An important lesson that I learned about Lent actually came from a Jewish friend. While working at Purdue University, I served under Dr. Robert Ringel, a devout man who approached his religious observances with deep care. In the first year that I worked for him, he came into my office to seek forgiveness for any wrong he may have done me. This was part of his preparation for Yom Kippur, a high holy day for the Jewish people and a day of atonement for sins against God and his people.

One woman’s experience of incarceration exposed her to many of the issues emblematic of our country’s problems with prisons.

Deemed indispensable by the families who hire them, why are domestic workers excluded from legal protection?

When Juana Flores first arrived in the United States from Mexico 27 years ago, she found a job taking care of a child for what seemed like a huge amount of money: $75 every two weeks. After the first two months, her employers told Flores that she would need to care for two additional children. “A few months after that, the first boy’s father began to intimidate me, to insult me, and talk to me in suggestive ways,” says Flores, speaking through a translator.