Blog

The Truth

Posted September 20th, 2012 by Thomas Norman DeWolf

“You want answers?!” “I think I’m entitled.” “You want answers?!” “I want the truth!” “You can’t handle the truth!” That scene from A Few Good Men has become iconic. And it reminds me of America’s unwillingness to face the truth of what our prison-industrial complex has become. My world view regarding the U.S. criminal justice […]

Let Us Gather at the Table

Posted August 28th, 2012 by Sharon Morgan

This is a repost of something I wrote on my genealogy blog today: On this day in 1955, an innocent young man named Emmett Till was murdered in Money, Mississippi for allegedly whistling at a white woman. This event embodied all that was wrong with America in that day on the subject of race. On […]

Word Count

Posted August 22nd, 2012 by Sharon Morgan

Promotion of Gather at the Table ultimately depends on Tom and I. Even though we are supported enthusiastically by Beacon Press, book publishing has changed a lot in recent years. Promotion is no longer the primary responsibility of the publisher. It is authors who must drive awareness and sales. To do that requires as much […]

Silly Season

Posted August 9th, 2012 by Sharon Morgan

I do not intend to use the Gather at the Table platform to promote my personal political preferences. We all have our opinions and, whether we agree or not, freedom of thought and speech are rights that must be respected and protected. I do, however, want to use this platform to draw attention to things […]

Olympic Fever

Posted July 28th, 2012 by Sharon Morgan

It is hard not to get caught up in Olympic fever, especially when the whole world is watching. It drew me in on the first night… I watched the opening ceremony. Having an interest in many things British (including the genealogy of the Scottish men who enslaved people on both sides of my family),  I […]

Peace

Posted July 15th, 2012 by Thomas Norman DeWolf

In a world plagued by violence, barbarity and war, it is hard to conceive of ever living in peace. Yet, that is a dream cherished by the three women who won the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize: Leymah Gbowee, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Tawakel Karman. All are crusaders who fight for peace against seemingly insurmountable odds. Of […]

Healing Wounds of History through Transformative Theater

Posted June 19th, 2012 by Thomas Norman DeWolf

I’ve been home from Virginia for a few days now. I continue to think about all that I experienced in the Summer Peacebuilding Institute class in which I participated at Eastern Mennonite University: Healing the Wounds of History: Peacebuilding through Transformative Theater. Our instructor, Armand Volkas, is a psychotherapist, drama therapist and theater director. He […]

Oh, Shenandoah, I long to hear you…

Posted June 12th, 2012 by Thomas Norman DeWolf

Whenever I’m here, the song gently plays in my mind over and over. I never tire of it. As with many American folk songs of uncertain origin, the meaning of Oh, Shenandoah is unclear. For me, I simply long to return here whenever I can; to the home of Coming to the Table. This is […]

Peacebuilding in these hard times

Posted June 10th, 2012 by Thomas Norman DeWolf

You try to sleep, you toss and turn, the bottom’s dropping out Where you once had faith now there’s only doubt You pray for guidance, only silence now meets your prayers The morning breaks, you awake but no one’s there We’ve been traveling over rocky ground, rocky ground There’s a new day coming I’ve listened […]

Making Peace with the Past

Posted May 8th, 2012 by Thomas Norman DeWolf

Tom DeWolf and I penned an article that has just appeared in the Oklahoma Humanities magazine. The them of the issue is “reconciliation” and our contribution is entitled “Making Peace with the Past.” Oklahoma was one of the stops on the road trip we took last year to inform the writing of our book. It […]