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Review: Burning Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Burning Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Carl Waters My rating: 4 of 5 stars I was given this book to read for this review. But I would have read it anyway–it was enjoyable, fast-moving, and clearly written. This book is the tale of George Harris, his wife Eliza (of ice floe fame), son Harry, and those around him in antebellum slave-owning Kentucky and the free state of Ohio under the ministrations of both slavery and the Fugitive Slave Act. It is also a retelling of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s opus “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” the book written by a little woman that started a great war. The story opens as George, a slave…
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Broken Windows
When we have a broken window in our home, the first thing we do as responsible homeowners is to fix it. Later we might line up our kids to ask “Who did this?” Maybe we assign blame or figure out a way for the culprits to pay back what they cannot afford. But first, we fix the broken window, because leaving it broken leads to far greater damages. It’s like that with the controversial topic of reparations. It’s come up recently due to the fine work of historians and writers. Perhaps you’ve heard this discussion. Reparations is a word that incites near-immediate response, usually along the lines of “I had…
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Review: Confessions of a Presidential Speechwriter
Confessions of a Presidential Speechwriter by Craig R. Smith My rating: 3 of 5 stars Note: I received this as a gift. This book is a good insight into the life and thoughts of the writer, Dr. Craig Smith, who has many talents and passions for life and politics. Dr. Smith, a professor of rhetoric and debate, gives great insights into the politicians of the late 20th and early 21 century, focusing on Republicans he served as speech-writer and advisor. I found it especially interesting when he talked about Senator Bob Packwood, as Dr. Craig worked closely with the senator for decades up through the time of the senator’s resignation…
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The Case for Reparations
This is a phenomenal piece of writing. It will get a Pulitzer Prize. Read it now. http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2014/05/the-case-for-reparations/361631/
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Avoiding the Obvious
As Christians, we are to emulate the Lord. We are directly commanded by the Lord to assist the poor, the widow, the orphan, and those in prison. We are not told to interfere with people’s private lives (we’re directly told not to be busybodies). Millions of kids in the United States go to bed hungry every night. Millions of kids do not have a secure home to live in. We are a nation with the wealthiest Christians in history. These two things just are so jarring when positioned next to each other. Many American Christians spend their time making sure that women can’t control their bodies and gays can’t marry,…
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Palin and Waterboarding
Palin and all those who cheered her sacrilegious jibe ought to be ashamed of themselves. For us Christians, baptism is the entry into new life. Palin invoked it to celebrate torture. Even if you don’t believe that waterboarding is torture, surely you agree that it should not be compared to baptism, and that such a comparison should be laughed at. What does it say about the character of a person that they could make that joking comparison, and that so many people would cheer for it. Nothing good — and nothing that does honor to the cause of Jesus Christ. http://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/the-sacrilegious-sarah-palin/ I have nothing more to add.
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Waterboarding As Baptism
“Oh, but you can’t offend [Islamic terrorists], can’t make them feel uncomfortable, not even a smidgen. Well, if I were in charge, they would know that waterboarding is how we baptize terrorists.” ~ Sarah Palin Well, no. This is not a Christian statement. This is an anti-Christian statement. Jesus, I must remind people, did not recommend torture as a means of conversion. People who say this type of stuff are not representing Christ. And again, where are the Christian voices speaking out against this perversion of their Christian faith?
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Cliven Bundy, Donald Sterling, and You
Talk to me like I’m stupid: So recently some very ignorant people have made some very ignorant, small-minded, and unkind statements about people they apparently know nothing about. For Cliven Bundy, it’s his remarks about “the Negro” who was happier picking cotton. For Donald Sterling, it’s his remarks about not wanting Black customers/fans. Now, I get it that people say these things all the time, and it’s not strictly unusual for these things to be said. What gets me—and this is where you need to help me—why is it that conservatives are sticking up for these people and defending these truly, astonishingly ignorant and hurtful things? I see people posting…
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The Closing of the American Heart
Recently there has been a move in America for Christians to demand the right to avoid serving people with whom they disagree theologically. The claim is made that by baking a cake, arranging flowers, or being a photographer at a wedding for a couple who is marrying outside the Christian tradition, the Christian is breaking his religion. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry at such an attitude. First—the Christian is providing a service. A Christian electrical company cannot withhold providing electricity to those with whom they disagree theologically. Likewise a Christian police officer cannot refuse to help someone with whom they disagree. A Christian doctor, teacher, entrepreneur, shoe-shiner,…
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Review: The Beautiful Struggle: A Father, Two Sons, and an Unlikely Road to Manhood
The Beautiful Struggle: A Father, Two Sons, and an Unlikely Road to Manhood by Ta-Nehisi Coates My rating: 5 of 5 stars African-Americans have struggled to acquire their voice in American culture. We have had uncertain biographies and stories written by others; in the last century we had the eruption of Harlem when black voices began to be more fully heard. It’s still difficult to write those stories, but more and more black Americans are telling their lives, not to justify them or to make their unknown presence known, but to say “I am here and this is what I think and feel. Take me on my own words; accept…
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Review: The Control of Nature
The Control of Nature by John McPhee My rating: 4 of 5 stars Very good, entertaining stories of three attempts by men and women to control nature–to control the Mississippi, to control the volcanoes and lava of Iceland, and to control the floods and fires of the San Gabriel Mountains in Los Angeles. View all my reviews
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Review: Zulu Heart
Zulu Heart by Steven Barnes My rating: 5 of 5 stars This is just a fine book. It is the sequel, of course, to Lion’s Blood, but I have to hand it to Mr. Barnes in that the story and the characters have advanced. We still have Kai and Aiden, brothers beneath the skin in a nation on the North American continent where things are delightfully awry compared to today–somehow in the distant past it was the African nations, and not the Europeans, who conquered the world with learning and art and culture and military prowess. Kai is now functioning as the Wakil of his estate-empire, a slaveowner of northern…
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Review: Between the Bridge and the River
Between the Bridge and the River by Craig Ferguson My rating: 1 of 5 stars This is a dreadful, unfunny, pretentious pile of trash. I got to 48 pages and stopped reading–there is not one bit of wit or freshness in this book. It is written because the guy has a TV personality. But there is nothing of value so far. View all my reviews
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Review: Very Far Away from Anywhere Else
Very Far Away from Anywhere Else by Ursula K. Le Guin My rating: 5 of 5 stars My lord, this is a very fine book. Ms. Le Guin does not write one word more than necessary, but within the laconic toolset she writes a story. There is Owen, and there is Natalie. Owen is intelligent but not quite smart. Natalie is talented but not able to communicate her vision. They stumble into each other, part, and come together more fiercely. They learn that they themselves must learn who they are. It is all there in 90 or so pages with generous margins, but it is _all there_. The only thing…
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Review: Lion’s Blood
Lion’s Blood by Steven Barnes My rating: 5 of 5 stars I was not prepared to love this book as much as I did. This was recommended to me by a friend, and I picked it up somewhat as a curiousity. I like sci-fi and alternate histories, and thought this might be like dozens of others I’ve read. It is the telling of an America where Alexander the Great didn’t die, and didn’t go on to conquer the East but instead conquered the West, setting up the rise of the Abyssinian and Egyptian kingdoms, changing the course of Western Civilization, and bringing about the discovery of the American continents by…
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The Utter Normalcy of Human Beings in America
Recently someone posted on a website their observations about Black Americans, that they were curious and frustrated at how Black Americans, religious and hard-working and future-oriented, would so often and so blindly pick the Democrats when they went into the voting booth. Frustrated that Black Americans were so lazy and uneducated, so “urban” and so exotic. I responded with the following. I don’t expect the person to read it, much less take my advice. But I thought it a useful summary of how to educate yourself to understand other people without having to do much work except read and think a bit. Do you know any actual Black families? Go…
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Review: The Butterfly’s Way: Voices from the Haitian Dyaspora in the United States
The Butterfly’s Way: Voices from the Haitian Dyaspora in the United States by Edwidge Danticat My rating: 5 of 5 stars Really very good. This is a collection of tales of the Haitian Diaspora–those who fled from Haiti for various reasons to settle elsewhere, and their reactions both to their new homes and their home in memory. It was not what I expected, due to my own ignorance. I expected it to be much more a collection of writings by people just as if they were journaling, but these are more than that. Yes, it is somewhat like a collection of journals, but the stories are thoughtful, and insightful, and…
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A Good Book on a Sad Time
The Nazi Seizure of Power. I generally don’t link to books, and I think predicting the future by using the past is stupid. And I most assuredly do not believe that opponents of the ACA are Nazis. That is stupid as well as incoherent. You can oppose the ACA and be a respectable American. The reason I like this book, though, is that it illustrates how a sincere, moderate government can be toppled through the inaction of the moderates and the folks who just want to get along, because there are some who want to overthrow the government and take power. The Weimar Republic was fairly stable and working on…
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If Your Hair’s Too Long–AUDIO
So I said I’d make this available. So here it is: “If Your Hair’s Too Long, There’s Sin in Your Heart.” If you’ve never sat through an Evangelical church service, this is an affectionate parody. If Your Hair’s Too Long (audio file) I have the full album. It’s non-stop.
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Review: Forever Free: The Story of Emancipation and Reconstruction
Forever Free: The Story of Emancipation and Reconstruction by Eric Foner My rating: 5 of 5 stars Foner writes well. This is the first thing you should know. You will not be reading a dusty tome of long-ago lives. You will read about actual people from just a few short years ago, how they felt, how they struggled, what they wanted, what they hoped for. You will get in touch with these people, some enslaved, some free, some made free. Some were the people who worked for freedom, and some were those who upheld slavery. It is all a mess in a way, just like life, but Foner extracts the…
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The Difficulties of Christianity
“Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried.” – Gilbert K. Chesterton We fail at Christianity when we think it covers only attending group meetings to listen to speeches, memorization of information about the speeches, and obedience to rules that keeps us only going to group meetings and listening to speeches. If that is what Christianity is, then it is not difficult at all, for it requires nothing of you but your body sitting passively. Christianity is about what you do with your life, and how you affect others with the love you display and the acts of mercy you do. If…
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These Things I Believe
Every so often people question my Christian faith. Here’s what I believe: I believe in God, the Father almighty,creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord,who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,born of the Virgin Mary,suffered under Pontius Pilate,was crucified, died, and was buried;he descended to the dead.On the third day he rose again;he ascended into heaven,he is seated at the right hand of the Father,and he will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit,the holy Christian church,the communion of saints,the forgiveness of sins,the resurrection of the body,and the life everlasting. Amen. This creed was the…
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About Trayvon and George
To my friends and family on Facebook who keep posting stuff to me on how George Zimmerman was innocent, Trayvon Martin was a thug, and that you also cannot understand why Black people are so upset over the loss of life of some kid in Florida. You’re not listening. You’re not listening to the people across the nation who have had this experience, multiple times, in their lives and the lives of their families and friends. You’re not listening to the mothers and fathers who do not know, day to day, whether their kids leaving for school in the morning will make it back home without harm. You’re not listening…
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Paula Deen and the Unfortunate Change in Acceptable Words
Yes, we swim in a sea of racism. Yes, we pick it up. Yes, we even continue it. But we are human adults with minds and (I believe) the ability to choose different behaviors when instructed and led based upon what are (to my mind) better values. When someone raised me as a kid to be “good,” it meant being kind and honest and giving and caring. I don’t know if I already was “good,” and that was just instructions on how to do it, or whether I really wasn’t “good,” and the practice I did to follow the external rules molded my character. In either case, I turned out…
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Christians, Gays, and Jesus
I wrote this in response to a great essay by a pastor I respect. He went through a hard time figuring out what he thought about gays and Christianity; as I thought about what he wrote (see here) [Ed: the post along with the site have since been erased] I responded with these words: The only sin I read about in Scriptures that is unforgivable is one: the sin of blaspheming the Holy Spirit of God, and I think it applies to the idea that the work of God cannot effect salvation. The only person in Scripture that I read about who could not be saved was one: a rich…
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At One Time
Today Monty talked about a difficult term, “Atonement,” and brought out several ideas about what this means. I think most of us don’t think too much about this idea, and when we do, it’s with the vague sense that we’re swimming in rivers too cold and too deep for our water wings. I’m not going to try to re-explain what Monty said, as you can go listen to him online. It’s really quite excellent. What I do want to raise is the question of “Now that we know what it means, what do we do about it?” Or, more accurately, what am I going to do about it? I can…
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The Key to Being a Productive Writer
There is one key thing to do when you want to be a productive writer. You simply write. And write and write and write. I had not worked on my latest MS (tentatively titled “Many Waters”) for about 2 months. It was a NaNoWriMo effort, and after NaNoWriMo was over, I just couldn’t look at it. It was nothing like what I wanted. I know what I want the book to be about, and yet it just is so squirrelly. I have so many dead ends and so many terribly overwritten parts. But you know, the secret is simply to keep writing until the main story is done. So that’s…