Archives for 2008
Last night my little one, age four and a half, was having bad dreams. He wanted to go back to sleep, but the dreams continued to form in his mind as he tried to fall asleep. I whispered to him that we could make a new dream, one he liked. Sometimes that seems to help. [...]
On the Emergent Village weblog today, we get a taste of what emerging Christians in Broward County, Florida are doing. One of the members left a “mega-church” to start a church community. I clicked over, and was really excited by what I found. I wished y’all were here so I could say “Look!” And I [...]
This was originally posted at EpinoiaCafe.com. I never lied to my kids about Santa. They asked me if Santa was real, and I said Yes! They asked who he was, and I said he was a pretend guy, an idea that inspires us to be kind and generous and give people presents on Christmas. Those [...]
I ran across this little snippet from one of the authors of Real Food for Healthy Kids. Amazing, but true:
The recipe I used was our Simply Splendid Sugar Cookie, which uses equal parts whole-wheat flour and white flour and a little less sugar than the norm.
This was originally posted at EpinoiaCafe.com Emergent Christianity is amazing and wonderful–it allowed me to come in. I was a non-Christian for my whole life, doing my best to follow God without Jesus’ help. Why? Because Christianity appeared completely insane. (I won’t specify… I assume you know what I mean by “insane.”) So I’m a [...]
This was originally posted at EpinoiaCafe.com In Tony Jones’ blog on BeliefNet, he posted a video of famous atheist Penn Gillette talking about being given a bible by a Christian man. Penn says the guy was really nice, and twice mentions that he looked him “right in the eyes.” He has a lot of respect [...]
This was originally posted at EpinoiaCafe.com. I should confess right off the bat that it was something of a vision. For months now, maybe a few years, I’ve been drawn to this bridge downtown. You know, the Washington-Jefferson bridge? Well… drawn is a euphemism. I’ve felt called. I’m embarrassed to say so, but there it [...]
Foie gras is not a pretty thing. It’s a cruel thing. In this TED video, chef Dan Barber tells about a farmer who has discovered that when you take the cruelty out of it, you get something much, much better. How’s that for a lesson? By the end of the video, he gets into lots [...]
Have you heard about Twitter of Faith? If you’re on Twitter, you are invited to post your statement of faith in 136 characters or less (140 minus the four needed to tag it #TOF). It’s a fun project. Interesting, too. I settled on one, but I think I could something very different, and it would [...]
This was originally posted at EpinoiaCafe.com The Onion today has an opinion piece: I’m not one of those ‘Love thy Neighbor’ Christians that is an absolute riot. If I were as funny as they are, I’d write it up sarcastically, but… I just can’t. I’m here to tell you there are lots of Christians who [...]
This was originally posted at EpinoiaCafe.com I’ve been looking for a church I can stand. It’s been a long time since I set foot in a church. But Jesus has been tugging at my heart, so to speak, for quite a while. I couldn’t resist anymore, so off we went. And wow, did it ever [...]
I have a dirty secret. Well, it doesn’t feel dirty, but I know that in many ways, it can appear that way. “I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. They are so unlike your Christ.”—Mahatma Gandhi Since I was a very little girl, I have been fascinated—no, obsessed—with questions about why we [...]
When Marshall Rosenberg talks about NVC, he sometimes quotes the schoolyard rhyme, “Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me.” I can’t shake the idea that there’s something missing in this picture of the world. On the one hand, sometimes it’s possible for me to remember that people make judgments [...]
I remembered not long ago how my mom used to make these amazing green beans, and I called her up and asked what she put in them. “Just green beans, honey,” she told me. “Are you sure, Mom? That doesn’t seem right.” After a lot of discussion, she said “Oh, well, and some potatoes.” So [...]
NVC (never heard of it?) says that if you want a better chance at getting your needs met, you should make a clear request (and not a demand). And Marshall tells us we can tell the difference because if it’s a request, we don’t get upset if the answer is “no.” So I know I [...]
“Mom, are these hippie muffins?” Me: “No!” Brother: “Yeah.” Me: “Shut up! Do you like them?” Both: “Yeah!” w00t! Ok, so we have a whole bunch of squash. Seriously.There was this part of the garden, see, where we’d dumped the chicken compost. We’d only ended up using half the garden space, because we got tuckered [...]
It’s time for frost, and that meant a big harvest on Friday. This picture is the rest of our basil plants. We pulled them up by the roots and stuck them in a jar, because they smelled like heaven. We also picked all the squash, of course. We’ll cook the ones with broken rinds, and [...]
(I didn’t say *only* food, did I?) When I got a garden near my house, I stopped going to the community garden space I’d been frequenting. I’d started living closer to home, and biking to the grocery store and the coffee shop I like to work in, but nothing regular like that three-times-a-week trip to [...]
Well, I got replies, and sign-ups, but not comments. Hmmm. Lots of love, but nobody was willing to tell me which way to go. I think food wins. Partly ’cause someday, I really do want somebody to buy the t-shirt! But also ’cause I realized that I have lots of places to write the other [...]
It’s been a long while since I wrote anything here. Local food, whole, real food made of actual living things was really easy to write about at first, but after a while it becomes something like the platonic image of mundane. I mean, is there anything less interesting to talk about than taking a walk [...]
My husband and I were at our favorite local store, and I was buying some almonds because, well… yum! Anyway, I was thinking of raw almonds, but I saw him eyeing the roasted almonds, so we thought we’d get some. I tasted one of the roasted almonds, though, and… there was definitely something missing. It [...]
I don’t usually talk in extremes, but I think that growing food may be the most enriching thing I’ve ever done. Not because of food prices, although it does make a difference. But it’s more than that. Food prices might be a blessing, actually, because the high prices are for food that isn’t food. We [...]
“Plain language” is a movement away from legalese, and toward clear language that people can understand. It turns out that contracts and laws don’t have to be written in gobbledygook afterall. My friend Cheryl Stephens has been a pioneer in the plain language movement. She’s on a blog tour this week, promoting her book, Plain [...]
Writers who defend their clichés on the grounds that "they wouldn’t have become clichés if they weren’t good" may have a terrific point. And they should enjoy that, because what they won’t have is successful writing.
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