Hooked on Apples

Hooked on Apples

When it comes to solving big problems, I believe in reaching for the low-hanging fruit first. What’s the easy stuff we can get out of the way before working on harder challenges? Right now, many of us can go for the low hanging-fruit in a very literal way: by...
No Appetite for Fixing School Lunch

No Appetite for Fixing School Lunch

You can lead a kid to vegetables, but you can’t make her eat. Especially if the food doesn’t taste good. That’s what the government found out in the wake of the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010. I was active in advocating for school lunch reform...
Apartheid America

Apartheid America

What do you think when you hear the word “apartheid”? For most folks, it evokes images of Nelson Mandela’s fight to integrate South Africa in the face of extreme racial segregation and brutal violence. Maybe it’s a word you associate with the...
Brown’s Bittersweet Legacy

Brown’s Bittersweet Legacy

What a bittersweet 60th anniversary: On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court’s landmark Brown v. Board of Education ruling declared “separate but equal” school systems inherently unconstitutional. After making great progress toward integrating public...
Milking Public Education

Milking Public Education

The building stood facing me, the windows staring ahead like hundreds of scrutinizing eyes. It was larger than I thought it would be. I looked around as I dug my hands into my pockets, struggling to retain heat. Across the street was a public housing development that...