this rusty relic when it has finally good and washed away on the waves of its children leaving its last hope of resurrection spent on an overhead projector and a damned outside consultant with a damned good vision plan … we will remember the big churchy words wrapped around the marching orders. we will remember the days when we loved being right more than we loved loving. this crumbling ark of a thing that we’ve half-worshipped and over-mortgaged finally... Read more
Elecia R. Dexter of Auburn, Alabama, is the new publisher and editor of the Democrat-Reporter, a small town newspaper in West Alabama. “According to the Democrat-Reporter, Dexter holds a bachelor’s degree in speech communication from Eastern Illinois University and two master’s degrees: one in human services from Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies and another in counseling from Argosy University. Over the past 10 years, she has been a strategic leader with expertise in human resources, operations and change management.” This introduction... Read more
A big move always means a reckoning with your stuff. Sifting through years (whether four or 40) of everyday life accumulated in drawers, boxes, bags, cabinets, closets, garage bins … mercy. The things we carry. You have to fess up to owning too much, it’s almost an inevitability. You recognize that nearly half the stuff in your living space is garbage. Some of us may even realize that, I don’t know, we can fill an entire box with nothing but... Read more
The concept of “worshipful living” is an underrated Christian practice. Most of us worship once a week (if we’re having a good week,) and while we try to model our faith every day, our usual routine doesn’t always bring us into something we would call ‘worship.’ But the way of worshipful life was a fundamental concept of the early church. It was a call to carry the life of prayer out into the community and world. Beyond a “practice what... Read more
Fan turning, light burning Dust on the air Cardinal feather, change in the weather A lock of your hair. Night falls, a kid calls A door slams somewhere A red thread, a doll’s bed Songs on the air. Folded notes, a thing I wrote And hauled from here to there A key, a ring, a plastic thing That shirt you always wear. Buttons and bones, two pens and a phone, Lost and found and rare. Coins and... Read more
Did the state of New York last week adopt a law that would allow a woman to get a late-term abortion, right up to a baby’s due date? No. That is not what happened. So why does the internet want you to think it is? The short answer is simple: patriarchy. The long answer, of course–like patriarchy itself–is complicated. Here is what Article 25A, also known as the Reproductive Health Act, is really about. In short, it updates an outdated... Read more
In communities all over the country, food pantries are putting out pleas for more donations. Stock is limited, and resources need to stretch farther during the government shut down. Families that normally get SNAP cannot rely on their benefits being renewed on time. And the families of furloughed federal workers are turning to local charities–like food banks and shelters–to help make ends meet in the meantime. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said yesterday that he “doesn’t quite understand” why people are... Read more
Several years ago, there was some egregious display of racism on a college campus. I’m thinking it was somewhere in the south, or possibly Texas? The “where” is not the point. What I remember about that instance is the large public outcry for the students to be expelled. In response, the University President issued a public statement, saying that to be kicked out of school was the LAST thing these students needed. “If we expel these students, what do they... Read more
When it’s over, I want to say: all my life I was a bride married to amazement… When it’s over, I don’t want to wonder if I have made of my life something particular, and real. I don’t want to find myself sighing and frightened, or full of argument. I don’t want to end up simply having visited this world. Let it be said today that Mary Oliver accomplished this mission, and then some. If ever there was a “bride... Read more
Your small act of resistance for today: turn off the t.v. As we head into week 3 of the the government shutdown, Trump will address the nation tonight from the Oval Office. We know how this is going to go down. He’s going to talk about crisis at the border, and the urgency with which we need to address it. Of course, he will not address the crisis of children still separated from their parents–or the utter lack of urgency... Read more
Irreverin
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