News & Views of Phillips Since 1976
Monday December 29th 2025
Letters to Philando Castile Family and slain Dallas Police and Families by Youth
BY PATRICK CABELLO HANSEL
I”'ve been teaching a writing class with the youth from our Young Leaders Program at St. Paul”'s this summer. Last Wednesday we wrote letters to Philando Castile and his family, and to the slain Dallas policemen and their families. Really powerful writing by African-American and Latino/a youth. A lot will be in the next issue of The Phoenix of Phillips literary magazine. Here is one of my offerings, an epistolary poem to the 4-year old girl who saw her mother”'s boyfriend killed by the police.
Dear Dae Dae,
BY PATRICK CABELLO HANSEL
Dear Dae Dae,
Not every sound
will scare you forever.
Not every voice
will be a weapon
so loud it will
shatter the ear drums
of your heart.
There will be birds
singing for their friends
from that special tree
in the playground you love,
the ice cream truck
will saunter down your street
on summer evenings,
and you will hear
your own voice saying,
“Mommy, can I have one,
Mommy, please, I”'ll
be good, I”'ll stay out
of trouble, I promise,”
and there will be nights
when almost all the sound
has gone out of the world,
and all you will hear
will be the crickets
chirping in the yard,
and you will wrap
yourself in your mother”'s arms,
and hear the sweet sound
of both of you,
softly crying.… Read the rest “Letters to Philando Castile Family and slain Dallas Police and Families by Youth”
The count of Union and Confederate Civil War Veterans remains challenging Part II: Two, New Confederate Veterans
General Index Cards of Isaac Breathed and Derusha Daffi
During the American Civil War 1861-1864, every few weeks to every few months depending on the unit, usually at the company level, soldiers”' names were recorded on muster rolls. Beginning in the 1880s General Ainsworth”'s staff in the Department of the Army indexed these records originally to determine who was eligible for a pension. His staff wrote a card for every time a soldier”'s name appeared on a muster roll. When Ainsworth”'s staff finished the Compiled Military Service records, each soldier”'s file usually had many cards representing each time the soldier”'s name appeared on a muster roll.
One type of card, the General Index Card listed the soldier”'s name, the soldier”'s rank at the time of enlistment from the first card and the date the soldier left the service with the soldier”'s final rank from the last card. These General Index cards form the basis for the Soldier names in the Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System.… Read the rest “The count of Union and Confederate Civil War Veterans remains challenging Part II: Two, New Confederate Veterans”
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