Monday, October 30, 2017

Immigration: Facts & Faith

While we are waiting for Congress and the president to take ownership of DACA and immigration policy, let's consider some facts about the subject.

According to the Economic Policy Institute, (EPI), as of 2012, there were 40 million immigrants living in the US. They accounted for almost 15% of the US' total economic output from 2009-2012, through wages and salary earned.

Within the US economy as a whole, there are almost as many immigrants in white collar jobs (46%) as in all other occupations combined. "The perception that nearly all immigrants work in low-wage jobs is clearly inaccurate."

46% of all immigrants have at least some college education.

Nationally, the income of immigrant families is not much different from non-immigrants. 20% of immigrant families live below the poverty line, compared to 16% of those from native-born households.

In regards to immigrants' effect on unemployment, the EPI states that "the evidence shows that in the long run, immigrants do not reduce native employment rates." In times of a weak economy there is a small, short-term effect.

Similarly, the EPI found that the effect of immigrants on wages among native workers is "extremely modest... including those with low levels of education."

The EPI study points out that if there is anything to fear regarding immigration, "it stems from not providing legal status to unauthorized immigrants... Any situation where workers' individual bargaining power is reduced is going to put downward pressure on their wages and therefore, also, on the wages of workers in similar occupations and industries."

"Unauthorized immigrants contribute more to the system than they take out," the EPI says. Primarily because although they work and contribute payroll taxes, sales tax, property and income taxes, they are not eligible for government programs.

The Social Security Administration estimates that in 2005, unauthorized immigrants paid $7 billion into Social Security via automatic payroll deductions, "but they can never claim social security benefits."

By and large, unauthorized immigrants cannot receive income support via a state or federal program.

The EPI speaks to the issue of unaccompanied migrant children, pointing out that it was projected that by fiscal 2014, there would be some 51,000 such children in the US, primarily from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico.

The EPI notes that typically most of these children either turn themselves in to the US Border Patrol or they are caught. If they are not from Mexico or Canada, they are turned over to the Department of Health & Human Services. At this point, they are placed in shelters while they wait for an immigration trial.

Curiously, the EPI report makes the point that actions to strengthen the border "are likely to have little or no impact on the flow of unaccompanied migrant children or safety near the border."

The problem, says the EPI is not border security, but a lack of funding for services to this population, including a shortage of shelters and immigration judges.

So, a case could be made that the proposal by the current administration for $15-20 billion to fund construction of a new border wall and the millions of dollars needed annually to hire thousands of ICE agents would be better spent on providing additional services to immigrants and their children.

The bottom line is that:
. immigrants are not a drain on the US economy
. immigrants actually contribute more to the US economy than they take from it
. undocumented immigrants, especially, are paying into an economic system that they cannot derive many benefits from (like social security)
. paying billions to strengthen border wall security efforts are not necessary
. attention and funding need to be given to help unaccompanied immigrant children and other undocumented immigrants.

What should be common sense and logic in regards to caring for the common good, seems to have been thrown out the window. David Brooks, a columnist for the New York Times, recently noted: "These days, partisanship is often totalistic. People often use partisan identity to fill the void left when their other attachments wither away — religious, ethnic, communal and familial."

Brooks goes on to write that: "When politics is used as a cure for spiritual and social loneliness, it’s harder to win people over with policy or philosophical arguments."

From a religious point of view, however, the evangelical movement in the US seems to be turning towards support of immigration reform.

When President Trump announced he was set to reverse the order on DACA in March, 2018, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops called the move "reprehensible." 

According to an opinion piece in Bloomberg News, a group of evangelicals called the Evangelical Table is advocating for immigration reform "consistent with Biblical values."

One hopes that this group, in particular, will recall that when God called Abraham out of his home country, telling him he would make "a great nation," in effect that nation would be made up of immigrants. Centuries later, Jesus and his family were forced to immigrate back to Egypt from Bethlehem to avoid being killed.

So both the Jewish and Christian faiths were essentially founded by leaders who were immigrants. 

The spiritual descendants of the evangelicals (Puritans) were also refugees and then immigrants. And they would not have survived their first winter without help from Native Americans. It all points back to what the prophet Micah (of both Jewish and Christian renown), wrote as God's definition of true religion. "What does the LORD require of you, but to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God." (Micah 6:8).

To sum up: God seems to be very pro-immigrant. Shouldn't we follow God's lead?

Photo Credits: New Yorker, fivethirtyeight.com

Monday, October 23, 2017

Deregulation Behind the Scenes

Considering all the attention being paid to President Trump's tweets, much of the real damage being done by his administration, in regards to deregulation of long-standing consumer safeguards, has received little notice.

Take, for instance, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The New York Times recently reported that Dr. Nancy Beck, the new director of the EPA's toxic chemical unit has been hard at work pushing to deregulate the use of several toxic chemicals known to inflict significant damage on humans. Dr. Beck joined the EPA after spending five years as an executive at the American Chemical Council - the main chemical trade association in the US. 

Beck's marching orders came from the top down. Scott Pruitt, the EPA's new chief, has already overridden several bans on use of toxic chemicals. Ahead of Pruitt's appointment, Time Magazine ran a blistering take on his past anti-environment stance - which includes lobbying against national mercury standards and limits on ground-level ozone (smog).

The EPA, under the Trump administration, has reversed a proposed ban on outdoor use of chlorphyrifos, a nerve gas pesticide, manufactured by Dow. This same chemical has already been banned for indoor use for 17 years. Nicholas Kristof's op-ed piece offers more details. "So Dow’s Nerve Gas Pesticide will still be used on golf courses, road medians and crops that end up on our plate," Kristoff writes.  "Kids are told to eat fruits and vegetables, but E.P.A. scientists found levels of this pesticide on such foods at up to 140 times the limits deemed safe.

"Remember the brain-damaging lead that was ignored in drinking water in Flint, Mich.? What’s happening under the Trump administration is a nationwide echo of what was permitted in Flint."

The New York Times quoted Dr. Wendy Cleland-Hamnett, the former top EPA official overseeing pesticides and toxic chemical regulations. "It was extremely disturbing to me," she said of Pruitt's actions. "The industry met with EPA political appointees. And then I was asked to change the agency's stand."


Dr. Hamnett, who had spent her entire 38 year career at the EPA, resigned in September, noting, "I had become irrelevant."

The current administration continues to push for more coal mining on public land. According to the Times, the Trump administration reversed a temporary ban on new coal mining leases on public lands and is moving on ways to "rapidly expand" oil and gas drilling in the west.

The head of the Interior Department is Ryan Zinke, who seems to be pro-mining and drilling on public lands. The Times reported that a lobbyist for the coal industry noted "coal will suffer the same fate as cigarettes, unless the industry stood its ground."

All of this stands to reason considering the administration's stance on global warming, as evidenced by pulling out of the Paris Climate Agreement. In September, the Trump administration restated its position, adding it is not interested in the Agreement unless it can be re-negotiated.

Even the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) may be under fire. The Times has reported that the Justice Department, Treasury Department and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency have all issued public statements giving the CFPB the "cold shoulder" Richard Cordray, the current director, will see his term expired in July, 2018. Meanwhile, lobbyists for the financial industry are working to dismantle some of the CFPB's premiere initiatives.


All of this activity goes back to the president's campaign promise to "drain the swamp," and open wide the doors to deregulation.

In February the president signed an executive order requiring federal agencies to form deregulation teams. The Times has been reporting on these efforts, and has stated that "the process is being conducted in large part out of public view often by political appointees with deep industry ties and potential conflicts."

In fact, most government agencies declined to disclose information about their deregulation teams, including who is on them and their past affiliations. So the Times had to use the Freedom of Information Act to request such information.

Long-time consumer advocate Ralph Nader penned an opinion piece summarizing a plethora of problems directly linked to deregulation. Nader began his article by making the point that, "[Trump] has declared war on regulatory programs protecting the health, safety and economic rights of consumers. He has done so in disregard of evidence that such protections help the economy and financial well-being of the working-class voters he claims to champion." Nader went on to conclude: "Preventing casualties and protecting consumers are, in fact, good for the economy."

The Washington Post has been keeping track of administration actions in regards to deregulation. Here's a few of them:
. INTERIOR DEPT. is preparing to set aside ban on development in federally protected wilderness areas, green-lighting a proposal to build a nearly 12-mile long road through a wildlife refuge in Alaska;
. HEALTH CARE President Trump wants to halt payments to insurers that help millions of lower-income Americans afford coverage under the Affordable Care Act, which could wreak the insurance marketplace;
. EPA chief Scott Pruitt has issued a proposal that would repeal sweeping legislation aimed at curbing greenhouse gas emissions from existing US power plants;
. TREASURY DEPT. recommended rolling back key parts of Wall Street regulations that include disclosing pay gaps between CEOs and their employees.

Senator Elizabeth Warren once succinctly stated that "what we need isn't less government, but smarter government."

Given its track record so far it's easy to see that the current administration is not on the road towards that end. 

Photo Credits: 123RF stock photos, all-free download.com

Monday, October 16, 2017

Meet Kaitlin Curtice, Author


Kaitlin Curtice is a Native American Christian writer, speaker and worship leader. She is an author with Paraclete Press and writes at www.kaitlincurtice.com. Kaitlin's first book, Glory Happening, releases on November 7th.
You’re a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. Can you describe how this heritage influences your faith? Your writing?

About three years ago I had an experience in which God opened my eyes to the reality that I hadn’t learned a lot about my Native heritage, and I realized how much more I want to know both for myself and for my children. From that moment, it has deeply influenced my faith in every way, but especially the way I view American Christianity. It has brought me into new aspects of my own faith that I didn’t know existed.


Is there one common misconception, myth or stereotype about native peoples in North America that you’d like to address?

The lazy, poor Indian or the “savage” are some of the stereotypes that I’d like to see disappear. There are still so many misconceptions about how people carry so much generational grief, and it makes situations worse when people put judgment onto Native people because of that grief and the way it has affected our lives for generations. I think there is a lot that needs to be taught about the beauty of Native culture, within every tribe. Teaching more about the cultures of the people would help with some of these misjudgments, I think. 


Could you tell us about your own faith journey? Have you always been a Christian?

I grew up in the Southern Baptist Church. I’m really thankful for my childhood faith and the way it led me to where I am today. I’ve deconstructed a lot of that faith, and obviously, the combination of that faith with my Native American faith is something unique. I’m really grateful for it. I’m not a Baptist anymore, but I’m okay with not being labeled with any denomination. 


Your book, GLORY HAPPENING is filled with the spiritual significance of everyday life. On one level, you could say it serves as a spiritual diary. Was that your intent in writing it? The motivation?

I absolutely wrote it in the spirit of journal or diary entries. I started thinking more about being present, because I was experiencing these really beautiful moments throughout my day, and I was also experiencing beauty through my past experiences in ways I hadn’t before. And along with these stories, I wrote prayers as I was processing them, that often feel like poems as well. This book wasn’t difficult to write. It was like catharsis for me, a beautiful release of a lot of things I’d been holding inside of myself for a long time. 


In one of the chapters of GLORY HAPPENING you write about being invited to a gathering of friends of a couple that you and your husband Travis had recently met. You describe what it was like to be under a “covering of hospitality.” A week after this gathering you found out you were pregnant. You and Travis were hit with the realization that “these people will be our people.” Can you talk about the importance of friendship? Especially in a Christian context?

My husband and I believe that in community, friends become family. We live far away from both of our families, and it’s been blessing after blessing to find people who connect to us, who claim us and do daily life with us. And in the context of the church, being with people who follow Jesus and try (and fail together) daily to love one another—there is nothing like it, and it has taught us so much about ourselves, about the glory of God in the most unexpected places. 


You quote Barbara Brown Taylor, “At the very least most of us need someone to tell our stories to. At a deeper level, most of us need someone to help us forget ourselves…” Can you expand on that thought?

I think when we release the stories of our lives to one another, we first learn how to claim them for ourselves, but then we realize that our story actually belongs to the lives of others as well. This helps us let go of ourselves—of our egos, of our pretense. It’s in those “me, too” moments we both find and forget ourselves in community with others. 


You describe a time when, in the middle of a busy day with your sons asleep, you seek God. You whisper to God: “I trust you. But, help me trust you.” Not unlike the person in the Bible who came to Jesus, asking him to heal his son. Jesus tells him, “All things are possible for those who believe.” And the man replies, “I do believe. Help me overcome my unbelief!” (Then Jesus heals his son). You called your own encounter with God, “a few moments of fuel. A tiny sliver of kingdom-to-person contact.” Can you elaborate on this experience, and why it was so important to you?

That quote from the Bible is one of my favorites, because I’ve asked so often to overcome my unbelief. This story was just one of those moments that really stood out to me, and still does. It was quiet and dark and I was truly alone with God, even for just a few short minutes. When we are stripped of everything and in a sense, naked before God, there is no need to run or be distracted. It was one of those moments that revived me for the rest of the day, and I believe all of us need those moments, especially in a world that feels so heavy and chaotic. 


Of an interaction with your son Eliot, (he asks to pray with you), you write, “We do not understand how God’s spirit spreads itself inside of a child when we do our small part of mentioning that He loves them and that He’s listening.” As a parent, why are these types of moments so important?

I honestly feel that my sons have taught me more about God than I’ve taught them. It seems we do this dance together, back and forth, one after the other, exchanging our ideas of who we think God might be to us. As a parent, I get to tell my sons what my ideas of God are, but then I get to watch the way they live their lives and learn from those moments, too. 


A few paragraphs after this interaction with Eliot, you write, “We are shaped by our daily habits, by the way we pray in the light and in the dark, by the way we speak and the way we trust.” Can you elaborate on the importance of trust and its link with intimacy?

I think trust and intimacy increase together. It goes back to those moments of being unashamed, of being raw with God. It leads us to be raw with others, to walk and live without pretense, to fight against our ego that so often keeps us from being connected to others. As we slowly break away from that, our trust, our ability to be intimate and connected to others increases. That’s the power of storytelling and the power of stillness. 


On a purely practical level, can you share your routine for writing? Do you have one? Is there a place and/or time of day that works best for you?

I like to write most in the mornings, but often, it comes out of this sort of need for catharsis. I write to process life, to process grief, to process, well, everything! I try to blog consistently on my Patheos and personal blog, and I write fairly consistently for Sojourners. Often these pieces come out of church experiences or other things I’m reading that are helping me digest my own journey as a Native American. 

Is there anything else you’d like to mention?

I’m currently working on a second book that will be a lot more about my personal journey as a Native American Christian. I’m really excited to continue working on this so that I can get it out into the world.

I’m also one of the main speakers of the Why Christian? Conference in 2018 with Rachel Held Evans and Nadia Bolz-Weber, so please check out this conference and consider coming! (It's taking place March 16-17 in Durham, N.C.)
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Kaitlin's book, Glory Happening, releases on November 7th.


Monday, October 9, 2017

Guns & Questions

Last week, in Las Vegas, the US recorded another in a series of heart-wrenching episodes of mass murder due to guns.

As expected, several elected officials duly expressed their condolences. There was much print and on-line discussion given to  examining the perpetrator's motive.

In the end 59 people lost their lives, including the perpetrator.

At this point, we know next to nothing as to why this individual had 22 guns in his hotel room.

Meanwhile, the NRA (National Rifle Association) as of the first half of 2017, had spent a record-breaking $3.2 million in lobbying efforts.  Among the things the NRA wants are:

. Hearing Protection Act, focused on silencers. Since the 1930's you have to pay a $200 fee to get one, and have a special background check, that could take months. If passed, this piece of legislation would eliminate these hurdles.

. Concealed Weapon Reciprocity Act, which would make all states recognize each other's concealed carry licenses. In effect, the lowest ranking state, in terms of ease of granting requests for concealed carry licenses, would then become the law of the land.

Quick questions: Why would any civilian gun carrier (outside of a law enforcement official) need a silencer? Why would you want to lower the national standard for obtaining a concealed carry permit to the lowest common denominator?

A few days after the Las Vegas incident, the New York Times published a graphic of the amount of NRA lobbying dollars that the top ten US senators and representatives have received in their careers. The total amount spent on these elected officials topped $43 million in the senate and $4 million in the house. The top five senators included:

. John McCain $7.7M
. Richard Burr $6.9M
. Roy Blunt $4.5M
. Thom Tillis $4.4M
. Cory Gardner $3.8M

The top five representatives included:

. French Hill $1.0M
. Ken Buck $800,000
. David Young $707,000
. Mike Simpson $385,000
. Greg Gianfonte $344,000

Question: What sort of influence do you think the NRA's efforts have had with these elected officials, and others like them, resulting in a lack of a coherent gun control policy in the US?

The number of mass killings in the US since 1984 reads like a sad litany of our inability, as a nation, to proactively address the issue of gun violence. The total number of individuals killed in these 16 instances alone was 526. Hundreds more were injured.

1,500 Mass shootings in US since Sandy Hook/Graphic VOX News
Unfortunately, these are only the major mass killings, which get national news coverage. It's just the tip of the iceberg.

According to Mass Shooting Tracker (MST) there were 372 mass shootings in the US in 2015, which killed 475 people, and injured 1,870. MST defines a mass shooting as "a single shooting incident which kills or injures four or more people, including the assailant."

In January of 2016 the BBC News reported that of all the murders committed in 2012, 60% involved guns in the US, 31% in Canada, 18% in Australia and 10% in the United Kingdom.

According to the Small Arms Survey (referenced in a USA Today article shortly after the Las Vegas shootings), the US owns 42% of the 650 million guns owned by civilians worldwide. That's 90 guns for every 100 US residents.

The same article references how Australia has handled gun ownership. After a mass killing there, over a decade ago, the country enacted a series of changes. Civilians are no longer allowed to own rapid-fire guns. Gun ownership rules have been strengthened. There was also a national buy-back/turn in your guns effort. All these actions have resulted in a rapid decline of gun ownership. In 1994 in Australia, 16% of households owned guns. By 2005 that figure had declined to 6.2 percent.

In an opinion piece for the Washington Post, Ishaan Tharoor wrote: "To those elsewhere in the world who look on aghast each time a shooting rampage rocks the United States, the answer [as to the cause] is blindingly obvious: guns... [In] no developed nation is it as easy or as accepted for citizens to acquire weaponry and ammunition capable of exacting mass violence. The state of Nevada, home to Las Vegas, is particularly lax."

Questions: Why does the US rank at the top of the world in civilian gun ownership? Why can't the US take the template that Australia has already created and pass legislation to implement solid gun control laws that result in significantly fewer guns owned and fewer mass killings?

After the Las Vegas shooting, President Trump noted that "we will be talking about gun laws as time go by." But on February 28th he signed a resolution which disapproved (stopped) the inclusion of Social Security Administration mental health records in federal background checks. President Obama had given the FBI authority to receive such SSA records. President Trump rescinded it.

Almost without fail, one of the first things anyone, including the current president, has to say about the perpetrators of mass killings is that they were not mentally healthy.

Questions: Knowing this, why did President Trump rescind the inclusion of mental health records as part of federal background checks for gun purchases? And what sort of "talking about gun laws as time goes by" is he referring to? 

It seems the time for constructive dialogue is now, not "at some point." 

There is more than enough evidence that clearly shows we, in the US, need to take action - sooner rather than later - before what happened in Las Vegas fades into just another part of the sorrowful litany of gun violence already in place in the US.

Postscript: As if to underscore the prevalence of guns in the US, today's local newspaper, on page A15 had an article about a suspect involved in two armed robberies, who is "likely" connected to other robberies in a neighboring state. Underneath this article is another with the headline "Gunman found guilty of 15 counts in long standoff with police." Directly across the page from these news stories was a 1/4th page ad from a sports center that included a sale on Ruger American 450 rifles as well as a Smith & Wesson M&P shield semi-automatic guns. On the very next page, A-16 (backing the gun ad) was a local news roundup which included a story on two suspects being arrested in an armed robbery. One of the suspects was only 16 years old. Another story in the same news roundup was about a shootout along Interstate 94, involving state police and a 24-year old suspect who is wanted for killing his mother in Alabama.

If you're interested in joining a movement that is focused on "reasonable solutions to address our nation's culture of gun violence," check out Mom's Demand Action. You can also follow them on Twitter at: @MomsDemand.
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If you'd like to take a few minutes to get to know some of the 58 victims of the Las Vegas killing, the New York Times has published a sobering listing that goes a long way to personalize these most recent victims of gun violence.

Monday, October 2, 2017

Meet Author/Publisher Sonya Hollins

For more than 20 years Sonya Hollins worked as a journalist at daily and weekly newspapers as well as a freelance writer for local, state and national magazines.  She earned awards for her writing from the Michigan Press Association, Associated Press of Michigan and others. She has been recognized for her professional and community service by such organizations as the A. Philip Randolph Association (Battle Creek Chapter), American Business Women’s Association (Battle Creek Chapter) and Heritage Battle Creek Sojourner Truth Anniversary Committee. 

In 2008 she founded a youth organization for young girls called, the Merze Tate Travel Club. The club is named for Tate, a Michigan native, who was the first African American to graduate from Oxford University in England and was a world traveler. 


Sonya also is the curator of the traveling photo exhibition, “The World Through the Lens of Merze Tate,” which opened at the Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame. The exhibit was reported to be one of their most popular, and has since been booked at various venues throughout Michigan.  

Sonya is the author of the book, “Here I Stand: A Musical History of African Americans in Battle Creek, MI,” and also is a playwright and contributed to the recent Von Washington Production, “My Heart Belongs to You, Kalamazoo.” 
She is currently the editor and publisher of Community Voices online and print magazine. She and her husband Sean have four children and reside in Kalamazoo. To contact Sonya about her lectures, email her at editor@comvoicesonline.com .


Why did you found the Merze Tate Travel Club?


In 2005, I worked as a reporter at the Kalamazoo Gazette. It was during that time I wrote a story on the first African-Americans of Western Michigan University. After receiving a list from the alumni department of African American firsts, certain names stood out such as Ira Murchison, the first WMU student to earn an Olympic medal; Loretta Long “Susan” of Sesame Street; and Ollie Barnes, a friend of mine who was the first African-American Homecoming King at WMU. 


However, the name “Merze Tate” seemed to capture my attention. It was a name that I
Merze Tate
didn’t know belonged to a man or woman. Merze Tate had been noted as the first African American woman to earn a Distinguished Alumna Award. I wondered more about this person, and soon found out she not only left more than a million dollars to WMU, she achieved many other firsts, such as the first African-American graduate of Oxford University, and the first African American female to earn a Ph.D. in political science from Radcliff College at Harvard University. 


As I searched the university’s archives, I discovered her scrapbooks, with photos from around the world (she had traveled the world twice). One of the photos was that of Tate with a group of about 40 African American students holding a sign that read: Travel Club. It was intriguing. Where did they travel? How did they fund this during the 1930s? 

After writing my story, I still didn’t have all the answers I wanted about Tate. When the
Kalamazoo Community Foundation sent out a call to provide grants to those in the community with a creative idea to educate youth, I thought of Tate’s Travel Club and submitted a proposal for the $500 grant. I received it, and recruited 12 girls to be charter members of the Merze Tate Travel Club. That was in 2008. Today, we have had more than 100 girls take part in our organization, travel to various places within and outside our community, state, and country, and visit women from corporations and small businesses, learning of careers and what it takes to succeed. The premise of the Travel Club was to create “travel writers” who would learn of new things, places, and people, and write, video, and photograph them to share with the community and the world.


You’re the curator of The World Through the Eyes of Merze Tate traveling exhibit. Can you tell us about this exhibit and its importance?

After seeing the amazing photographs that Tate had taken throughout her lifetime, I felt they should be shared with others. They had been stored away in boxes in the archives at WMU, and after speaking with Sharon Carlson, director of the archives, she allowed me to select some of the most interesting photos for an exhibit. The exhibit was a partnership between Grand Valley State University and I. The university provided a grant for the printing of the images. The exhibit debuted at the Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame in 2012 and has traveled throughout Michigan ever since.

You’re also the editor/publisher of Community Voices, an on-line news magazine. Can you give us a sense of its purpose, and recent topics covered?

Community Voices is a magazine that developed from a bi-weekly newspaper. The original Community Voices magazine was founded by James and Arlene Washington in 2005. I had contributed to it for years. When they decided they could no longer manage it, they approached my husband, Sean and I to take it over. Because Sean has a business in graphic design (Fortitude Graphics), they felt this would be a perfect match for us. We took the online magazine and made it more appealing, and created a quarterly magazine to replace the bi-weekly newspaper. Community Voices is dedicated to sharing the positive news of our community and the people who live In West Michigan.


You and your husband Sean recently wrote and published a children’s book, Benjamin Losford & His Handy Dandy Clippers. Who is Benjamin Losford and why is he so important?

I learned of Benjamin Losford after presenting Merze Tate during an event at the Grand Rapids Public Library. Shirley Wulff, a native of Edmore, Michigan, approached me about Benjamin, a man who had been a legend in their town. Benjamin’s father, Abraham, had escaped slavery in Kentucky, and later came back to rescue his son, Benjamin, from the plantation after slavery. Abe brought his son to Howell, Michigan, where he made a home and life as a barber, and taught his son the skill. Ben was offered an opportunity to work in a newly developed town, Edmore, Michigan, and was their first barber and first African American citizen. His son, Norm, became a barber as well, and they ran the longest-running business in the town’s history. Their story was interesting to me because we rarely hear what happens after someone escapes slavery. For both of these men to make their lives a success in towns where they were the first African American residents, showed determination, and that if you have a skill, you can go anywhere.


What other books have you written? How about magazine/newspaper work?

The first book I wrote was, Here I Stand: One City’s Musical History. The book, published in 2003, featured the African American history of Battle Creek, MI, and the famous musicians who lived there. One of the most popular musicians, who called Battle Creek home, was Junior Walker of the All Stars. The band moved to the town as a house band for a little club called, The El Grotto. Artists such as Al Green honed his skills at the El Grotto with Junior Walker playing for him.

When I learned that one musician, Wade Flemons, wrote his first hit, Here I Stand, while still in high school in Battle Creek AND became the co-founder of Earth, Wind, and Fire, I was excited. Musician Bobby Holley helped me gather musicians together who shared their stories for a book that was released with a free community concert, which also featured Motown artists the musicians had shared record labels with. That book has been revised several times, and continues to be a popular one among music historians as much of the history and photographs used had never before (or since) been published. 

Photo by John Grap
You and your husband, Sean, run Season Press, LLC.  Could you tell us what books have you published recently, and what’s the motivation behind this business venture?

Sean and I came into the business of Season Press without even trying. Once Here I Stand was published, many others came to us to find out how we had self published our work. While we were no experts, we knew the urgency many authors had to share their stories, become published, and have a quality product people would buy. So, Sean and I took on one project after another; all through word of mouth. Since 2007, we have helped dozens of authors become self-published authors.


Do you have any tips for writers?

My main tip for writers would be to make sure you invest in a professional copy editor or book editing software. Most of my complaints (about my works and those I consult) is that readers get hung up on silly grammatical errors. You can have the best story, the best idea, the most original concept, but if people can’t see past your errors, it is all just a waste of time. I learned that the hard way. No amount of money for a real copy editor is too much as it makes you look more professional in the long run. 


How about tips for those writers who are thinking about publishing their book?

What I tell authors most of all, is to make sure you have your audience in mind before you write a book. So many people say they have a book, but who will buy it? If you can’t think past family and friends, then you need to rethink why you are writing it. Some just want to write to get something out of their heads, or to just do something for family. Others want to make the New York Times Bestsellers List, but feel the book will just sell itself. Everyone needs to have a hook, a valid reason why they are the best person to write this book, and the stamina to push it out through all sorts of creative marketing. If you don’t want to work, don’t waste your time. 

Is there anything else you’d like to mention?

I am so excited for our authors and love to share their new releases on our Season Press Publishing Facebook page. I would love for those interested in publishing to see some of the past works we have helped create, and support self-published authors.

Photo Credits: bottom photo by John Grap 
Image of Merze Tate from sheroes of history 

Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire!

Pinocchio: Art Credit, Disney If ever there were a time for a national "Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire" award, it's now. And certai...