Irrational Fears, Irrational Systems: #NJC Ch 3

Last updated on: July 23, 2014 at 8:29 am By T. Thorn Coyle

Welcome to the 6 month study group on Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. All comments are screened. Disagreement is fine. Incivility will not be tolerated. Subscribing via RSS and subscribing to comments is recommended. You may join the group at any time. For more information please read this linked post. Discussion on the Introduction and Chapter One is here. Chapter Two discussion is here. ——————————————— The two stories that begin Chapter Three are heartbreaking. The first... Read more

Public Priesthood: Big Fish in a Small Pond

Last updated on: July 10, 2014 at 10:07 am By T. Thorn Coyle

Some have written much about whether or not professional clergy is useful to Paganism. Others have written to deride or uphold “Big Name Pagans.” I’m not going to do any of that. What I want to do is talk about the reality of my life. And some hard numbers. Read more

Locking Down Justice: #NJC Ch 2

Last updated on: June 26, 2014 at 6:49 am By T. Thorn Coyle

In examining systemic injustice, it is incumbent upon those of us who study myth and honor story to examine the ways those myths affect our lives and the lives of those around us. Read more

Honoring the Gods: Pagan Values Month

Last updated on: June 12, 2014 at 5:50 am By T. Thorn Coyle

Relationships are about both “as we are” and “as we are becoming.” When we honor ourselves, we honor our friends – and vice versa. When we honor ourselves and our friends, we honor the Gods. Read more

Caste and Systems: #NJC Intro & Ch 1

Last updated on: May 29, 2014 at 9:04 am By T. Thorn Coyle

In our discussions on mass incarceration, I will keep pointing us toward systems thinking rather than personalized or case-by-case thinking. We will need to follow the threads we are familiar with and try to see the pattern they form. To do this, we will need to, like Michelle Alexander did, examine our assumptions: What are our assumptions about one another and about the society we live in? What are our assumptions about ourselves? Read more

God(s) Talk: Defining Terms

Last updated on: May 15, 2014 at 7:08 am By T. Thorn Coyle

Theology is limiting. One one hand, it takes our experience of the cosmos and tries to give it context or meaning. On the other hand, it holds up a template that our experiences and thoughts are supposed to fit themselves into. Sometimes our theologies contradict one another. We are trying to make sense of the cosmos, to “eff the ineffable” as a friend says, to chart the numinous and connect it to the concrete. Read more

Toppling Prisons, Healing Culture – Studying the New Jim Crow

Last updated on: April 24, 2014 at 5:55 am By T. Thorn Coyle

There is a call to help overturn the devastation of the War on Drugs and mass incarceration through the Prison Industrial Complex. But before we start a movement, we have to know what we are up against. Read more

Why I Am Not a Believer

Last updated on: April 16, 2014 at 12:42 pm By T. Thorn Coyle

Our stories interlock, all trying to explain the mysterious, trying to understand what is just beyond our grasp. They are always incomplete, but pointing to some reality. Read more