Vera Katz: Portland’s Own Lady Liberty

Along the waterfront of Portland, Oregon is a statue of a woman sitting in a position like she is inviting you to come tell her your story. Thousands walk, run, and bike by her every day. I wonder how many of those people know her story. Her name is Vera Katz, and she is the […]

Happy Birthday to the Jewish Refugee Who Gave Us the Songs Sung by Christians and Patriots

Happy birthday to Irving Berlin, one of the most successful song writers in American history. He is the author of “White Christmas”, even though he was Jewish, and “God Bless America”, even though he was born in Russia. In 1888, Russia ramped up it’s “Pogroms” against Jews. In Russian, the word pogrom means “to wreak […]

Inauguration Day: A Reminder of What America Set Out to Be

Six years ago today, I was lucky enough to attend the second inauguration of President Barack Obama. I was leading a group of students, but it was me that learned the most that day. Going to inauguration is not for the weak or the only semi-interested. It is D.C. In January. The temperature was in […]

Every Picture is Bigger

Early this morning I was perusing the internet and came across two intriguing pictures. They were on a twitter site called “Weird history.” They showed two boys. One of them a nine year old from New York named Kevin Gorman, the other is Dionni, the son of the Chief of the Masai tribe of Kenya. […]