Community (Page 4)

Life After Death Row

It was a mere 100-foot walk from Greg Wilhoit’s cell to the death chamber. When he first arrived, more than a decade had passed since anyone had gone there. But that was soon to change. One night in 1990, with Wilhoit looking on from his cell, one of his fellow inmates made the walk — the first to do so since Oklahoma lifted its moratorium on executions.

Good Girls

We’ve heard the old Tom Petty song “Free Fallin” a couple of times on the radio recently, and Aubrey has decided that she likes it. After all these years, I still like it too. But for some reason — probably the new association of it in my mind with thoughts of my 11-year-old daughter —…

I Lack Nothing

“The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.”  (Psalm 23:1) I am ashamed for acting and speaking at times as if I DO lack something; as if the shepherd is not enough and he has led me into a mess. But he doesn’t lead me into messes.  Either I find a mess in my wandering,…

Something About That Name

It was written all over the sides of the park’s tube slide in permanent black marker — the kind of vile commentary you might find on the walls of a truck-stop bathroom. At first sight of it, I felt a surge of anger. Just lovely, I thought. Truly, nothing is sacred. Not even our neighborhood…