Weeks 1 / 2 (2023)
the miracles of light & friendship, riding the bus & walking Amman, staying & slowing, affordable energy & housing, loneliness, Mr. Rogers & mental illness
(click title to open in browser)
reading: books
The Passenger, Cormac McCarthy — audio — Meh.
Essentialism, Greg McKeown — audio — Glad I read this one.
In Good Time, Jen Pollock Michel — audio — Especially glad I read this one.
reading: essays, articles, newsletters
The Substance Of Celeritas — Raquel Sequeira, Fare Forward — “There is beauty to me in the problem of light: in the absurd miracle of optical tweezers and in the duality of wave and particle properties that reflects the dual human and divine nature of Jesus.”
All The Ways You Can Stay — Wally Chamberlain, Front Porch Republic — “To carry things on, to keep us all knowing
That staying can often be better than going.
This place has a rhythm, and your life, a rhyme;
There’s music when family and place combine.”
And Then What? — Austin Kleon, Alan Jacobs — “You’re zipping through all these experiences in order to do what, exactly?”
Mr. Rogers' Nine Rules For Speaking To Children — Josh Jones, Open Culture — “Rogers wanted us to know, says Greenwald, “that the inner life of children was deadly serious to them,” and thus deserving of care and recognition.” (Our boys have been on a Mr. Rogers kick, and I’m in awe of the way he dignifies children through conversation.)
There's No Such Thing As Affordable Housing — Daniel Herriges, Strong Towns — “Developers don’t build affordable apartments or unaffordable apartments. They build apartments. Some are, no doubt, nicer than others, but this alone doesn’t make them expensive or inexpensive.”
A Permanent Policy Of Higher Prices? — John Shelton, World — “Every morning, the Book of Common Prayer instructs American Christians in the Anglican tradition to pray a version of Psalm 9.18: “Let not the needy, O Lord, be forgotten; Nor the hope of the poor be taken away.” We ought to keep these words at the forefront of our deliberations on energy policy, because the war on energy hurts the poorest first—and most.”
Walking Amman (Jordan) — Chris Arnade Walks The World — “Despite all that it’s the genuine warmth of the residents of Amman that wins out.”
(related: his book Dignity)
O Blessed Bus! — Eve Tushnet, Commonweal — “When we have a choice, people usually choose privacy, control, and comfort—and then we’re shocked when we wind up lonely. We put up “privacy fences,” and then complain about how nobody knows their neighbors anymore. But communal bonds have always been tightened by necessity.”
(found via this post of Leah’s)
No Cure For Loneliness — Andrew Ross, Compact — “…our emergency departments are now the last refuge for victims of some of modernity’s greatest scourges—loneliness and ennui arising from inadequate virtual relationships and actual fentanyl.”
The Perks Of Friendship — Alan Noble, You Are Not Your Own — “We can’t just say it’s a national tragedy that we’re spending less time together. We have to measure the cost of that tragedy. But the perks of friendship—like most of the beautiful things in this life—are immeasurable.”
(related: his books On Getting Out Of Bed and You Are Not Your Own)
Inheriting Mental Illness — John Swinton & Joy Clarkson, Plough — “However, when in Galatians 5:22–23 Paul talks about the fruits of the Spirit, nowhere does he mention happiness as a fruit of the Spirit. So why would sadness and depression bring about accusations of faithlessness, that is, being out of touch with the Spirit? The question gains even more poignancy when we hear Isaiah talk about God hiding from humans (Isa. 45:15), and Psalm 88 ends with the desolate statement: “darkness is my only companion.” The interesting thing about this psalm is that it is a prayer. It’s not that the psalmist has a crisis of faith. He has a crisis of disconnection.”
(related: Sarah Clarkson’s This Beautiful Truth, Brad East’s Therapeutic Church)
watching/listening
Continuing On:
Love In A Cottage with Paige Geidel — Episodes 50-51 — Home birth stories.
Verity with Phylicia Masonheimer — Episodes 26-28 — The body & sex, breastfeeding, motherhood culture. (Especially found episode 26 fascinating, as I’ve been reading Theology of the Body For Beginners by Christopher West - which beats a similar drum.)
using: product, tip, resource
New Year's Eve & Day Reflection Questions — Tsh Oxenreider, The Commonplace
remembering
One Year Ago:
Two Years Ago:
This Week:
The children’s library having a New Years’ Eve (balloon) ball drop at 12 (noon). Music makers, chardonnay, and marker mustaches on the boys. Finally putting kitchen curtains up. Pecan brownies and trying out movie nights as a family (Fantastic Mr. Fox and Ratatouille, anyone?) Staking out any chair in Target to nurse in like a veteran. Homemade mead from Jakob’s coworker and new plants from the “tool store”. Ordering fruit/vegetable/pollinator/flower seeds for the garden (from this more affordable seller.) Points of connection with people I’m grateful for. Sharing sorrows and learning what it means to help bear one another’s burdens. Beginning a class to learn more about our new church. The boys learning how to escape their cribs and a frequently waking 3 month-old. A rough couple of weeks in more ways than one. Taking photos is, for me, a practice of remembering & recounting pockets of goodness when it’s otherwise difficult to do so. Also cracking up that Beth Moore found this ridiculous photo.
Thanks for the shout-out. And I have been thinking so much about that Alan Jacobs blog. Every time I see a book promising to save you time on reading another book about rest (it's everywhere!), I chuckle and think "and then what?"