“I started to learn that my addiction was just a symptom of a much deeper problem. I didn’t realize how sick I was until I finally got away from all of the sickness—and I would have never gotten away from all of the sickness on my own.”

Timothy Harriman is the kind of person I can listen to for hours, giving full attention—in fact, I have. But storytelling is only one of Timothy’s many talents and passions.

If you don’t involve yourself with poor people, with people of color—if you live in that secluded subculture that doesn’t interact with these other cultures—then you just don’t understand.

In the early 2000s, the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child coined the term “toxic stress,” explaining how ACEs trigger biological reactions from the excessive activation of stress response systems on a child’s developing brain, as well as the immune system, metabolic regulatory systems, and the cardiovascular system. Toxic stress from ongoing, high doses of adversity can become embedded in a person’s traits and behaviors.

In the mid-1990s, there was a landmark study conducted by the Center for Disease Control that revealed that 12.5% of individuals who experienced four or more ACEs before their 18th birthday had a 390% increased risk of COPD, a 240% increased risk of hepatitis, a 460% increased risk of depression, and a shocking 1,220% increased risk of suicide.

A short account of how I continue to learn about health disparities and strive for better practice.

Although we love a good book, sometimes, a short message is what we need. Language is magic in the sense that just a few words or sentences can move us. Each issue, we pose a different question to our community and ask for answers written on sticky notes. These words of wisdom can be seen strewn throughout the paper!

Over the past 28 years I have seen that people in prison tend to get some type of clock or timepiece tattoo. I decided to create a timepiece that was an actual clock to represent my experience and outlook on my sentences/time.

I want to tell you a story. It certainly is a story about the power of relationships. It just may be a story of redemption. It definitely is a story of the unexpected. But I want you, the reader, to decide if this is a story of us and them, or a story about us.

Year after year the carnival visited the same towns, and kids who didn’t have funds to get in knew they could always rely on “Crazy Dave” to get their tickets. “It’s called the amusement business and amusement means fun,” he said.

Sunlight filled the room. It was bright and cheerful, much like Mary herself. Dressed in fashionable business attire, most would find it difficult to believe that Mary was once homeless and addicted to hard street drugs.