The Million Man March Commemorative Poem titled: "A Black Man" written by myself two years before the Million Man March. "A BLACK MAN" DO NOT LOOK INTO MY FACE AND SEE THE COLOR OF MY SKIN, AND NOT SEE THE CONTENT OF MY CHARACTER. DO NOT LOOK INTO MY HISTORY AND SEE THE THE DARKNESS OF MY PAST, AND NOT SEE THE BRIGHTNESS OF MY FUTURE. DO NOT LOOK AT THE LOSSES OF MY MISTAKES, AND NOT SEE THE PROFITS OF MY ACHIEVEMENTS. DO NOT LOOK AT THE DISTANCE I HAVE YET TO TRAV ...continued...

The Haunting of Leigh Maxwell By Esther Luttrell ONE The wind was starting to kick up, he noticed. Even though the old car provided a cocoon, protecting him from the elements, he was aware of the dip in temperature. It was colder than usual for so early in October. Trees surrounding the big plant where he worked were bending in the breeze, disappearing from sight when shreds of fog shifted across the woods. He hunched down further in the seat, pulling his wool jacket tighter around him. “She’s going to be late,” he said aloud to ...continued...

Our cooking today is so much different from days gone by. When my granddaughter was three, she stood in front on my oven door where a whole chicken baked in a glass pan. With wide eyes she said, "Is that a chicken?" You see, her mother only bought chicken parts. She'd never seen a whole chicken. How different from when I was a child. Below is a recollection when I visited Grandma at about age five. I've included it in my cookbook Family Favorites from the Heartland. Fried Chicken-Grandma’s Style During the late 40s and e ...continued...

Riding Life’s Rollercoaster by Carolyn Unruh as told to Sally Jadlow My husband, Dave, and I graduated from K-State in Manhattan, Kansas in June 1967. We married that same month. Dave had been a member of the ROTC program at KSU and was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant. Dave finished graduate school in 1968. He got a 1-year deferment from Uncle Sam. We moved to Kansas City so Dave could accept a marketing position with IBM. One year later, Dave received his papers to report for active duty. At the outset of our marriage, we wanted children. I knew from ...continued...

I'm disabled and live on a low monthly fixed income!Life has never been easy for me as it still isn't!I do the best i can with what little i have!In 2006 was the worst year of my life because i was thrown from the back of a truck and in the hospital for 3 months in a coma with several broke bones,punctured lungs,heart stopped twice,given 6 pints of blood,lip was ripped off and jaw crushed,i had to have reconstruction of my face!I had to learn to eat,walk,and talk again.Leaving the hospital i asked where my youngest brother was and was told that he was locked up facing a death penalty for murde ...continued...

This question was often asked of me while I attempted to get my first “serious” job. It was a difficult, philosophical question to answer. Looking back on those times, I wonder if the enquirer had asked it because he could not remember why he himself had chosen to become an accountant. Nearing retirement, the job interviewer hoped that this young, fresh-faced interviewee might retrospectively give meaning and justification to the previous thirty years of his working life. Unfortunately, there was no blinding flash of wisdom from the mouth of this babe accountant. Shortly after I ...continued...

Chapter 1: Sunday, January 7 Rick Players looked up from his snowmobile at the jagged peaks of the Rockies. A cold wind stung his cheeks, and he smiled at its bite. It was the last afternoon of his twin teenage sons’ winter break. For this day only, Rick had ignored his job as CEO of PlayLand, the toy company his family owned. Just one afternoon with his boys. That’s all he wanted. Well, if he were honest, he wanted out of the job altogether. He hadn’t realized when he took over from his father that leading PlayLand would cost him his freedo ...continued...

18 years later In February 2011 an Ecuadorian judge ordered Chevron to pay some $17 billion in fines and punitive damages over the environmental contamination in Ecuador. Water is the source of life. Without clean water we can't survive. (Emergildo Criollo, leader of the Cofan people, Ecuador) Chevron, not surprisingly, said it would appeal the ruling, calling it “illegitimate and unenforceable.” Eighteen years before, when the suit was first filed in a New York court, Chevron fought to have the jurisdiction moved to Ecuador because the ...continued...

Our only source of water yesterday was saturated with salt crystals so we had to drink salty water all day. Had four dog team leaders fired today by Maher. Sadly, he is running out of qualified candidates unless, of course, me and Mike qualify. Mike and I tried the good cop bad cop method with the dogs. I would treat Ersus with kindness and respect (one of the fired leaders), Mike would speak sternly at him. After 2 seconds of Mike's technique, Ersus cowered away and peed on the spot. My favorite of the dogs is Stephy. A huge dog with a good temperament. Stephy traveled with me on th ...continued...

More Love Stories - http://tinyurl.com/j5mbhlu My neighbor mows my yard every week even though i have asked him to stop many times. He also appeared yesterday with a chain saw and was going to cut down my big maple tree in the front yard. I have a plan but i can't tell you what it is just yet. 7/1/2014 I started this story sometime ago and thought I best add a bit more information because of continued request from readers so here is my next thought. My neighbor, the same one I mentioned earlier, decided if he was to continue mowing my yard, t ...continued...

I have been a certified nursing assistant (CNA) for the past 6 years. I have many responsibilities as a CNA regarding all patient’s physical, emotional, and mental well-being. I am expected to handle culture and religion issues with respect, kindness, and understanding. I have been in situations where my clients believes in a different religion then I do, and they contact my boss to tell them that that they don’t want me to be there caregiver anymore due to differences in religion. As a CNA I recognize and believe that spiritual beliefs are different, in which r ...continued...

Hello, I am Austin. I am currently enrolled as a Biology student at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee. This story will follow me through out the coursework of Client Diversity in Health Science, which is part of my required social sciences/cultural diversity core competencey classes. I've always taken a liking to natural sciences, more specifically health science. I began my journey as a Biomedical Sciences (medical technology) student back in 2011 where I began to fall out of line with the concepts that were being taught to me. I took a few years off and am now back studying Bi ...continued...

Digging through the anals of my mind takes a great deal of concentration and somewhat frustration....every time its always the same, happy memories, where are you? I think my most fond memories as a child were probably playing with our huge great dane who was such a clumsy clut, but so loving and harmless that like any of us just yearned for some attention and you would have him doing any tricks you desired. He was my horse! Most kids got bicycles to learn to ride, pedalling and balancing, but I had man’s best friend who would let me climb on his back, wrapping my legs ...continued...

I was born into a world that was unfit and hopeless. My first memory is of me in my grandmother picking berries in the field. I was the first child born to my mother and was the least important thing in her life. She met a guy and start having kids by him but I didn't like him. he use to call me dumb and stupid and beat the shit out of my mom. I tried to help her but i would get thrown like a feather. One night he decided to teach me a lesson. my mom had went to bed and on his way to the bath room he would slip in to my bedroom to play a game called " don't tell mommy& ...continued...

Our 42 hour confinement to our tents was ended today as the storm eased up enough for us to continue north. Our drift over the storm took us further west than we wanted to the 129th Longitude. We ran into many open leads and had to wait until the ice moved back together allowing us to cross. It was incredible to witness and very scary to cross. We gained about 5 miles north today but our progress was halted by thin ice. We made camp and will wait till morning to try and cross. Needless to say that in the north polar icecap there is very little to smell. No plants and so few animals a person ...continued...