What Crosses My Mind

  • A World of Measures

    We are a measured society. Our actions fall under values we would wish to believe manifest in our background, cultural mores, the manner we were raised, the people by which we surround ourselves. In order to feel a certain sense of security, I want to believe in doing the right thing, living a life of…

  • Systemic Rhetoric and Schools

    As a young child I was taught the concept of there are central arguments with the reaction to George Floyd’s death over memorial day weekend, the spark that merits a broader response to the tragedy. One may realize it is difficult to conceptualize how to make change in the midst of such systemic reaction to…

  • What Now?

    What is a racist? Though I do clearly insist In love we resist. ©️ Thom Amundsen 6/2020

  • Misplace Design

    We believe we are, a contemporary to what once seemed a regularity, yet we cannot seem to get past the truth.   Do you, we, can everyone feel it in the moment, when we least desire to be noticed, that fear returns, always knocking on our door.   This thing about love, when least expected,…

  • An Observation In Absence

    The other night I attended ‘Just Mercy’ at our local theater complex. It was a late showing, but still I was struck with wonder about the emptiness of the room. I was actually the only person in the theater, it was a rather surreal experience. Now I’ve been to shows with limited audience in the…

  • Another Lovely Summer Day, another shooting.

    In El Paso, a gunman used an AK-47, walked into a crowed Walmart on a Saturday afternoon, and took 20 lives before being arrested by surrounding law enforcement. So on a day when people are celebrating summer, barbecues, bicycle rides, recreational sports, boats on a lake, our country has become immune to the reality of…

  • On Racial Disparity and an Unwillingness to Look Racism in the Eye.

    Kare 11 News In reviewing this tragic incident at Chaska high school this morning, I couldn’t help but feel some direct takeaways from the thread that follows this article. Clearly there is commentary that speaks to many sides of the issue, but the glaring reality for me is the ease we have with using blame…

  • “We Are All Human”

    I’ve been thinking about New Zealand along with the rest of us since Friday morning. Yesterday evening I was sitting in a coffee shop that is a frequent meeting place for a group of Somali men. I go there often enough to recognize their faces and exchange pleasantries. Last night was different. They along with…

  • Trials Defining 45’s Racism

    Racism  noun Prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one’s own race is superior.                    – Oxford English Dictionary A friend of mine asked me recently to give a good definition of racism and what it means in…

  • When We Find We Are The Same

    Rules need not be broken to identify our true selves we haven’t the demand to walk upstream, to push the elements aside for personal gain, in essence, it is true that we all do find the similar grounds for which our bodies strike the earth as feeling landed, secure, understanding of time.   Oh, we…