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she breaks my heart every night (#poem)
She breaks my heart every night – I lay her on her bed, wrap a blanket around her still tiny feet, rest my head on her froggy pillow-pet, and whisper, “Goodnight…” She turns her head to mine, places...
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Lessons from #Prison: Gratitude
Another lesson that I’ve learned from prison that is especially relevant on this day of thanks: The main characteristic that separates those who succeed from those who struggle is not intelligence, not...
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A Model of Marriage: Montrue & J.D. Chitsey
Married since 1946, Monty and J.D. Chitsey celebrate Thanksgiving with their great-grand-nieces I met my wife when I was 15 years old (she was a cradle-robber as an older woman … all of 16!). From the...
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Light in Dark Places (Teaching the Quest for Authentic Manhood in #prison)
Outside the Cleveland Correctional Center. Last week, I had the chance to co-lead a class on the “Quest for Authentic Manhood” that we offer as a voluntary addition to the core Business Plan...
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prison ghazal (#poem)
licensed via creative commons A place from which you can’t escape is prison. A place to which you must return is prison. The space between the place where you were born and everywhere you fear to go is...
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My TEDx Talk: #RethinkPrison
This past December, I was invited to speak at the Dallas chapter of the international TED conference (TEDxSMU). My 6-minute talk, “Rethinking Prison,” is posted below. Please share this idea worth...
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The paths down which we walk within our dreams (#villanelle #poetry)
self portrait as a shadow on a prison parking lot The paths down which we walk within our dreams have led us to this place we dare not sleep: this place where waking is not what it seems. Our words...
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The Child is the Father of the Man
From Prison to Parenthood As I celebrate the anniversary of my birth, I first give thanks to my parents for having the courage to bring me into the world. But on this day, I cannot help but give thanks...
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How can philanthropy jump-start economic development?
Rep. Cory Gardner I was excited to receive this note from the Americans For Community Development (line breaks and emphasis mine): On July 25, 2013, Rep. Cory Gardner (R-CO) introduced the...
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What if Walt Whitman could have watched the Earth breathe?
“WHEN I heard the learn’d astronomer; When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me; When I was shown the charts and the diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them; When I, sitting,...
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A New Model of Social Enterprise: Master Franchising
At the Prison Entrepreneurship Program, we just announced one of the most significant milestones in our organization’s recent history … the acquisition of a master franchise for the entire state of...
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homeless as octameter (#poem)
How shall I, whose tears now drench this steering wheel, share love with you whose wheelchair sputters in the dirt, beside the road on which I drive towards my home, so far away from this strange place...
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prayer of the shards
May the brokenness in me fit the brokenness in you so that we both can be made whole.
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Fundraising Job opening: Crossroads in Downtown Dallas
Crossroads Community Service (CCS) is the urban outreach of First United Methodist Church, Dallas. CCS serves low-income families in Dallas County. Our mission is to nourish people and power change for...
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the stranded boat
Imagine being stranded on a boat in the ocean: The water’s vastness is all around you, and yet you will die of thirst. Prison is like that boat. The salt water is time - you have a seemingly endless...
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Prison, Pizza and Prayer
that’s a lot of pizza Tonight, some of the PEP team handed out a few thousand slices of pizza to inmates living at Cleveland Correctional Center. . . including several hundred who are not in PEP. For...
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Coleman Barks reads Rumi’s ‘I See My Beauty In You’
Stunning reading of a gorgeous poem … with the perfect musical accompaniment. Amazing. (Click here if the video below is not working.) Coleman Barks reads Rumi’s ‘I See My Beauty In You’ from...
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what is better than fire? (things kids say)
Heart-warming comment from my daughter while we sitting around the fire…… ————– My wife Natalie: “There’s nothing better than a fire.” My daughter Madeleine: “Yea there is.” Natalie: “What?” Madeleine:...
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entrepreneurship (things kids say)
Talking with my daughters about a company that the younger one (Harper) wants to start… ————– When discussing who would do which jobs, my older daughter (Madeleine) just told Harper: “You are the...
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Daddy is tired (things kids say)
Never reveal weakness to a five-year old … ————– Me: “Man, I am tired.” Harper: “Maybe you’re just lazy?”
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