To the Martyrs of the UCA By Luis Sebastian I saw you reach port, one by one, your ships laden with achievements and the prizes caught in your nets in a few years of intense labor. I saw you arrive with bouquets of carnations red like the blood of my people, cut at night, still… Read More To the Martyrs of the UCA

An old friend sent me a text the other day informing me that he was taking a break from a long car trip to read in a coffee shop somewhere in the Deep South.  He has, shall we say, a flair for the dramatic, and wanted me to know that “one wrong affectation and I… Read More E pluribus cor unum

The first Catholic Worker newspaper I encountered came from the back of an Episcopal church in Upstate New York.  A small wood cut illustration caught my attention as it peeked out from underneath a pile of leaflets.  I pulled out the paper and unfolded the cheap, ink-smeared pages.  I didn’t know what the Catholic Worker… Read More Crafting a message

As I write this, I can hear the soft beep of an electronic polling station recording votes in a room next door. The beeps are frequently drowned out by loud greetings between neighbors. Deep laughter and high-pitched giggles ensue as folks reconnect in line at the polls. News about grandkids seems to be a favorite… Read More Election Day Reflections

Like many people, there have been certain books that have made a profound impact on me and helped to define certain periods of my life.  In middle school it was Cheaper By The Dozen, and to this day I still consciously endeavor to do things as efficiently as possible. During my freshman year of college,… Read More Finding the Middle Way

Few repeat offenders are as persistent as bad weather. That’s easy to say during the week in which Hurricane Sandy rocked the East Coast, but our society consistently laments the weather in our common parlance (“rain on your parade”), children’s lore (“Rain, rain go away”), pop culture (The Perfect Storm, Castaway), and even stories from… Read More Worse if Rain, Rain Goes Away