Commentary

This morning Spokane Faith & Values held its final Coffee Talk of the year.

This morning at 10 a.m. Spokane Faith & Values readers and panelists will gather at Indaba Coffee to discuss Crime and Punishment.

Crimes are society’s way of defining unacceptable behavior. Those behaviors that we choose not to tolerate we make criminal.

About a dozen artists are showing paintings, quilts and sculptures as part of the West Central Festival of the Arts at Salem Lutheran Church, at 1428 W. Broadway Ave.

As a devout secularist with one hand always on the deep pulse of history, I cannot help but feel moved and appreciative of the role that Nelson Mandela played in the peaceful transit of South Africa from apartheid prejudice to a working democratic structure.

Today I went on an early morning walk with workers at Valley Hospital as they went back to work after a 24-hour strike — only to be locked out by hospital management.

Imagine a concrete box called home for years, 23 hours a day, shuffling in chains when you do get out for that 60 minutes per day.