Shonnie turns 50 on December 28!
Today, December 28, 2021, Shonnie Lyn Lavender celebrates her 50th birthday--half a century! And to commemorate this milestone event, you are invited to share a memory, what you love about [...]
When Brucie Met Shonnie
Shonnie Lavender turns 50 years of age on December 28, and we’ve been together for approximately half of those five decades. In honor of Shonnie’s milestone birthday, I’m reposting my personal [...]
My Gridiron Daze
What I learned from football . . . the good, the bad, and the ugly
My Cat Chocolate
Chocolate came bounding into the world in Arlington, Texas in 1988, and from early on, it was obvious that this kitty had a mind of her own, a common trait of all felines, but especially [...]
Will we have the courage to break the cycle of violence?
We have been given an awesome opportunity, a test that requires great courage and a willingness to face reality. In the aftermath of the terrible deaths of almost three thousand people and the [...]
Neither Black Nor White
A largely overlooked book by Wilma Dykeman and her husband James Stokely made a powerful plea for racial justice in 1957.
The Day My World Transformed
On the last Wednesday of November in 1953, my fifth-grade classmates and I were all dressed as Pilgrims or Native Americans, costumes for the Thanksgiving skit we’d enthusiastically performed [...]
Message to Asheville City Council members re police violence
I am deeply disturbed by the recent violence perpetrated by officers of the Asheville Police Department, especially their harsh treatment of medics and the destruction of their medical supplies [...]