The Invisible Girls #5 (Editor’s Note: This is our fifth and final excerpt from Sarah Thebarge’s new writing project, The Invisible Girls.) The next time I went, I took more groceries and some children’s books.  I knocked on the door, but no one answered.  The house was silent.  I sat...

The Invisible Girls #4 (Editor’s Note: This is our fourth excerpt from Sarah Thebarge’s new writing project, The Invisible Girls.) On my next day off I went to the grocery store and got some fruit and vegetables and non-perishables. I also wanted to make them a meal, since the sight of...

The Invisible Girls #3 (Editor’s Note: Part Three of our ongoing series from Sarah Thebarge’s new project, The Invisible Girls.) A few days later, I found myself sitting in my car in my driveway, unsure of whether I should follow through on my crazy plan to show up at their door, unannounced. ...

The Invisible Girls #2 (Editor’s Note: Part Two of our ongoing series from Sarah Thebarge’s new project, The Invisible Girls.) A few weeks ago, I broke my no-eye-contact rule.  I was riding the MAX towards downtown when I noticed an African woman in Muslim dress with two little children...

The Invisible Girls #1 A few months ago, I was riding the MAX train from the Portland suburbs to downtown when I saw a little Somali girl falling asleep while she was standing up.  I reached out my arms to her, and she crawled into my lap and fell asleep.  And that began a relationship with her...

My son recently returned from band camp and recovered from his grueling work by catching up on the past week’s Daily Show and Colbert Report. Stewart and Colbert must have referred to the term “anchor baby” a half-dozen times in reference to the immigration debate in Arizona. “Anchor...

In light of the new immigration laws signed into effect in Arizona, now might be the perfect time to question the direction politics are taking with regard to foreigners in our land.  Arizona’s bill allows police to question and arrest people without warrant if there is “reasonable suspicion”...

This week, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed another awful law directed at the Hispanic community. And, again, Facebook went crazy.  Depending on who you asked, people outside Arizona either thought Jan Brewer was a hero or a racist crazy person.  One of my family members (who lives in Oregon and...

SB 1070, the immigration reform bill Arizona governor Jan Brewer signed into law last week, is awful. Feel free to read it yourself (it’s not an overly difficult law to understand), but here are some important excerpts: “Requires a reasonable attempt to be made to determine the immigration...

In 1883, Emma Lazarus, a young American woman from a wealthy Jewish family, wrote a sonnet called, “The New Colossus.” Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame, With conquering limbs astride from land to land; Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame Is...