of the Problem Read More »