Category: From the Soul

Dealing with ICE at the Community College Level

 Ernie McCray  May 26, 2026  0 Comments on Dealing with ICE at the Community College Level

by Ernie McCray

Attending a
Community College league of California
Trustees Conference
with Maria, my querida,
a trustee,
I happened upon
a session that very much interested me,
one regarding
protecting campuses
from ICE
who a while back
became a concern
to Santa Barbara Community College
when agents, nevertheless,
although they didn’t harass or arrest
any students,

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A Plea for Taking Art to Heart

 Ernie McCray  May 15, 2026  0 Comments on A Plea for Taking Art to Heart

by Ernie McCray

My heart weakens
when I see my city
seeking to make catastrophic reductions
in arts funding,
as I feel,
in my very being
that the arts
should be at the center
of all things
since from humankind’s beginning
the arts have been essential
to a human being’s
wellbeing,
a means of communicating emotions,

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An 88-Year-old’s Concern About the Draft

 Ernie McCray  April 24, 2026  5 Comments on An 88-Year-old’s Concern About the Draft

By Ernie McCray

I’ve been an 88-year-old
for a few days now
and I’m still rocking,
however, not to my surprise,
to the same vibe
I was moving to during
the waning moments of my 87 years
of life,
dealing with the little aches and pains
and minor discomforts and irritations
that come with aging
and having to continue
fighting off a president’s lies
like a man
shooing and swatting flies
in response to a war
to which he gave rise,

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An Afternoon with Josefina Lopez

 Ernie McCray  April 17, 2026  1 Comment on An Afternoon with Josefina Lopez

by Ernie McCray

I, along with a room
of other people,
just spent
“An Afternoon with Josefina Lopez”
who just happens to be
an award-winning
highly acclaimed Chicana
playwright and screenwriter
who gave to the world,
early in her career,
the play, “Real Women Have Curves,”
which later
became adapted into a film
and then
a Broadway musical,

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Fears of Aging in the Midst of Madness

 Ernie McCray  April 3, 2026  4 Comments on Fears of Aging in the Midst of Madness

by Ernie McCray

I’m nearing 88 years
and along with that
there are, of course,
a few fears,
anxieties rising
just from seeing
all my meds
set in front of me
on the coffee table
where I used to place a few knick-knacks,
and there are the
aches and pains
suddenly appearing like hoodlums
crashing a party,
and the loss of the ability to do
things I once
did very well
like getting up
and sitting down
without making a sound,
and I am constantly using my cane

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Viva Dolores!

 Ernie McCray  March 20, 2026  5 Comments on Viva Dolores!

by Ernie McCray

Oh, I wish so much of the news
didn’t give me the blues,
as hearing Dolores Huerta weigh in
on Cesar Chavez’s sexual abuse
of women and minor children
with allegations
of situations
he put her in
darkened my soul
like midnight
on a moonless night,
making me weep
as I read of her emotional pain,
of how she has kept quiet
over time
so as not to bring negative attention
to the United Farm Worker’s struggles,

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As a Principal I Would Rather Join than Suspend

 Ernie McCray  February 6, 2026  3 Comments on As a Principal I Would Rather Join than Suspend

by Ernie McCray

Say what?
Students are facing
being suspended from school
for standing up|
against ICE’s
muggings and
cold-blooded killings
of citizens?

Based on what?
Doing the right thing?

I mean if I was still a principal
of a school
and my students
decided they wanted to make a statement
about some goons
who had never heard of
or cared about the Golden Rule,
I’d be out there with them,

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Oh, Have You Republicans Ever Lost Your Way

 Ernie McCray  February 3, 2026  2 Comments on Oh, Have You Republicans Ever Lost Your Way

by Ernie McCray

What in the hell is wrong with you
Republican Congressmen and Congresswomen?
How have you
come to losing your way
so dishonorably,
like a ship without a rudder
in foggy weather,
wandering aimlessly,
trapped in a web,
like helpless insects,
at the mercy
of a demented madman of a president
who has you, for one thing,
for instance,

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Anyone of Us Could Be Next if We Don’t Radiate Love to Drive Out the Hate

 Ernie McCray  January 26, 2026  0 Comments on Anyone of Us Could Be Next if We Don’t Radiate Love to Drive Out the Hate

by Ernie McCray

The murder of Renee Michele Good

in her neighborhood

for reasons as unjustified

as a motive

could possibly be

has grabbed my attention dramatically

due to such action being extremely unlikely

considering

that law enforcement people

Continue Reading Anyone of Us Could Be Next if We Don’t Radiate Love to Drive Out the Hate

Josefina, a Beautiful Reprieve from the Lunacy

 Ernie McCray  January 19, 2026  0 Comments on Josefina, a Beautiful Reprieve from the Lunacy

by Ernie McCray

We, Maria, my heart,
and Lillia, her bosom buddy,
and I,
just returned from Cuernavaca
where we visited
Josefina Sosa Catalan,
a longtime friend.

What a time we had
from the time we got there
until the very end.

On the plane ride home
I relived,
in my thoughts,
how radiant and graceful Josefina is,

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Oh, 2026 Is Looking as Stormy as 2025

 Ernie McCray  January 9, 2026  0 Comments on Oh, 2026 Is Looking as Stormy as 2025

by Ernie McCray

As the year 2025 closed
American citizens held out hope
that 2026
would be a better year,
considering that 2025
had us shaking in our boots,
in fear,
crying in our beer,
shedding tears,
but now, just a few days
after the new year arrived,
before we could

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Keep the Love Flowing, America

 Ernie McCray  December 29, 2025  1 Comment on Keep the Love Flowing, America

by Ernie McCray

2025.
A year in which I often
watched, in disbelief and grief,
as a president who, between
cheating at golf
and decorating
the White House with gawdy appearing gold leaf,
constantly and relentlessly
stood before a mic
spewing
disgraceful overly racialized
cockeyed jive
in braggadocious tones
about the crackdowns,
featuring ridding the country of dark-skinned immigrants,
he had going on
on our borders
and in our cities and towns,

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