As I read through the articles on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech from 50 years ago today, I was fascinated by the account in The New York Times. It told a story from the platform that I had never heard before. Dr. King was about halfway through his prepared speech when Mahalia Jackson — who earlier that day had delivered a stirring rendition of the spiritual “I Been ’Buked and I Been Scorned” —... Read more
I confess that I don’t get why people are so upset about Ben Affleck as Batman. I like Ben Affleck. Maybe its because I never saw Gigli? I did see Pearl Harbor, though… ouch. But I also saw Argo, and Good Will Hunting, both of which I think are amazing films. Perhaps even more impressive is Gone Baby Gone, which he directed and wrote. Oh man, that’s a good movie. And the ethical questions involved are important. Those three films alone... Read more
His name is Nicholas Selby, and he’s a sophomore at Georgia Tech, welcoming the incoming freshman class with style. This kid is either going to end up being the evil genius who finally succeeds in destroying the planet, or writing for the Colbert Report. Either way, I think I would have studied much harder in college if I would have had this sort of motivation. Nice work Nicholas. Happy Friday everyone. Work hard, the weekend’s coming… Read more
LZ Granderson writes a weekly column for CNN, and this week’s entry was stunning. Granderson laments the lack of accountability for the parents of children who commit horrible, unspeakable crimes. He begins, “A detail in the fatal shooting of 14-year-old Shaaliver Douse by a New York Police Department officer earlier this month has been stopping me from grieving his death. The tragedy happened around 3 a.m. Why was a 14-year-old boy out that late without his mother, Shanise Farrar, who called... Read more
For years I’ve kept a few key-word email alerts at The New York Times. If the paper of record is talking about Christians, Christianity, evangelicals, or the church I get a notification so I can make sure and read it. Typically I get about one a week. Recently I’ve been getting multiple alerts per day – most of them related to Egypt and the plight of Coptic Christians there. Roughly ten percent of the Egyptian population are Coptic Christians –... Read more
I confess that I’m getting a slow start to my Monday. I can always tell how much energy my previous week required by how much of an early start I am able to get on Monday. Self-awareness has never been my strong suit, and the ability to admit to myself that I’m tired and need to just take some time to recover is still not something that comes naturally to me. I usually try to dig deep, which is seldom,... Read more
It’s Friday, not hump day, but this is the funniest Geico commercial ever. Last I checked it was pushing 10 million views on Youtube. The animation with the camel’s mouth is amazing, and the concept is solid (a camel walking around an office as though he’s just part of the team, c’mon… that’s good stuff). But, what makes Geico’s viral commercial work is the voice. Who is it? According to The New York Times, his name is Chris Sullivan. The... Read more
I’ve been beating the income inequality drum for quite some time now. The one of the most unnerving developments in the history of our society. Income inequality will destabilize even the most resilient society, and it nearly always leads to corruption (see Citizens United). I read an editorial in the Chicago Tribune this morning that argues marriage is undermined by income inequality. The editorial is based on a study by University of Virginia sociologist Sarah Corse and Harvard sociologist Jennifer Silva,... Read more
From Slate Today: A magistrate judge in Newport, Tenn., made national headlines this weekend when she took it upon herself to rename a 7-month old baby, whose parents appeared before her at a child support hearing, to resolve a dispute over the child’s surname. The baby’s given name was “Messiah DeShawn Martin.” Child Support Magistrate Lu Ann Ballew spontaneously changed it to “Martin DeShawn McCullough” (McCullough is the father’s name), explaining that although there was no dispute about the child’s first name before... Read more
I confess that this summer has surprised me. Not only is my grass still green, but it seems like almost every crazy-hot day is followed by a day that is rainy and relatively cool. Not that I’m ready to profess my love for summer – still too many down-sides for me to get on board yet (humidity, mosquitoes, wasps, poison ivy, hot steering wheels…). However, I don’t remember any triple digit days in July or August so far. I’m feeling... Read more
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