Debra Bendis
Church photos in the Smithsonian
Smithsonian magazine has announced the finalists in its annual photo contest....
More on pastoral courtesy in Richland County, Wisconsin
My article in the March 19 issue tells the story of Larry Engel and Mike Breininger, two pastors in Richland County, Wisconsin, who were able to bridge a longstanding impasse between conservative and liberal pastors by beginning a conversation about their own theological and political differences. The result? A friendship between two pastors, cooperation among area pastors, and a jumpstart to initiating and sustaining needed community services.
No longer strangers: Ministerial group bridges left-right divide
When Larry Engel thanked Mike Breininger for running a productive meeting, Breininger was startled: "I don't recall a liberal pastor ever complimenting me."
At-Risk, by Amina Gautier
The power of Amina Gautier’s stories is in the way they portray the undertow of danger that pulls at African American youth in a Brooklyn housing project.
Angels overhead
Recently I went to see the newly acquired 18th-century Neopolitan crèche at Chicago’s Art Institute. The giant crèche fills a 15’X15’ cabinet....
Gadgets all around?
How many gadgets are de rigueur these days? I’m considering upgrading from my “dumb phone” to a smart phone, and I’m tempted to try an e-reader. At the same time, I’m troubled by the unspoken reality: we gadget people are an elite minority, a society of first-world people who have access to a network and its benefits that others don’t have. Or do we really believe that the entire world will soon be “like us,” connected into one happy progressively social network?
Anne Lamott gives testimony
When her publisher scheduled Chicago as a stop on her book tour, Anne Lamott asked that the reading be held at Broadway United Methodist Church. She’s worshiped there in the past and feels at home.
A morning with a master preacher
I’m looking forward to October 4, when the Century will welcome Cleophus J. LaRue to lead a workshop here in Chicago.
Freeze frame
I can’t quit thinking about Yakub. In my purse I have a print clipping that includes a photo of the 12-year-old boy staring into the camera with a copy of Steve Jobs’s biography held high over his head. I pull it out from time to time and imagine Yakub at work.
Steps toward solitude
I don't settle automatically into the silence of solitude. At first the silence can be as startling as noise.
At the heart
Ron Rash writes the way a fisherman filets. Nothing is spared getting to the meat. His sharpened knife sends the extras flying off the table.
...
Designer mittens: Mine for the giving
I gave the woman a Dunkin Donuts gift card and told her to get something hot. She didn't thank me. She said, "Those mittens look warm."
Seeking transit
Taras Grescoe is a straphanger: he prefers and relies on public transportation for day-to-day travel....
Justice for Native American women
If you haven’t realized the urgent need for an expanded Violence Against Women Act, read today’s New York Times, where novelist Louise Erdrich restates the theme that runs through her powerful novel The Round House (reviewed in a previous post): Native American women are being battered and raped by non-native men, and they have no legal support for pursuing justice—because non-natives are immune from prosecution by tribal courts.
Longing for home: Aging and the promises of God
It's hard for me to watch as places become a blur for my elderly parents. It's as if each home they've had has merged into one great longing.
Tribal injustice
A crime is committed at the round house, a sacred Ojibwe space on a North Dakota reservation....
The essence of Advent
It’s an odd year for my family. My parents, 88 and 89, have lived rich and full lives, and my husband, children and I have shared holidays large and small with them.
But this year they are confined to rooms in a nursing home.
Grumpy writers
My daughter-in-law alerted me to flavorwire.com’s list of “10 Grumpiest Living Writers,” which includes fav...
How should we evaluate teachers?
A knotty issue in the Chicago teachers strike is teacher assessments.
Life on the land
My favorite book of the summer is Turn Here Sweet Corn, a memoir by organic farmer Atina Diffley....