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.
August 8, 2022
Is work out of style? My parents were middle-class people. As kids, we didn't have to work to eat, but we DID have to work. What I didn't know at the time, was that I was learning valuable lessons about coming under authority and how to negotiate a job site long before I would ever need those skills...
July 21, 2022
Last Friday at 9:30 in the morning, an Uber driver was shot. As the weekend began, four people were shot in a park in Beech Grove. One is dead. Then on Sunday, in the food court at Greenwood Park Mall around dinner time a 20-year old with 3 guns and more than 100 rounds began shooting. Three more people were killed and others were wounded, including a 12-year-old girl. If it weren't for another armed man, carrying a legal weapon, who shot and killed the shooter, it would have been a blood bath.
July 7, 2022
Back in November of '21 folks on Indy's east side weren't getting very much sleep. Pop pop pop, every night. Gunshots cracked the silence, pushing Indianapolis homicides to a record 246 by the end of the year. Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett responded, using $150 million in federal American Rescue Plan money to hire more officers, use more mental health resources, and roll out a group of "peacekekeepers." But what happens when the peacekeeper is shot?
June 21, 2022
It's a scary time in our country. We've cooked up a big old fear cocktail, made with a bottle of violence, a mixer of economic problems and a couple shots of distrust. I was talking with a friend about about all the things people are worried about today, and It reminded me of how afraid I used to be of flying. As I look back I realize that's the last thing I should have been afraid of. But there I was, in my 20s, on a plane to visit my husband who was training at Ft. Benning. In the seat next to me was an Air Force cadet from Mississippi and he noticed how nervous I was. He leaned over and spoke to me, almost in a whisper.
June 7, 2022
You've been mentored. I've been mentored. First by a parent, then by a teacher, later perhaps by a coach, or someone who actually had the title. Paul mentored Timothy. Jesus mentored the Apostles. Without a mentor at critical times in our lives we are nothing more than a blind man trying to cross a highway at rush hour. Thirty years of research studies on mentoring proves that mentees are positively affected by the leadership, care, friendship, and attention of a mentor. In a commercial setting, 43 studies indicate that those who were mentored received higher compensation...
May 23, 2022
Take a look at the childhood histories of juveniles in incarceration, and you will find that most have endured trauma that has changed them, given them a different world view, made them less empathetic, more defensive and often blinded them to the basic norms of social behavior.If you're tough enough to read the ACE questionnaire, it will give you an idea of what most juvenile offenders have dealt with in their youth.
May 7, 2022
The United States Supreme Court is currently in the process of deciding if a football coach in Washington State was illegally fired from his job. Coach Joe Kennedy, a winning and popular high school coach had a habit of taking a knee on the 50 yard line after a game and saying a silent 10-15 second prayer. After a while, some members of the team joined him. School officials became enraged...
April 21, 2022
On Easter Sunday Jim and I attended the bed-side funeral service via Zoom of our nephew's 38-year-old wife. There were 50 or 60 of her closest friends online. She had died on Good Friday, her time of death was called at 3:33 p.m.The timing with Good Friday and Easter strike me as having great meaning, and yet, I don't really understand what that meaning is.
