The following statement is true: I am a kind and considerate male who is kind to and considerate of others.

The following statement is true: I am a kind and considerate male who is sometimes impatient and inconsiderate of others.

Both are true, no conflict here, we are simply able to hold multiple truths about ourselves at once; yet one I should wish to keep, while the other I wish to dispel through reinforcement of the former.

Here we have a fine key to behavior modification: tangible, observable, and measurable choice – self defined. Others are able to witness my traversing between types of behavior, count the transgressions, and either empathically or directly measure the trespass. I am also aware of this, almost inescapably so; I know what I am, what I have done. Continue reading →

A heart-wrenching yet inspiring look at inner city issues for children and their families

Having worked frontline social work in London and Los Angeles, I can say that these issues are entirely universal – the solutions, therefore, must also be universal.

(This Editorial was published in Free Venice Beachhead, February 2013)

We all lay down once in a while. Be it sunbathing, napping, reading a book, or just stretching out, we all do it. Personally I like the beach; I can do all of the above on the beach. The thing is, the act of lying down can be controversial, because it has been occasionally illegal. Not here though, at least not in LA anyway. The 2006 Jones v. City of Los Angeles case found the need to laydown, specifically to sleep, to be a consequence of being human. Furthermore it found that ‘needing to sleep’ when there is nowhere available to sleep, should not be an act for which a homeless person might be punished, ticketed, or woken up and told to move on, when there is no available option. So protected by the 8^th amendment, under cruel and unusual punishment.  Continue reading →