The main reason I started The Echoes Blog was because I wanted us to share stories that might give us insight to how supremacy, prejudice, ignorance, untruths, and the dangers of inequality and disproportionate power run through the veins of our society and infect our humanity with hate and entitlement. Months ago I had this idea to ask my friends when they realized they were racially/ethnically different. I wondered if it was an event that revealed it to them or if it was ju

I made a late-night trip to Prairie View A&M University to drop off my son’s room keys that he had forgotten at home. We discovered the keys were missing just as we pulled onto Sandra Bland Drive, the new name of the street leading into Prairie View. After finding out that there is a no re-issue policy of keys from the administrative offices, I knew I was going to have to drive all the way home, pick up the keys, and drive back to Prairie View so he could have his keys that n

©Matthew Ransdell 2015 All Rights Reserved. I do not own the rights to the music Please do me a favor and close your eyes. I’m completely serious you can trust me just close your eyes I’ll tell you when to open them Now think. Think back to the days when you energizer bunny-ed your way through playtime. Think about the times when toys, barbies, and recess were the ingredients needed to make endless bliss Bubble gum, bubble gum in a dish. How many pieces do you wish? Laughing,

Wikipedia describes “toxic masculinity” as certain socially destructive standards or behavior among men in contemporary American and European society that encourage domination of others, devaluation of women, and emotional stoicism. Wiki goes on to say that certain aspects of this type of masculinity describe the type of men who exhibit misogynistic, homophobic, and violent tendencies. There are more attributes, but what’s key is that men who suffer from this particular affli

I was first introduced to the play Br’er Cotton by Tearrance Arvelle Chisholm at Kitchen Dog Theater’s New Works Festival as a reading in May of 2016. I thought the play was fantastic, visually stunning, very special and yet extremely challenging. When Kitchen Dog Theater’s Co-Artistic Directors, Tina Parker and Chris Carlos, decided to produce Br’er Cotton as a Mainstage New Works Festival Play to be performed in June of 2017, I was thrilled and looked forward to seeing it i