“See this line? All these ladies waited in line tonight to take loads of linemen’s laundry home. One lineman asked me what those ladies were standing in line for. When I told him they were waiting to be given laundry, with a look of sheer disbelief he said, ‘You gotta be kidding me!’ What a […]

Our family doesn’t match the usual mold. I’m a white mother raising three amazing brown children. Most days, the color difference barely crosses our minds, but others notice. My daughter laughs just like me, and my youngest son’s nose wrinkles when he smiles, just like I do. Still, whenever we draw our family, the crayons […]

When I was 13, I carried a secret shame. We were so poor that I often went to school with no food. At recess, while my classmates opened their lunches—apples, cookies, sandwiches—I sat pretending I wasn’t hungry. I buried my face in a book, hiding the sound of my empty stomach. Inside, it hurt more […]