I'm Ashley C. Ford, and I host Into the Mix, a Ben & Jerry's podcast about joy and justice produced with Vox Creative.

For the past few years, I've seen a lot of hand-wringing about Governor Ron DeSantis' agenda to end what he calls woke indoctrination.

But we wanted to know, what does that mean?

And how does this agenda actually affect the people living and working there?

Especially those who have benefited from the diversity, equity, and inclusion programs that DeSantis' policies would uproot.

Check out the latest mini-series on Into the Mix of Ben and Jerry's podcast. Subscribe

now.

Hey, everybody. This is Ellie, bringing you my weekly note to the cafe community. Also, this

week, the debut of my brand new podcast, Up Against the Mob. Check it out on Apple, Spotify, wherever you get your podcast.

The first episode dropped this week, you are not going to want to miss this.

And as always, please keep sending us your thoughts, comments or questions to letters atcafe.com.

There's just no way. It can't be that 20 years have passed since September 11, 2001. I can't be

alone in this. It still feels like, if not quite yesterday, then something still immediate and raw.

September 11th changed everything, of course. And as time passes, it feels like September 11th

has even changed time itself, or at least the perception and memory of time. 20 years have gone by.

But as my grandmother, herself, a survivor of another of humanity's unimaginable atrocities

at another time in place used to say,

it's all the blink of an eye, indeed.

The Freedom Tower is no longer a novelty on the city's skyline.

It looks natural now like it's been there, like it belongs.

There's a small September 11th memorial at the train station in my quiet suburban commuter town.

It lists the names of about 700 people from New Jersey who died that day, including 13 from

...