Little Detours

For 17 years, Tracey served as Dean of Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, a thriving and diverse urban congregation devoted to Cleveland and its future.

Now her future is a mystery, one her faith is strong enough to face.

Racism might not define a person, but it does shape how we each experience and express ourselves and how we respond to the world around us.

Cardiologist Terry Gordon looks at all the adversity in his life as a gift from God, not a punishment.

Yvonne Pointer’s daughter, Gloria, was brutally murdered on her way to school. Gloria was just 14. Despite the horror, Yvonne never gave up hope. Gloria’s death gave her a calling she didn’t ask for. Yvonne spent the next 29 years being the voice victims of violent crimes needed to hear.

When the pain was unbearable, she prayed for God to take her. “I no longer have a reason to live,” she said. God told her, “I will be your reason” and led her to the song, “You are my reason for living.”

After 29 years, police finally found the man who killed her daughter. When she visited him in prison, he wept and begged to die. Yvonne sang him the song that gave her hope.

She is currently working on a book “Hope Notices” and shares her #tinymorningsketch every day on social media where you can meet an elephant picking sparkleberries, a banjo playing bear and a dog named Henry who is the BFF to a little girl named Hope.

Karen calls the excitement of creating a “high wire act” she doesn’t want to miss.

Mary faced poverty, racism and child neglect with a fierceness and clarity of spirit that allowed her to turn personal pain into power, hurt into help for others. She wrote 28 lessons for African-American families, one for each day of Black History Month. She also wrote, “Wisdom Warriors” featuring a child named Skye and her wise grandparents.

Danielle grew up watching Channel 3 and wanted to be on TV. Now she’s a star on the station with her signature smile that lights up Cleveland.

Connie gives a voice to the working class through the characters in her novel, Samantha, Ellie and Brick. She writes of their hidden longings, the sacrifices they make and the knock on the door that rocks their world.

Thrity Umrigar has written 11 books and is a professor of English at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.

The pandemic has opened up a portal to re-center and reset our lives. Now is the time to dive in and take better care of the self and the Self through mindfulness, creative outlets and listening to the nurturing voice within.