7 quick takes on 7 links I can't stop thinking about this week

source

Truth is there are links of things -- unspeakable things being spoken all over this world -- that I'm thinking a whole lot about these days.  I just can't.  I can't link them here.  If you're online at all (which, presumably, you are since you're reading this post) you've already seen unspeakable posted in headlines linking all across the internet -- right next to videos of cute baby elephants and photos of the beautiful cups of coffee and homemade pies. 

We've made the unspeakable not only printable, but viral.  And we are such liars -- no matter what our ideas are about life and death and flourishing and human rights for the ones we deem human and death for the ones we deem unworthy -- we lie.  We celebrate life and death, seemingly on a whim.  We lie with our double standards and our own propped-up notions of being gods in this universe that rains down meteors declaring the glory of God while we scroll headlines about unspeakable things. 

That's really what I'm thinking about this week, but the following list is a close second.  May the peace of Christ our King (who only speaks Truth) rule over your own minds and hearts this weekend.

| 1 | Superheroes, Just for Each Other by Peter S. Goodman at The New York Times

"I am no superhero. Neither is my wife. But we have a bond that somehow enables us to save each other from basic human weakness. This is its own kind of superpower."

I've been thinking about the definition of marriage a lot lately -- and not for only the reasons you might think.  Brian and I will be celebrating our 25th anniversary in a few months and I've been contemplating a blog series on the subject.  We'll see about that.  In the meantime, this is a sweet essay about the mutuality of strength in marriage.

| 2 | Instead of Facebook, a book of faces my post for Think Christian

"Christians, after all, live in a story of delight and deformity, every mark a reminder of what was and is and is to come. We follow the God who became disfigured to heal our disfigurement. Artists like Bruce Gilden push against the fallen instinct to shield ourselves from the uncomfortable realities around us and within us. The subjects in Face give us a gift by exposing - up close and in full color - their vulnerability. To meet them is to know their stories, raw and unfiltered."

I was grateful for this assignment from the editor at Think Christian.  Bruce Gilden's work challenged my (unintentional) preoccupation with a filtered image-driven world.

| 3 | 3 questions I ask myself before buying something & Ethical Shopping Guide at Art of Simple 

"Don’t get me wrong—sometimes shopping for the right thing, the thing you need, can be a fun endeavor. I’m down with that. But I’ll also venture to say that shopping for the heck of it, to stave off boredom when nothing is needed, and to add it to the clutter at home, really is a first-world diversion." 

Super helpful information during the season of back-to-school shopping. 

| 4 | Hope for when you regret the past. Tell Auntie Leila. at Like Mother, Like Daughter

"Not that there isn’t always much to be grateful for, and for sure many are suffering much worse things than I (or you, even) … it’s just… the defeat of it all… way back when; some of which may not have been our fault. Sometimes we suffer misfortune, and what could be termed crop failures of the soul, if not the actual physical farm. Floods and droughts, real and metaphorical, events not necessarily of our own making. 

And some things very much of our own making. 

And sometimes the bitterness is hard to overcome. Especially when we get to that place where we see that things might have worked out, if we had known then what we know now!" 

I was mentioning to a friend the other day how few blogs I've found written by women who have done this hard work of mothering for long enough to write from a long view. I am so thankful for the Like Mother, Like Daughter blog. In a season of watching my chicks fly the coop, I confess I've read just about every post. If you only get to read one post, though, read this one.

| 5 | How to read "Go Set A Watchman" at Modern Mrs. Darcy

"If you choose to skip this book, I understand that decision. I do think that serious students of writing or literature will be enthralled by the ties between the two works. The comparisons are rich, and many."

 Will you or won't you read it?  This is the question I've been asking my book-loving friends.  The answers are mixed.  I think I'll wait a couple of years at least -- let the dust settle a bit. When the time comes, though, I'll definitely be taking Anne's advice.   

| 6 |  Editing Suburbia by Jenni Simmons at The Curator

"After reading Saverin’s Atlantic piece, I don’t love Pilgrim at Tinker Creek any less—it is still some of the most beautiful writing I’ve ever read—but I do look at the book differently. Now I know that part of Dillard’s story is missing. It would be more compelling to know that a housewife wrote such a phenomenal book, admitting her suburban reality instead of the typical dismissal of suburbia, deeming such a common life boring or uncool."

I didn't realize this little bit of creative omission in one of my favorite books by one of my favorite authors.  I'm so glad I first learned of it through Jenni's gracious insight.  

| 7 | Top 10 Online Recordings to celebrate Wendell Berry's 80th birthday at Englewood Review of Books & Wendell Berry Earns Highest Humanities Award, Lectures on Economy and Imagination at Sojo.net & A polite disagreement with Jayber Crow and the Mad Farmer my post for Art House America blog

So many good things about the Mad Farmer this month -- and, yes, I'm including the bit written by yours truly. A good and contrary man.  America is blessed to have him.

.....

Hoping for a good and content weekend for us all, friends.

Peace....

*Linking up with other 7 Quick Takers.*

Instead of Facebook, a book of Faces [sharing at Think Christian today]

read the entire article at Think Christian

photo credit

"A book of photographs titled Face elicits obvious comparisons to the social media giant. The latest from photographer Bruce Gilden, the collection of portraits might be more appropriately titled Mug Shot. If these folks filled your Facebook news feed with selfies, you’d probably be tempted to click the “hide” option.

In a world overflowing with Photoshopped and filtered images, Face stops our scrolling in its tracks and makes us evaluate exactly what it is we’re seeking. The 50 subjects in Gilden’s project aren’t beautiful by conventional standards; depending on your own definition of beauty, they may be occasionally repulsive. His technique of the extreme close-up serves to highlight everything that is blemished, misshapen and grotesque in each face. 

[...] To be honest, I had a hard time looking at the images in Face. As I observed them on the screen of my large office monitor, my co-worker exclaimed, “What are you looking at?” and immediately walked away. Gilden’s artistic method provokes this dilemma for the viewer: do I keep looking or do I walk away?"

read the entire article at Think Christian

.....bonusfeature.....

(here's the poem mentioned in the complete article)

As Kingfishers Catch Fire

BY GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS

As kingfishers catch fire, dragonflies draw flame;

As tumbled over rim in roundy wells

Stones ring; like each tucked string tells, each hung bell's

Bow swung finds tongue to fling out broad its name;

Each mortal thing does one thing and the same:

Deals out that being indoors each one dwells;

Selves — goes itself; myself it speaks and spells,

Crying Whát I dó is me: for that I came.

I say móre: the just man justices;

Keeps grace: thát keeps all his goings graces;

Acts in God's eye what in God's eye he is —

Chríst — for Christ plays in ten thousand places,

Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not his

To the Father through the features of men's faces.

Source: Gerard Manley Hopkins: Poems and Prose (Penguin Classics, 1985)

Kids these days: Parsing that interview with Jaden and Willow Smith [sharing at Think Christian today]

read the entire article at Think Christian

Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images

Just playing devil’s advocate here: maybe Will and Jada Smith are just like any other good parents who believe their children possess a particular brand of genius. Let’s be honest, if the New York Times style magazine wanted to feature our kids’ accomplishments and precocious personalities in an interview, we’d let them. Otherwise why are we all filling the Internet up with the videos, photos and daily commentary of our children? Let’s not even get started on the number of times we ask our friends to applaud our kids’ talent. 

So what if we looked at the interview, which appeared Monday and has been dissected throughout the week, in this way instead? Jaden and Willow Smith are two teenagers speaking the native language of most teenagers: an angsty mix of idealism and legalism. Yes, they’re privileged and that adds a somewhat unpalatable flavor to many of their responses. Yes, their family values include some unorthodox views about basic assumptions of reality. Still, I would prefer to read a kid who can throw in a few multi-syllabic concepts to spice up the typical 140-character fare (although my daughter assures me that Willow and Jaden are also quite fluent in tweet speak). I see the irony in their angsty criticism of angst, but if my high school self got the attention of major media, I’d be hunting down and burning those transcripts. 

And really, the Smith kids echo (what I assume to be) the beliefs of their parents in a way that struck me as quite familiar to the methods my church friends and I used growing up.

read the entire article at Think Christian

Bonus feature

One of my childhood journal pages I let the blogging world see:  Speeches I Would Make If I Ever Got the Chance -- Woman Politicians (1980/9 years old)

Balancing vigilance and providence in the face of Ebola [sharing at Think Christian today]

read the entire article at Think Christian

source

I work in an office building 204 miles from the Dallas hospital where Thomas Eric Duncan died earlier this month, marking the first Ebola diagnosis and fatality in North America. The conversations among coworkers that day veered far from the normal topics to discussions of life and death ethics.

Last week, 43 people who had direct contact with Duncanwere released from quarantine in good health. Two nurses who’d been infected with Ebola while caring for Duncan haveboth recovered. Yet this good news does not seem to be settling our national fear. A recent Pew Research pollcomparing our level of concern from the beginning of October to last week found we are becoming more afraid that someone we love will be exposed to Ebola. Is it possible we are not trusting reason at all? What about a providential God?

Richard Sacra, a missionary doctor, was headed toward the Ebola outbreak in Liberia when his colleague, Kent Brantley, was infected with the disease. Sacra himself became infected and returned to the United States for treatment. He has recovered and told reporters, “I fully intend to be part of its reconstruction as I continue my work at ELWA Hospital, with a focus on training physicians and strengthening Liberia’s health system for the long run.” Is this reckless behavior? What sort of credo informs our response to epidemics? Do we even need one?

read the entire article at Think Christian

Bonus feature: a couple of good resources to join others in praying daily for those suffering from the Ebola virus

•  Lent and Beyond 
• #Pray to End Ebola.

......................................................................

Ebola prayer–Every morning  

Psalm 90:12-14 (ESV) 

So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. Return, O Lord! How long?Have pity on your servants! Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. 

Our Father in heaven,
We thank You for the precious gift of time.  We thank You for the gift of time set apart as sacred, the Sabbath.  Bless the Christians in Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Mali, that they may keep the Sabbath holy. 

Return to Your servants in Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Mali, O Lord!  How long?  Have pity, we pray. 

Your steadfast love never ceases; Your mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 

“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.”  We hope in You for Liberia, Sierra Leone, Mali, and Guinea.  Amen. 

Lamentations 3:22-24

Sewing hope with Sister Rosemary Nyirumbe [sharing at Think Christian]

read the entire article at Think Christian

If you’ve not yet heard of Sister Rosemary Nyirumbe and her ambitious, hopeful work at Saint Monica’s Tailoring Center in Gulu, Uganda, now would be a good time to get to know her. While we worry over the well being of West Africa and impotently hashtag into the universe #BringBackOurGirls, we need to know that people like Sister Rosemary live and flourish in the middle of unspeakable human suffering. 

I first became acquainted with her story watching Sewing Hope, a documentary chronicling her work among former child soldiers who had been released from the Lord’s Resistance Army back into the Gulu community. Joseph Kony and his army of rebels abducted, raped, maimed and forced children to kill their own families. The LRA then released the child soldiers - now grown - back into the very communities in which they had committed violent crimes. The girls returned to their homes carrying on their backs the children they birthed to Kony’s officers, only to discover they had become outcasts to their own neighbors and family. 

read the rest of the article at Think Christian

Bonus feature: The documentary trailer

Parenting is not a covenantal relationship. Marriage is.[sharing at Think Christian today]

read the whole article at Think Christian

I don’t know if it was the provocative title - “How American parenting is killing the American marriage” - or the actual content, but something about a recent Quartz article caused 47 of my friends to share it on Facebook. Maybe it was the opening sentence: “Sometime between when we were children and when we had children of our own, parenthood became a religion in America.”

While the cultural timeline might be accurate, I’d argue the underlying root of idolatry is not new at all. Most telling was the caption under the photo of a yawning newborn: “It’s hard not to worship them.” In any typical marriage, we pretty quickly lose the misplaced desire to worship our spouse. In our attempt to regain relational security, it’s very tempting to turn that affection onto our children. In between the widening chasm of our hopes for a life-long love and our fear of being left alone, we lean on our children to bridge the gap. 

read the whole article at Think Christian

Bonus feature: our wedding day about 24 years ago.  Good thing love ages better than wedding photos.

November 24, 1990

A theology of billboards, sharing today at Think Christian

Three years ago my family moved to Austin, Texas. Our very first spring we got a front row seat to the effects of theHighway Beautification Act of 1965, a legacy of former first lady Lady Bird Johnson. In a place known for heat and drought, springtime in Texas kicks off a wildflower parade up and down the state’s medians and roadways. Johnson’s concern about the increasing number of billboards crowding out the natural beauty of her home state energized her to become the first president’s wife to actively campaign for legislative action. 

A recent NPR story described the new battle Texans are fighting against the billboard lobby’s request to heighten signs. It makes sense for political figures to discuss the use of public spaces, but what if it also became a Christian conversation?    

read the whole article at Think Christian

Bonus feature:

one of the billboards we managed to catch on the camera on our trip to Texas, 2011.  

This is somewhere in the middle of Ohio, in case you were wondering.

7 quick takes from this week + other good stuff I found online

--- 1 ---

So my son Alex sent us an email with the subject "Recognize anyone you know?" and attached a screenshot from the the new movie trailer for Men, Women and Children (Jason Reitman, Ansel Elgort, Adam Sandler, Jennifer Garner).

Ummm, yes?!?  That'd be my son.  Although when you watch the actual trailer this scene just flashes by and you probably wouldn't even notice.  Alex and his girlfriend Rebekah both worked as extras on the set.  Alex has some pretty funny stories about shooting the scene that landed in the trailer, but you'll have to ask him if you want to know more.  Also, this isn't Rebekah's first gig.  Remember Parkland?

(fyi:  this movie looks thought-provoking but we really don't know much about it)

--- 2 ---

Keeping a kingdom perspective on home-cooked meals 

I had the privilege of writing again at Think Christian this week.  Somehow I've ended up with the "food beat" over there.  Like I've said before, that might be a bit like Donald Trump getting the knitting beat, but oh well.  It's been a joy and pushing me beyond my preconceptions that food is only about being good at cooking and baking and stuff.  Food speaks to our most common needs and desires, it speaks of haves and have nots, it speaks of creating and cultivating and community.  It's a truly beautiful subject. I wrote this week's article in response to a Slate article on the romanticizing of home-cooked meals.

--- 3 ---

This girl is doing just fine.  College seems to suit her well -- not that I'm surprised by that at all.  When I told this to a friend she said, "I'm  not surprised, either.  Kendra's an old soul."  Right then I realized that many of the frustrations that go along with being an old soul in highschool turn out to be benefits after high school.  

She's joined Sigma Phi Lambda ("Sisters for the Lord") and making beautiful friends.  We're pretty sure she's studying, too.  We are grateful.

--- 4 ---

We wondered what it would feel like for Kendra and Natalie to live apart since they really are very close friends.  Turns out they're doing just fine.  Sign of a good friendship.  Natalie got her license a couple weeks back.  She said she's been waiting for this day for 16 1/2 years (she turns 17 in December).  The experience of passing her road test fraught with tension, but she did it!  Turns out to be great fodder for writing for her school paper. 

Five things I learned from failing my first road test at The Shield online

--- 5 ---

Last, but certainly not least, Andrew-- this guy's coming soon to a Fun, Fun, Fun Fest stage near you.  (well, at least if you live in Austin)

Not sure the schedule yet, but I'll keep you posted.  I'm personally hoping he gets slated somewhere between Fat White Family and Gorilla Biscuits.  Just because that would be so fun to say.  

--- 6 ---

Other good links online this week:

Life in the Kolache Belt: Reflections from the Intersection of Food, Faith, Farming, and Fracking at Front Porch Republic:  Just a lovely essay about a place.  I especially appreciate John Murdock's words since now live in the "kolache belt". 

First Listen: Lucinda Williams, 'Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone' at NPR:  I really enjoyed listening!

Eight reasons people don't get involved at The Guardian: "A few years ago, I became very worried about the planet and decided to Do Something. But what? I found some experts, and asked them. One was Dr David Fleming, who had invented a clever mechanism to incentivise individuals – and entire nations – to save energy. What, in his opinion, was the most important thing anybody could do to tackle the twin threats of climate change and resource shortages?

“Join the local choir,” he said."

--- 7 ---

What a great week in baseball history.  Brian and I renewed our appreciation for the NY Yankees in 1995 when we were too broke for cable or a television, for that matter. I was pregnant with our third baby and we'd spend our summer and fall evenings listening to the games on the radio hearing descriptions of this rookie player Derek Jeter. We've been listening (and now watching ever since). It's been a really fun ride and this guy is a classic.

And I know I was feeling a bit sentimental when I watched this live, but as I've watched the highlights again I can't help thinking about what it will be like when I enter eternity and get to see the "cloud of witnesses cheering us on".  Somehow the line up of great Yankees who'd retired before him, who stood on the sideline watching Jeter's final play, well somehow they reminded me of that moment that will surely come to us someday.  I doubt we'll be in pinstripes, but you never know!

Hoping for a good week for us all, friends.
Peace....

 (For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!)

7 Quick Takes: photo diary from the last 2 weeks, talking about the true self + Chipotle commercials, community gardens and more!

--- 1 ---

Homecoming 2013 = adorable dresses, good friends, awkward photos with friends and a lot of fun.

--- 2 ---

Think Christian's editor invited me to weigh in on the wildly popular animated short for Chipotle, called The Scarecrow.  So many of my friends had shared the link, blurbing it with high praise.  To be honest, it took me a long time to watch it because the thumbnail was always a giant cow sitting on top of a building, cartoon udders pointing like a weather vane.  I didn't quite trust the "This is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen" blurbs attached to that image. 

After finally watching it, though, I got it.  For starters, we're so used to crappy ads trying to sell us (relatively) crappy food that I think we're all just really grateful to food franchise for treating our aesthetic values with dignity.

Also, the Scarecrow is sweet and likeable and we're rooting for him to save the world with his pickup truck full of fresh veggies.  

As I got into it, though, I realized that not everyone loved the ad and I felt like we should probably talk about that, too.  There's so much I do not understand about our nation's farming standards and I found the little bit more I learned for this article only added another layer of complexity.  

Since I live in Austin -- surrounded by the best the local, natural, organic food movement(s) have to offer -- I felt a bit nervous sharing my thoughts.  So far (I don't think) anyone has de-friended me.  

For what it's worth -- and with warm regards for Think Christian's editor Josh Larson -- I cringed a bit at the title he chose.  I want to be a gracious voice in the world of online chatter.  I also know it's a really crowded world and editors need to write titles that get noticed.  The title I chose was hardly that:  Cultivate a better (complicated) world.  Josh chose: Why we shouldn't feel too smug about Chipotle's Scarecrow ad at Think Christian

--- 3 ---

The same week our church's stellar and witty gardener added a post to Christ Church Garden that reminded me the beauty of cultivating food and cultivating community.  Matt Evans (and Christ Church) we're so grateful for you!

The Main Mobile Loaves and Fishes' Garden Experience at Christ Church Garden

--- 4 ---

The last couple of weeks have been filled with things I love.  So many things I love, I came from work Monday night and fell asleep for two hours before dinner!  

Here's a happy little recap:

A generous gift of a get-away with Brian two weekends ago:

LBJ Lake, Horseshoe Bay, TX

One whole afternoon consisted of this:

Thursday night exhibit opening, This Ability, at the Imagine Art gallery:

Dessert and a movie with friends (+ a tour of the art, old books and creative projects in their home):

Our friend Eric Kaufman made these sculptures from found objects during hikes in Texas and New Mexico.

Brian drove to Houston last weekend to see Alex and get to a Yankee's game: 

Kendra's training to become a balloon artist for pay which means we find this sort of thing greeting us in the morning:

This photo diary doesn't even include the lovely book club discussion about The River Why or the iced coffee date at Once Over Coffee Bar with some lovely women or the chatty Sunday lunch at Chuy's trying to recruit some Dallas dwellers to migrate to Austin.  

A full and fun couple of weeks, indeed. (+ all that homecoming hoopla!)

--- 5 ---

Another highlight this week and next are speaking engagements at a couple of groups for moms of young children (God bless them one and all) and for a group of dear people seeking wholeness and healing in the relationships with God, others and their very own selves.  

On Sunday I'll be talking about the difficulty knowing our truest selves -- the one God imagined when He formed us in our mother's wombs.  One of my favorite reminders during this particular topic comes from C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity:

"It will come when you are looking for Him...Keep back nothing. Nothing that you have not given away will be really yours. Nothing in you that has not died will ever be raised from the dead. Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ, and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in."

--- 6 ---

Good reading from the internet this week:

Louis C.K.'s daughters can't have smart phones because of sadness at Gizmodo:  Insightful, emotionally intelligent and funny.

The Necessity for Irony by Eeavan Boland at The Writer's Almanac: Thank you to my friend Shannon for pointing it out and for recommending I listen through once before reading.

The Eucharist with Children by Carolyn Thomas on The Two Cities: In the past two years I've become spoiled worshiping with children all around me during most of the service.  The post reminds me of the time we were sitting behind our 3 year old friend Annie who didn't seem to be paying too much attention to anything until our priest said the words "These are the gifts of God for you the people of God."  Annie's head snapped she was so eager to see where the gifts for all of us might be hiding. 

"Perhaps it’s the boy kneeling next to you, who takes a big gulp of wine, swallows, and then grabs his throat in pain. Maybe you lean over and whisper, “Are you okay?” and he whispers back, “That drink always hurts the inside of my neck!” And suddenly you remember the first time you ever took the Eucharist with real wine, on your knees, in a stone church on a cold, grey morning, and the wine stung your mouth, burned down your throat, warmed your body–and made you think of blood: hot and red and alive."

--- 7 ---

My son's girlfriend, Amber, made this adorable/hilarious video with her sweet daughter to promote a stand-up comedy show. She makes us laugh -- and that's a really good thing:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A beauty and grace-filled weekend for us all, dear ones.

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!