There is something gained and something lost in being a community activist. For almost 45 years, I have been active in the Madison community, working at the Urban League for 12 years, doing financial and other consulting with Centro Hispano for about 14 years, serving on the executive committee of the NAACP, working on the NAACP ACT-SO and African Association of Madison’s Africa Fest Committee, the King Coalition, Adelante political action group, instructor for UW-Madison’s PEOPLE Program for 15 years, treasurer for Kujichagulia – MCSD — the group that puts on Juneteenth — and probably other groups that I have forgotten. And this doesn’t include my 26 years of being a community journalist, first as editor of The Madison Times beginning in 1999 after the late and great Betty Franklin-Hammonds passed away and then as publisher & editor of The Capital City Hues since 2006.

Over the course of my community journalism career, I have probably interviewed close to 3,000 to 4,000 people and taken photos at countless community events. People may not know my name, but they know me as the camera guy.

Throughout that time, you get to see the full arch of the Circle of Life, from babies being born, attending school, becoming teenagers and eventually taking on the role and responsibilities of being an adult. And for some, passing away to the next level of existence.