Norty

A few weeks ago, I had a chance to sit with a dear mentor of mine, Dr. Norty Kalishman.

Norty is one of those people who has done it all – protested injustices, sat on non-profit boards, helped to lead a charitable foundation and lots of things he probably hasn’t told me about. He did all of this while serving his communities as a primary care physician, including a stint where helped lead the New Mexico Department of Health. 

These days, he balances all of the activism with retirement, enjoying life with his wife Summers, gardening, and being an amazing grandparent.

But it was something he asked at the end of the meeting, a seemingly inconsequential question, that caught me off guard.

“Should I send things to your AMSA email?”

I paused in hearing this. Stunned, to be honest.

AMSA stands for the American Medical Student Association, and I was a student leader in AMSA in 2007, trying to address the troubling presence of for-profit interests (e.g. drug companies) in medical education. They even gave me an AMSA email. (Hey, as a medical student, small gifts like this are amazing, as you try to tread water and stay afloat.)

I hadn’t heard those letters in a long time.

That question made me realize how long Norty had been in my life, encouraging and guiding me.

In fact, I recall now that when I came to Albuquerque as an east coast medical student in 2007, a UNM student had given me a few names of community-oriented, radical, activist physicians that I needed to meet.

Norty, meeting all of the above criteria, was on this short list. He had literally helped to welcome me to Burque and this Enchanted Land.

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As life speeds ahead, often at a dizzying pace, it can be a sort of amnesia, making it hard to remember the people who have poured into us over years and decades.

Surely, you have people like Norty in your life. 

Take a few moments this week to reflect on the people who have guided your path. Write one of them a letter, give one of them a call, and if they are no longer walking in this life with us, remember them in a way that is meaningful. Let your Nortys know that you are grateful for them.

Norty, thank you for asking the question, and in doing so, helping me to remember. 

Thank you for guiding me these last two decades. 

Thank you for unconditional love and friendship. 

I hope to be like you when I grow up.

p.s. I will share an editorial he co-authored in March on child well-being. Click here

Life's Overwhelming Beauty

Beauty, y’all

    Man, sometimes we look at the vast expanse.

    It’s sort of hard to take it all in.

    It can be intimidating.

    Scary, looking at these depths

It’s also the first moment of seeing the Colorado River after some good hard work to get here.

 

And you also see

You have boulders

Things to hang on to

Things to give you

Shade

Protection

Your loved ones

Creator

It has become an annual ritual for me - running long runs in the Grandest of Canyons, a time to pray and give thanks. I enjoy taking a moment to record something short in the moment, filled with the energy of this magical place and the energy of the movement.

If you want to view the previous years' posts, here they are:

2024: Appreciating the Journey (+ Ourselves) - click here.

2022: Moving from Shade to Sun - click here.

Restorative Practices: Interview with my son

 

Repairing and Forgiveness by Aliana Garcia, 7th Grader at Garfield STEM and Community School. She explains, "This picture represents harm and forgiveness. You have to repair what has happened... Sometimes kids lose friends and sometimes they just need to talk."

I had the chance to interview an important person yesterday.

He happens to be my son.

Bah’Hozhooni is an 8^th grader who is beginning to see his abilities as a leader and his responsibilities to others. Garfield STEM and Community School, nestled in the North Valley, is an incubator for young leaders. The school has made a strong shift to restorative practices in the last years, with a focus “repairing relationships and building stronger communities by prioritizing dialogue and harm repair, rather than punishment, in conflict resolution.”

In doing so, Garfield has gone from a school with notoriously high rates of expelled and suspended students to a school where such actions are almost non-existent. But it is not a top-down approach. Garfield empowers Bah’Hozhooni and his peers to become a part of the restorative culture and practices. They allow students to pick peers who they feel are trustable and these students become “Circle Keepers” who lead restorative circles for their peers. Ms. Erin Chavez leads Circle Keepers trainings on a weekly basis after school.  

Recently, the Circle Keepers got the chance to set up an art exhibit at the UNM School of Education, presenting to future teachers about their work and leading restorative circles. My son and his peers are now college professors!

Here was my interview with the professor:

Q: Tell us about the Circle Keeper program at Garfield Middle School and why you said "yes" to being a part of this group.

Bah'Hoozhoni: The circle keeper program is a group of trusted students that help the school internally. We go over restorative justice and practices, as well as suicide prevention. I didn’t really say yes, but I got put into the advisory class and decided to try it out. 

Q: What things are Circle Keepers trained in?

B: Circle keepers are trained and certified in suicide prevention and restorative practices

Q: What do you think are the biggest ways Circle Keepers and Restorative Practices improve your school?

B: Circle Keepers and Restorative Practices help make the school feel more safe and friendly. We also help improve the overall wellbeing of the students’ minds.

Q: I know you have mentioned the school-to-prison pipeline. What is this and how is your school working to meet this challenge?

B: The school-to-prison pipeline is when students get in trouble and are usually met with a consequence. Usually this consequence is being suspended which can cause students to feel not valuable. This then can cause them to be related in the criminal justice system, especially boys, of color or with disabilities. We as Circle Keepers are trying to keep them away from being suspended and feeling like they are worth something. 

Q: Last question: How do you want to continue using what you have learned as you enter high school?

B: Of course, I would love to continue this great work Ms. Chavez has put into our group and given the knowledge I know, it’s very possible I will see this at my high school next year.

~~~~~~~~~

My son, I am proud of you. I am excited to see how you bring your Circle Keeper knowledge to your next school and into your next years.

To Garfield’s teachers and administration, thank you for giving students a new lens for seeing how they can live in and repair the world.

To all my readers, get over to Hokona Hall on UNM's main campus to see the art exhibit of the amazing Garfield artists. It is up until the end of May.

Togetherness by Lalaine Chavez and Daymian Lovato. They describe, "In the artwork you can see the globe with people on it and on the land patches there are affirmations. The earth is being held by hands with hearts in the background. We chose this topic because we wanted to show how self-love and togetherness are important...self-love is important for your mental health. Our hope for all students and educators is that they will be more aware of people's feelings and help each other out when needed.

Living with Peace by Bah'Hozhooni Fleg and Lucas Sarabia. They explain, "In the artwork you can see nature and beautiful art. There is negative stuff like guns and drugs. They go down to a beautiful waterfall and get turned into peace, love and a flower. Along the border are also the 6 R's of restorative practices. At our school, we have experienced the 6 R's as Circle Keepers as we need to be responsible and respect our peers.

 

Tuesday!

Good morning, good people.

Tuesday has come to be.

A gift that Monday could not promise.

And Tuesday, being a bit selfish, frowns upon us worrying about her sister, Wednesday.

“Stay right here, 

        in this day, 

                in this moment, 

                        in the present that is the present,” she implores.

Tuesday.

What will you make with this opportunity?

If you arrive at Tuesday with a cup close to empty, today is the time to fill that cup. How will you do this? 

Start with a few moments of quiet, a chance to strategize and prioritize how you will fill the cup. 

You deserve this. 

Tuesday has gifted you this opportunity. 

Take her up on that offer to begin filling the cup.

If you arrive at Tuesday with a cup overflowing, celebrate that. Today is the perfect time to share a few drops with those around you.

As I plan my celebratory dance with Tuesday myself, I think of an India Arie song, “Give Thanks”.

“There will never ever be another day just like this day.”

True. Tuesday offers us what no other day in our lives will offer.

She continues,

“So let’s give praise now.”

Enjoy your dance with Tuesday, good people.

Movement is the Song of the Body

If

movement is the song of the body,

what song is your body singing today?

is that song fast or slow?

angry or grateful?

energized like electronic music or exhausted like a slow bluegrass drawl?

Is a blues about what could have been or a love ballad sharing of bliss?

loud like metal, or soft like a lullaby?

complex like a 10-piece band or simple like solo acapella?

 

And

as the body sings

How are you listening?

are you paying attention, hearing the nuances, the phrasing of the notes?

are you hearing the pauses?

are you hearing the notes not played?

do you turn up or down the volume when the song is a cry for help?

 

Thus

move to the beautiful music that your body is singing today

        feel each 

                    note + pause + nuance + cry

                                as you have never felt them before

As you move today, whether for exercise or a break at work, listen in a way you haven't listened in awhile. And consider write your own piece today, starting with the line "If movement is the song of the body..."

Dear Freeman

Dear Freeman,

This letter is one of gratitude from one of your mentees.

For the last three decades, you have been the ultimate mentor for me, a guide in so many ways. Always there to support, willing to make time for me.

I heard the stories about you before I ever stepped on your University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) campus that you led for three decades, a gem on the higher education landscape and one known for producing an incredible number of Black PhDs.

“There’s a college president there who will make visits to students’ houses and sit in the living room to try to encourage them to come to UMBC. Not because they are athletes, but because they are smart.”

You have always made being a nerd a cool thing to be!

We then had the privilege to work together in planning the UMBC Freedom Seder, an event stemming from the Civil Rights Movement that uses Passover to bring the Black and Jewish communities together through the theme of freedom. I heard that you supported the event, and expected to meet you in the ballroom on the day of the event. But here you were, at all of the planning meetings with a bunch of undergrad students like me. Deferring to us as if we were the Board of Regents.

A servant leader in all ways. Always.

Dr. Hrabowski, I must take a moment to brag on you. Is that okay?

As a little boy from Birmingham, Alabama, you were great at doing two things: eating and learning. You were pretty darn good at both, from what you have shared with me.

At 19 years old, you graduated from college (Hampton Institute) with high honors in mathematics and then became a PhD in math at age 24.

However, I think it was the moment where you had to decide whether or not to march with the children of Birmingham in the summer of 1963 to protest the injustices of segregation that might have been a turning point in your life. Given a task from Dr. King to look after the younger children who were in jail with you, you saw your potential as a leader. Just a few months after that, you bore witness to four of your classmates being killed in the bombing of the 16^th St. Baptist Church.

But you have never become bitter. Angry at injustice, yes. But you channel that in a loving way to the world.

No wonder there were calls for you to run for Governor of the State of Maryland or to leave UMBC for bigger schools.

I think a lot of my ways of being and doing stem from you. For instance, my insistence at looking at what people and communities do well, even though my medical profession focuses on the opposite. I look at two of the first books you penned, writing about successful young black men and women, wanting to dig into what factors made them achieve.

I am honored to be your student.

I am honored to carry on your legacy.

May your path continue to carry blessings. Enjoy every moment of retirement with Jackie and your grandson Elijah.

Thank you.

Ahe hee.

Ashe.

p.s. You now have a few more groupies to add to the LONG list thanks to this blog :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Writing to Heal friends and family - here is an 8-minute glimpse of Dr. Hrabowski, giving a closing speech at the 2025 American Conference on Education conference, offering us hope and perspective in this moment. Enjoy!

The World at our Table: How will we welcome them?

I took my seat in the makeshift meeting room around a big table, preparing to give a health talk to the refugees supported by Umoja. 

This organization was founded by Chantal Muhumure to empower refugee women, and is housed by St. Timothy’s church. Umoja (meaning “unity” in Swahili) offers vocational training, drivers education, English classes and health/wellness support.

On my side, the room continued to fill up with men, while a colleague prepared to speak to the women. Due to many of the attendees using public transportation, arriving on time was not as easy for them as it was for me, using my car.

Nothing was easy for these men, as I came to appreciate through their stories.

Introductions came first.

Countries around our table: Syria, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Venezuela, Guatemala, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Languages spoken: Persian, Pashto, Arabic, Swahili, Kinyarwanda, Thai and Spanish.

Escaping from war and ethnic violence, each of these men had an incredible story of how they got to be here in New Mexico.

“We have the entire world at this table,” I reflected to them, as translators amongst us and Google translate did the work to get my message to each of them.

“What a beautiful thing, to look around this table and see how each of you have come to be here.”

I paused.

“I hope that our country shows you a welcome, a path toward being successful here, toward feeling a part of America.”

They shared openly and honestly about their fear in this moment. One shared that it was akin to being in someone’s house but fearing that the initial welcome wasn’t the reality. 

Unsure whether this country wants them or simply wants them deported.

The U.S. Refugee Resettlement Program, abruptly suspended in a matter of weeks. (Lawsuit challenging this was filed February 10^th.)

These men were years and even decades into working through programs and processes to get to right here, at this table.

And the door was slamming shut on the support we promised to provide.

I looked around the table again, a glimpse of “the world” right here at America’s doorstep.

Dreams and hopes of escaping violence and genocide. Dreams and hopes of being a part of the American fabric.

Turning inward, I felt a deep sadness in thinking about the “welcome” we are providing our refugees and immigrants.

Suddenly, my health talk didn’t seem all that important.