Nothing’s set in stone. Few things are. Lucky for you, there’s usually a chance to change your mind or have a do-over. You can often get another go at something because few things are that firmly decided. As in the ...

You can do it. Yes, you can. You just need to take a deep breath and then blow it out. Find the courage inside yourself. Think of something else and do it. Don’t be scared. As you’ll see in “Jabari ...

You can pretend all you want. Hide your head in the sand and say it ain’t so. Cover your ears and yell “LaLaLaLaLa” until everyone thinks you’re five years old. You can deny, deny, deny, but listen up: some things ...

Your Daddy is the King of the House. He’s the smartest person you know. He can run fast, jump high, and his words make things happen, he’s strong, cool, and funny; he’s always making you laugh. And in the new ...

Zzzzzzzzzip. That was the sound of your last weekend as it passed by, but it probably doesn’t matter anyhow: it was packed with work, To-Dos and obligations, kid’s sports, and more work. Sometimes, you wonder why you even bother. You ...

You are a very different kind of person. You like things that others don’t like, you’re good at something that nobody else can do, and you laugh at the craziest jokes. You’re different – and that’s okay. If we were ...

No matter how old you are, you never get tired of hearing your birth story. It’s a story of anticipation that’s different from every other on the planet. You’re at the center of it, though not quite. It’s a story ...

Eight courses. You seriously doubted if the food was ever going to stop coming, though you hoped it wouldn’t: you’d tasted all your favorite dishes, and then some. It was a meal fit for a King or Queen. Or maybe ...

Raising a child is quite a challenge. When they’re small, you feel as though the entire world is dangerous. As they grow, you waffle between encouragement and fear, wings for them and tears for you. Teenagers, well, they’re a whole ...

Run, run, run. Some days, it feels like that’s all you do. Run the kids to school, dash to work, rush with errands, and run yourself ragged before bed. You’re always on the go, always moving, and in the new ...

You really can’t remember. For sure, something important happened years ago, something you should recall very easily, but time’s made things fuzzy. Have you forgotten or, worse yet, have you just remembered everything wrong? Usually, you suppose, it wouldn’t matter ...

"America is in trouble, and a lot of that trouble--perhaps most of it--has to do with race. Everywhere we turn, there is discord, division, death and destruction. When we survey the land, we see a country full of suffering that ...

Calvin Quarles is a senior pastor at the Church of Bolingbrook, a husband, father, a former Black Panther, and now a published author.

Even if you wanted to, you couldn’t escape your father. For most of your life, you were known as Little Him. Junior. Insert-your-father’s-name-here’s kid. You’re a chip off the ol’ block, maybe named after your Pops, forever known as your ...