On Sept. 15, 1963, hate blew-up the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Al. It was Birmingham’s fourth bombing in four weeks. The massive explosion wounded and maimed nearly two dozen and killed Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson, and Denise McNair. Four little girls were murdered in a terrorist attack perpetrated by white, American men. It’s too easy to simply blame the Ku Klux Klan, shake our head sadly, and overlook the reality of the racism that ignited... Read more
The World Is Too Much With Us By William Wordsworth (April 7, 1770 – April 23, 1850) The world is too much with us; late and soon, Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;— Little we see in Nature that is ours; We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon! This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon; The winds that will be howling at all hours, And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers; For this, for everything,... Read more
What do you do when you realize the man standing in the parking lot yelling obscenities is screaming obscenities at you? I saw the man behind my car as I backed toward the empty place beside him. He was yelling something, so I stopped and put my window down. “What’s going on?” “You backed into my cart.” “Sorry about that. Do I need to get out?” His grocery cart was halfway into the empty parking place next to his car.... Read more
I’m an atypical novelist and what I write is equally unusual. Writers should read. And I do. A lot. And writers should write. And I do. A lot. My first book was a collective biography history book for 12-year-olds. I read about the founding fathers, researching the book. My second book was a biography about Wilbur and Orville Wright, and I read nearly everything written by or about them. When I earned my masters degree, I wrote research papers and... Read more
If you support this scripture: 1 Timothy 2:12-14 “I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner.” but not this scripture: 1 Timothy 6:1-2 “All who are under the yoke of slavery should consider their masters worthy of full respect, so that God’s name and... Read more
Imagine a scholar dedicating a lifetime of study to an ancient, Middle Eastern tradition. The ancient history and practices would be dissected and discussed, prodded and explored, all from the safety of thousands of miles and years away. Too many American Christians believe they are living the ancient tradition, while most aren’t even experiencing it vicariously through experts. They are little more than recreating shadows. • The Protestant Reformation came about, in part, because printing presses allowed for the wide... Read more
The Summer Day by Mary Oliver (1935-2019) Who made the world? Who made the swan, and the black bear? Who made the grasshopper? This grasshopper, I mean- the one who has flung herself out of the grass, the one who is eating sugar out of my hand, who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down- who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes. Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her... Read more
I signed a contact with a publisher to publish my first novel. I’m thrilled, is what people say. I am thrilled. But on a deeper and much wider level, I remain pessimistic. As an actor, when I’m in a commercial or movie or TV show, during the first part of the shoot I expect to be fired and replaced, once they realize they’ve made a mistake. (It happens. Just ask Eric Stoltz.) It’s only after the production reaches a halfway... Read more
To be Christian— to believe in Jesus —means trying to be like Jesus, right? According to Merriam-Webster: By the most basic definition, a Christian follows Christ. Robert Jeffress, pastor of the 13,000-member First Baptist Dallas, recently criticized the Democratic Party as looking to an “imaginary God.” A confidant of President Trump, Jeffress and others on the Christian Radical Right have asserted that Trump, a man with no understanding of Jesus whatsoever, is a Christian, while Democrats quoting scripture and affirming... Read more
Óscar Alberto Martínez Ramírez left El Salvador with dreams of giving his 23-month-old daughter Valeria a better life in the United States. His journey ended on the bank of the Rio Grande when their lifeless bodies washed up on the Texas border. Their deaths were sadly similar to the death of three-year-old Alan Kurdi, who drowned in the Mediterranean on Sept. 2, 2015. Photos of his body on the beach symbolized the refugee crisis in Syria. Refugees aren’t generalities or... Read more
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In