a few reasonable words for your weekend conversations.04

Happy weekend, all! I'm ending this blog hiatus starting with my weekend posts of interesting bits and pieces I found online this week. We're looking forward to a couple of get-togethers with new friends in Fairfield this weekend. What are your plans? 

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A dose of conversation-starters for all your weekend conversations. If you and I happen to bump into each other in the next couple of days, I'd love to hear what you think about these reads. (or, you could always leave me a comment below!)

  • Like most of you, our family loves political satire.  This podcast asked a question I hadn't even considered: Does American political satire help or hinder social protest?  via Malcolm Gladwell's podcast Revisionist History podcast, The Satire Paradox episode

  • Speaking of politics, here's an article I missed when it first published in early July.  I listened to an excellent interview with the author about his memoir of growing up among the white poor.  He gives intelligent insight into the addictive appeal of Donald Trump among his hometown community.  via J. D. Vance in The Atlantic

  • An editorial packed with truth.  "... remembering well always requires overcoming nostalgia—overcoming our selective memories, owning up to our forgetting. Remembering for the future has to face up to what we’ve repressed—shining a light on the shadow side of our traditions. This is why Christians invested in the goodness of creation can’t fall into the trap of Golden Age–ism, because to remember creation is to long for the new creation."  via Comment Magazine

  • Speaking of remembering, may God bless Pastor Heber Brown and so many others doing good, generative work in the wake of Baltimore's tipping point. via Yes! Magazine

  • I love the web-based documentary series Perennial Plate, and this short episode with a woman who has been selling homemade pies at her Colorado farmers market for 43 years is just beautiful.  Also, it made me crave strawberry-rhubarb pie. 

On the blog lately:

  • This week I'll share my final post of our dream-come-true trip to Ireland. Here's parts 1, 2, & 3

  • A year ago today I shared this post: Finding contentment during sleeplessness (You guys! I got goose bumps when I re-read the Jane Kenyon poem I'd found in the middle of a restless night. Please notice the city mentioned in the poem. Kind of freaky, right?)

The "How to Prevent Small Talk" question for the week:

You have 15 minutes to address the whole world live (on television or radio — choose your format). What would you say?


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

Peace....