Author: Kenneth Cole

The early morning hours of February 5, 2020, are ones you will likely look back on with fondness and nostalgia. Because the hours and days that follow will be different. Remember that morning. “What did you do to stop this?” they will ask. And the vast majority of us will realize we did nothing. Others will sheepishly say they protested, knowing that it was only by sliding their thumbs across a screen. Those who marched, spoke out or wrote letters will ultimately realize they did not do enough. None of us did enough. In many ways democracy died on...

A new decade begins and America finds itself more divided than ever. Stepping back from the brink of war with Iran, and a president impeached due to extortion and failing to honor his oath of office. A divide marked by a growing acceptance of white supremacy, misogyny, lies, and corruption in the Oval Office. One side of the divide appalled and concerned by such developments. The other seemingly comfortable in their dalliance with racism, silent, and tacitly endorsing these actions. Millions of Americans increasingly entrenched in their beliefs, honing their respective narratives and fortifying themselves as the divide deepens....

And just like that, it was time to have “the talk” with my daughter. Seems like only yesterday she said her first words. Not too long ago when she took her first steps. And just a few years since she rode her bike unsteadily as I ran behind her. They grow up so fast don’t they? If we’re lucky. This talk was not about the birds and the bees. That talks is patiently waiting in the wings. This talk was a far more challenging one, and one my wife and I hoped would never come. But, this is America,...

I’m saying goodbye to America, the land that I love. As I stand beside her, I realize that this goodbye is hauntingly familiar. So many of us have done this before. We say goodbye to those we love as their health fades. We look in their eyes and struggle to recognize the person we once knew, now occupying a body that is frail and weak. No longer powerful, but succumbing to a sickness that sadly has taken over. We say goodbye, yet we are not the ones leaving. The mourning spent in reflection of what was and imagining what...

This 4th of July as flags unfurl, which America will you celebrate?

The Village of Shorewood became the latest Wisconsin municipality after Milwaukee, Madison, Eau Claire, and Cudahy to ban the practice of conversion therapy on June 17. The cumulative and sustained efforts of citizens to pass the ban spanned more than 16 months, but in many ways it embodied what was needed to inspire change on a local and national level. In the small village along the shores of Lake Michigan, there was no involvement by lobbyists, PACs, yard signs, or social memes. Instead, the ban came as a result of a diverse array of individuals across Southeast Wisconsin who...