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.
April 7, 2022
Actor Will Smith certainly gave the Oscars a ratings boost with his reaction to Chris Rock's monologue last week. I don't really care about watching Hollywood prima donnas giving themselves awards, but just about everyone has heard about the recent Oscar kerfuffle. Anyway, next thing you know the "Independence Day" actor was up on the ...
March 21, 2022
UNITE INDY is an effort of the heart, but, by necessity, it is also an effort of the head. Statistics play an important role in understanding what we are doing and how we can impact the need. If we want to ask God to "move a mountain," we have to know everything about the mountain.We've been involved with a study that proved that those who have served long-term sentences make good employees--even great employees. But the cultural change necessary to move successfully from a prison/jail culture to an employment opportunity isn't easy to make.
March 7, 2022
In the face of a war in the Baltic and a firefight in our streets, I find my immediate challenge is the broken computer on which I am producing this blog post. I am powerless to fix either the computer or any of the bigger issues we face. In a spectacular klutz move, I dropped a paper cutter on my poor little laptop. The screen now has a series of horizontal and vertical vibrating lines, through which I can see nothing...
February 21, 2022
While Indy's newest efforts at stopping homicides here get underway, it is interesting to take a look at Dallas, which managed a 12 percent drop in murders in 2021 after years of skyrocketing statistics. In 2020 Dallas totaled 251 homicides--their highest number in more than 15 years and 2021 started at a rate that would surpass it. So how did they turn it around? First off all, they have a bigger police force. Indianapolis has one police officer to every 588 citizens. Dallas, has one officer to every 419 citizens. If you think those numbers are similar, do the math.
February 7, 2022
It happens. Your car died a long overdue death. It'll be expensive to replace, but you need a car. But soon, through Indiana Senate Bill (SB) 352, there may be a new, easy-to-get lending option just for you. But this easy option could be a deal with the Devil. The bill would not only make it legal for installment loans to exceed the 72 percent rate allowable under the criminal loansharking statute, in some cases rates could reach over 300 percent.(Just for comparison sake, Indiana law states that 25 percent is the maximum rate that can be charged, but consumers can agree to higher rates in order to get the credit they need.)There's that pesky word, "need."
