Soapbox

Linnea Ashley on June 22nd, 2013

there is a derisive delight in the unfolding drama that is paula deen’s reclaimed invitation at the foodies’ ongoing dinner party. her southern accent and liberal use of butter AND bacon grease are being packaged into facebook memes for all to enjoy…and with the announcement that her contract won’t be renewed, the expectation is that […]

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Linnea Ashley on March 25th, 2012

I don’t believe America has to be perfect before we can reach out to help other nations any more than i believe i must be perfect before i can reach out to help another person. Hinging help on perfection will leave us all lost. Still, the reaction to Trayvon Martin’s murder reminds me of how […]

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Linnea Ashley on March 22nd, 2012

I can’t seem to find the words to make people understand – really understand – that the accepted fear of a man, not in particular clothing but in particular skin, is how we got to a bullet in the chest. Listening to NPR today, a panel began a meandering discussion which at one point had […]

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Linnea Ashley on November 15th, 2011

It wasn’t a happy conversation. My family gathered in the kitchen – a rare occurrence now that my sister and I are grown and gone from the house, her married with a family of her own. But there we were, my parents and sister seated casually around the glass dining table cluttered with the day’s […]

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Linnea Ashley on July 4th, 2009

i’m not a religious person so it may seem a strange thing to struggle with…but i was brought up in a religious family. and my ideals haven’t strayed far from where they started. so grace isn’t foreign to me. i think of grace as a gift we are wish to receive and as such should […]

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Linnea Ashley on April 5th, 2009

the thing is, i’m about choice…in its purest form. i’m not talking just when it suits me…but in general. i’m not advocating that i know the right decision for anyone. abortion…i don’t think everyone should get one, just those that want/need one. gay marriage…like any marriage – for those who want the government stamp of […]

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Linnea Ashley on January 10th, 2009

“you sure did something to me when you spoke to me. i didn’t even need viagra. bam, through that brick wall back there.” the drums drowned out the competing music from some of the other stalls and it gave the old man an excuse to lean in to my ear after he tapped my shoulder […]

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Linnea Ashley on January 7th, 2009

the thing is…it does more damage. not simply to property, although the blazing cars and crushed car and business windows show proof of that, but of lives. fourteen arrests so far and what does that mean for young brown people. livelihoods of folks who own property that has been destroyed.  resentment – on both ends […]

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Linnea Ashley on January 2nd, 2009

the rain wasn’t coming down hard but it was persistent. i draped my letter jacket, leather side down, on the soaking parking lot and squinted in the waning light looking for the locked lugnut so i could remove the flat tire. my sister had hit a curb and didn’t seem to readily recall how to […]

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Linnea Ashley on December 26th, 2008

I don’t think any politician is just like me. In fact, I pretty much assume that the lives they live are not just different but VERY different.   Point in fact, no one clamors to see me (let alone pays for that “honor”) when I visit a town. There are no signs with my name […]

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