July 13, 2018 —
You may have noticed that I’ve not posted a new blog for a while (possibly a relief!). That is partly accounted for by having been on a river rafting trip this week. A group of us took to the Grande Ronde River here in Northeastern Oregon. The name “Grande Ronde” is a reminder that this... Read More
July 8, 2018 —
David Brooks wrote a lovely column the other day about a lovely man, Fred Rogers, longtime host of “Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood.” There’s a new movie out about Mr. Rogers, his life and work, Won’t You Be My Neighbor? I’ve not seen it, but look forward to doing so. One of Brooks observations about Rogers, his world-view and... Read More
July 6, 2018 —
It is summer and so the traditional season for travel. Of course, people travel now in all seasons. And not just the retired. Travel is huge. Like most people, I enjoy taking a trip. We had a splendid visit in Toronto last month. We look forward to a trip to North Wales, the English Lake... Read More
July 4, 2018 —
Particularly since 9/11 professional sports has been drafting on patriotic sentiment. Wrapping the flag, the military, and sports all up together has been good for business. It used to be that you would have the National Anthem at the start of a ball game, then “Play Ball!” But now it’s also military color guards, “God... Read More
July 2, 2018 —
The last time I wrote about books and current reading, I invited you readers to send recommendations of your own. I got two excellent suggestions. Thank you! These were Tara Westover’s Educated and Francisco Cantu’s When the Line Become a River: Dispatches from the Border. I read both and am happy to recommend them now to others. Cantu, whose... Read More
June 29, 2018 —
Forty-five years ago I was a graduate student at the University of Oregon, doing a degree in European Cultural and Intellectual history. My master’s thesis was titled, “Andre Gide, Roger Martin du Gard and the Liberated Individual.” Heady, eh? Gide and Martin du Gard were both French novelists of the late nineteenth and early twentieth... Read More
June 27, 2018 —
We returned from Canada yesterday, after a week in Toronto. The transition was framed for me by an intriguing David Brooks column. In that June 22 column Brooks contrasts mythic and parable shaped moral visions. I admire Brooks for his willingness to think in large, even abstract, terms. This column, even with its somewhat grandiose title,... Read More
June 23, 2018 —
As mentioned in my last post, we are in Canada for a week. Toronto. We are staying in the Annex neighborhood near the University of Toronto where we lived in 2008 – 09 when I taught at Emmanuel College, a seminary of the United Church of Canada. The sketch here is a fairly typical home... Read More
June 21, 2018 —
I am reading Francisco Cantu’s account of his time in the U.S. Border Patrol, The Line Becomes a River: Dispatches from the Border. A writer, Cantu, worked at the border from 2008 to 2012. As Cantu’s account of his own struggle as an agent deepens, he introduces the concept of “moral injury.” “Long confused with PTSD, moral... Read More
June 18, 2018 —
The annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention in Dallas is now over. It was a significant meeting in a host of ways, including a generational shift in the leadership of America’s largest Protestant denomination. Here’s Religious News Service reporter Jonathan Merritt’s rather vivid description of the different feel (and smell) of this gathering: “It... Read More
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