Category Archives: Just for Fun

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Friday Link Love

For all your procrastination needs.

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24 Hours of Photographs — Colossal

My obligatory Colossal re-post. This is the result of a thirty-hour photo shoot, stitched together.

The round green bit of terra firma in the middle reminds me of the Island in LOST. (I’ve really had LOST on the brain lately; maybe it’s the “writing about pop culture” presentation I went to last week at FFW. Dang, I still miss that show.)

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No Red Ink on the Vision Chart — dmergent

This post is about casting a compelling vision for one’s church, and has sparked a twitter conversation that you can read here.

We know that it is not simple to find a vision, but it is just as important to realize when your ministry has lost or been burdened with poor vision. Just as I believed seeing double was normal, many churches and ministries keep going, not realizing they would have a difficult time reading the bottom line on the metaphorical eye chart.

Jan Edmiston had similar thoughts here, “Measuring a Year in the Life of a Church”:

What questions would you ask church leaders in order to discern if a congregation is “thriving” spiritually or if a congregation is merely “surviving“?

Here are some off the top of my head:

  • Can you identify an occasion in the last year when the congregation chose faith over fear?  Tell me about it.
  • Is the church living off an endowment or do the tithes and offerings of the congregation cover all expenses?
  • Can you name things your congregation tried that failed in the past year?  (Note:  if you didn’t fail at anything, you probably didn’t try anything new.)
  • Can you name ten people who were spiritually transformed in your congregation in the past year?  What did that look like?

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I Learned How to Speak Four Languages in a Few Years — Lifehacker

OK, I haven’t even found time to read this post, so obviously Way Has Not Opened for me to do this. But maybe some of my dear readers will. In the meantime, I have saved this article in Evernote, tagged “bucketlist.”

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Four Simple Solutions to Everyday Dilemmas — Improvised Life

Bread bag clips as labels for power cords, a sock over a vacuum nozzle to find small things—I love these tips, even if I have no use for them personally. Urazawa is a new term for me, and I love the art and craft involved in improvising solutions. Robert and I came up with a number of tips and tricks during our year of Sabbath; they’re sprinkled in the book under the heading “Sabbath hacks.”

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Friday Link Love

Still at FFW. (Ah, the joy of pre-scheduled posts…)

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Gymnast Johanna Quaas — YouTube

She’s 86.

That’s Eighty-Six:

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95 Tweets against Hell — Two Friars and a Fool

I love the friars, and this is a tweeting tour de force:

#95Tweets #E1: Eternal Hell is not in any way restorative – it eternally severs relationship and eternally prevents redemption

#95Tweets #E2: In fact, eternal Hell is the teaching that there are people and things that can never be redeemed, even by God

#95Tweets #E3: Eternal Hell is vengeance made infinite, and is therefore even less noble than vengeance

#95Tweets #E4: Eternal Hell lacks the sole moral underpinning of punishment, which is correction

 And yes, there are 95 of them.

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How to Store Fruits, Vegetables and Eggs without a Fridge — Improvised Life

Such ingenuity and simple beauty in this approach.

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Walking the Tightrope: Thoughts on Vulnerability and Hurt — Brene Brown

Brene is one of my heroes. With this post, she takes a stand: she will no longer write articles for venues that don’t moderate their comments or have some basic controls in place to keep the discussion civil.

Brava.

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Leadership Lessons from Dancing Guy — YouTube

My friend Todd passed this along: why the first follower is just as (more?) important than the leader. Good stuff and a joy to watch:

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A Congregation of Theological Coherence — Alban Institute

I really like the idea of a congregation having a common theological vocabulary:

This pastor leads a congregation that is sturdy. It isn’t likely to be the focus of a church growth study, or make the cover of Time during Holy Week. However, it is a congregation that makes a difference in people’s lives. The parking lot is full during the week. The lights are on in the evening. Membership numbers are steady. 

Several conditions enhance a congregation’s ability to address the challenges and opportunities it faces. They include simple yet important realities: use of outside resources to learn new capacities, clergy and laity learning together, and congregations assuming the initiative over their futures. 

Another emerging condition we’re observing is theological coherence; the ability to think clearly about God and then act accordingly. A congregation that is clear and consistent about how it understands God, and applies this understanding to its daily life, is more able to deal effectively with challenges and opportunities. 

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Why Storytellers Lie — Atlantic Monthly

I’ve just put Gotschall’s book,  The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human, on my Goodreads:

When we tell stories about ourselves, they also serve another important (arguably higher) function: They help us to believe our lives are meaningful. “The storytelling mind”—the human mind, in other words—”is allergic to uncertainty, randomness, and coincidence,” Gottschall writes. It doesn’t like to believe life is accidental; it wants to believe everything happens for a reason. Stories allow us to impose order on the chaos.

And we all concoct stories, Gotschall notes—even those of us who have never commanded the attention of a room full of people while telling a wild tale. “[S]ocial psychologists point out that when we meet a friend, our conversation mostly consists of an exchange of gossipy stories,” he writes. “And every night, we reconvene with our loved ones … to share the small comedies and tragedies of our day.”

…Every day of our lives—sometimes with help working things out via tweets or Facebook status updates—we fine-tune the grand narratives of our lives; the stories of who we are, and how we came to be…

…We like stories because, as Gotschall puts it, we are “addicted to meaning”—and meaning is not always the same as the truth.

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Have a good weekend, dear readers.

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Friday Link Love

Tons of stuff today, many of it video. Onward:

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We are getting a color copier at the church, and it’s ridiculous how happy that’s making me. I told the session they would have to develop some guidelines for use, otherwise we will have photos and images emblazoned on (and in) every single bulletin.

If I were 38% braver I would use this image on a bulletin cover during Eastertide:

Courtesy of Colossal, as is…

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Luminaris: Stop Motion Shadows and Light – Colossal (video)

I should just save time and link to everything Colossal posts. It’s all so fantastic. This short movie is astounding, and I think it’ll preach. (Today, the color copier. Tomorrow, the projector and screen.)

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Learning to Respect Religion — Nicholas Kristof

Kristof strikes me as such a good and decent person, and his writing has such dignity. Here he highlights what I’ll call the second wave of New Atheists, the ones who don’t want to burn the place down:

“The very ritual practices that the New Atheists dismiss as costly, inefficient and irrational turn out to be a solution to one of the hardest problems humans face: cooperation without kinship,” Haidt writes [in his book, The Righteous Mind].

The latest wave of respectful atheist writing strikes me as a healthy step toward nuance. I’ve reported on some of the worst of religion — such as smug, sanctimonious indifference among Christian fundamentalists at the toll of AIDS among gay men — yet I’ve also been awed by nuns and priests risking their lives in war zones. And many studies have found that religious people donate more money and volunteer more time to charity than the nonreligious. Let’s not answer religious fundamentalism with secular fundamentalism, religious intolerance with irreligious intolerance.

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Friedman’s Theory of Differentiated Leadership Made Simple — YouTube

Always good to get a refresher. With stick figures.

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Is Your Smartphone Making You Less Productive? — Harvard Business Review Blogs

Spoiler alert: yes. Put the iPhone away for large stretches of time and you will be a better worker. Tuck it into its own little cell phone sleeping bag and live your life. Have Sabbath. Breathe. Eat. Make love. Drink good scotch.

And have a wonderful weekend.

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Blog Salad

Blog salad: a little of this, a handful of that, with some Catalina poured on top.

OK, no Catalina. I’m more of a Goddess fan.

Make of that comment what you will.

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Easter

Every year I get ticked that Holy Week is also spring break. This year I decided, to heck with it, we’re going to do SOMETHING. So this weekend we rented a cabin at Pohick Bay, a beautiful regional park (comparable to a state park) that’s 15 minutes from our house.

Yes, the pastor had a getaway. On Easter weekend.

I normally get stressed over all the details of The Big Day, but this time I decided, I could either be at home the day before, miserably obsessing over everything, or our family could do something that takes advantage of the fact that we have only one service on Easter, people step up beautifully to make it happen, and it’s not at the crack of dawn. So Easter morning we woke up and drove to our house to get all Sundayed up for the festivities, which included a continental breakfast before worship and an egg hunt after. I had everything ready to go beforehand, including the bulletins that I’d had printed in color that we folded over breakfast.

Church itself was great—there were flower-arranging people and banner-hanging people and breakfast-setup people and choir people and egg hunt people, all doing their thing. It was one of those mornings when I couldn’t imagine wanting to do anything else with my life.

After church we returned to the cabin for Sunday and Monday. We had a wonderful time—campfire, cookout, mini golf, playground, boating:

The “rustic” cabins are only called that because they have no bathroom, but those are an easy walk to get to. The cabins sleep six, are sturdy and cute, and have a microwave and small fridge.

And a porch swing. Who’da thought that a porch swing would provide so much entertainment for our children.

If you live in NoVA (and even if you don’t) and would like a step up from tent camping, I highly recommend the cabins at Pohick Bay.

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Tiny News

I like to call the church “Tiny” on this blog, but the fact is, we’re not all that tiny. And we’re a lot less tiny than we were when I started there. We’ll be receiving new members again at the end of the month, and are planning a confirmation class soon.

We have a banner stand in front of our church building, which is located on a busy street. Now that the Easter banner is coming down, we need a new one. We’re in a bit of a lull in terms of specific activities to publicize, so I’m considering a “come grow with us” kind of message. I want to convey that we’re small but vibrant and things are happening. I’ve heard small churches say that they’re “small enough to know you, large enough to serve you.” But I don’t like that because a church is not a service organization like the Jiffy Lube. We are a place where people come in order to serve the world.

Any ideas on how to convey that in just a few words?

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Multi-media MA

A big thank you to David Lose, who is a bigshot because he presents at the Ultimate Fighting Championship of Preaching. David recently linked to my video about the mainline church, and it came back to me via two separate friends today.

Also, just a reminder that you can hear my sermons by subscribing on iTunes (Idylwood Presbyterian) or clicking here. This past weekend was a first—I forgot to stop recording after the sermon ended, so you get the affirmation of faith and a few lines of the hymn. Oops. I kinda preached my guts out on Sunday, so I guess it stands to reason I’d forget to fiddle with the iPhone.

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And finally…

Please vote for my friend Susan’s blog, The Sky Is Laughing, which is up for an award. You can vote daily, so do it right after you floss.

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Thursday Link Love

Yes, Thursday. Will be posting a prayer on Good Friday instead of the usual, so… here we go.

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The first link, if you will indulge me, is my Author Page on Amazon, where you can pre-order Sabbath in the Suburbs! (There’s a formatting glitch in the book description. I fixed it, but it takes 3-5 days for changes to take effect.)

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The Tutu Project — Improvised Life

The story goes that Bob Carey first took a portrait of himself in a pink tutu in an effort to express himself after he and his wife, Linda, had moved to New York.

Why? Because even though the move was exciting, exhilarating, and inspiring, it was 180 degrees from what I knew. So I took the old, mixed it in with the new, and the kept the tutu handy.

Six months later he discovered his wife had breast cancer. The tutu portraits became a way to bring some laughter and joy to a dark situation, a symbol of solidarity, and ultimately, as The Tutu Project, a campaign to raise money for breast cancer research.

They are wonderful:

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MAKERS.com 

This is a “dynamic digital platform produced by filmmakers Dyllan McGee, Betsy West, and Peter Kunhardt, developed by AOL, showcasing hundreds of compelling stories from women of today and tomorrow. This historic video initiative features exclusive access to trailblazing women – both known and unknown.”

I’ve only just started browsing but it looks awesome. From Madeleine Albright to Carol Burnett.

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Time Lost and Found — Anne Lamott

I’m pretty sure I’ve linked to this before, but it came across my screen again this week…

They may explain that they have to go to the gym four days a week or they get crazy, to which I reply that that’s fine—no one else really cares if anyone else finally starts to write or volunteers with marine mammals. But how can they not care and let life slip away? Can’t they give up the gym once a week and buy two hours’ worth of fresh, delectable moments? (Here they glance at my butt.)

Can they commit to meeting one close friend for two hours every week, in bookstores, to compare notes? Or at an Audubon sanctuary? Or a winery?

They look at me bitterly now—they don’t think I understand. But I do—I know how addictive busyness and mania are. But I ask them whether, if their children grow up to become adults who spend this one precious life in a spin of multitasking, stress, and achievement, and then work out four times a week, will they be pleased that their kids also pursued this kind of whirlwind life?

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Text Drawings Created by Cutting Thousands of Letters from Books and Religious Texts – Colossal

The artist cut individual letters from sacred text and put them together to make other images and texts. Here is Throne: The Book of Revelation, cut from letters from the Koran:

May each of us be part of a great work that is being pieced together, painstakingly and lovingly, by the Holy One.

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Friday Link Love

If you haven’t already, check out my previous posts from this week (spiritual genius and mentoring) for additional links.

Onward…

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My friend Susan shared this on Facebook yesterday:

Excellent reminder.

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Showing Death with Humanity and Dignity — New York Times

A photographer in Mexico City documents the effects of Mexican and North American policies on the border region where he was raised. I appreciated this interview about one of his heartbreaking images:

I shot the scene a bunch of different ways, but the way that worked best was just showing it from the front. These people were killed by one single bullet. The woman is far into her pregnancy. The hit man came in from the left-hand side of the car and fired a bullet into the man’s head when they were embracing and killed both of them.

I don’t know. It seemed appropriate as we move into Holy Week.

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Religion for Atheists — Alain de Botton

I know I’ve linked to his work before, but I find it fascinating as an agnostic theist (I don’t know but I believe):

The French atheist and proto-fascist Charles Maurras, an admirer of both Comte and Nietzsche, was an impassioned defender of the Catholic Church. John Stuart Mill – not exactly an atheist but not far off – tried to fuse Comte’s new religion with liberalism. In marrying atheism with very different ethical and political positions, none of these thinkers was confused or inconsistent. Atheism can go with practically anything, since in itself it amounts to very little.

Most people think that atheists are bound to reject religion because religion and atheism consist of incompatible beliefs. De Botton accepts this assumption throughout his argument, which amounts to the claim that religion is humanly valuable even if religious beliefs are untrue. He shows how much in our way of life comes from and still depends on religion – communities, education, art and architecture and certain kinds of kindness, among other things. I would add the practice of toleration, the origins of which lie in dissenting religion, and sceptical doubt, which very often coexists with faith.

Today’s atheists will insist that these goods can be achieved without religion. In many instances this may be so but it is a question that cannot be answered by fulminating about religion as if it were intrinsically evil. Religion has caused a lot of harm but so has science. Practically everything of value in human life can be harmful. To insist that religion is peculiarly malignant is fanaticism, or mere stupidity.

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Language Cop: Christian — The New Republic

In November I introduced a periodic blog feature called “Language Cop” to “keep track of unacceptable words and catchphrases that enter the political dialogue.” In that column I exiled the terms “optics” and “inflection point.” Earlier this month I inveighed against “pivot,” and last week I suggested this euphemism be replaced with a new term, “shake,” in deference to America’s first multiplatform gaffe. Today I banish “Christian ”—not the word itself, but a specific, erroneous usage.

In other words, a usage that implies that Christians are all conservative/fundamentalist. A- to the -men.

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And on a whimsical note:

Frame of Mind – Vimeo

Incredible:

Frame of Mind from Steven Alan on Vimeo.

Have a great weekend. I’ve got a session retreat on tap as well as a visit with my cousin B.

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Ten on Tuesday: Updates, Tips and Miscellany

It’s all a rich lather of lateral thought here at the Blue Room today. I’m actually not sure there are 10 items here, but I like the alliteration… plus it’s a shoutout to my friend Katherine, whose book comes out soon. Have you pre-ordered?

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I’m over at Fidelia’s Sisters today, which has a spiffy new look. Check it out.

I also had a good initial conversation last week with a member of the planning team for the Young Clergy Women’s conference, Sabbath in the City. If you’re a YCW or know someone who is, mark your calendars — we’re going to have a great time in Chicago, July 30 – August 2.

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Let me be an encouragement to anyone facing a weight-loss plateau. You can get through it. After losing the same pound three times, I finally broke through. I’ve got less than five pounds until I reach my goal of 40 pounds, normal BMI. Then it’s M&M’s from here on out.

Maintenance and Muscle. Wait, what did YOU think I meant?

Here’s a little something I whipped up the other day. We had some leftover spaghetti I’d made with a little olive oil and garlic. I put a serving in a microwavable bowl. Then I added a dollop of Boursin cheese. Nuke and stir and presto! A reasonable facsimile of fettucine alfredo.

Oh, and Carb Police? Just keep on walking. Disperse. There is nothing to see here.

OK OK, as penance for that glycemic abomination, here are eight foods you should eat every day.

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Something very strange is happening at Tiny Church. These random people we don’t know keep showing up. On Sunday we had 6 visitors, which in a worshiping community of 50 is disruptively delightful. Three of them have been very regular for several weeks; three were brand new.

I can’t account for the sudden influx. We don’t advertise. These visitors are not friends of church members who invited them. We’re not the kind of bells-and-whistles church that most people are looking for. Our banner stand out front has been empty the last several weeks.

But it’s a great time for people to be visiting. After 2 1/2 years as pastor of Tiny, things are clicking, you know? It’s just that all the clicking has been internal and under the radar. They would have no way of knowing from the outside what’s going on inside.

Whatever is happening, it’s a holy mystery that makes the people of Tiny Church very, very excited. And their pastor too.

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My love for Evernote is deep and abiding. Hey, they almost made it into the acknowledgements of my book. But have I mentioned the beauty that is Evernote Clearly? Clearly isolates articles on webpages and filters out all the clutter, ads, and sidebar junk, so you can read the article on a nice clean page. (This is great for those of you who are easily distrac– SQUIRREL!)

So instead of reading this tiny cramped mess:

You can read this:

I also found a new use for Evernote. You know those Entertainment books that kids are always peddling for school fundraisers? We bought one from our girls, but there are very few coupons in there for stuff we use. Consequently, I forget about it and end up not using any of them. Instead, I tore out the coupons we are likely to use and created an note in Evernote that lists these coupons. So if we’re on our way to a restaurant or a water park, I can just check the list to see what we have.

And while we’re doing product endorsements: Clinique Black Honey Almost Lipstick. Where have you been all my life?

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I’ve gotten a lot of questions from friends and family, asking me what my next book will be. My first reaction is to be touched by their kindness to suggest that after Sabbath in the Suburbs comes out, that people will actually want to read more from me. But the answer is no, I have no idea what I will write about next. Any suggestions?

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Friday Link Love

Good morning!

…And away we go.

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A Glorious Sight — Andrew Sullivan

There’s an article up at Scientific American about “glories,” a quantum mechanical effect called wave tunneling:

The article is beautifully written, tracing the historical significance of glories (they can only be seen against one’s shadow and thus may be one reason that holy individuals are seen with halos)…

Sadly, the article is behind a paywall, but what a lovely concept.

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Move On – Bernadette Peters, Stephen Sondheim

Yesterday was the King’s birthday and many of us were gushing about him on Facebook. I remarked that this song is one of the best manifestos for art and life that I’ve found. Give it a listen.

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The Scale of the Universe (Flash)

I’m certain I’ve posted this before, but it came my way again, and boy howdy. Spend some time with this.

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Instructions — Sheri Hostetler

Beautiful poem:

Give up the world; give up self; finally, give up God.
Find god in rhododendrons and rocks,
passers-by, your cat.
Pare your beliefs, your absolutes.
Make it simple; make it clean.
No carry-on luggage allowed.
Examine all you have
with a loving and critical eye, then
throw away some more.
Repeat. Repeat.
Keep this and only this:
what your heart beats loudly for
what feels heavy and full in your gut.
There will only be one or two
things you will keep,
and they will fit lightly
in your pocket.

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Rachel Maddow and My Lesson in Civility — Cal Thomas

A man apologizes, sincerely and humbly, for the red meat he threw at CPAC regarding Rachel Maddow:

The next morning I felt bad about it, so I called Maddow to apologize. It wasn’t one of those meaningless “if I’ve offended anyone …” apologies; it was heartfelt. I had embarrassed myself and was a bad example to those who read my column and expect better from me.

Maddow could not have been more gracious. She immediately accepted my apology. On her show, she said publicly, “I completely believe his apology. I completely accept his apology.” To be forgiven by one you have wronged is a blessing, it’s even cleansing.

More of this, please. From everyone.

And on the flip side of that…

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The Internet Has Failed — Bioethics Bulletin

Specifically internet comments:

Time was when ‘disabling comments’ on a blogpost was at best an indication of arrogance and at worst an indication that the author was an anti-democratic elitist who did not value the opinions of his or her readers. It is time, I think, for us to accept that disabling or deleting idiot comments is no more anti-democratic or elitist than refusing to engage with a person harrassing you on the street. Just because everyone is allowed to have their say, it does not follow that the bilge they say is worth listening to.

As I’ve said many times, anyone who rejects Calvin’s doctrine of total depravity has obviously never spent time reading Internet comments.

What do you think? Is it time to disable comments at the “big” sites? (I am blessed with smart and civil commenters here at the Blue Room. Huzzah.)

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Peace be with you.

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Ten on Tuesday

1. Watch this if you haven’t—it’s making the rounds and is SO wonderful.

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2. A Neighborhood Watch person should not be carrying a gun. I’m just saying.

The discussion about this incident is bizarre, too. Like, if they can just prove the shooter wasn’t a racist, or guilty of profiling, then the incident would somehow cease being completely horrific. News flash: they could both have chartreuse skin and it would still be horrific.

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3. I do writery things now. Like look at proposed book covers, and receive permissions in the mail for quotes I’m using in the book. It’s weird. I feel like I’m playing dress up.

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4. I’m also attending the Festival of Faith and Writing for the first time next month. Can’t wait. Been hearing about this shindig for years.

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Mason Neck State Park. I didn't take this but it looked liked this when we went.

5. Saturday I took the kids to Mason Neck State Park (20 minutes from our house) for some bike riding. The kids went five miles, even Jamesy! Afterward we walked the trail to the beach. I had James by the hand and the girls were walking up ahead, arm and arm in the slanting sun. So lovely. We’re happy spring has arrived.

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6. I finished the Hunger Games trilogy. I really enjoyed the series, and thought the writing was just fine. (A few of my friends panned it.) It’s hard to read them as a mother though. You want to protect all of the children from such heinous violence and exploitation. I also found myself wondering how Katniss’s story was impacting her mother. But there was none of that in the books… which, considering they are young adult novels, is entirely appropriate.

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7. It’s not Friday, but here’s a little link love: Why We Have to Go Back to the Forty-Hour Week to Save Our Sanity:

It’s a heresy now (good luck convincing your boss of what I’m about to say), but every hour you work over 40 hours a week is making you less effective and productive over both the short and the long haul. And it may sound weird, but it’s true: the single easiest, fastest thing your company can do to boost its output and profits — starting right now, today — is to get everybody off the 55-hour-a-week treadmill, and back onto a 40-hour footing.

Yes, this flies in the face of everything modern management thinks it knows about work. So we need to understand more. How did we get to the 40-hour week in the first place? How did we lose it? And are there compelling bottom-line business reasons that we should bring it back?

Our church treasurer tells me that according to our presbytery, full-time is 50 hours. When did this happen and why? I know many people in our congregations work way beyond that. But aren’t we called to model a different way?

When I first started in ministry I read a book by Roy Oswald in which he said that pastors cannot work more than 50 hours a week on a consistent basis without suffering physically, mentally and spiritually. I’ve taken that to heart as much as possible. Note that he wasn’t lifting up 50 as the ideal, but as the upper limit, beyond which you can suffer harm.

I recently asked a head of staff how many hours he works and he said, “You don’t want to ask that.” Actually, I do. We need to be asking that of each other and ourselves.

I know the economy is still not great for a lot of folks. People are afraid to complain because at least they have a job.

But we’re kinda messed up when it comes to time.

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8. I’ve hit a big plateau with the weight loss. Good news is that I am in “normal” range according to the BMI. But I’ve lost the same pound about three times in the last few weeks. I’ve been less strict on the weekends and that has hurt me. I’m trying various suggestions and we’ll hopefully push through.

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9. By the way, I don’t want to say weight loss is easy, but I’m kind of amazed any of us lost weight effectively before smartphone apps like MyFitnessPal. It’s really a quantum leap in terms of surpassing everything that came before. I’ve done a variety of things over the years, including Weight Watchers, and there really is no comparison in terms of ease and usefulness.

Maintaining will be the challenge for me. I am such a goal-oriented person that once I’ve reached mine (eight pounds to go) I am wondering whether I will slack off. Thankfully the tools and approaches to maintaining are much the same as losing.

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10. Speaking of goals, I’m looking for a good 10K. Anyone know one?

Would love to hear what’s knocking around your brain this Tuesday.

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Friday Link Love

The First Supper by Jane Evershed

Perhaps the World Ends Here — Joy Harjo

The world begins at a kitchen table. No matter what, we must eat to live.
The gifts of earth are brought and prepared, set on the table. So it has been since creation, and it will go on.
We chase chickens or dogs away from it. Babies teethe at the corners. They scrape their knees under it.
It is here that children are given instructions on what it means to be human. We make men at it, we make women.

Susan Olson recently linked to this poem and it’s been echoing in my mind. Reminds me of Bruce Cockburn’s song “Last Night of the World”:

If this were the last night of the world
What would I do?
What would I do that was different
Unless it was champagne with you?

I’m thankful that our family is in a season in which all five of us eat together at least six nights a week.

It will not always be thus.

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The Most Astounding Fact — Neil deGrasse Tyson

This has been making the rounds, but if you haven’t seen it:

Bonus link: Listen to physicist James Gates’s interview on On Being. I didn’t understand a lot of it. But I liked it nonetheless.

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The Six Secrets the Girl Scouts Have Kept for a Century — WSJ

How is this single-sex organization based on principles begun before the first World War able to remain vital in the twenty first century? How much of it would Juliette Gordon Low recognize? What are the secrets to the continued success of Girl Scouting?

One thing that was not mentioned in the article is that the uniform is updated regularly. I’m not kidding. That seems very superficial but it is a huge symbolic statement that the Girl Scouts are not stuck in the past.

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Do As Franzen Does. Do What You Like — Roxane Gay

Alas, there’s been yet another installment of Famous Author Disparaging Social Media. I love this response:

Is anyone really using Twitter to craft complex rhetorical arguments? What does responsibility have to do with chattering online? It’s like Franzen is saying, “I cannot swim in my car and therefore my car is not useful.” He doesn’t understand what Twitter is for. Of course he dislikes it. He’s working from a place of profound ignorance. His stance is one of those things where you have to say, “There, there, Mr. Franzen, here is your Ovaltine.”

Heh.

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And lastly, in honor of St. Patrick’s Day, my friend Stacey posted this recipe to Facebook earlier this week:

Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes

I’m still not eating dessert during Lent, but o frabjous day, every Sunday is a mini-Easter! And Oh Em Gee:

These cupcakes consist of a Guinness-chocolate cake base, which has a wonderful depth of flavor and is also supremely moist. The centers of the cupcakes are cut out and filled with a chocolate ganache that has been spiked with Irish whiskey. And to top it all off, the frosting is my favorite vanilla buttercream that has been doused with a serious amount of Baileys Irish Cream.

I’m eatin’ that.

May you too have a delicious weekend.