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Awareness Wednesday :: It’s Black History Month
Many of the lies they told still follow us and continue to shape the lives and deaths of black people in America. I am a white woman. It is Black History Month. It is time to get uncomfortable. It is time to listen.
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Awareness Wednesday :: Are You Aware of the Homeless?
I have a friend who has very precocious children. One day one of her younger children referred to someone as homeless. I asked the child if she knew the person and if she knew where the person sleeps. One of the older kids chimed in that the person was a hobo. Certainly precocious. I did not know that kids these days had ever even heard the term hobo. It got me wondering if we are aware of the people we see each day. Maybe they are at the intersection holding a sign announcing that they will work for food. Maybe the sign says, “Please give, every penny helps,” or simply,…
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Awareness Wednesday :: Homelessness — Helping Our Communities Think Beyond Soup Kitchens
I appreciate Amanda’s post last week for an intimate/anecdotal view on homelessness. Her story provides information that could help improve services. Today, I want to shed light on homelessness from a different vantage point. I will highlight why the current efforts involving taxpayer-funded homelessness programs aren’t working that well, and what we can do to help. The Continuum of Care program I’m a young professional who worked for three years at United Way of Utah County as the Mountainland Continuum of Care co-planner. The Continuum of Care is a federal program under HUD that aims to end homelessness, and there are several in every state. It was my job to…
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Awareness Wednesday :: Homelessness — Lord, When Did We See You?
May 24, 2018. That was the day I moved into my apartment, the day I was no longer homeless. For four years, I bounced between friends’ couches and spare rooms, trying to take up as little space as I could. I was employed but never made enough to end the cycle. I was fortunate: I had a car, supportive friends, a cheap cell phone, and access to the internet. I was what is known as sheltered homeless. Through the help of my friends and my church, I was able to get into housing. I could not have done this on my own. Many are not so fortunate. My state, Missouri,…
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Awareness Wednesday :: Homelessness — Are We Not All Beggars?
When I was in high school, I went on a group date to the symphony in Salt Lake City. Along our route to Abravanel Hall, we walked by a couple with a dog. They were sitting on the sidewalk and appeared to be under the influence of some substance. As we passed by, they asked us if we had any money so they could feed their dog. After we had moved a little further along the sidewalk I laughed and said, “Yeah right! I’m sure they want money for the dog.” I am grateful that that evening I had friends who gently chastised me. They hadn’t given the couple any…
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Awareness Wednesday :: Service With Intent
How can we serve with the intent to heal? When we serve, what is our focus? Is it to check off a holiday goal? Is it to feel the spirit of giving? Is it planned with the intent to heal? What does service with the intent to heal look like?
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Are You Aware? Queer and Mormon
This is part III in our LGBTQ+ Education Awareness Wednesday series. Read the other posts in the series here. Hello, friends. I’m Blaire Ostler. I’m a born and raised Mormon. I come from nine generations of Mormon pioneers. I often joke that if there is a Mormon gene, I have it. I’m also a genderqueer and bisexual, but most of the time I refer to myself as “queer.” If there is a queer gene, I’m pretty sure I have that too. The constant struggle for a bisexual person, at least in my case, was never feeling like you belong somewhere. I was never gay enough and I was never straight enough.…
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Are You Aware? My Complicated Life as a Transgender Latter-Day Saint
This is part II in our LGBTQ+ Education Awareness Wednesday series. Read the other posts in the series here. Ever since I can remember, I have felt that I was somehow different. As I got older, I learned that the way I was different was not OK — even shameful. I hated this part of myself that made me different. I prayed and wished and hoped that someday I could be the same as everyone else. My name is Ann Pack and I am a transgender woman. It has taken decades for me to not only be OK with this part of myself but actually love and embrace this part of…
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Are You Aware? LGBTQ+ Education Introduction
This is part I in our LGBTQ+ Education Awareness Wednesday series. Read the other posts in the series here. My husband and my oldest son have brown eyes, I have gray eyes, and my younger son has grayish-green and gold hazel eyes — I don’t have any other way to describe them. My husband has dark brown (almost black), salt-and-pepper hair. My hair is naturally brown, though I choose to highlight it to cover some of the gray that started showing up when I was 16 years old. My youngest has red hair, and I don’t even know what color to call my oldest son’s hair. Sometimes I say red or…
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Awareness Wednesday :: Unintended Consequences — War on Drugs
America’s war on drugs has now lasted nearly 50 years without success. This “war” began in 1971 with President Nixon’s declaration of a war on drugs soon after the passage of the Controlled Substances Act in late 1970. The act put a full prohibition on certain drugs, including marijuana, LSD, and heroin. This act declared that these drugs had high potential of abuse and had no valid medical uses. The prohibition of these drugs made it difficult to procure them, even for pure scientific or medical research. This act was not based on any scientific or medical studies. Supporters claimed it would reduce drug-related crime, drug overdoses, and disease. They…
