I went to the movies late last night. Normally when that happens, this space contains a review or a recommendation. Not today, though, because 45 minutes in to the #1 movie of 2014, I left. I’ve never done it before. I’ve sat through some terrible films (Will Ferrell’s 2006 disaster “Bewitched” comes to mind), usually anticipating my time at the keyboard afterwards, where I will dole out justice to the offending piece of cinema. That wasn’t the case with Guardians... Read more
Over at The Gospel Coalition, Justin Taylor has wrapped up his terrific series, “Novels Every Christian Should Consider Reading.” Taylor asked more than a dozen Christian writers, educators and ministers what novel they would commend for Christian reading and why. Read through every answer and be prepared to add many titles to your reading list. I loved this series for several reasons, the first being that whereas non-fiction can usually commend itself to me through its subject matter or author,... Read more
If you are a right-leaning Christian, or are Facebook friends with people who are (I realize this probably rules out the editorial board at The New York Times), you’ve probably seen links to a blog run by Matt Walsh. Walsh’s site, by his own account, has exploded within the last year, averaging several thousand hits per post and hundreds of comments and “Likes” on Facebook. His opinions seem fairly consistent with a middle-class, generically Republican worldview. He is a devout... Read more
Earlier this year I wrote an op-ed for The Christian Post criticizing a Slate piece titled “Don’t Let the Doctor Do This to Your Baby.” On top of being an illogical diatribe, the article’s headline was misleading. Instead of a genuine look at a real and harmful medical practice, the article was a sermon on transgenderism and the evils of declaring your baby a boy or girl. I said that was an example of “clickbait,” a practice used to generate traffic... Read more
The NFL’s unprecedented month of woes has elicited reactions that are unfortunately falling neatly along right/left lines. Writing for SBNation.com, Jane Coaston says the NFL itself is essentially evil: Football has never been good. There has never been a time at which football, a game dependent on both incredible skill and irredeemable violence, has been good. Don’t think that football has not always been a violent game full of terrible people. It has been, and is, and will likely always be. Joe Namath... Read more
The Ray Rice fiasco is leaving a gaping hole in NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s credibility. First, he suspended Rice for two games, the same month the league handed down punishments ranging from 3 to 8 times that amount for recreational drug use. The NFL then circled the wagons around the decision and made themselves look criminally absurd in the process. Then, Goodell admitted that he had mishandled Rice’s situation and announced a tough, zero-tolerance policy for players who commit domestic... Read more
In July 2009 I was hired by a Chick Fil-A in Louisville, Kentucky. I was a sophomore in college and a freshman in life. Chick Fil-A (affectionately abbreviated as CFA) took a chance on an awkward 20 year old with no previous job experience and gave me the opportunity to pay for college and gas until I left in October 2010. My debt-free graduation last year was at least partly CFA’s doing, which is why I want to pay a personal... Read more
Inside of my mind there are two kinds of memories. The first kind is the kind you thought about immediately when you read the word memories. It’s the visual kind, the recorder, containing images and sounds from life that can be played back at will. The second kind is the memory of feeling. This is memory not only of fact but of sensation. The best comparison I can think of is remembrance of a sweet or horrifying dream. Remembering the... Read more
You should know that what follows is an utterly biased blog post. I am a lifelong football fan, specifically of the St. Louis Rams (farewell, Sam Bradford). So many cherished memories include the blending of football and family that often I find myself using NFL games as a shorthand to identify particular snapshots of memory. As far as I can recall there has never been a time in my life that watching, playing or “Maddening” football has not been featured. Football matters... Read more
Because apparently some people need to hear this: When someone says famous women are at fault for taking nude photos, the subtext is clear: You are not your own. You are ours. And you should know we are always coming for you. I’ve been seeing sentiments like this pop up in my Twitter feed quite a bit. Setting aside the near-parodic nature of this scaremongering line, this is honestly a worldview for which I have zero sympathy. It blows my mind... Read more
Samuel D. James
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