Dear Mr. Peterson, I heard about your recent comment regarding “Modern-Day Slavery” and I wanted to take a minute to write to you about it. I know your getting critiqued on all sides regarding the comments. There’s some truth to what you said though, Modern-day slavery is real. It does exist. It’s just doesn’t happen to be NFL players who are experiencing it, at least not in the same way we remember in our history...

Last Friday, I had the good pleasure of talking to 400 elementary school students about the topic of water and the fact that 1.1 billion people in the world lack access to clean drinking water. I came as a ‘guest author’ and read from my book Clean Water for Elirose as well as used several hands-on activities to try and make the subject matter concrete to the youth. I’ve never spoken to a group of elementary school kids that...

A common problem in many cities is litter. In Minneapolis, the city will give you a trash can to put on your block (it’s simple and you can download the form to sign up here). Yet, some folks need an extra motivation, so why not make throwing your trash away fun? Here’s a creative way of addressing the litter problem. (See video below) I’m hoping to get some robotics students at Henry to create something like this for one of...

I read about 40 books in 2010. One of my goals was to read more female authors, I read 26 by female authors and 14 by males. I also wrote brief reviews on all of them, which you can read by clicking on the book titles below. My goal for 2011 is to read at least 31 books (20+11), this time with an emphasis on reading both female and ethnically diverse authors. Any good recommendations for books to read in...

Four years ago, when we were expecting our daughter, I knew I was about to begin a major shift in my priorities. It would still be a high priority to live out my faith and values, but above all else, the top priority is now to lovingly raise my children and instill those values that our so central to my life in theirs as well. In addition to simply loving my kids, I wanted to help them to see the world the way I had grown to see it. A large...

As someone who is passionate about my community, it no surprise that more and more of my work is focused within my neighborhood. Earlier this year I was hired as a community reporter by a collaborative of non-profits on the northside. Initially, I wasn’t sure what my role would be, but what has developed is something I’m quite excited about. I currently have the opportunity to write stories, capture videos, and basically highlight...