What's not being said lately...
Early in my career, I worked as a case manager for individuals reentering society after incarceration. One of my first clients was a woman who had spent over twelve years in prison. When she was incarcerated, she was the same age I was when we met. When she was released, I was responsible for helping her rebuild the basics of her life; food, clothing, housing, medical care. From the very beginning, it was clear that something stood between us and it didn’t feel like logistics, it felt like it was something deeper.
The Conversation That Shaped My Work
Tuesday, May 19, 2026
Before I had language for mediation or facilitated conversation, I learned something foundational through reentry work: people do not become less human because they have been incarcerated, but they are often treated as if they have.
In the United States, more than 600,000 people return home from prison each year, and nearly two-thirds are rearrested within three years. These outcomes are often framed as individual failure, but they are deeply shaped by the conditions people.......
The Work of Seeing
Tuesday, May 26, 2026
As I write this, I am listening to “About Today” by The National.
The song lives in the quiet distance between two people that are close enough to feel that something has changed, but unable, or perhaps afraid, to name it. Nothing dramatic happens. There is simply the growing awareness that something important has remained unspoken for too long.
It feels like the interior soundtrack of a conversation being rehearsed but never had....
The Conversation You Keep Rehearsing But Never Have
Tuesday, August 4th
Silence is rarely empty.
Sometimes it is thoughtful. It gives anger time to settle before words become wounds. It allows grief to exist without explanation. Between people who feel secure with one another, silence can even be a form of intimacy.
But silence can also communicate indirectly what someone is unwilling to say aloud. Susan Sontag was writing about silence in art...
Silence Is Still Communication
Tuesday, August 11th
“What role did you play in your family of origin?” The question reaches beyond personality. It asks us to consider who we learned to become in order to belong.
Were you the easy one, the responsible one, the peacemaker, or the one who challenged what no one else would name? These roles were often intelligent responses to the emotional world around us. The easy one learned not to add pressure. The responsible one learned to earn trust through competence. The peacemaker learned to manage everyone else’s discomfort.....
Why We Avoid Hard Conversations
Tuesday, August 18th
