Difficult times: Today’s blog was very difficult to write. I always want to write something uplifting, but I faced the following: I sit in semi-isolation, amid political, social and economic turmoil. Two named storms are headed our way. When I taught at Illinois State University, we had a ministry with Read more…
Dialectic Tension: I live in what I believe is called a dialectic tension. I believe I share a particular dialectic with many people. On the one hand is the growing awareness of the history of racial injustice in America and the continuing push for change in today’s world. I embrace Read more…
In a well written and clever article in AL.com, August 2, 2020, Dan Carsen laid out the bad logic and incorrect reasoning we can expect to see in the election cycle—and unfortunately in many other areas of discourse. In my opinion it should be a test everyone has to pass Read more…
We had a great break. We visited my brother and family in Nashville and my cousin and family in Festus Missouri. We took our food, ate in our car and felt safe. We did not see as many cars as usual but many, many trucks. It was great to see Read more…
COVID is grinding on me. Sadly, this week I canceled my high school reunion scheduled for early October. It was to be our 60th. I have a good friend who studied reunions. The first 20 years, too many people are full of insecurities ant the reunions are not meaningful. After Read more…
The last two weeks I have had several technical issues with the blog site. Thanks to the technical expertise of Crystal Tosello they have been solved. She sent out the blog for last week — Blog 49: Hamster Wheel, Human Frailty and Racism — on Monday. You should have gotten Read more…
Once again technology failed. This blog did not get distributed last week. I hope you and yours are healthy. Thankfully, Jeny and I continue to enjoy good health and each other. The Hamster Wheel. A friend sent me an article with the caption “racism is tiring.” He certainly was not Read more…
Privilege. I have many privileges. One jarring reminder came over breakfast with a longtime friend. He is a Mexican American who was raised in a town of over 18,000 (by current estimates.) A town 25 miles from my hometown in Wichita Kansas. We competed against each other in high school. Read more…
In the hope of putting my mouth where my money is, I wrote a letter to the editor this week. The thinking should be familiar to those of you who have read my blog for in recent weeks. I pray it is sound thinking. Dear Editor As sporting events reopen, Read more…
Writing during such a troubling time is both easy and difficult. Easy to express concerns about COVID, about economic difficulties, about racist concerns, about violent protests and last but not least, political craziness; I have strong feelings about all five. Strong feelings make writing difficult. I want to make sure Read more…