In 1964, when our nine-member family outgrew the three-bedroom home in Cleveland, Ohio, my Dad decided to build a home on a six-acre lot we owned in Huntsburg, about thirty miles outside of Cleveland. Our split-level home was erected a half acre back on the property. My Dad made and proudly displayed a sign that read “Plummer’s Half Dozen” at the end of our long driveway. It was in this home, on that six-acre lot, that I spent my high school years, bumbling my way through adolescence with my sisters and younger brother. After high school, at only seventeen years old, I entered the convent and lived in the religious order’s Motherhouse only ten miles away from my family home. On “home visits” coming back to the “Plummer’s Half Dozen” was always very, very special.

The first publications of Half Dozen Publications were two “Sister Nun” cozy mysteries inspired by my family, my life as a nun, and my life as a psychologist after I left the convent. In these psycho-social mysteries, psychologist and former nun, Kathy Carpenter always discovers something in her clinical practice that she must bring to light without breaking confidentiality. Her gregarious sister, Tina, helps her to uncover the truth. Together these amateur sister sleuths uncover suicides and accidental deaths as murders.

Deborah’s book, Some of My Friends Are…Daunting Challenges and Untapped Benefits of Cross-Racial Friendships (Beacon Press) examines how cross-racial friendships work and fail in American society. This book has been used effectively for in-home discussions (book salons) and for book clubs across the U.S. with the aim of achieving racial equity one friend at a time. It is also a recommended text for course adoption by Penguin Random House. Consider incorporating the text into the syllabus for sociology, psychology, and other social science courses to spark meaningful and more enlightened conversations about contemporary race relations.

Deborah is also the editor of Handbook of Diversity Management (Rowman & Littlefield; Half Dozen Publications), a comprehensive, data-informed compendium for seasoned and novice diversity practitioners. She is author of Racing Across the Lines: Changing Race Relations through Friendships (Pilgrim Press; Half Dozen Publications) which received the publisher’s Mayflower Award for best publication in the category of Church and Society. As a university professor, she has authored several book chapters and published numerous journal articles to the professional community on patterns of adult cross-racial friendships, racial identity development and managing diverse work environments.

Other publications include Advancing Inclusion: A Guide for Effective Diversity Council and Employee Resource Group Membership (Half Dozen Publications) and an essay “The Girl from the Ghetto,” published in the anthology All the Women in My Family Sing: Women Write the World: Essays on Equality, Justice, and Freedom (NBTT Publications).