What's Tony Thinking

From the Kunasaki Peninsula

October 7, 2024 — Today was the third day of our walking pilgrimage with Walk Japan. We are in the heavily forested and mountainous region of Kyushu Island, known as the Kunasaki Peninsula. It is in the northwest corner of Kyushu. Kunasaki Peninsula has some things in common with our own beloved Wallowa Mountains in northeastern Oregon. Like the... Read More

Five First Impressions from Japan

October 3, 2024 — After a short, but lovely, lay-over with friends in Honolulu, we flew to Osaka, Japan yesterday. From Osaka, we went on to the major regional city in south of Japan, Fukuoka. Fukuoka is a port and industrial city of 1.7 million on Japan’s southern-most island of Kyushu. We are here because it is the nearest... Read More

Tim, Where’s the Joy?

October 1, 2024 — For better or worse, so much of it is affect, the telegenic, and — sorry — the vibe. Unfortunately, Tim Walz, who is supposed to be running on “the joy ticket,” mostly looked very, very worried. Some combination of deer-in-the-headlights and terminally furrowed brow, amplified by furious note-taking. Really Tim?’ He needed some Ronald Reagan-esque... Read More

Keep Tony Thinking (and writing)

September 29, 2024 — Some of you have graciously offered to support this publication and sent a contribution or two my way over the years. Others have asked “how can I support ‘What’s Tony Thinking’?” Well, you are supporting it by being a reader! About 750 of you are subscribers. In an average month I have about 4,000 to... Read More

At Week’s End, September 27

September 27, 2024 — Here’s a New Yorker cartoon that is just too good to pass up. (Thanks to Cali Yee at MBird.com) Young Men and Church. Ruth Graham who covers religion for the NYT writes about a surprising trend among Gen Z young men: they are going to church. And in greater numbers than their female... Read More

Those Horrible People

September 24, 2024 — A friend was in touch the other day to share the draft of a sermon he will be preaching the Sunday before election day. It is a fine pastoral sermon for what will undoubtedly be a very anxious moment. Drawing on the Old Testament lesson for that Sunday from Jeremiah, he spoke of Jeremiah’s prophecy... Read More

The Wall That Protects from Primal Chaos

September 22, 2024 — Pierce County, here in Washington state, is about to launch a new approach to homelessness. One that makes sense, at least in part, because it allows people to trade shame for pride. That’s a powerful exchange. According to a recent article in the Seattle Times, Pierce County (which has the state’s largest homeless population after... Read More

Summer’s Over, Autumn’s Here and a Mea Culpa

September 19, 2024 — This coming Sunday, September 22, is the official day for seasonal change from summer to fall, the “Autumnal Equinox.” It is one of the two days of the year when the axis of the earth tilts to the sun in such a way that the amount of daylight and darkness are equal. But in case... Read More

Self-Justification

September 16, 2024 — “Self-defense is the most prevalent source of error in our thinking.” That’s a quote from the theologian H. Richard Niebuhr (brother of the more famous Reinhold Niebuhr). What does it mean? Why does it matter? “Self-defense” might also be termed “self-justification.” It means making the case for yourself, for your importance, worthiness, value, etc. I... Read More

What J. D. Vance Gets Right

September 12, 2024 — J. D. Vance has become the whipping boy of liberals (what would Andy Borowitz do without him?). Even Taylor Swift has joined in by signing off her endorsement of Harris/ Walz as, “Childless, Cat Lady.” By now Vance himself probably regrets some of his more “catty” remarks. But what consigning him to ranks of the... Read More

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