The Elevator Ride

The 9:02 a.m. ride to the 25th floor of the Penobscot Building in downtown Detroit goes slowly. I glance around and realize I’ve been spotted. The office bookkeeper nods a curt greeting while mentally noting my tardiness. Third time this week I’ve been late. I know she’ll make a note…

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Purple Light

Ponies await the purple light

Purple light filters through sharp barbed wire fences holding two spotted ponies captive to their own loneliness and the whims of man. Freedom descends at twilight, steps from the sky, reaches a welcoming hand through the fence, beckons them to join her. Their flight is fast. Bucking the day’s heat…

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Up-Hill

On this special day perhaps we should pause and remember that life is a journey and with the passing of each step, we walk closer to our final destination. This poem, written by Christina Rossetti in 1858, is a reminder that how we labored in life may decide our final…

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Cat Time I

Hot August sun burns into my pores. I’m in the sandbox with my twin dolls, Molly and Polly. I finally got them to sleep. It wasn’t easy, what with little black ants crawling over them. I swished them away without hurting them. Except the leader. I always kill the leader….

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The Power of Politics

By Sharon M. Kennedy When all the general election votes are counted, we could be heading for a non-democratic republic because some contenders believe democracy, as we have always defined it, is on the line. According to various candidates, our current system squanders money on people who won’t work and…

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Schenck v. United States

By Sharon M. Kennedy In 1919, Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. wrote this Opinion in Schenck v. United States: “The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting fire in a theater and causing a panic….The question in every case is whether…

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