Inside from the Inside » Cicily Corbett

DNA Evidence Frees Black Man Convicted of Bear Attack

Cicily Corbett — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 08:08:33 +0000

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle introduces Sherlock Holmes in the 1887 story “A Study in Scarlet.” In it, Holmes shocks his friend John H. Watson, M.D. with his ignorance, which “was as remarkable as his knowledge.” Watson is particularly surprised that Holmes is unaware that the earth revolves around the sun. “Now that I do know [...]

Black and Hispanic Achievers

Cicily Corbett — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 03:55:22 +0000

What do you want to be when you grow up? Linnette Figueroa wants to become a veterinarian. Tanisha Diaz wants to be a lawyer and an entrepreneur. The Springfield, Massachusetts teens are bright, hard-working and ambitious. So why shouldn’t they reach their goals? The YMCA wants to make sure that they do. A new program, [...]

Pulling the Race Card

Cicily Corbett — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 08:36:19 +0000

Sometimes, pulling the Race card is pointless and stupid, only serving to draw attention from more important issues surrrounding a subject. An African American Point of View is a nice little newspaper, distributed for free in the Greater Springfield, Massachusetts area and available online as well. Published by Frederick Hurst, it contains an editorial page [...]

Poetry…the Great Civilizer

Cicily Corbett — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 09:15:04 +0000

I live downtown in a mid-size East coast city. Within a radius of two blocks of my house are five museums, six churches, a library, a soup kitchen, and three homeless shelters. Demographically speaking, we inner-city dwellers are the “risk-oblivious”…artists and homosexuals mostly, who gentrify a difficult area. Mixed in, of course, with the homeless [...]

The Trial I Didn’t Serve

Cicily Corbett — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 08:43:21 +0000

I had jury duty about three weeks ago. Walked to the courthouse, about four blocks from my home, sat around for a few hours, and was dismissed. Walked back home wondering what it might have been like if I’d been assigned to a trial…if I’d have had to decide a man’s fate based on hearsay [...]