I’m out here, man. I’d doin’ it. I’m Experiencing Others. I’m at a coffee shop. I’m sitting on a round stool that goes with the tall, round, shiny, 80’s-style oak table upon which is now my laptop and my Cwasant Le’ Tasty. Lionel Richie’s “Easy Like Sunday Morning” wafts through the air like a melodious, weekendy-inspired philosophy with which I have no particular affinity. I grew up thinking of Sunday mornings as sheer hell. That’s when both my parents —... Read more
It was weird enough selling one of my books to a Korean publisher. Now a different Korean publisher (Sallim Publishing) has bought my other solo book, I’m OK — You’re Not: The Message We’re Sending Non-Christians and Why We Should Stop. So … I’m mystified. Definitely gratified — but mystified nonetheless. Which pretty much wraps up my whole response to life, actually. But what’s the deal with Korean publishers wanting my books? American publishers hardly want my books. The American publisher of “I’m... Read more
Young Benny Horton sat in the cavernous living room of a luxurious high-rise apartment on a round, backless white couch with a giant white button in its middle. It was 1959. Men wore hats. Women had big hair. People wore sunglasses, and smiled an awful lot. In the room with Benny was Benny’s mom, Mom. She wore a long, flowing purple , a string of gold pearls draped about her neck. She stood cooly gazing at the city below through... Read more
[Family life. Fiction. It’s all part of the same pot, isn’t it?] David looked up from the letter informing him of his mother’s death–and the next thing he knew he was nine years old, floating inches off the ceiling of the dining room in the house in which he grew up. Directly below him, yellow with layered dust and glowing white hot, were the six flame-shaped bulbs of the room’s faux-brass candelabra, hanging from its faux-brass chain above the family’s... Read more
First of all, if you left me a “Happy 50th Birthday!” message, I want to sincerely thank you. If you didn’t leave me such a message, I want to sincerly ask you what your problem is. How often does someone turn 50? Luckily for you, part of being so old you begin forgetting to chew before you swallow is that you learn the graceful, benevolent art of living and letting live. So I’m going to let you live. But don’t let it happen again. And... Read more
I got an email yesterday from a friend of some 30 years who’s a member of Trinity Church, home of the suddenly very famous Rev. Jeremiah Wright. She’s a tad freaked out by all the hoopla. She loves her pastor, of course. She knows him to be a deep, vital, loving man of God whose life and ministry are defined by compassion. Talking to her made me want to suggest that one of the reasons white people (and yeah, I know I’m white) get... Read more
“Why don’t blacks just get over it already, and quit being so sensitive? Nobody who’s alive today had anything to do with slavery. When are African-Americans going to stop living in the past, and start taking care of the present?” “If making it as a black person in America is so hard, how do you explain people like Colin Powell, Clarence Thomas, and Barack Obama?” “All kinds of foreigners, of every color, come to this country and make it. Why... Read more
Below are selections from the transcript of the speech that yesterday Barack Obama gave on race relations in America. I thought I might die of old age before I ever heard anyone of Mr. Obama’s political prominence publicly say things this basic and true. Racism is the cancer of our nation. I personally thank God that someone of Mr. Obama’s status finally said things about it as real as: [The Declaration of Independence] was not enough to deliver slaves from bondage, or provide men and women of every color and creed... Read more
The Gospel reading of the The Revised Common Lectionary for today, March 17, 2008, the Monday of Holy Week, is John 12:1-11. As they say in church: Read carefully; these are God’s words: Six days before the Passover, Jesus arrived at Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. Then Mary took about a pint of pure... Read more
One minute you’re staring vacantly at your computer fleetingly wondering how long it’s been since you blinked, and the next you’re reading an email from your agent telling you that a Korean publisher has made an offer on one of your books. That’s what I’m happy to say happened to me, anyway. My book “Penguins, Pain and the Whole Shebang: Why I Do the Things I Do, by God (as told to John Shore)” (I know: long title) has been sold to Seoul,... Read more
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