Remembering Dr. Maya Angelou

Remembering Dr. Maya Angelou

I was traveling when Dr. Maya Angelou died, away from my poetry community in Washington, D.C. But my Facebook feed was crowded with tributes and powerful remembrances, as writers, survivors, and truth tellers chronicled the impact of Dr. Angelou’s life and words...
This Week in OtherWords: June 4, 2014

This Week in OtherWords: June 4, 2014

This week in OtherWords, Mary Anne Hitt applauds the Obama administration’s effort to reduce climate-damaging emissions and Raul A. Reyes urges GOP leaders to stop blocking a bill that would give undocumented immigrants who grew up in the United States a path to...
Walmart’s Top-to-Bottom Taxpayer Subsidies

Walmart’s Top-to-Bottom Taxpayer Subsidies

Low-income families weren’t the only ones hurt by cuts to food stamps last fall. Top Walmart executives also took a hit. The cutbacks ate into the discount giant’s sales because so many of its low-income customers rely on this public assistance program to...
Stalled at the Starting Line

Stalled at the Starting Line

“Gentlemen, start your engines.” That message, played repeatedly in a commercial beamed on the Jumbotron at this year’s Indianapolis 500, had nothing to do with racecars. A coalition of faith, business, and law enforcement leaders used the iconic...
Nixing the Pentagon Slush Fund

Nixing the Pentagon Slush Fund

The Senate Armed Services Committee has finished its work on the 2015 National Defense Authorization Act, a bill that guides Pentagon policies. The measure authorizes $514 billion in spending for the Pentagon, along with the Energy Department’s national security...