July 3, 2009 @ 3:42 pm | Category: gender/feminism, global issues
One of the most exciting things happening right now for women globally is in Iran. See this story in the Washington Post on the role of women who are demanding change.The Muslim world is known for its repressive laws against women’s freedom from denial of education to stoning for accusations of adultery. The women of Iran are demonstrating that for many education, plus a communications revolution, is fueling the spread of liberalizing ideas. The question remains on how this will affect the Muslim religion itself. Will there be, as some have proposed, a Muslim reformation? The alternative is a long and violent struggle within the Muslim world.
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July 2, 2009 @ 8:18 pm | Category: global issues
I just returned from a three week trip to Argentina, the land of my birth, I was both pleased and alarmed. Buenos Aires has all those things you hear about: The ever popular Evita, tango, Malbec wine, lots of grass fed beef, soccer fanatics, and wild traffic. I enjoyed it cafes, old architecture and watching its political process as elections were being held. The country suffers from chronic political and economic uncertainty while its people remain passionate about life. One of the things I love about the country is that BA’s neighborhoods are dotted with small family owned businesses that provide not only the day to day needs of the people but constitute the middle-class social network. Unlike the U.S., independent small scale manufacturing, grocers, bakers, fruit and vegetable vendors, and butchers still thrive. It was an opportunity to see once again something of what E. F. Schumacher wrote about in his 1973 book Small is Beautiful:Economics as if People Mattered.
Unfortunately what looms in the horizon and threatening the small business is Wallmart. As I said to one of my relatives, Wallmart is the devil dressed in American prosperity. Once the small businesses are out of business their former owners and employees will find themselves working for less not only economically but socially.Wallmart does not have a good track record when it comes to how it treats its employees. This state of affairs will only add to social and political unrest. The “American way of life” is not the answer for Argentina and other third world countries. Maintaining strong local networks must be a top priority on the road to prosperity and a working democracy. They don’t need our bulldozer.
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May 23, 2009 @ 7:41 pm | Category: community, work
I found this story in the New York Times to be telling of the mental state of America. A former facility of Bethlehem Steel has been converted to a $743 million Sands casino and enjoying a lucrative opening. We have come to believe that the main component of success is luck. Instead of work, thrift, community support, access to opportunity and perserverance, it all comes down to a cosmic numbers game. No wonder we’re depressed and can’t invision a hopeful future.
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May 19, 2009 @ 9:34 am | Category: existential questions, spirituality/religion
Stanley Fish is continuing his observations in the New York Times on the belief in the unattached mind most often promoted by those hostile to religion. Fish is preceptive in clarifying why a mind uncommitted to any pre-conceived notions can not think at all. He argues that those who would belittle religion usually have a distorted view of what religious people actually believe. Fish’s arguement suggest that instead of religious people being “pie in the sky” types who refuse to face reality, they may actually have greater realism regarding the human condition.
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May 4, 2009 @ 8:09 am | Category: existential questions
In the New York Times Stanley Fish reviews Reason, Faith and Revolution: Reflections on the God Debate by British cultural critic Terry Eagleton. In the battle of the gods, old and new, it has become fashionable to regard religion as a throw back and reactionary impulse that stands in the way of progress. Eagleton challenges the “superstition” of progress which in the end can not answer some of the most profound questions regarding the human experience. On the other hand, Eagleton sees the problems associated with the instituionalization of faith. Fish’s review is tantalizing enough for me to want to read this one. One more book for the stack.
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April 17, 2009 @ 6:32 pm | Category: community
In these times of economic dread this essay by Peggy Noonan at the Wall Street Journal made me happy. The upside to this mess is a more human society and possibly the come back of some form of authentic religion instead of the mass produced variety we have been plagued by. No more more mega-church? This is part of what she says:
“People will be allowed to grow old again. There will be a certain liberation in this. There will be fewer facelifts and browlifts, less Botox, less dyed hair among both men and women. They will look more like people used to look, before perfection came in. Middle-aged bodies will be thicker and softer, with more maternal and paternal give. There will be fewer gyms and fewer trainers, but more walking. Gym machines produced the pumped and cut look. They won’t be so affordable now.”
Read the whole thing. It’s really good.
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April 8, 2009 @ 8:50 pm | Category: update
Dear friends, I have not been posting in any regular frequency because I am working on a Ph.D. at the University of Texas at Dallas. My studies have buried me. I am working on the history of ideas with a focus on gender and religion in the Americas. I will try to write when I can, but right now I am doing my best. This fall (2009) I will be doing course work at Princeton Theological Seminary in modern and liberation theology and social ethics.
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February 2, 2009 @ 7:23 pm | Category: community, social justice
In the last few years we have been hearing about our need to consume less, save resources, recycle, drive less, or not drive at all. Well, we are finally doing it and what happens, our neighbor loses his job. Now we read reports that we are saving our way right into an economic depression. I am not an economist, but I think less consumption, fewer cars, and more savings is the way to go accompanied by increased productivity. Maybe other countries will want what we produce and we can pay off the debt we have accumulated. Yes, the adjustment will be difficult but long term we may be better off in terms of energy independence, community building, and more durable products. Instead of a throw away society maybe we can build one on the more permanent things. Small is beautiful.
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@ 7:10 pm | Category: technology
The attempt to cross humans with animals through cloning is one of the most inhumane uses of science I can think of. It didn’t work. Thank God. Here is the story. To top it off, somebody thinks there is money in it. Science and profit together are truly a dangerous mix when ethics are thrown aside for pragmatic purposes. Science without wisdom is madness.
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January 19, 2009 @ 6:25 pm | Category: art, community, media
With so much music available on line for free or cheap one wonders if there will be a place for musicians to thrive. The ubiquity of recorded and airbrushed music I believe will make live music more valuable and available beyond large stadiums. Here is an article in the New York Times about one group seeking to make live music accessible. The demise of big music labels doesn’t have to mean the death of musicians. It just might be what we need for a truly close to the people renaissance.
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