Prayer for myself often takes the form of imagining myself climbing up a ladder out of a pit, the pit being my current circumstances of poverty and homelessness. Getting out at the top represents a return to the normal life of the American mainstream. I didn’t start with a ladder in there, but I decided to add one to symbolize the various structures and tools that others have made available to me — and eliminate the possibility of clawing at loose earth.

(Originally published 06/06/13 at Trojan Horse Productions.) This has been a very heavy day, and there’s a lot here. For the moment, at least, I will not try to organize this. Darkness at times appears to serve Light; destruction, to serve creation. It is a rude awakening for me to have to revisit the world of infantile self-centeredness, apparently to have to re-learn correctly this time (at age 57!) some things I didn’t learn correctly on the first go-round. A world where i

They'll bleed you dry.

Environmental factors impact a child's ability to control impulses; which fact has profound effects relative poverty and social injustice.

A new rung on the ladder: Moments of unusual hardship and sacrifice.