This group of men have been gathering in Kansas City bar The Quaff to play shuffleboard around New Year’s Eve every year for 20 years. They let me “crash” their hyper-competitive tournament.

Awan Ater is a Refugee Resettlement Case Manager for Della Lamb in Kansas City. When I met him I asked him his name, “My name is Awan Ater,” he answered. “Where are you from?” “I’m from Missouri. I am a US Citizen. I was born in South Sudan.” I met him when I was reporting on the relationship between US presidents and refugees in 2017. For that story Awan read this quote from Ronald Reagan. After reading it, he smiled.
”We in the United States, above all, must remember that lesson, for we were founded as a nation of openness to people of all beliefs. And so we must remain. Our very unity has been strengthened by our pluralism. We establish no religion in this country, we command no worship, we mandate no belief, nor will we ever. Church and state are, and must remain, separate. All are free to believe or not believe, all are free to practice a faith or not, and those who believe are free, and should be free, to speak of and act on their belief.”

Don Jeronimo holds the Bible given to him by the late Fr. Stanley Rother. Beatified in 2017, Fr. Rother was the fist American Catholic declared a martyr for the Church.

Candidate for Maryland Governor Wes Moore meets with neighbors at a West Baltimore food distribution event.

Members of Girl Scout Troop 4162 gather with flags to celebrate Eid in South Kansas City, Missouri.

Candidate for Maryland Governor Wes Moore talks with Marcus Morrison about the job prospects in his West Baltimore community.

It gets competitive.

Leica M6, Zeiss Sonnar. Ilford HP5+