The cause of homelessness is lack of housing.

Children sometimes understand things that most grown-ups do not see.

The primary victims of Katrina, those who were given the least help by the government, those rescued last or not at all, were overwhelmingly people of color largely hidden from the mainstream of society.

Pick battles big enough to matter, small enough to win.

There has been so much recent talk of progress in the areas of curriculum innovation and textbook revision that few people outside the field of teaching understand how bad most of our elementary school materials still are.

I wrote the first book, and I thought people would say: 'Separate and unequal schools in the City of Boston? I didn't know that. Let's go out and fix it.'

I beg people not to accept the seasonal ritual of well-timed charity on Christmas Eve. It's blasphemy.