The Voyager 2 space probe left earth 49 years ago – on August 20, 1977. It’s twin sister, Voyager 1, left just a few weeks later, on September 5. They were built to last only 5 years – long enough to observe Jupiter and Saturn and their rings, but went on to observe Uranus and Neptune and to transmit information back to earth. Our understandings of these outer planets – and of the solar system – have been forever changed … read more »

On our last day in South Africa, we visited the Hector Pieterson Memorial in the black township of Soweto, in Johannesburg. There we met Antoinette Pieterson Sithole, Hector’s older sister, who gave us a firsthand account of the events of June 16, 1976, when she was 16-years-old. One of the tools of the Apartheid government was to control the education of black students. In the 1970s, they decided that the high school curriculum would only be taught in Afrikaans, rather … read more »

When I was a kid, a South African friend of my parents’ gave me a book of photos of wild animals. I loved that book and carried it around with me everywhere. I studied the pictures, imagining what it was like to see them up close, in their natural habitats. ‘Someday,’ I thought. ‘I’ll go there to see them.’ I had no idea that day would ever happen. Well, that day came at the end of May. Our South African … read more »

I used to love spring without reservation—warm days, soft rains, and new flowers appearing every week. But the season is more complicated for me now. I am writing this on June 26, the anniversary of my marriage to Darryl Alladice in 2004. Darryl, who grew up in Harlem and Crown Heights, was a poet and a public school teacher. We were married on a hot day in the living room of our Brooklyn apartment. As I walked down our short … read more »

I went to see Hamilton on Broadway this week, and I was so glad I finally did. What an extraordinary production. I’ve always loved historical fiction, and it makes the founders of this country feel immediate and alive. But seeing it now, at a moment when the basic foundations of this country feel as if they are being steadily dismantled, gave it an entirely different weight. Hamilton is a story about power, about ambition, about legacy, and about the ideas … read more »

My life philosophy is: It isn’t what we are born into, but what we do with our lives that counts. After all, we had no say about whether our parents were rich or poor, educated or not, had more or less status. We cannot control the circumstances of our birth. We are all given gifts and challenges – not all equal, of course. But it is what we do with those gifts and challenges that says everything about who we … read more »

I grew up in a house where music was a form of nonviolent protest. My mom had been at Peekskill in 1949, when violent mobs attacked the integrated audience who had gone to hear the Black virtuoso, Paul Robeson. My parents took us down to Washington, D.C., to protest the Vietnam War, where we listened to We Shall Overcome by Pete Seeger, The Times They Are a-Changin ’ by Bob Dylan, and Peter, Paul, and Mary’s version of Blowin’ in … read more »

Speaking truth to power doesn’t always have to be angry and combative. It can be joyful and fun! Such was the case on February 28, when a friend and I joined the National Day of Singing Resistance in downtown Manhattan. Organized by Hands Off NYC and led off by the Resistance Revival Chorus, about 500 of us (or so) gathered in Foley Square and then marched around 26 Federal Plaza, where ICE detainees are being held, singing. Yes, SINGING. We … read more »

“Bring only your identification and your car keys,” the email said. I couldn’t help but marvel at the contrast between the beautiful Westchester estates I’d passed on the way and the gorgeous views across the Hudson River on one hand, and the turreted guard towers and the expansive, hundred-year-old buildings that make up Sing Sing on the other. Copious amounts of barbed wire are meant to intimidate — and they do. A friend had invited me to go with her … read more »

The first day we were at the ‘meditation for mediators’ retreat in Mexico a few weeks ago, masked men from the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) killed Alex Pretti, a nurse who was involved in a peaceful protest against ICE’s surge in Minneapolis. While we had gathered in this beautiful, simple place to look inward, it was impossible to ignore what was happening in Minnesota. We had come to develop our compassion, yet our government’s actions were getting more … read more »