Stories from inside the walls, teachings for the season, and news from the chaplaincy. A window into what presence on Rikers Island actually looks like.
The alarm goes off before the city wakes. There is no applause for the early drive to the island, no audience for the small kindnesses inside. On showing up anyway — and why the word Hineni only counts when it costs something.
Read the essay →How Chanukah came to Rikers this year — eight nights, and the faces that lit up with each candle.
A Passover meditation written from behind the walls — on the kinds of liberation that don't require a key.
Five years of walking with people past the gate. The numbers, the lessons, and the road ahead.
Sometimes the chaplain is the one who learns. A conversation that changed how I do this work.
An honest inventory of a chaplain's bag — and why the most important thing in it weighs nothing at all.
A year of presence by the numbers — visits, programs, and the people who made it possible.
A short note from the island every month — a story, a teaching, and a look at what your support makes possible.